PLAYING A ROLE IN INDEPENDENT FILM PRODUCTION: ON THE SET OF THE SHORT FILM NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY

PART 1: “STILL PHOTOGRAPHY”

The following series of articles document my experience on the Blank Stage Studios production of the short film NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY, which was written & directed by Brent Brooks. These series of articles will go into detail on the different aspects of production in which I participated. As such this first article I will touch upon still photography and how I contributed to the film.

A little background on the short film NO EXPERIENCE NECEASSARY. Brent Brooks (whose previous film was the art house feature ART OF SUICIDE) developed the screenplay through the screenwriting group The Blank Page and decided to make this his first post-ART OF SUICIDE production (and the third film from the writer’s group to go before the camera). The plot is fairly simple as it depicts a serial killer who uses the deception of a casting call for a movie to lure his next prey. Nothing new in terms of writing but Brooks wanted to production a high production value production in which to use as a potential calling card for future work. This could be such a production.

I came on board as production manager (which I will discuss in a future article) because much of my experience in film production stems in this area. Although I did not intend to do any still photography on the film (since Brooks had already hired a photographer to do just this thing), I have the habit of doing this on my own accord mainly for my own archival purposes. I’ve learned through the years that many indie productions still do not see the benefit of having good production stills taken on set. I do this not only for myself but for all the other cast & crew as well. I freely give the pictures away and post most of them online so that everyone has access to them. This allows everyone to have a record of the production.

On the set of NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY I took approximately 3,000 pictures over the course of 4 days. This is actually not as many as you might think considering that only about 500 of them are usable which includes both production stills of scenes in the film and behind the scenes pictures. The actually photographer on set didn’t take nearly as many as I did. There are several reasons for this the chief being that because I can put my camera on “silent mode” I can use it while we were filming whereas he could not. This allowed me to get numerous photos from all different angles. I was able to get the photos he could not.

This means that I got a lot of scene accurate photos which is good for the film in terms of representing actual scenes. I also paid a lot of attention in terms of getting a lot of behind the scenes pictures with cast and crew, not only in actual scene set up shots but also in group shots and in the obligatory “fun” shots.
The sheer amount of pictures that I took on the set of the film would not go unnoticed as when I started to post them online both cast & crew were finally able to see everything that happened in front of the camera as well as behind it.

Sometimes the importance of still photography is not recognized until it is too late to do anything about it. Indie films use still photography not only to craft and create movie posters but also to help with production stills for the film and marketing as well. A lot of the advertisement and marketing for an indie film can be seen online and nothing can sell a film to an audience better than a photo (unless of course you have a trailer already crafted).

Although I’ve got about 500 photos that represent the film, it was to Brooks’ idea to slowly reveal them to both the cast & crew and the public in order to help promote the film through production and into the film’s future which I now believe was only one of the most ingenious ideas he’s had to market and promote the film and in really that’s exactly what still photography is intended to do.

TO BE CONTINUED.

08/23/09 Cake Baby Productions finishes THE TEDIOUS EXISTENCE OF TERRELL B. HOWELL

Sunday was the last day of filming on the Cake Baby Production of the short film THE TEDIOUS EXISTENCE OF TERRELL B. HOWELL, which was written & produced by Kelly Silverman and directed by her husband David Silverman. The production had a seven day shooting schedule and was completed on schedule.

I was on set as a general production assistant but also provided production stills for the film. The film is an under stated drama with subtle hints of dry comedy about a married man (played by Steve Coulter) whose life takes a drastic turn when he gets involved with a woman he encounters on the street.

Although I had very little to do with this production I was able to once again work with many people that I hadn't worked with in a long time such as Renonda Anderson (make up), Donna Wong (script supervisor), Alex Turner (PA), Karli Brooks (actress), and Brent Brooks (PA). Working on this production, for me, was mostly fun and entertaining due to the fact that I wasn't responsible for much of the actual work on the film (which was a relief believe you me).

I am glad that I was given the opportunity to work on this short film as it gave me the opportunity to work with many filmmakers that I haven't worked with before and I had a lot of fun just being able to be on set and enjoying myself.

As the Silvermans take the film into post production I wish them all the luck especially since they hope to be able to have the film out to film festivals before the end of the year. I can't wait to see the final version when it is complete.

8/1/09 - 8/3/09 Filming on the "Pilot" of The 48 HOUR FILM COMPETITION SHOWDOWN

Since production on this documentary lasted more then four days, I'm just going to group the entire experience under one heading. I started work on the 48 Hour Film Competition Showdown before I ever knew that I actually had the job.

Following my work with Interstate Films on the actual 2009 48 Hour Film Festival Competition and the production TURN THE OTHER CHEEK, several of us got together to put together an auditition package for the actual Showdown (which we heard about during the screening of our film). Although only one of us got a call back to be a part of the actual crew of filmmakers being filmed for the showdown, I would eventually get on to the production as part of the documentary crew care of both Ondie Daniel and Renonda Anderson, who referred me to the production. I was hired as an assistant camera on the production.

