IMAGEN Films seeks concept artists !

[Marty Martin]

Hey there, I hope this is the correct forum to post in!

We have already attracted several artists out there to help us out, and we are looking for two or three more. To simplify things, I am attaching an email I sent out to one of these artists which explains just about everything. For more info on IMAGEN Films and the pertaining projects go to:

http://www.imagenfilms.com

Email:
"We are currently looking for adept artists who are willing to donate their time to our projects. Up to this point we have done nearly everything from scratch and without money, and 95% of all people involved have volunteered their time and/or resources. Obviously this won't be the case forever! Right now, we are finishing up on a project that we will be taking down to LA in order to attract some attention and to get a bigger budget to do the film on a larger scale. In order to do this, we need to put together some more artwork. I could do it myself, but I'm in the middle of a thousand things, and not to mention, I like to have people give a fresh twist on my ideas.

Aside from this film, we are pushing towards the pre-production stage of our film "Ryan's Eternity" which we are hoping to pull together a $500,000 to $1,000,000 and start filming this October. And we have a myriad of films that we have attracted attention to via our posters, but that producers have asked for concept art on. So there are a lot of things we need done, and we are looking to pull together a team of 4 to 6 artists who are willing to help us out, and go further in the future with us.

I think of IMAGEN Films as something apart from most of the "little guys" trying to make it into the film business. We have huge aspirations and aren't afraid to take risks. And thus far, we have attracted some incredible attention from large Studios. But we have some more to do before a "deal" is made of course, so we'll just work hard until we get there.

Let me know what you think, and hopefully we can work together! If you should want to, you are free to help out with any of our projects that interest you. As for our current project, we would email you excerpts from the script that you could choose from. We are looking to have things done in more of a comic book fashion. So a lot of action shots. Not necessarily paneling though.

Sorry for the rambling on, but I wanted to get you the most accurate info!"

So there you go guys, and please let us know if you are interested. We don't want to waste your time, as we feel this will be a valuable project to add to your portfolio and we intend to do everything possible to make our projects a reality. Something that doesn't happen often enough. But we have that drive to make it happen. I am an artist just like all of you, and appreciate your time and consideration.

--

Marty Martin
Producer/Director/Writer
IMAGEN Films

http://www.imagenfilms.com

Add yourself to our mailing list to stay up-to-date with what IMAGEN Films is doing. mailinglist@imagenfilms.com

"Imagen the possibilities..."

http://www.imagenfilms.com/chrissteadycam01.jpg
http://www.imagenfilms.com/legionofghostssmall.jpg

[ChadTHX1138]

I think this will probably get moved to the Jobs section of the forum.

Resident Evil was made on 7 mil Desperado on as much. (i'm a Rodriguez nut) I am curious to see how well you guy's utilize this amount filming on Mini DV, I wish you success.

Big rig for an XL1...Is all that really needed? not ragging but just curious...I have one sitting here at my desk.

[Marty Martin]

:) Ya it's necessary. At least for me it is. If you want very smooth and professional camerawork, or should I say professionally smooth camerawork. Because some rough camera work can be done professionally as well of course. my style though, is to use very smooth dolly, steadicam and crane shots overall.

We built all of our equipment from scratch, and wanted to take our resources to the limits. We figured, if we were going to do it, we'd better do it right.

[Twincruiser]

I will give you my honest opinion about your film studio and want to give you some tips to help you along the way of becoming a succesfull image-maker. Please don't take this as if I am bashing you.

I have taken the time to explore your site and the information it offers and I already soon got the impression it gives a inconsistent whole. The site looks professional I must say but the content really makes it clear to the audience you are not that professional.

One of the videos said your studio is "creating new limits". I must say that you haven't even jumped of the cliff yet. Your videos don't communicate anything new to the audience. SWAT Squads, 'mysterious' briefcases, men in black suits in the likes of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Agent Smith, Men in Black; car chases etc. have already been excessively done before and are an extreme cliché in American Filmmaking. If you want to be noticed by the great filmmaking companies you should really invest your time in bringing something new, something that hasn't been done before, something that is 'you'.

Secondly, you should really work on your concept behind imagery that stand for your company and projects. The logo for example is in my opinion done with very little thought to it. Why is the 'A' a Greek Lambda and why does the right leg go down like that. What does it have to do with 'Imagine'. Likewise, your film posters also clearly show something 'unprofessional' and it may scare companies away from being involved with you. The Legion of Ghosts poster is a good example of this. The way the chariot (which is clearly a sculpture or painting) is pasted onto the background makes the whole very flat and uninviting. The other posters are very similiar in text and layout. Having Tom Cruise on your poster is cool but I don't think anybody will be convinced in being involved with you in that way. Not to mention you could get in serious trouble by using the portrait or copyrighted photo of someone else and giving an argument by saying that it will show "film potential" really classifies you as a noob in the eye of companies.

Thirdly I think that putting bloopers on your site is also not good for your credibility. Put them in Special Edition DVDS but not on your main propaganda...it looks well... kinda silly.

I hope I have not offended you and if I have then I apoligize but these are my sincere reactions to you site and studio. I am only trying to help you out a bit. In a business where image counts heavily you should be aware that making your product attractive, serious, creative and new is a very important first step to reach the bigshots out there.

-Michel of Twincruiser

[Marty Martin]

I appreciate your input, and believe me... I have heard worse. I have gone over a lot of this on other threads, so unfortunately I am quite exhausted reexplaining a lot of things, but i will take a second to say a couple of things.

Firstly, we are trying to come across as professional, certainly; but we also want people to realize that we are still very small and working our way up. This is why you do find the outtakes on the website for example. I wanted to give a little more insight into the "human" side of the project. Whereas a lot of bigger companies won't show this on their websites. It may seem unprofessional at first glance, but in my opinion, it feels right for this particular project.

I do agree, that based on our preliminary trailer, it seems like a lot of action and little substance. But this is definitely not the case. We are working on a new trailer and HOPEFULLY we will carry across some more of the other facets of the film. The fact is that this film is very original and different, and we are looking for the funds to make it with a bigger budget to make it all that it can be.

We are creating new limits... most people at our level [and most people in general] don't take the risks and/or face the challenges we are facing. I hope we can become an inspiration for young filmmakers who struggle to become something. We are doing things differently and marketing ourselves differently to producers.

And producers actually liked what we were putting together. Obviously some will just SAY that, but there were several that were sincere. Not to mention, we have several major contacts who have contacted us in person a couple of times to let us know they were keeping up with what we are doing and are impressed.

The one thing that surprised me, was that the film poster with TOM CRUISE for "Ryan's Eternity" is what the producers loved. They were happy we had the guts to put him on their and show that we really knew what we wanted. And it is this film that will be hitting pre-production in June after our month-long trip to Los Angeles to meet with producers again.

This film will stick out. This is an incredibly powerful dramatic story, that is "ME", as you were saying.

BTW, in reference to your comment "car chases etc. have already been excessively done before and are an extreme cliché in American Filmmaking"

I agree, but the reason we tackled such a film was because they are next to impossible to do without a budget, and we wanted to take the challenge and prove that it could be done. But again... the trailer is being reworked to show more of the other sides of the film.