Minus Zero Productions

Introducing: David Berry

2009-09-17T21:47:00.001-07:00

Some quick updates, despite some delays, Production is moving forward (slowly but surely)

I'm now aiming for a January/February 2010 shoot.
But I have good news,
David Berry has joined the production. David is a Los Angeles based director of photography with experience shooting narrative short form and long form projects. He shot four episodes of the award winning web series Star Trek: Phase 2 as well as multiple short films. David is currently enrolled in the Masters program in Cinematography at UCLA

Check out his Butterfinger commercial "Happy Birthday Grandma"

We've also joined forces with Blue Seraph Productions as co-producers.

Thank you to everyone that's been involved and supportive.
hopefully more news soon!

Ready? FIGHT!

2009-07-05T23:04:00.000-07:00

I edited together a short clip compilation as an example of the type of fight choreography I want to utilize in my short film.

As I mentioned before, my friends have gotten to calling this "PK's KungFu Movie" which, as you can see in the clip is not at all accurate.

I admit that the clips are primarily stolen from two Japanese movies:
CROWS 0 & BIG BANG LOVE (Both by Takashi Miike)

What I love about his choreography in these two films especially is the primal ferocity on display. The characters are almost animalian in their fighting styles and I'd like to see that much more than traditional martial arts forms.

The Knife-Fight sequence comes from a Korean Film called: THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD
Although my film doesn't have a knife fight, I love the gracefulness in which this sequence is shot, and yet it still feels visceral and dangerous. It's also pretty fantastic because as brutal as it feels, if you watch carefully you can see that the knife never really comes in to contact with the actor.

This is of course just a loose guideline that I'm using to communicate style and tone, but I hope to start working on the actual choreography in my film very soon.

Thank you for reading!
pkE

New Contributor!

2009-06-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

I got some more contributions in, and I want to thank Denise for her support.
Remember - support the project and get a dvd of the film once it's complete, as well as your name in the credits!

Video Montage to come soon, as well as podcasts and new logos!

Thank you all!

Warming the Engines!

2009-06-19T19:31:00.001-07:00

Production is a strange beast.
Stuff speeds up and then slows to a crawl and then flops back and forth...

So in a sense, this week has been very busy but also not much to show...

What's been accomplished:

* Got quotes on insurance, its not as bad as I thought it would be.
Looks like stunts only cost like "$300" (in addition to the premium and stuff) and here's the funny part - stunts are covered in this policy so long as I don't have Weapons, Animals, Porn, or Rap Music. That made me do a double take but heh, I think I'm in the clear, as I have no intention of filming Snoop Dog waving his weiner in front of a Bengal Tiger or anything like that.

* Got some investment money, both Roy, and Norm have contributed and I am infinitely grateful. But it's not quite enough to kick start anything, yet.

I hope to open a new checking account specifically for the film next month, and hopefully if I can get just a little more money, I can start moving forward on locations, and stunt coordinator hunting. As it is, I'm looking for a full production launch in October. The wait is killing me.

* I'm speaking with two different cinematographers, and even if they end up not working out, it gets me a lead to start talking to folks and getting into talking about the visual look of the film more.

* Have an actor reading the script who might be interested in the "lead roll"

* I'm working on a short clip real that I'll post to Youtube and cross post here, that shows some fight sequences that I'd like to emulate. The thing is, my friends have gotten to calling this "PK's Kung-fu film" and although I understand why they say that, and it's certainly closer to "Kill Bill" than say "Fogretting Sarah Marshall" - its absolutely not a kung-fu film. Hopefully that video can go up this weekend and everyone can kinda see where I want this to go...

* I have a very good Graphic Designer working logo ideas for me - hopefully by the end of next week we can get rid of the silly temp logo here...

Well I've bent your ear long enough, thank you for reading!
More soon....

Dang, I sound awful... this is like talking into an answering machine... is this still on well cra-

Investors Letter

2009-06-12T18:35:00.000-07:00

It’s time for PK Eiselt to get off his ass and do something!