The Showdown that we are filming is actually a race between two teams (one from Atlanta and the other from Nashville) who have 48 hours to complete a short film (in the same tradition as the original competition) andd we are filming this as part of a "Pilot" episode for a proposed television show. The production crew for the show was huge and as an AC my job was to supply the cameramen with batteries and cards whenever they needed them. On set my co-AC was Jennifer Rowland who was making her film production debute. Together we handled everything that Team Atlanta documentary crew needed during the Morning shift of production (since everything was filmed around the clock). She started work on the production a day before me but over the next 48 hours we would be a non-stop perfect team that complimented each other.

On the first day of production we were mainly on location at an abandoned werehouse (chosen by the film crew) and allowed us to be of the most use. The second day we had a lot less to do and therefore there was a lot of down time but we had to keep in mind that this was a documentary film shoot and we filmed what we needed to film.

There were a lot of surprises on set (too many for me to name here) but I guess I did a well enough job as I was asked to return for the final day of filming in which the screening of the two teams' finished films would be screened in front of an audience. I enjoyed filming on this day the most as I was promoted from AC to camera op as the production needed more camera ops for the added cameras of the shoot. This allowed me to work with the HD cameras for the second time (the first being on TURN THE OTHER CHEEK in which I used an HD camera but filmed in 24p).

The experience was an eye opener as I gained a lot of knowledge from the production personnel as well as the team members being filmed and I gained a lot of new friends that I hope to have on future productions. The experience working on this film is not one that I would have missed for anything and I'm glad I was able to work on the production and be of some type of help.

I do know that it took me two days to not only recover from the three days on set but also all the other films I worked on just earlier that week. You only get a few great opportunities to work on and with productions such as this (which was a paying gig) and I hope that the production gets picked up so that I might have the opportunity to work on the actual series.

Here's hoping!

7/30/09 Filming Continues on OUT OF SEASON or Does It?

We were scheduled to continue filming on OUT OF SEASON on 7/30/09. Director Ed Harlaque wants to see my lawyer character in the film more then just the two scenes originally scheduled so the scene we were scheduled to film today now has my character in it talking to the main character Sara.

I was up for the expanded role because it had been so long since I had done any real acting and the one day we have already shot I had a lot of fun dong.

Today's filming had to be cancelled because out lead actor playing Sara just could not get out to the location. Even though she was in Harlaque's previous film BREAKING THROUGH, she still had problems making her way out to the location. We ended up cancelling once she finally arrived becaue we ultimately ran out of time.

I'm only disappointed because I spent time going over the script and was ready to film when all of this happened, so, I was a tad disappointed. This is okay as I forgot to cut my hair and if we had filmed continuity in regards to my hair cut would not be the same (a problem I ran into on the set of JACK O'LANTERN). All in all Harlaque and I had time to discuss this project while we waited for the actor and even though we had the location/room set to be filmed (and we then had to tear down without ever filming), I don't believe the whole day was a bust.

Since I had just filmed the LAST CALL teaser last night not filming today was actually fine by me because I had another film shoot to be ready for for the up coming weekend. We'd just reschedule like we normally do and eventually we will "get it done."

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).

Week 1 - "Filming the First Class"

Vernon Mui conducted his first class for the remote viewing classes. He's conducting two INTRO classes in order to get people to sign up fot the funsar the two day "Beginningers" class so he can get the funds to make his trip to California at the first of August to do some one-on-one training in remote viewing.

The first class was on Friday, 7/10/09 and had two people from his website that decided to do the FREE Intro class. I couldn't be on hand put we set up a camera to film the entire thing so that not only does he have something to look back on but we have something for the film in case something extraordinary happen during the class.

The second class was the following Sunday on 7/12/09 and only had one person show up.

From what Mui has told me the 1st class provided him with a alot of good questions on the subject to answer whereas the second class went on at a snail's pace due to the lack of students but I informed him that this was his first attempt at teaching a class and he shouldn't get too discouraged

From what I've been told remote viewing is not an easy subject that can be explained in five minutes. It takes Mui almost 2 hours to go over everything and he didn't even get into the "meat" of the subject. I'm sure the first class had a lot of questions for Mui whereas if the person in the second class asked almost no questions (I ended up filming a huge chunk of the second class).

This week ended up being nothing more than more footage that probably won't end up being in the film because the focus of the film is on Mui's personal experience with remote viewing while the classes are only going to be some background flavor.

What this week did do was help me understand why other people are interested in the subject as well as might promote some promotional material not only for my documentary but for Mui as well who wants to do more classes and possibly turn it into a business.

7/09/09 First Day of Filming on OUT OF SEASON

It's barely been one month since writer/producer/director Ed Harlaque finished filming pick up shots on his previous indie film and now he's plowed straight ahead into his next film OUT OF SEASON in which I have a small role as the lawyer to a woman who is accussed of killing her boyfriend, who also happens to be a police officer.

Since getting the location of Gwinnett Convention Center was so easy on his previous film we decided to make the first day of filming at my place of work once again. Harlaque has decided to possibly start filming this production in sequential order so the first scenes we are filming are the prologue to the film. And I'm in these scenes.

Originally, my character was only suppose to be two scenes but do to Harlaque continuing to do rewrites he's decided that my character (who has no name and is simply known as "lawyer") may show up in several scenes throughout the film.

