Author Archives: Ferry Boat Films

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My Tools

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These are the tools I use to make your vision a reality.

Writing:  Final Draft Software

Lighting:

  • 4 Twin 600 watt Britek Photo Video quartz halogen lights
  • 3 Britek Softbox 24″ x 24″
  • 3 Britek heavy duty 8 foot stands.
  • 1 Britek Heavy Duty Boom Stand

Camera:  Panasonic AG-DVX 100B

Microphone:  Rode NTG-2 Condenser Microphone

Tripod:  Manfrotto 3011BN

Boom:  K-Tek Boompole

Computer: MacBook Pro

Editing Software: Final Cut Express

Musical Scoring Software:  Ableton Live 8

Controller:  Axiom 25 MIDI Controller

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Rates

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I wanted to offer a page in which I present my rates to make your film for your business website.  The big boys in town, that is the people who have been at it  longer than me, are asking $1,500 per day of shooting.  This amounts to about $188 per hour in an eight-hour day.  I will not ask for that.  As a brand-new production company, I am asking for $95 per hour with a required half-day fee for shooting.  A half-day would consist of four hours of work.  But shooting a film is just one aspect of creating the best possible product for your business.  There are three phases to the filmmaking process.  There is the pre-production phase where we write an outline followed by a good script, then comes the production phase where the lights, camera, and action occur.  After the film is “in-the-can,” there is the post-production phase where I edit the film, I sweeten the sound, I compose the score, and I correct the color of the film.  So, for a half-hour training video, I would ask for 23 hours of work, which would look like the following on a billing sheet:

PRE-PRODUCTION

Project Outlining:  1 Hour

Writing:  5 Hours

PRODUCTION

Filming and ADR (voiceover):  8 Hours

POST-PRODUCTION

Editing  – Audio/ Video:    8 Hours

Music Scoring:  variable Hours @ $95 Hour

Authoring – Uploading to website:  1 Hour

Estimated Hours:  23 Hours

@ $95 Hour = $2185

Equipment Fees (tapes, camera)  $25

Estimated Total  $2210

Additional Costs:

Original Music ________ Hours @ $95 per hour

Estimated Grand Total $______________

Naturally, different projects would call for different amounts of time for the three stages of the filmmaking process.

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Starting My Business

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I have decided to start my business, Ferry Boat Films.  It has been a long time coming, but after having taught in the public schools for the last seven years and gaining a great deal of professional experience and security as far as income and benefits, it is time I pursued my passion for filmmaking fulltime.  This comes as a difficult decision because of what I will be losing, namely a sure paycheck and reliable work.  But I know that writing, shooting, editing, and working with actors and clients, inspires and excites me.  So I am starting a web-based video production company called Ferry Boat Films.  I would be able to write, shoot, and edit for you or your company’s website, commercial documentary films, educational programs, events, infomercials, real estate presentations, sports videos, training films, and narrative short films.  I have a story-telling, cinematic style and I merge that into everything I make.  Formerly, I was a member of a movie-making co-op with the handle of Holding Pattern Productions.  After wrapping our last short film project in early August, that co-op has since disbanded and been resurrected as Ferry Boat Films.  I will soon be picking up the Sole Proprietor moniker to make this all official.  But in the meantime please know that I would be honored to work with you in making movies for your business.  It is certain that on-line advertisements increase sales of your product and I offer competitive prices to make your vision a reality.  If you want to join forces and create moving images that will bring customers and income, please call at 303 501 0696, send me an email at ferryboatfilms@gmail.com, or write me on Facebook.  I am eager to bring your vision to the web.  Thank you for reading this post.

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THE FINAL SCENE OF HEAT

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Heat is the film that commanded me to make movies.  I saw it with Chris Kish in Louisville, Colorado, in 1996.  It changed me forever.  I’ve watched this scene hundreds of times in my life, studying it to see what makes it tick, to make sure that I’ll make something like it someday.  Of course, it’s power comes from the nearly three hours that have led up to this point.  Just before this final scene, the main “bad guy,” Robert DeNiro’s Neil McCauley, has escaped with his dream girl and has every opportunity to flee and ride off into the sunset, but when he catches wind of one last chance to settle a score with Kevin Gage’s Waingro, a double-crossing animal of a criminal, who severely tainted a score in the first act and who tried to have Neil killed in the beginning of the film, Neil cannot resist and turns away from the escape path.  Bad move for him, great for Vincent Hanna, the Al Pacino character who has finally caught up to him.  We care for Neil because he follows a code in his world.  He is a sociopath, but we still hope he gets away because he has worked so hard and has been through so much to get to this point.  Fortunately, director Michael Mann snaps us out of it: ya can’t rob banks, even if it’s your profession.  And so this scene is the inevitable conclusion to this world.  Neil must be stopped and though he was a criminal, he deserves a compassionate witness to his death, even if that witness is the cop who brought him down.

Watch how Vincent looks off into the distance, wondering how in the world he got there, in the middle of this bizarre, blinking, future field.  And Moby’s God Moving Over the Face of the Waters is the final flourish that grants the picture epic status.