© 2004-2009, Woodlane Enterprises, LLC & JD Moores
I'm JD Moores and welcome to Production Briefs.com, an online resource page and introduction to Briefs, my self-published account of my experiences in no-budget filmmaking. If you're at all interested in filmmaking but, like so many of us, are sorely short on resources, I encourage you to read this site and browse its links.Since childhood, I've loved telling stories and using images to do it. Though not in the usual order, my passion progressed through writing stories, acting and organizing plays, writing scripts and then, finally, teaching myself the process of making a movie, even with the limited resources available.Here you'll find introductions and information on three of my digital short films -- what I've jokingly refer to as "JD's shorts" (yeah...) -- as well as some cursory information on their making.The first (online at my MySpace Profile) is entitled Behind the Pulpit, but that wasn't the original title and the original running time was much longer -- about three times longer if I recall correctly. This was my first experience with video production -- ever -- and the initial result in 1996 was crude to say the least. Topically, it is a documentary about church politics using the stories and interviews of three pastors from a particular church I attended briefly in the once small, now fairly sizable town of Columbia, Tennessee. The interviews are standard VHS shot with a 1988 model Panasonic camera, quite advanced for its time and status as a consumer camcorder, but still crude by today's standards and very bulky. Additional insert footage was filmed in 1998 with a hi-8 camcorder and the whole thing was re-edited and condensed twice, once in 2000 and then again between 2005 and 2006. Each edit benefited not only from better non-linear editing programs but also from the editorial judgment and discretion that comes from experience in stepping back, looking critically at what you've created and deciding just how much is or is not needed to get the point across.
<THE PILOTS' LOUNGE
My personal pride and joy was realized in 2004 with The Pilots' Lounge: Pilot Error, unarguably the most technically sophisticated, if not necessarily the narrative best, of such projects I've completed before or since. With a script cobbled from over seven years of comedic brainstorming, character development and personal experience, it is truly a small but very personally significant realization of a dream. As you'll read in Briefs, it benefitted immensely from the incredible group of actors and small crew with whom I was lucky to work, people that embodied their characters as I had envisioned them, both physically and emotionally, as well as knew what it took to make the very best from virtually nothing, particularly when I didn't. Since then, specific members of the cast have gone on to run for public office, become entrepreneurs and advanced their artistic careers as both actors and musicians. Some have produced and released their own albums while others have snagged small roles and cameos in television and feature films alongside actors like Brad Pitt and in studio fare such as 2008's hit sequel The Dark Knight. Whether or not The Pilots' Lounge represents your particular tastes in comedy or drama, I think you'll agree that the passion, dedication, skill and raw talent that went into it makes it more than the sum of its parts.
<TIME'S MASTER
Time's Master was the last digital short I produced back in September of 2005. It is obviously completely different from The Pilots' Lounge both narratively and technically and was a sort of test run for a feature film I'm putting together entitled The Hour Trap. Time's Master could then be considered a prequel of sorts, featuring only two characters and one location but with the intention of setting up at least one very important element of a much larger story. As you'll read in Briefs, it was slightly more satisfying artistically because, perhaps for the fact that it was smaller in scale, it allowed more creative freedom and license in its direction, from creating more intense performances to finally being able to pre-plan and execute every shot, every camera move. Although not the favorite of those that have seen it locally, it was featured in an episode of Too Short For Hollywood on ManiaTV, essentially the Internet equivalent of MTV back in June of 2006. The feature-length follow-up is one of the two films that will hopefully be funded, in part, from the proceeds from Briefs, just one of several items received for contributions to the production of you choice (see related page).Well, I hope you've enjoyed this site and, again, be sure to check out all the links and resources listed on the left. Thanks and good luck!- JD Moores
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