October 9, 2009- "Episode 7 -"Welcome Back Gordy"
By now, if you've been following the story, you're starting to see quite a bit of the town. All things considered, this was a relatively easy section to put together. The relationship between Kyle and Gordy is growing, the story is moving forward, and there are relatively few effects and stunts.
The most interesting part of this shoot was the exploration of Kendall Brown's house and the introduction of Dave Chattam. I met Dave on a music video I produced and liked him right away. He has a charisma that is instantly recognizable. When it came time to shoot this film, I wrote the part just for him. In hindsight, I wish I would've given him a bigger role! He was awesome to work with, and brought a lot to the project.
The house that we shot in was a last minute location change. We had a place fall through the night before, and in the nick of time we found this spot. A bunch of young bachelors lived there, and when we arrived at 5am on a Sunday morning, the occupants were still up partying from the night before. As soon as we started shooting they all went to bed. I never saw any of them again.
The house was also completly trashed. That made the art department job a piece of cake. We just threw a bit more trash on the floor and we were ready to go.
The best part of the day was letting Dave and Jeff crash through a phony bookshelf.
We took some flimsy shelves, cut them down so they'd break apart easily, and filled them with plastic dishes. When we did the shot, right before I called action, Dave started screaming to get in character. Jeff later told me that it really freaked him out. Dave launched himself backwards through the shelf and absolutely crushed Jeff underneath of him. He slammed him against the wall so hard that it knocked him senseless for several minutes. Jeff really didn't have to do much acting in that scene. What you see is what you get.
August 30, 2009- "Episode 6 -"Part 2"
In the previous blog I mentioned the back breaking effort it took to create the scene in the Joe Johnson house. If you haven't read it, I would highly recommend it. Especially if you're an aspiring film maker and would like to know what it takes to make a movie.
I wanted to add this extra blog here because I have to mention the foot chase that happens after the Joe Johnson house. Believe it or not, this didn't come together as smoothly as I had hoped. I shot several pieces of Kyle and Sykes running around in the dark, but something was missing.
After we wrapped the shoot in the winter I had to re-watch several movies with action scenes I loved. I realized that what makes a foot chase exciting is to be right behind the character. I had shot several pieces of the actors rushing past the camera, but it didn't give me the intensity that I was trying to convey. I went back to the drawing board, and in the summer reshoot, we spend a night with the camera right on the tail of the actors.
The thing to keep in mind here is that everything the stunt guys are leaping over or dodging, I am dodging too - as I am carrying the camera and trying to keep it all in focus. I had the biggest close call of my life while trying to do this. At one point we ran through a big shadow and I tripped on a root.
Yes, what you see in this shot is the ground rushing up towards me. I nearly face planted onto the pavement with only a very expensive camera and film lenses to break my fall.
The other difficult thing about this sequence was since we were using lights that were made before the Bible was written, then didn't like the humidity very much. We were shooting in August in the thick Tennessee humidity and the lights would only stay on for a few minutes. They would shut down and stay that way until they cooled off. We had to rehearse all of the chase scenes in total darkness, flip the lights on, and quickly do the shot before the light died.
After we shot those scenes I could tell that the action was moving along much better, but we still had to devise a way for our hero to get away. So, since we had no money I came up with the brilliant idea of hitting the bad guy with a car. It wasn't until we were a few days away from production that Jerry told me a complex stunt like hitting someone with a car usually costs about $25,000. Since the budget of the entire film was only $12,000, I knew we had to come up with something different. Jerry, in all his brilliance came up with the solution. First, we shot the stunt guy getting tagged by the car.
However, this shot was filmed in reverse.
We started with him on the car, the car backed up, and the stunt guy hopped off the hood. Once you ramp it backwards it appears he rolls onto the hood.
The next shot was filmed from inside the car. All we did was put a back pad on the stunt guy, I shot really low so you wouldn't see the street, we stopped the car, and he dove onto the hood and shattered the window.
