Well well, we meet again...

Hello ladies and gents. Good to be talking with you again, that is if you even remember who I am, or why you read this blog. Let's start over shall we, my name is Jordan McCaleb. I am a Filmmaker and Writer, currently living in Texas and working as a Worship and Arts Ministry Assistant for the First Baptist Church of Kaufman.

I love to write, make movies, and I love my job where I make movies (kind of) and get to be with awesome people. It's been quite too long since I last updated here, things have been...busy. I am currently finishing the final months of High School, training for a Mission Trip to Beijing China, and preparing to be an uncle!

It's quite a load, but I've enjoyed it nonetheless. So, unless you actually check my YouTube channel, you don't know what I've made in the last 8 months. I made a terribly awkward and mediocre short film and a sub par entry into the Crash the Doritos Superbowl contest.

I learned a lot from both of these, the two biggest things are as follows,

1. Don't rush: I tried too hard to rush things. I didn't allow myself enough time to flesh out the story, and I tried to fit the filming all in one day for both. Sometimes it's understandable, when you have people that may only be available for the one day. For me, from now on, I always try and schedule it out, more time means less mistakes, and the ability to concentrate on certain things for longer.

2. Don't be embarrassed to show your video to everyone, not just Youtube: This was something I struggled with after finishing my first short film LOCKDOWN. I finished a cut that I felt I could do no more good with, and subsequently realized that it sucked. I hated it, it makes me cringe every time I watch it, but that's part of the game. I was put at ease the other day when reading an interview with Steven Spielberg. He talked about how the only movie he can watch, as if it wasn't his, the only movie he was truly happy with, is Raiders of the Lost Ark.

That means this visual master class Director, actually has things he isn't happy about in his movies. Now granted he doesn't hate his movies as I hate my first short, but there are always going to be things you wish you did differently (exempting Raiders of the Lost Ark of course).

So, once I overcame the fear of showing it to people in person, I felt better. I was able to get real constructive criticism, and improve on my films.

Those were the two big things I learned, that I can tell have already improved me as a young Director.

So on to the news. I currently have a couple of projects in the pipeline. A comedic short video (5 min), and another major short film. My next short which I have been working on since September of last year, is the biggest project I will have tackled yet.

I'm planning for about five days of shooting, and a $1,000 budget. It's an Action/Revenge piece, that takes heavy inspiration from Ryan Gosling's Drive. That I will shoot in the Summer, so I'm looking at a November release date at the latest.

Hopefully I can shoot my short comedic piece in the next few weeks here, and get ya'll something funny.

Well, thanks again for stopping by and listening to me drone (All four of you). I'll try and be better about updating in the future. The links to my recent works are below.

Have a lovely day,

-Jordan

Get the Doritos: http://youtu.be/L7RwgHuZSbk
Get the Doritos Trailer: http://youtu.be/oi5cbHMiO_8
Call of the Wild, Doritos Commercial: http://youtu.be/RFbs9LKqIn8

New Short Film!

What's up guys. Just dropping in to let everyone know that a new Short Film is on it's way. I finished the script a few weeks ago, and I will shoot it on July 20th. It's just gonna be a fun little action chase short, probably around 8 minutes.

This will be in most terms, my first legitimate short. I have some pretty decent equipment I'll be using, and one of my best friends and my Brother will be composing original music for it.

Now this is more of a standard film type short. It won't be like Lockdown (My first short film comprised of lot's of long takes. It will be a more standard shot to shot film. I think there is a total of 103 shots.

Anyway, a rundown of the equipment I'll be using.

Hardware:

Camera etc.:
Canon 600D (T3i)
Canon 18-55mm Lens
Canon 55-250 Lens

Audio:
Rode Videomic (Boomed)
Zoom H4n

Software:
Final Cut Pro
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Photoshop
Magic Bullet Quick Looks

Pretty straight forward equipment. I'm most excited about the Zoom H4n, I can't wait for the audio I'll get with that. Anyways, I'm shooting it the 20th. Due to the music composition, it will probably be Late August/Early September when this is uploaded.

