An Interview with Solomon Rothman Creator of the Open Source Movie, Boy Who Never Slept

TSG: Tell us a little about the Boy Who Never Slept

Solomon Rothman: Boy Who Never Slept is full length movie about a stagnant insomniac writer who happens to meet a teenage girl online. What begins as merely a friendship develops into an unlikely love story wrapped in harsh reality. The film was originally billed it as a "sexy dramatic comedy." I was shot with a non-existent budget and released as one of the first "Open
Source Movies".

TSG: What did you use to shoot and edit the movie? For instance, camera type and model, and video editing software?

SR: The movie was shot mainly with a JVC GR-DV3, an older consumer camcorder that use to retail for $1200, now you can pick one up on ebay for under $200.

Part way through the shooting I was able to borrow a newer 1 year old (at the time) high end Sony camcorder with a retail price of $1,500. Since I only had that camera for a limited time, I don't recall the exact model number, but It was a handycam with a 3 inch+ LCD touch screen and a single large CCD.

All the video editing was done with Adobe Premiere Pro, I was also able to use Adobe After Effects to enhance the look of some of the footage.

The DVD was authored with the trial version of Adobe Encore.

TSG: You had some sound problems with first movie, what are you doing to correct them for your next project?

SR: I've been studying sound production and specially reading up on production tips for low budget DV films. My next production will still have no budget, but I'll be able to afford some improved professional microphones (a shotgun microphone, and a balanced mic adapter) which if used correctly should greatly enhance my sound quality.

I'm also going to focus a lot on reducing reverb by using sound better, microphones and sound blankets to reduce room reflections.

On the post-production side of things I want to work on adding a few well placed sound effects and room background noises to add richness and depth.

TSG: How did you find the actors and what was your experience working with them? Were any aspiring actors or was it mostly people you knew?

SR: At the time I was living in Eugene, Oregon and I had some access to theater actors, but not like the available of talent in Los Angeles (where I am now). I decided to use people I knew, plus I thought this would add to hype of how I created this movie with nothing ($200 budget)

TSG: Can you tell us a little about how you are distributing your movie?

SR: Online via direct download and on video streaming via various video distribution sites like Google Video. It' also available in higher resolution through Bittourent and other file sharing networks. I also recently released a DVD version that's selling through Customflix and Amazon.

TSG: ..and about open source?

SR: Open source for movies involves releasing the movies "source" files under a license that allows other to create derivative works, (they can legally re-edit or re-shoot the film anyway they like). For Boy Who Never Slept I made available all the source files I used to create the film (video footage, audio, and shooting script among others) with a creative commons 2.5 license that allows others to evolve and reinterpret my work.

TSG: What kind of marketing or promotion have you done for the movie?

SR: I focused the marketing on obtaining organic Search Engine Rankings and a Viral Internet marketing plan that made use of video distribution sites, online social networks like Myspace, offbeat story promotion, and other means. I spent almost no money, but was able to achieve excellent results and exposure.

TSG: What have your sales been like?

SR: The DVD has only been released for 2 weeks, so currently very low, but what can you expect with a film you released online for free and created with a production budget of $200.

This is another source of revenue directly attributed to this movie that is worth mentioning. All this exposure in combination with my SEO and search engine marketing has driven a large amount of traffic to my site, resulting in me earning around $200 per month in revenue from my Adsense, Text link sales etc. My website traffic is also increasing very rapidly. It's possible that within a short period of time I'll be able to fund my no budget movies directly from the revenue earned off my personal website, without even earning anything off the distribution source itself. Cool huh?

Although, I do hope to sell some more DVDs in the future and show the world that there is monetary value in producing a no-budget indie movie. I'm actually excited and impressed that it's selling at all and I do think some more will buy it as we get closer to the holidays.

TSG: What have some of your post production experiences been? Audience reactions, Film Festivals, Reviews in any publications?

SR: Audience reactions have been incredible; I literally receive e-mail daily from fans and viewers from all over the world. Most of the responses are very polarized, Concerning the movie - they either "love it" or "hate it", but almost every response has been encouraging and supportive of the work I'm doing, (as far as creating indie movies with no budget and distributing them online for everyone to see)

My favorite e-mails come from aspiring filmmakers who found inspiration in my story. That's exactly what I was going for, I mean I made a movie for $200 and got over a million people to see it. They look at that and are filled with the possibilities they can achieve, and this is only the
beginning.

I haven't sent my movie into any film festivals as of yet. Since I was planning on online distribution I spent most of my energy and spare time on this process. I do plan on hitting
up the festival circuit with some of my next productions and getting in there with the "big" indie producers. (to me even a half million dollar budget seems HUGE), but I wanted to wait until I grow more in my filmmaking abilities and am able to produce something more in the budget of $5,000 (hd equipment, better mics etc) that will also bring in more monetary value and would have the possibility in getting picked up for mainstream distribution.

Boy Who Never Slept has been mentioned on a bunch of different websites and publications in a multitude of languages. The English language sources include Blogger News Network, Wikinews, Wikipedia, Tectonic Linux and open source news, New York Review, Blog Critics, Teevbloger, Enterprise Open Source Magazine, Simply Scripts, Free Software Magazine, Linux and Open Source Blog, and the Creative Commons Weblog among others.

Most of these concern themselves more with the idea and back story, rather than actually reviewing the film's content. I've e-mailed some of the movie review sites and attempted to add BWNS to IMDb, but currently they're ignoring me. This won't last long however, as the movie reaches a wider and wider audience. Just yesterday 11,500 people watched the movie trailer
JUST FROM GOOGLE VIDEO. With numbers like this, it won't be long until a lot more sites take notice.

I just received an e-mail from Orchard Films, who want to use some of the BWNS footage in part of their documentary on Sex and Teens.

TSG: What projects do you have in the pipeline now?

SR: I have a whole bunch of projects.

#1. I've almost completed a full length psychological horror movie. I'm in the re-write, re-write, re-write and polish stage, so I'm not releasing any details about it yet, but I will very soon. This particular film can't be done on a null budget, so I'll probably be submitting it to the standard
channels (script agent), but if I can't get this optioned I'll find a way to do it justice myself (maybe raise money for the budget? Grants?)

#2. I've the completed the first draft for a full length Army drama and recently contacted one of my high school friends currently serving in the military about the possibility of helping me put together a no-budget production staring al real active duty soldiers, shot in the vicinity of a real Army Fort (probably can't legally shoot on location, but it'll be the same town) . This film is a character base drama about Army life on the fort and contains some very intense scenes. If I can effectively pull this together (it's just a draft script and it's all just talk right now) it would be incredible, even more powerful considering all the "actors" would be real soldiers, of course using non-professionals will require a lot of rehearsals and attention to make it come out right. This film will mean a lot to me if I'm able to produce it.

#3. I've also written a series of short movies (5-25 minutes long) that vary in style and genere. I'm just about to purchase some new equipment (High Definition) and I'll honing my filmmaking skills by creating these shorts - they'll be released open source for free online, although depending on the quality I may submit them to festivals first before full online distribution.

TSG: Solomon Rothman is an Indie Filmmaker to keep your eye on, check out his Website and Blog at SolomonRothman.com