The current feature film project of one studios ™, Fight 4 Your Life is an action fantasy movie about a boxer fighting his way through a night of intense and peculiar challenges in order to make it to his big match against an old rival. The film revolves around the premise that “the journeys we make are the journeys we take.” And the journey for this film has been a long and hard fought battle, so very appropriate in relation to this premise, as well as Fight 4 Your Life’s story, characters, internal messages and the very name it goes by.
- The Fight 4 Your Life Short Film
- The Feature Film’s Start
- The Feature Film’s Production
- Fight 4 Your Life‘s Current Status
The Fight 4 Your Life Short Film
F4YL was originally a short film concept, with the first version of the script written in March 2012 and the principal shooting for the short held during a single weekend that April. 11 individual scenes were shot in a day and a half. And less than a day was spent editing the film together to a very rough cut. This was all done as part of that year’s Sacramento 48 Hour Film Festival competition in Sacramento, California.
The plan had been to see what could be done in a single weekend, shooting wise, and fill in the blanks with additional pickup shoots after in order to complete the short. It was a type of experimental process, really. But as the film was worked into some sort of roughly finished form, more and more ideas came to mind on what could be added to make it a more complete film.
Abundant scenes were created and the original scripted material was reworked. In turn, this made the original short film concept into more of a full length feature film concept. And the footage that had sufficed for the 48 Hour arena just didn’t hold up to what was now envisioned.
A behind the scenes look at the F4YL short film
A new monster had emerged….one that called for a totally new build for the project from the ground up. Hence, this feature film version of F4YL has been done from scratch, being totally separate from the original short, not using any of its predecessor’s footage.
The original short version of Fight 4 Your Life is forever now its own entity and will eventually be viewable as a bonus feature upon the release of the F4YL feature on DVD/Blu-Ray and via online streaming, among other viewing outlets. This way F4YL fans can get to see further into the origins of this project, paying homage to the short. Until that day comes though the short will remain locked away in the one studios archives in order to maintain the intrigue of Fight 4 Your Life’s storyline.
The teaser trailer below was composed using footage from the short film and was stylized to portray, to some level, what we were going to go for stylistically with the feature version. This was just one tool used from the short to help us gain support for the full length F4YL movie, giving us a sort of backing to our claims that we were serious about doing the feature and demonstrating to some degree we weren’t total newbs to production. We wanted to put our best foot forward, using every little ounce of influence, every networked resource, every earned skill and every provable accomplishment we had worked for over the last 15 years, and at least give some inkling that we could actually pull this thing off, making it worth people’s efforts.
This teaser, as well as the short overall, served as a form of tangible proof beyond just having words on paper and more words saying what we “planned” to do. It’s an unfortunate fact there are a lot of failed projects that begin with the best of hopes and intentions. People give a lot of time and energy towards such projects for no real positive end result aside from, maybe, experience. In other words, the projects never get finished.
This is especially true in the world of independent film. There are so many factors at play…money, equipment, experience, man power, timing, disagreements between the filmmakers, scheduling, cooperation, acts of God…. It’s so easy for people to get in over their head and sink. Or, even worse, it’s so easy for people to start making promises they can’t keep, eventually causing harm to others as they sink.
Can Fleet defeat the Shadow Warrior?
It doesn’t mean people are bad people for setting up a project and not finishing it. Things happen. But regardless of the reasoning, if you can’t get it done you’re wasting people’s time, including your own. If it’s going to take a while to get it done that’s one thing. But you just have to get it done.
SO, top priority was to make sure we could actually get this film done. Sure, it was going to be tough no matter what, especially due to the immense scale of Fight 4 Your Life. It’s not your average low budget indie flick with a cast and crew of maybe 20-30 people. To date, there have been over 250 people legitimately involved in F4YL‘s production.
No matter any impeding circumstances we had to have the mindset of getting the project done if we were going to push forward with it. This made way for the first of our main four principles we have followed to get this film accomplished. Number one, no matter what, we would get Fight 4 Your Life finished. Just getting this in our heads has helped our spirits push through the struggles.
Regardless of situations with money, actors, locations, etc., we would complete this film. There would definitely be bumps. But if we couldn’t foresee being able to handle a few cuts and bruises along the journey and still get this thing finished then we had no business starting on the path of making a feature film.