Finally, we shot the last piece of him rolling off the hood. . .
And viola! We just hit a guy with a car!
Finally, we put our hero in a pond. This was an underwater piece that we filmed in April. I figured that it would be warm enough to do this, but nay, it was frigid enough to freeze thy nether-regions.
What kills me about this is that this isn't Josh Sumner, it's Ben Juhl! It just so happened that Ben wanted to do a little acting, Josh was back in school, and Ben was a dead ringer for Josh so I could use him and even show his face! You'd be surprised at how often throughout the film I did that.
August 10, 2009- "Episode 6 -"Tough as Nails"
I realize that one of the weaknesses of the film is that it is a little slow in the beginning. As I've mentioned before, this wasn't something I saw coming. It wasn't until everything was shot and edited that I realized the beginning of this film had a slower pace. One potential distributor commented, "If you were Stanley Kubrick, you could get away with that. But you're not Stanley Kubrick."
I'm not?
That said, once people get to this part of the film, they are usually hooked. I say this because I've heard multiple comments that once this scene started they had to see how the film ended. That makes me feel really good because this scene was one of the most difficult ones to shoot in the entire film. Every day we worked on it, we were faced with some sort of back breaking issue.
To understand why, you first need to understand that the Joe Johnson house is actually four separate locations.
#1 The front and back yard.
#2 The downstairs living room
#3 The upstairs hall
#4 The attic
And this doesn't include the multiple locations we used for the foot chase
Or the underwater location we used for the pond.
That might help gain perspective on what it took to shoot this sequence. It was spread out over a nine month period and was a real mental juggling act to keep all the action straight in my head.
So, the first day was the front and back yard. And you can tell from the film that we had what every film maker dreads. . . RAIN. No folks, that ain't movie rain, that's real Tennessee thunderstorm rain, and it didn't let up. We were completely drenched by the time that night was through.
Steve-o and I were the only ones who were there from beginning to end that day. We started the morning shooting all of Jaimee's scenes.
Then we moved on to the night scenes with Josh entering the house. I believe that when it was all said and done we worked a 20 hour day. It was even more difficult the next day because we moved on to location #3, the upstairs hall. That was the day Steve and I broke the marble table top.
(I'd like to give more details, but I don't really want to talk about it.)
It didn't get any easier once we moved inside. The attic scene was the first thing we shot of the entire movie. That was before Jerry and Amanda arrived, so we were using some sort of smoke machine that Moses used in ancient history. It wheezed out some sort of weak toxic gas, and never really had much of an effect. Not only that, it was really dangerous. It was basically a hot plate with some sort of smoke hockey puck that burned. We were working at RSVP in a set constructed of indoor paneling, and filled with boxes and other debris.
Translation: a highly flammable area.
What's funny to notice is Josh is carrying his trusty light as he crawls through the attic. However, this being the first day, we had scripted that he was carrying a headlamp. During the attic scene he broke the light, and from that point forward we switched to a standard mag light.
The last piece was shooting the entrance into the living room. This was very involved. We only had one day to shoot in this location because the owners were leaving on vacation. We also had to completely trash the place to make it look like something violent had occurred. To top it all off, we had to shoot some long crime scene searches, lots of dialogue, and a big stunt. . . A high fall onto the living room floor.
Now, at this point in my career I had never shot a stunt before with a real stunt man.
Everything I had done up to this point was just crazy stuff my friends would do. So, using my best guess, I set the schedule thinking I had plenty of time to execute this and move on. I figured it'd take us two hours TOPS to shoot this. Four hours later we were still getting ready. Everything was against us. We had to dark the house and make it look like night, we had to fill it with smoke, we had rain running down the windows, one of the interns knocked over an HMI light and broke it just before the stunt, and on and on the story goes.
Needless to say we went way over time. I believe it turned out to be a 15+ hour day. Everyone was feeling really punchy, actors were frustrated, the owners were irritated with me for taking too long.