After reading the script I asked Harlaque if I could be the lawyer as it has been a long time since I've been in front of the camera (although I made a cameo in his previous film as a bouncer) and I wanted my comeback to at least be something I would be interested in doing. Although the role is small (and I don't have a name), I've always wanted to play a lawyer and hope that we have a scene in the courtroom where I would really like to show off.

Another thing that attracted me to this role is the fact that it is the first time I'm able to dress up in a suit and look older then what I normally do because I have to look like a sophisticated lawyer at the top of his game.

I had a lot of fun with the role and look forward to more scenes as the lawyer in the film.

7/07/09 Meeting With A Editor

I've got so many projects I want to have done by the end of the year that I'm getting the aid of another editor to help me out. Her name is Bren Allison-Pettingill and I've worked with her on several other projects most recently as a director of photographer on her feature film 6 DEGREES OF DESPERATION, a teen comedy. Since she edited that film I've decided to work with her to continue putting together episodes of the DIARY OF A FILMMAKER series while I focus on my short films ALONE... and MISS KITTY & ME with my other editor Daniel Hirsh.

Allison-Pettingill is a promising editor who has edited several of her own projects in addition to her feature film so I am confident that she will be able to jump right into the DIARY OF A FILMMAKER series with no problems. In addition to the DIARY OF A FILMMAKER series I hope to work with her on several of my smaller productions which have been sitting on a shelf for quite some time which includes the second episode of the CITY GARDEN series THE OLD WOMAN IN THE PARK and Safaa Sammander's short film MY SISTER MADGE to name a few.

I'll know more when the time comes and will report it here first when they are released for the public consumption.

6/30/09 Filming the First Interview.

At the last moment Vernon Mui and myself decided to film the first initial interview for our remote viewing documentary tonight at Gwinnett Convention Center. In addition to the interview we were also going to film his first solo remote viewing session not only as a means of discovering all the technical aspects of the project but to also get me familiar to how it works in the practical sense but to also familiarize me with the whole concept.

The purpose of this film is not only to inform and describe what the process of remote viewing is for the average person but to allow me to go on my own journey of discovering what it is since I have so little knowledge of it in the first place.

The interview was hard going at first since Mui has never been interviewed before and found it difficult to stay focused and concentrate. He had issues with staying focused on the task at had but by the end of the interview he was where I needed him to be for the film. Mui is an unusual subject for the film as he is mostly a behind-the-scenes person who never wants to be in front of the camera. For this film he is mainly the subject and my "window" into the world of remote viewing. He gets satisfaction from using the project as a means to teach more people who are interested in the subject matter. We are currently setting up several classes that will be filmed for the documentary and which will allow him to shine as a teacher.

I'm thinking the film will take us through summer and part of the fall to film and I will be a feature (or at least 74-80 minutes long). This is our second day of filming (our first day was spent on the first class).

The amazing thing about this proect is that even though the filming of the actual remote viewing sessions are quite boring it is the results of the session that are facinating because with Mui's session I picked the subject that he was to remote view and he was very close to finding the right place (the place was some pyramids of Egypt) even though he had no knowledge of the place he was looking for. He had enough of the small details correct that I am convenced that there may be something to this remote viewing (the results of the session will be posted online and in the finished film).

This was our practice run for the documentary but I'm convenced that this is a subject worth documenting and looking into.

6/19/09 ReShoots on BREAKING THROUGH

We were at Gwinnett Convention Center & Arena last night filming reshoots on the urban film BREAKING THROUGH which is directed by Ed Harlaque (his first film). After three years of filming on and off he decided that more was needed for the film so we ended up filming more footage for the stripper runway model sequence (in which the strippers of the film walk down the runway in very little clothes) which is one of the final sequences in the film.

We filmed some of this earlier in the year but with none of the main cast members until now (which is kind of unusual since the main characters should be the ones that are in the competition).

Either way, this is one of the longest productions I've ever been on. It is good to hear that the film is almost done and that soon I'll be able to see some of the work I've put into the film since I was one of the lighting directors on the film (getting out to the set whenever I could).

6/11/09 Meeting the Music Supervisor

Met with my music supervisor Sacha Dzuba last night to go over some preliminaries for HOUSE OF SECRETS. Dzuba is part of the band The Julia Dream but he's also a very talented composer who contributed to the score for JACK O'LANTERN and some of my early photo gallery films. He's also composed music for several short films and even a full score for a children's theatre play.

For HOUSE OF SECRETS I need a variety of band music and original score and he's the one I trust to be able to bring me a variety of stuff to choice from (if not compose something original himself). Right now I have someone else on board to score the film (Kevin McKiney who has scored CITY GARDEN for me so far) but I wanted to work with Dzuba again and this was one of the best ways to do so.

Our meeting was very production in that we discussed the four songs by bands that I thing the film needs and we listened to a lot of different genres of music so that he could get a better feel of the types of songs that I'm looking for. I even came to the conclusion that I need to use one of The ulia Dream's song as my End Titles song.

Working on this just means I'm getting that much closer to finishing the film (even though I still have a very long ways to go).