One of our many locations, Center Ring Boxing Gym
Even though we couldn’t escape many of the risks that make up filmmaking, as filmmaking as a business is always a risk, we recognized such risks and went into this project realistically, understanding what we had working for us, what our limits were production wise and what roads we would not go down. For the most part, we have approached everything in a very adaptable manner, realizing nothing was going to be perfect and changes in plan would have to be made at times….and boy has this been the case on many occasions.
Second principle, we decided, and have stuck to, was that this film was not going to be about business as much as possible. Fight 4 Your Life has been and always will be about the project and the community behind it. Take a good look throughout this website and you can not only see the strenuous efforts we’ve made to detail the world of F4YL for everyone to dive into, but you can also easily see how important our cast, crew, contributors and supporters are to us. This mindset of project and community before business has allowed the BIG factor of money to not be as much of an issue….and we stress “as much”.
Money is always an issue, whether involving paying people, feeding people or just having enough to put the gas in your tank to get to a shoot, let alone cover the costs of actually shooting the darn film. You can’t escape money or its troubles. But we’ve done our best to ensure we limited its influence in the process, just focusing on using what we had financially to get the film done and leaving out a lot of the other stressful issues money can entail.
But how did we relatively get rid of many of the possible walls the dollar creates? That mainly relied on our third principle….BE HONEST. If the heavens saw it fit that we just weren’t going to get this film done, it wasn’t going to be because we screwed people over or had hold ups due money, unsavory deals or angry cast and crew. From day one we’ve never made promises to people we couldn’t keep. There have been no guarantees of “deferred pay” or agreements we knew were unrealistic. By being completely honest with people we’ve kept our I owe You’s and other commitments low.
Hanson Kelly – Bring it, punk.
Does this mean we think not paying people for their hard work, earned skills and valuable time is a cool thing to do? HELL NO! People have to eat. And one studios is a strong supporter of workers rights. We understand how difficult it is out there, especially within the creative industries. Everyone should get paid for their work, period. We would never want to be thought of as people that take advantage of our fellow creatives and artists. We’ve been taken advantage of and it sucks. But we have kept no secrets as to the financial status of Fight 4 Your Life.
Everyone involved made the choice to come on board knowing all important info up front. Everyone has known F4YL is a low/no budget project. If we could have provided pay we would have. But we can’t. It hasn’t been in the stars to raise enough funding to do so. Everything we have had has went towards the cost of production and continues to do so. Heck, the film has been mostly funded right out of the core crew’s pocket, putting on them immense financial pressure and worry….all for the love.
So, we can say with confidence people are a part of this film because they see its promise. And it goes without saying how much we freaking appreciate that. We like to believe that our utmost honesty has been a big factor in people’s commitment to this project. We’re not patting ourselves on the back for this. Honesty should be a given, after all. It’s just good to know people have appreciated our efforts.
We had many other elements that we used to earn the trust and backing of cast, crew, location providers, etc. Some include displaying our past projects, showing that we already own the majority of the production equipment needed, revealing the network of people already involved and proving our experience was efficient to get the job done. The script itself was enough to get many people on board. However, our fourth main principle has served us well too…..simple professionalism.
From dealing with location providers, to communicating with our cast and crew, to doing all we could to make our sets run according to union rules, even though Fight 4 Your Life isn’t a union project, we’ve done our absolute best to make this production as professional as possible from the early stages. Have we done everything perfectly? NO. Could we have done things better? YES. But we’ve kept professionalism in mind the whole way. And we think it’s really paid off, especially when we were just trying to get things going.
We could blab on and on about how we’ve done this and that to get people on board Fight 4 Your Life. But what we’ve mentioned thus far, along with our solid four principles, are likely the main factors. The core one studios crew making that pact to get the film done no matter what (principle one) also contained an understood truth that we were to put most of the work load ahead on our own shoulders, not depending entirely on others to get things done. This is worth mentioning because it allowed us to realize early on we needed to utilize our volunteer crew wisely.
If people weren’t going to get paid they were less likely to show up for multiple shoots. We’d probably only get many of our crew for a single shoot. And we couldn’t expect them to bust their asses on set either, let alone take time outside of the actual shoots to study the material or prepare other wise. Would you? Much the same could be expected from our cast.
