I wanted to take the time to give a big thank you to the Docsniper team. As well as a big thank you to everyone who voted for my film Red. Like many of you I'm always looking for another film competition to enter one of my films in. I was searching one day and I came across the "Seeing Red" competition. The only criteria being that your video had to have something red in it. I thought, "I believe I have a film that would be perfect for this competition." Apparently, I was right.
The Docsniper team asked me to share my experience making this little film as well as my experience with entering the contest. This movie was a real labor of love. My girlfriend and I came up with the concept and wrote the screenplay. The big problem was I had to have a werewolf in the film. Now, I searched the internet and couldn't find anything remotely like what I wanted. Every costume was more or less a couple hundred dollar fur jumpsuit with rubber mask included ...WOW. So, being the perfectionist that I am I decided I was going to make it myself. My girlfriend Sadie and I went out on a mission to get all the materials and were quite happy to find all the fur we needed clearanced at walmart for only 11 dollars! A lot of sculpting, gluing and days of waiting for stuff to dry later, not to mention one heckuva nice burn from the glue gun I finished my costume! So, it was time to kick it into high gear that weekend we were filming! My girlfriend felt like she was melting in the makeup. I felt like I was going to get heat stroke running around in that werewolf costume in the hot sun of mid July. They kept taking the mask off my head and making me drink water. Which wasn't a very easy thing to do with those giant paws. In my defense I only fell over once and couldn't get back up. I felt like the little boy from "A Christmas Story". We did a few days of filming and then it was up to me to edit. This film was made with just a mini dv camera. It was all we had to work with but I think in the end it makes you more creative on how you film your movie. In the end I'm very proud of the way it turned out. This was the first film I've made that came out exactly the way I envisioned it.
Anyone worrying that this contest isn't legit, let me tell you differently. I have had nothing but good communication with the Docsniper team after winning the competition. There are very few video competitions that allow you to be completely creative. Most contests are looking for one specific thing. It was great to be a part of a contest with so many diverse types of videos. As every day goes by I see more and more people becoming members of the Docsniper family so the contests are only going to get bigger and better. I for one can't wait to see what the next one is. I was very proud to be a part of the "Seeing Red" competition. Thanks again Docsniper!
Shawn Jennings
