Shooting the LAST CALL Teaser

Producer Ondie Daniel wants to put together a teaser trailer for the LAST CALL vampire anthology, thus we decided that we would film a scene from my fine (in addition to two others). We decided to film one of the flashback sequences since we could show one of the vampires in addition to showing how the film would look. Everyone was available except for Bren Allison so I decided to film the scene myself.

Having no asperations to direct the film myself I was more nervous going into directing this then I was HOUSE OF SECRETS, which I was prepared to direct and produce. The teaser was easier only because we had cast two actors that I had already worked with - Amy Wolkis and Jason Von Stein, while the third actor in the scene who was playing the vampire of the film and before that night I had never met him. He was an addition by Daniel as I requested that she be responsible with casting all the vampires in the film since we were going with people from Netherworld who already have or will soon have their own vampire teeth. Authenticity is key with this project and having great teeth is one of the reasons I agreed to do the project.

Another reason for doing this project is obviously because I wanted to collaborate with someone else on a creative level and Allison is someone whom I've worked with before but not so much on a creative level and this project was the perfect opportunity. I've only worked with Daniel as an actor or as a make up artist (and more recently she was casting director on several other projects) so working with her to produce this film is also new and a challenge.

One of the key ingredients that Daniel has provided is an amazing location for the production is far better then anything I could have imagined. The location is key to my story and filming at this location has given the production higher production value then I could have ever imagained. I did have to do some rewrites on the spot to accomodate that fact that I did not want to show any blood or gore in the scene (and therefore wouldn't have to worry about the clean up) but I think the scene works really well without the gore.

I think my actors all did a great job putting this teaser together in such sort notice and my crew were great as well (the make up artist was from Netherworld as well) and this was a great way to break the ice on the production. Shooting this teaser was a way to let everyone know that we are still a "go" on the production dispite the delays.

For a few moments I even wanted to direct the film myself since I was having so much fun (until it all had to eventually end) but then I wised up and realized that it was better to let Bren do all the heavy lifting while I sit back and just watch :)

A FILM IN 48 HOURS: The Making of TURN THE OTHER CHEEK Part 3

6/28/09

Post-production on the Interstate Films’ 48 Hour Film Competition production Turn The Other Cheek started on Saturday, June 27, 2009 but would not be complete until Sunday, June 28, 2009.

After we had completed filming at the Mexican Restaurant location our co-editor Luisa Casas took the tape to her condo where the production had set up shop to start uploading the footage and cutting the scenes already filmed. When they got hold of the footage they took notice of the HDV footage of the first scene which they could not upload because they were editing with an older version of Final Cut Pro. As luck would have it, these scenes were at the end of the film and director Jim Adams had a solution to changing the end of the film so we didn’t have to go back and reshoot the scene (which was impossible since we no longer had the actors or access to the location any longer).

This is the only major problem that we have in regards to any technical issues of the footage. I’m sure that we could have filmed more coverage of scenes and cutaways (since I truly believe that we don’t have enough) but this is not one of those things you’re thinking about when you’re trying to shoot a film in under 24 hours in order to get it to the editors. The more time we spent shooting the film, the less time the editors hve with the footage and the production has to be complete and final by 7:00 pm tonight.

There is a lot of pressure on shooting the film so the editors can get their hands on the footage. This may not have been apparent but it is something we are all thinking about because unless we complete the film by the deadline all that we have worked for will have been for nothing.

This being the day of post-production I don’t have anything that needs to be done on my end. It is extremely “soothing” to know that I don’t have to be responsible for the final edit of the film (unlike say my feature film House of Secrets which I’m in post-production on). One of the reasons why I decided to do this project is that I want just to do lighting and camera and not be responsible for anything else. Not since working on the Movie Tao production 6 Degrees of Desperation (written & directed by Bren Allison) have I been in this position and sometimes I miss just working on a set as someone other then the person in charge.

The only work I do for the production on this day is give some background info on some of the technical aspects of the film for the paperwork that has to be turned in by the Interstate Films crew (Ondie Daniel & Gary Hamrick, Jr. as producers on the film). Instead, I decide to unwind from the process by going to see a movie on the big screen (the film is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and the less said the better).

Daniel & Hamrick send out an email and text declaring that our film Turn The Other Cheek has beat the deadline and made it to the finish line of the 2009 48 Hour Film competition. Everyone is extremely happy with the outcome and ecstatic that our film will be screening on Wednesday, July 1st as part of the Group C screening of the 48 Hour Film Competition.

Our next goal is to support the film by going to the screening and voting on our film to be the audience award film so it can go on to bigger and better things (in terms of the film festival).