Brandon J. Woods & his little bro conked out after a long day
We don’t mean to sound negative or annoyed. These are just the hard facts we recognized in development. It’s all totally understandable. We get it. It’s logical. And we’ve done our best to accommodate to these facts along the way so that our cast and crew were taken care of to the best of our ability. Creating flexible schedules and putting a heavy work load on on our own shoulders was key. It may have made for some pretty grueling shoots. But it asked less of people overall.
So, we’ve worked extremely hard on and off set, as it should be, and have been very understanding and open minded to our crew and cast. This has seemed to inspire many of our awesome volunteers when on shoots, their efforts great. We’ve found people have been a lot more dedicated than we ever expected.
We’ve never taken them for granted despite often getting offers from them to do more than what we’ve asked of them, us still keeping to the practice of using our own skills and efforts first unless absolutely necessary. Again, we’re not patting ourselves on the back. It’s all just made sense and has seemed to work out well.
Treat people good. Appreciate them, no matter how much they do. Communicate. Lead by example. Look at the big picture. And don’t get too caught up in what YOU want. Remember it’s about the project. But it’s also about the community. Do these things and people will be there for you when you really need them.
Great relationships have been made. A true community! Hence & Eric
Us having done the F4YL short really was like the final push for many who joined up. It truly played a huge part in the process of getting things on track with the feature, especially when it came to signing on higher caliber talent, crew and locations. The final step to actually get the film underway was to get some funding. YIKES! There’s were the money factor came in. We told you you can’t ever fully escape it!
Money is a pain. And, frankly, it’s a pain to even retell the horrors about trying to raise money for a film. We’ll leave it as this….we approached everyone we could think of, including family, friends, business people and more.
We also went the crowdfunding route and set up a Kickstarter campaign. It was our first attempt at crowdfunding and it failed miserably. In the end, a good friend pulled through and got us the start up funding needed to get the wheels rolling, literally on the deadline day we needed it by. Then it was off to the races.
If you’re a filmmaker and you’ve taken the time to read about the journey of Fight 4 Your Life to this point, we hope you can take what we did to get it off the ground and use it as an outline of sorts to help you in your efforts. We hope it helps. Read on to know what we did when production actually started!
After having successfully used the F4YL short, our resources, our experience and our principles to promote the production of the feature and get things rolling, one studios began principal photography for the feature film version of Fight 4 Your Life during the summer months of July and August, 2013. Our goal at the time production began was to have the film completely shot within a month and a half based on the script of that time. Our lead actor, Fleet Blackwood himself, Brandon J. Woods, was to have all of his shots done within a three week time span upon the beginning of shooting.
Brandon J. Woods on set with ring girls
Production was going as good as it could, with there having been a pretty rough beginning. But then it hit….good old Murphy’s Law. Unfortunately, Brandon was dealt a scary blow regarding his education situation out on the east coast, where he was to begin attending the Harvard School of Medicine, in pursuit of his PHD, that fall. The circumstance forced the dedicated Brandon to leave the production early. It also forced the one studios crew to rethink the project’s timeline.
What occurred after was a much more drawn out production schedule for Fight 4 Your Life. Working with his hectic schedule in Boston, we were able to get Brandon back on the west coast in January of 2014 and once more for his final principal photography shoots in August of 2014. We took advantage of the extra time in between Mr. Woods’ shoots to prepare for his scenes even more thoroughly via additional funding campaigns and new talent and location acquisition, as well as by writing additional material into the script that helped to better express the story and its characters. Brandon is slated for a final round of pickup shots during the last quarter of 2016.
Fleet Blackwood as a teenager
As for scenes that didn’t involve Brandon, the ample time we were granted in between his shoots allowed us to dive deeper into them, creating much more solid work and helping to tighten up the film’s subplots and story arcs. In fact, many of these scenes took on a new life, becoming intricate works of stylized art that creator Bryan Bachar didn’t expect when he first wrote them. The growth of these scenes was a pleasant surprise to Bryan and he loves the new life they sprung to add to the story, characters and overall depth and quality of Fight 4 Your Life.