My Brother will pump out music quicker but my good friend has a little bit more on his plate so it'll be a while before all of the music is locked down.

I look forward to sharing it all with you. I'm thinking of doing a review of the Zoom H4n and my 600D. I know they've both been out for a while but everyone's opinions on products are different, and an up and coming filmmaker may want to know the opinion of another up and coming filmmaker's products.

So look forward to that. As always, until next time,

-Jordan

Summer 2013 Plan

Hey guys! I know its been just over two months since I've posted last, sorry about that. I just wanted to bring everyone some good news. I took a short break from writing the whole month of May to focus on School, my job, and my social life.

As of two days ago, I have the First Draft of my next short film written, I've sent it out to a few people, I'm currently awaiting notes/feedback on it so I can begin my Second Draft, hopefully tomorrow. I'm actually pretty happy with the First Draft so hopefully this thing won't have far to go.

I pretty much have the actors cast, I'm awaiting word from three people who aren't %100. Once I have actors locked down and a Final Draft, I'll start making a schedule. I'm going to be out of town coming up next week, and also for a week in July, so I'll probably shoot this thing around late July, for a early to mid August Release.

I'm pretty excited about this one, I love the idea, and this time it's much shorter compared to my first short film which had a run time of 22 minutes. I'll try and come up with some things to post about. I'm currently considering doing an in depth Web Series about the making of my Final Major Short film before college, it would cover everything from writing to filming to editing, and everything in between.

Stay tuned for more news on that. Unfortunately this short film is all I really have planned this summer. I've discussed entering the Crash the Doritos Contest for the Super Bowl, but the Contest doesn't start until November.

I'm looking into maybe making a Short Film later in the year, sometime between October and December so we'll see.

That's all for now, I shoot you some more updates on the upcoming short film as things develop.

Till Next Time,
-Jordan

Update 4/4/13

Hey guys. Hope you have all been well. Just dropping in to let everyone know that our next short film is in the works, I'm trying to pen a script down and have it finished by the end of June, and I hope to film sometime early august.

Here's the script for Lockdown I promised. Click Here

As always I'll update when there is more news.

Till Next Time,

-Jordan

Back to Work

What's up guys. It's been so nice to finally get my first short film up on YouTube, it's been an amazing experience making it. I'm already hard at work on my next project, can't wait to get this one developed. I'll throw in a little sneek peak below. Have a nice day!

-Jordan

Lockdown is Live

Hey all, just wanted to let everyone know that Lockdown is officially live on YouTube. Go check it out, hope you enjoy!

Till next time,

-Jordan

Lockdown is Finished

Hey everyone, just wanted to stop by and let everyone know that Post-Production on my debut Short Film Lockdown is finished. I've pulled basically all-nighters these last four nights to finish the editing. I've watched through it multiple times and it feels perfect to me, just the way I wanted it.


It's actually funny, the script was about 15 pages long, and it has come out with a run time of 20 minutes and 38 seconds. Before I began editing I was going to shoot for a runtime of about 12-15 minutes. I achieved that in the first two nights and it just didn't feel right, it felt way to short. So the next night I brought it up to the exact run time it's at now and it feels great. It still feels a little too short for the subject matter of the short film but we would have never been able to get the right amount of footage If I had written more (We were on a tight time limit).

It was an awesome experience editing it, it has come out a lot better than I had originally planned. I kept getting this awful feeling that I would not like it and would be embarrassed to show it too anyone but that is far from it. Due to me finishing the editing early, I will upload tonight and make it available tomorrow morning for your viewing pleasure. And as always, GIVE ME YOUR CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. You have no idea how valuable it truly is in helping me better myself as a filmmaker.

I'll shoot a quick post tomorrow when it's available. Have a nice night!

Till next time,

-Jordan