12 Angry Men: Remake

Introduction
The Original (1957)
The Remake (2006)
The Actors
Bloopers
Credits
---------------------------
The Story:

So I had just finished my sophomore year in college and was enrolled in one political science course during the first summer semester (mid-May through June). Being an engineering major, I did the logical thing. Rather than study, I made a movie.

I had been interested in making a movie for the longest time. The potential of gaining worldwide fame and fortune outweighed learning the process of how a bill is passed in Congress. No joke.

But which movie? An original or remake? I didn't feel like writing the screenplay for an original film despite my great movie ideas (seriously). So I decided on a remake. But which movie? Something realistic, with few settings, few actors, and no budget. Then out of the blue, 12 Angry Men (1957) popped into my head. What a great choice--it's a classic, it has one primary location (jury room), there's no money needed, and no fight scenes are needed to be choreographed. The only drawback was the significant number of actors, but I stuck with it.

So I took on the task of managing the project. My idea, my project. This entailed recruiting actors, setting up a shoot location, organizing biweekly meetings and rehearsals, assigning roles to actors, convincing everyone the movie was going to be successful, directing the movie, coordinating my actors' actions with the movie, editing the film, and so on. But first I needed a copy of the movie. So I purchased the DVD; this would facilitate my next step: transcribing every word said in the first half-hour and annotating every camera angle. I split the first half-hour into several short, manageable acts. This took more than a week (keep in mind I'm in school). Actually, if you're interested in getting a copy of the screenplay, let me know.

Next came finding actors. I went so far as posting flyers throughout campus inviting people to the project. I went to the Humanities Building and posted flyers in every hall, every corner, every urinal, hoping somebody--anybody--would call. Nobody did. Damn custodians took down every flyer the next day. I guess they didn't appreciate my huge arrows of masking tape pointing towards each flyer.

So I asked friends, who asked their friends, who asked their friends. Several people signed on but only a handful were committed. We rehearsed twice a week for four weeks but only mastered a few acts because every person was absent every other day, and so I rarely had the same actors attend the same day. Even with the short acts! And for location, I just reserved a study room in the college library, whose acoustics weren't bad.

So I did the best I could, filming every scene I could with what I had. Filming time ran out when the second summer semester began because I was enrolled in an engineering elective and so had no time for the project. (Note that any upper-level engineering course during summer isn't easy.) The team quickly disbanded shortly thereafter and so the movie was left unfinished. Then the Fall 2006 Semester began and again editing the movie wasn't a priority. Finally, it's two days before Spring 2007 starts and I made time to finish editing, upload to YouTube, and conclude yet another chapter in my life.

Realize that this movie is an honest attempt at remaking 12 Angry Men (1957), albeit one minute long. Keep in mind I only had four weeks of production and six actors to work with, each of whom had their own classes, own jobs, and own priorities to worry about. Act II is shown in the video.

So in conclusion, what was learned? What did I profit from this experience? The following points sum up what I gained personally.
*Filming takes time and effort, more than you'd think, my ambitious friend.
*You need a tripod. With wheels. I didn't have the latter luxury.
*It's impossible for 12 people to agree on a set time for a weekly rehearsal.
*It's necessary for one person to be committed to the entire project in order to make the project succeed. To be the working hands holding it all together.
*People will follow given a leader. It's true, it's easier to follow than lead.
*Don't waste your time with uncommitted people and jerks.

This all began with a vision. With four weeks, six good people, and much sweat from my brow, I managed to make this. I'm damn proud. You might think, "this is a piece of shit, what are you proud about?" And you're certainly right. But it's better to have something crappy in hand rather than stand empty-handed in the gallows criticizing others' work, claiming you can make something better. And this certainly won't be my last shot at cinema. But in the meantime, I have engineering courses to focus on.

On a final note, thanks to every helping hand, you know who you are. And to the Most High.

Adolfo L., Project Manager
A.L.3. Productions
January 2007 (movie filmed Summer 2006)

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• 12
• angry
• men
• remake
• re-enactment
• jurors
• utpa
• drama
• acting
• production
• school
• project
• classic
• adolfo
• javi
• steve
• jerry
• robin
• henry
• fonda
• bloopers

[willy0901]

You guy did it pretty good actually..

Did you remake some other part of this movie?

[navigator386]

thanks.

no no, this is all we got done unfortunately.

[1967007]

How did you put out of focus the actors in the credits?

[navigator386]

The credits are simply a sequence of "Photoshopped" pictures; the pictures are certain frames in the movie.

[djirony77]

A bad remake. You needed more preparation, performance and intensity. Still, good attempt. Keep it up.

[navigator386]

Love the encouraging words, particularly the first line.

[collegestudent362]

This movie makes no sense if the parts are all played by different ethnicities. In this remake Ed Begley (the most racist juror) is played by a fat Mexican guy.

[zalida100]

Hey navigator386 - F'n brilliant.

Unbelieveable how much effort to get a minute of filming done. And that's without costumes and scenery etc.

I think with a bit of practice and projection the acting could be pretty decent. But that's not the point. I think you are right when you say you learned a few things from this project.

12 angry men - great movie. The black and white version was quite good too.

Thanks for uploading

Cheers

[siyfur]

Copyright? You can't copyright this cuz its not ur script or title. Second, you shouldn't list yourself ssooo many times in the credits, think about it, do you seen successful famous directors doing that, no. That's why they just put a "so and so" film, not i did this, this, that, and also this, this and that all by me oh and me and I also did this and that... See? it looks and sounds wrong. Not hating just giving some advice. BTW I know Danny!!!

[siyfur]

Copyright?

[EdwardWhelanPiano]

You all seem a bit stiff. Plus, the camera always needs to be on the person who is talking unless you are wanting an important reaction shot.

[buxgoogle]

wat the fuk was that?

[babyfacefreeman]

don't leave that kind of comment unless you're prepared to do you own "better" version. I bet you couldn't do any better.

[JNNUTT]

Awesome! Have fun with the part =)

[babyfacefreeman]

We're doing this at my Middle School right now...I'm Juror #3. It's fun to play the guy that everyone hates by the end of the movie...p.s. I'm a girl too..............

[GMartinez1989]

ur fucking gay u should all jump and brigde and die

[JNNUTT]

I think it was good =)