Yes, it was very stressful, and I believe that the movie nearly fell apart that day. If it wasn't for the calming influence and the relentless optimism of the great Jerry Buxbaum, I think I would've lost several vital members of the team. I don't think I could've continued on.
Thanks, Jerry.
And thanks for not breaking your neck when you fell into the box pad. : )
July 21, 2009- "Episode 5 -"Exploring Solace"
This episode features several different things. We begin with Kyle's first breakfast and Gordy revealing who he is, Kyle has his first run in with Sherrif Sykes, and we start to see the strange behavior of the town.
It's interesting to me to see how this all came together. Originally, the breakfast scene with Gordy was much longer. More information was revealed about Kyle's life at home, Gordy pesters him extensively about the investigation, and much more. Once the scene was edited, it seemed very long, so I cut out several of my favorite moments in order to save the story.
(A director has to do these things sometimes.)
Nick Palladino really hated me for that breakfast scene. I directed Jeff Hime (Gordy Fellowes) to fidget and pace which wreaked havoc on the audio. He kept banging the pan on the burner, throwing dishes in the sink, and flopping the spatula around in the frying pan. We had to do a lot of work to eliminate all the audio spikes that were burying the dialogue. If I were to shoot it again, I would at least give him a rubber spatula. . .
Another thing to pay attention to as we see the scenes unfold in the BnB, is the way the kitchen is lit. It was my intent to isolate this place from the rest of the town. I wanted a warm, almost womb like feel to the place. The sun is always shining, Christmas music is always playing, and Gordy is always happy. If you pay attention, you'll notice that you can't actually see out the windows. I wanted this to seem like this place was untouched by the evils that were lurking in the town. Of course, as the film progresses, the BnB looses its charm. The light gets harder, the music eventually stops, and finally. . . well, I don't want to spoil any thing. . .
After Kyle explores the town again, he runs into a few more strange inhabitants of Solace. The first is Karen Moore, played by the wonderfully funny Cynthia Ganote. Cynthia isn't an actress by trade, but she is hysterical to hang around. I wrote the part just for her, and she didn't dissapoint.
The second person is the strange chick in the book store. That strange chick happens to be my wife.
I figured she'd be perfect for that part since she is a cold hearted, emotionless wench.
Okay, I'm kidding. She is very sweet, but I really wanted to use her in the film and this seemed like the perfect part. It was especially useful because her voice really does sound like a robot.
July 16, 2009- "Episode 4 -'Investigative Report"
Here we are, back in the BnB. . .
When I wrote this script
my intent was to keep the story to a few locations. That way, it would be much easier to shoot. As you can see, if you've been keeping up with the episodes, is that there are quite a few locations. Here we are only 20-30 minutes into the film and we've already seen at least 10 locations!
When we started the film, we shot all of the BnB locations first. I thought it would be good to shoot something easy up front so we could establish our rhythm. The interesting thing that happened was the rhythm we were finding was working with each other. All of the actors, and much of the crew were working regular jobs on the side. What that means is it was difficult for everyone to pour their entire lives into the film. Josh was running on empty as he was in the middle of completing his master's degree, Jeff was having a hard time remembering his lines after working all day and coming to set, I was having incredible difficulty finding consistent crew to stick with me through it all. To top it all off, every one of the crew started to contract the flu.
Needless to say, it wasn't easy.
In hinsight, I with I would've saved the BnB shoot until the end. It's much easier to throw yourself into a part when the scene is a bunch of action. Then, after we'd had our fun, we could go in and shoot all the talking scenes. Not to mention, I think it would've been easier for the actors to find their character's voices after acting in some scenes with movement.