Although no one foresaw, or wanted, Fight 4 Your Life to take more than three drawn out years to film, the spaced out shoots ultimately have made for a much better movie. Not only have we been able to more accurately produce our scenes and add new material, we have also been able to take the time to remedy mistakes in our scenes through re-shoots.
Things happen during production, many things out of your control, whether changes in location, shortened shoot times, loss of talent or being forced to reschedule, to name a few. Fight 4 Your Life has been no different from any other production in terms of it being at the mercy of holdups such as these, among others, especially with our limited resources. We here at one studios were willing to accept the results of some of these things based on our original timeline, budget and overall mindset towards getting this project completed.
A still from a big scene in the Fight 4 Your Life feature film.
However, the extra time taken to produce F4YL has allowed for positive growth in our timeline, budget and mindset and, therefore, has allowed for better overall quality. Our standards rose with having changed what we once deemed acceptable, due to our new found time allowing for such change. If you are forced to take the time, then why not take advantage of it?
Fight 4 Your Life’s production evolution has been key in making what truly has always been a large scale project happen in the way it needed to all along. We’re confident our viewers, as well as our dedicated cast, crew and supporters, will appreciate the the extra time and steps taken once the end result of our humble project is seen. Still, patience has been a required virtue to say the least.
The first official teaser trailer for the Fight 4 Your Life shows just a glimpse into the world of Fleet Blackwood and this film. There are more teasers coming soon, with the full length theatrical trailer scheduled for a first quarter 2017 release. Please take a look at the teaser and then read below for info on the current status of Fight 4 Your Life.
Fight 4 Your Life‘s Current Status
Currently, as of September 2016, in addition to final pickup shoots, Fight 4 Your Life is in heavy post production. one studios is working with industry professionals to ensure the best quality possible for the visual effects, sound and music for the film, which is huge challenge. Although we aimed to keep the visual effects of F4YL to a minimum, in order to save time, cost and to limit such film elements that could hurt the film as much as add to it if done in poor quality, we just couldn’t escape certain aspects of the VFX that are within this film. They are a necessary task. We are also pushing to get bright spots, such as a cameo shot with Iron Mike Tyson, approved for use in the film.
Mike Tyson talking up the crowd in honor of Yaqui Lopez!
There is a lot to yet be done, including one final funding campaign to aid in the post production process. We urge you, politely :), to consider becoming part of the fight by making a contribution to the film. Just click on the Contribute button below or contact us to discuss further. Any and everything counts! Contributions aren’t just limited to money, of course. Skilled work put forth towards the film, advertisement, event invites and many other resources and efforts can be just as important and effective. We thank you for anything you can do!
The goal is to have Fight 4 Your Life completed and ready for a year long play in the film festival circuit by late June/early July of 2017. This film has always been more about gaining exposure for all persons involved and showing what a community of people can do when working together for a common goal, demonstrating what can be done in today’s tech advanced and social media engulfed society with such a meager budget when being smart, resourceful and diligent. Making profit from F4YL is definitely a side goal, but not THE goal. It would be more of an added bonus for all the time and hard work. But don’t think we haven’t planned for it if it is to happen. We’ve got our bases covered and pieces in play.
Online distribution is an avenue we’re to pursue down the line once everything is said and done, as this has been scheduled from the start. But sky’s the limit, really. Who knows what kind of opportunities will arise during the time in the festival realm. We would absolutely love to be able to give back in a monetary fashion of some sort to the community of people who has made this film possible, even if just a few bucks. Our main gift to everyone though is the film itself. And one thing is very certain….We have to get this movie done before any dreams of grandeur become a reality!
Alchemy FX Wizard, David Ainsworth, at work!
Be sure to check out the Media page on this site for more awesome videos, pics, graphics and audio relating to F4YL so you can see more of what we’ve accomplished and dive a little deeper into the Fleet Blackwood‘s world. New stuff is going up all the time. And you can learn LOTS more about the film via colorful character bios, the plot outline and the origin of where the ideas for Fight 4 Your Life came from.
If you would like to be a part of the Fight 4 Your Life production please feel free to contact the one studios crew. We need all the help we can get. Your support is very much appreciated! JOIN THE FIGHT!