Friends, Family & People-I-Generally-Annoy,

As you know, I graduated film school almost 10 years ago with a passion for filmmaking that led me to producing four award-winning shorts. It was such a rewarding experience and it was one of the happiest times in my life.

Since then, I’ve gone into careers that just pay the bills, but don’t necessarily spark any of that passion. So after many years of screwing around in the “real world” I made a concerted effort this last year thinking about what I kind of a movie I would want to make. After about 9 months, floating ideas in my head, and writing scripts (many of which were admittedly pretty bad), I now have a story that I am genuinely excited about and I feel is ready to shoot!

In short, it’s time for me to stop screwing around and make a damn film!

And that’s where the begging starts. My film can be made with a modest budget, but filmmaking is expensive. I’m putting a lot of my own money into this project, but it won’t be enough to finish it. So I’m here to ask for help. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hundred dollars or twenty dollars. Every bit will go into the making of this film and of course you’ll get your name in the credits too!

“Love Minus Zero” is a ten-minute short film about a peculiar couple on the verge of breaking up and the hapless restaurant patrons who suffer the fallout as internalized tensions become external.

It’s serious. It’s comical. It’s visceral, and it’s totally me.

Short films can be like calling cards into the film industry. “Love Minus Zero” is mine, my re-introduction. This short isn’t my end goal, but a beginning to a new career in film.

In the next few months, I will be launching a website for the project that will feature photos, videos, as well as a production blog.

Making this movie is about who I am today and what I want to be tomorrow. I’m asking my friends and my family to invest a little bit into my passion. I want you to be a part of that journey, help me find my joy again.

Please feel free to contact me if you would like further information about this project, or would like to contribute!

Thank you for your support!

Check out our: MySpace and FaceBook pages!

Links to some of my previous films:

Miss Gentilbelle (w/Tara Miele)

Genre (w/ Don Hertsfeldt)

Open House

Lets Make A MOVIE!

2009-06-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

Love Minus Zero
Here we go!

This page is meant to chart the progress of a film project that I’ve been working on since September 2008. It’s been a long trek getting to this point, but I’m finally moving towards production. I hope to actively start production work (location scouting, casting, rehearsals, prop building etc.) this September. Until then, I’m gathering resources and refining the script.

So what’s the movie about and why do you care? In short, the film,
“Love Minus Zero” is a ten-minute short film about a peculiar couple on the verge of breaking up and the hapless restaurant patrons who suffer the fallout as internalized tensions become external.

I came up with the idea for this project from a number of different influences. One major catalyst was watching something like 30+ short films last summer, and I started noticing recurring patterns both good and bad. I started making a mental list in my head of stuff that I as a viewer wanted to see more of, stuff that I didn’t want to see (or was tired of seeing), and stuff that I thought was missing.

That list sat in my head for a long time. Meanwhile, I was also looking at the gay community and thinking of what it meant to be Gay in Los Angeles in the year 2008. What were the fears, the social plagues, what aspects of this life were universal and what issues specifically had become meaningful to me.

I think what I’ve noticed most in recent years is that there is a rush, almost a panic, to find the “right one” or face a destiny of being “Unlovable”. This is a recurring problem for many Americans in my opinion, but the threat, seems more acute in the Gay Community, where options are limited, and people have even more limited experience in the field of romantic social engagements. There is, in my opinion a sort of desperation that sets in, especially in the over 30 crowd.

In fact, the first attempt at this story was called “Unlovable”. Even though that story never quite gelled, the work I did on it laid the ground work for the far superior script that I have now. Those of you who were unfortunate enough to have been forced to read that train wreck of a script, may or may not see the common seeds in this new work, but I assure you, they are there.

So here we go – In future installments I’ll be sharing my progress on all fronts, telling anecdotes, posting pictures and videos, begging for money, and kvetching in general about how life sucks (a necessary phase that all filmmakers go through at some point in a production)

Thanks for reading!