In the end, I think the scenes came together well, but it took a lot of crafting in the edit suite. If I were to be honest with myself I can see that there is a bit of stiffness to them. This is a result of everything I just described. A huge lesson I learned here is how to shoot dialogue heavy scenes. Especially scenes that feature miles of exposition. Shooting exposition is by far the toughest thing to shoot. What I had to do in order to make the scenes move is shoot coverage that would give the audience something interesting to look at while the characters are talking. It also gives them a visual aid to help them put the pieces together. I would also break up the scenes into beats and change postions or locations in the house. I realize it was all a bandaid, but it was cheaper than the alternative:
A reshoot.
One thing I should've done is change up the location.
For example, once the truth about Aunt Janna is revealed and Kyle decides to open up about what he is really up to, I should've moved them to the living room. The characters could've been seated in couches and Kyle could be showing Gordy his case file. It's still dialogue, but it gives us a visual breath to continue forward.
It's funny when it comes to film, and I learned some invaluable knowledge doing it. When you read a script, you have a mental picture of how it will come together. Sometimes, though, things take on a life of their own and it turns out differently than you planned. This was one of those times.
The next scene features Kyle in a coffee shop. This was our first full day of shooting and we were in Fidos, a coffee shop located in Hillsboro village. They were gracious enough to let us into their facility before they opened, but that meant we had to start shooting at 5a.m. If it would've been later in the day I would've been able to fill the coffee shop with people, but I was forced to use two crew members as background action. The guy sitting directly behind Josh is the same person who was lying on the street by the newspaper stand, and Sykes' running stunt double during the chase scene in episode 6. My voice is the barista guy calling out the drinks. (I'm also the voice of Captain Briggs in Episode 3.) My wife specifically requested that I call out for hot chocolate, because that's her favorite drink. : )
Kyle then moves onto City Hall and visits the vacant mayor's office. This entire scene was shot during the blazing month of August. I had to be careful not to shoot too much of the outside since there were leaves on the trees and flowers out front. If you listen carefully, you can hear the deafening cecadas in the trees.
The United Way allowed us to invade their offices after business hours, and shoot Kyle's investigation. This too, was a much longer scene. We had a moment where Kyle sees a copy machine in the back room, blindly running off empty copies. I decided to cut it out for time, and for the simple fact that a copy machine wouldn't do that into infinity. Eventually it would run out of paper. . .
May 28, 2009- "Episode 3 -'Ghostly White"
So, this episode shows us what our hero is really doing in the small town of Solace. He investigates the home of the late Raymond Singer and tries to figure out why he died. This scene, like many others, had to be shot in one day. The owners, Chuck and Jennifer, were gracious enough to let us take over their home. The biggest issue for them was their dogs. They had to pack up the car and find a place to hide them.
This was the first scene we shot after the Christmas break. Jerry and Amanda had driven to and from Chicago and were completely exhausted.
Yes, somewhere under that pile of clothes is Jerry Buxbaum.
This entire scene was filmed during the blazing daylight. We had to cover all the windows, and build tents outside the porch and back deck. The tents were in place so we could place a light outside and shine it in the window. I worked with Amanda Steen to create a ghostly look to the place. We tried to elimiate anything in the house that had color. Most of the furniture was covered in white sheets and we hung clear visqueen between all the rooms.
We probably worked faster on this day than any other because the home owners needed to return early, plus it was Josh Sumner's birthday! I wanted to finish in time so that he could have a nice birthday dinner with his family.
Originally, we had planned to rain this entire scene. Jerry was ready with his rain towers, but the week before the shoot a massive snow storm blew in and froze everything solid. If you pay attention, you'll probably notice the snow covering the porch. If we were to pump rain onto all of that, it would've turned the world into an ice skating rink.
On an interesting note, the chalk outline we taped to the floor left a mark that refused to come up. Chuck and Jennifer informed me that it lasted for three years before finally wearing off.
