In this day and age where virtually anyone can make a film, a time of digital SLR’s with HD video capabilities, depth of field adapters, and cheap cameras with interchangeable lenses, young aspiring filmmakers have a tendency to focus on the gear; how filmic, how cinematic, and how aesthetically pleasing their images can be, rather than the root of all films-- the story.
One filmmaker is changing that and is forging his own path in both the creation and the distribution of his films.
24 year-old Daniel Skubal is the lead editor at Zacuto, Emmy winner of the company’s feature-length web series titled “The Great Camera Shootout 2010” and co-producer of two additional educational documentaries coming this spring. He also has a series of personal projects coming down the pipeline that explore an independent thesis he has been working for nearly two years.
The thesis is focused purely on the way stories are crafted and how they are told. Skubal draws from the greats, exploring the points of success of filmmakers like Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, Frank Capra and Walt Disney and may other greats based on how they tell their stories. He has also began a road map with considerable evidence, plotting out the interconnectivity of these filmmakers in their films, styles, stories and relationships with one another.
Skubal’s first film is titled ‘Your Milkman,’ and is currently in pre-production. “The film is a period piece set in the 1950‘s, about a beautiful housewife who has had enough of her monotonous marriage and flirts with temptation when a young milkman enters her life,” says Daniel.
In December, the filmmaker started a page on crowdfunding site, IndieGoGo (an alternative to the site KickStarter). “IndieGoGo has been incredible,” says Skubal. “I can’t believe how much we’ve raised thus far, but we still have a long way to go.”
Daniel has also created a blog, documenting the process and vows to create educational material for budding filmmakers who “just might not have the know-how yet.”
“We are making this film no matter how much we raise,” says Daniel. “We’ll just have to modify how well we can tell it.”
Since the page’s creation, Daniel has raised $1,600. He aims to raise $9,000 by the campaign’s end on April 19th.
For more information about both the thesis, and Daniel’s production, his blog can be found at:
http://www.indiegogo.com/Your-Milkman and the IndieGoGo page can be found at:
http://indiegogo.com/your-milkman
