An astrological event changes the vibration of the sun. This effect people and all living things on the planet, for better or for worse.
Sheldon Woodson is all things necessary to make a film. He 1st started as a writer of three published novels, multiple screenplays, and three short films. "Come Outside" the feature comes from the success of his film short titled the same. He's a military vet, a federal employee, and a real estate agent. Sheldon is and will always become what is needed to fulfill the goals he has for himself.
What draws you to the language of cinema?
The combination of all things art. Beautiful pictures and scenery, tranquilizing sounds and music, the poetry of words and performance, and the multiple angles of an artist can tell a story and have its audience debut its meaning despite its synopsis. Cinema's language is multifaceted, it can tell multiple stories in one simple image, sound, or word. How and when did you start studying films?
I first started in the early '90s, this was my 20's. I'd have an idea for a film and film it without writing it down. I'd tell my actors, who were my children, what to say, and I'd film the movie in bits. After it was done, I'd edit it using camcorder to camcorder technology, and I'd distribute the movies to my family members to watch on holidays. I do this mostly for Christmas. My studies came from reading books and going to weekend film classes such as Dov SS Simens 2-day film school. I also attend Lights Film School, it's an online based film school that issued assignments we had to complete and send in. When did you realize that you wanted to work in media and make films and what was the first film project that you created?
I realized early in my twenties I wanted to work in media but I went about it by first going into music. I had a small band that did pretty well on the city-wide nightclub circuit but it came to nothing Professional. Then I started writing novels and screenplays, I sent the screenplays to various production companies, and they came back with reject notices saying, "we do not accept unsolicited material." Then I made a few attempts of going on casting calls and found that to be unproductive, so I made very short film on my phone people liked, then I bought a movie camera, sound equipment, and lights and made three shortfilms back to back. I considered them concept films to something bigger and better. I edited two and submitted them to various film festivals and was pleasantly surprised by the accolades that came from them. My feature film "Come Outside" came from one of the shorts, that is now on Amazon Prime Video for rent and viewing.
Which directors have been influential in your work and why?
Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Orson Welles, David F. Sanberg, Spike Lee, Woody Allen, and a host of others. I feel bad leaving off names but these are my first loves I'd say. Quentin for his method of writing and telling original stories, Robert simply for El Mariachi!! His story of how he made that movie is the stuff of legend. Orson Welles for stepping on the bomb that made creatives feel free to create and of course for making the movie "Citizen Kane", which is my favorite movie of all time! David for his story and Youtube channel "ponysmasher". His instruction got me off my series of excuses because his methods made it impossible to have a valid reason for not making your movie. Spike Lee for writing and telling some of the greatest stories of our time and Woody Allen for telling simplistic stories that someway, somehow, became works of art. Quentin and Allen teaches us that if the story is good, it's kind of hard to mess it up, and that's assuming you're directing what you wrote. How difficult is it to find the right audience for an indie film and what is your distribution strategy?
Indie films have to compete with the mega studios, the mega stars, and the production companies where nepotism reigns supreme. When I say indie, I'm talking about the guy or gal who knows no one, is not working in the industry, and has no connections. They simply woke up and decided, "this is what I want to do" and started doing it. Knowing the right audience comes from knowing the genre you're in and how to market to them. Word of mouth is probably the best strategy. Have 10 people tell, ten people, tell ten people and you've got yourself a grassroots movement, just hope your work is truly good. For distribution, I've used Filmhub. Once the film is up on a site, I post it on social media several times a day and hope my friends, family does the same. I'd recommend filmmakers checkout J. Horton page on YouTube. His channel is what helped me get the film ready for marketing and distribution.
What was the inspiration behind the making of Come Outside?
The Sun. I read an article about how the sun does all these wonderful things and no one really knows what the sun really is. I took what it did and flipped it and later modified the script to fit what I was able to do with my limited resources. I also took a note from the Bible story of Adam and Eve, which asks the question "what would happen if mankind had never eaten from the apple?" "Come Outside" attempts to answer that question, with a creative twist of course.
How can cinema change the world and have an impact on society?
We've seen a black president in office on a popular television show before there was a black president. We've seen phones that can do everything before they could do everything. Great cause-and-effect stories, even if they're the artist's best guess, stimulate the minds of creatives, politicians, and social engineers. If you can see it you can be it and that picture, a lot of times, has to be told by a great storyteller selling it to society. Cinema is today's greatest mind moving reminisce. It incorporates every possible artform to make the biggest possible impact on the mind, body, and spirit make something happen within you or without. Turning that power and tool over to positive messaging can essentially make this world turn this world into a utopia. Please tell us about your next project.
My next project is in production, it's called "Vessel" It's about a man who has the ability to bring closure to the dead. It's another take on The Sixth Sense but flipped. I think it's one of my greatest and best works when it comes to the mind bending thought provoking story that will be told. I asked my main actors to read and comprehend what its about before taking the role because this one is going to push the needle on positive change or be misunderstood. I'm banking on the former results mentioned.