April 22, 2009- "Episode 2 -'Bike Rider Blues'"
This second episode of "The Human Trace" opens with Kyle Fishburn, lone cyclist, on his way to the mysterious town of Solace. This opening scene went through several incarnations before becoming what it is now. And actually, what it is online is different than what is on the DVD. The DVD plays a kick butt blues version of the song "Jesus Gonna Be Here," performed by Ashley Cleveland.
If you've never heard the Tom Waits song, it is well worth a listen. Both Tom Waits and Ashley Cleveland gave me temporary permission to use the song in festivals. However, I couldn't get permission to use it online, so I was forced to use a piece of the score. I chopped it down quite a bit, but I believe it still works.
Originally, however, I used a song called "Cowboy Blues" by Gary Allan. It was a twangy country song that I really liked and I thought it would be a quirky way to start the film. You can listen to the song below:
Okay, right now you're probably saying, "What the heck was he thinking!?" The answer is, well, I don't know. I mean, on some levels I think it works, but it really throws the film into a spin. First you're watching something scary, then you're watching a twangy country video, then a comic scene with Kyle and Gordy. It was not the best way to start the film.
When I screened the film for my focus groups I got ripped to shreds for my music choice. A direct quote from one of my critiquers read,
"Please, oh please don't start with a song like that."
Shooting this opening was a lot of fun. I wanted to have scenic shots of riding, as well as extreme close up of Josh and the inner workings of the bike. To capture this, Jerry Buxbaum once again came through with flying colors. He attached a side car to his motorcycle, pulled off the front tire of the bicycle, and mounted the forks to the side car.
If you've ever tried to shoot a cyclist and attempted to get close up shots of the gears, you know how impossible it is. This was the only way to achieve this. (Safely.)
To me, the most humorous part of the opening credits is when Josh climbs a big hill. At the beginning he is all gung ho, but about half way he looses steam. I have ridden that hill many times and it's a tough one. Every time I watch it I chuckle. I can see Josh's legs start to shake, the bike wobbles, the saddle bags wag, traffic backs up. . .
I am laughing, though, because I know exactly how it feels.
Once Kyle reaches the BnB we get to meet Gordy Fellowes, played by Jeff Hime. This scene was an interesting one to shoot. My goal was to have Gordy spinning around like a top, and Kyle a motionless statue. We ended up shooting the scene in two pieces. The first, was looking at Josh Summer as he says his lines.
The second was eight months later, looking at Jeff.
I didn't plan it that way, it just happened. However, it worked to our advantage. I was able to make a rough edit of the film, analyze the problem areas, and adjust the script. Jeff's lines are different from what Josh was acting to. In the edit I used pieces of Josh's dialogue, his reaction shots, and actually cut large chunks of his lines
so that his character appears to be observing and listening more than talking. In the end I am pleased with the way it turned out.
(However, if you watch closely, you can see that Josh's eye line doesn't match exactly with where Jeff is standing.)
The scene ends with Josh talking on the phone to his estranged wife, Bec, played by Jaimee Simon. Jaimee, like all the other actors, played the part for free. Fortunately, we were able to shoot all of her scenes in one day. The scene ends with Josh staring at his wedding ring. Many people have asked me if his necklace is, in fact, fishing wire. The response to that is complicated. Amanda Steen, the Art Director, would not be happy with me if I answered "yes." She claims that the preferred nomenclature is "monofilament."
So, yes, that is a fishing wire necklace. It's the best we could do on short notice. . .
March 17, 2009- "Episode 1-'The Death of a Layman'"
This is the official launch of "The Human Trace" web experiment. After analyzing the costs of festival submissions, travel, promotion, etc. and comparing that to the cost of showing pieces of the film as mini webisodes, the decision was easy. We can get a much wider audience at a fraction of the cost, and we have total control over how it is seen.
So, here is Episode 1, staring the always colorful J.D. Parker as Dr. Dwayne Furgeson. J.D. was a great sport for lending his talents to us, and did it all for free. We shot in the remote hamlet of Watertown, TN in an enormous old house. (Very creepy.) Yes, the cracked walls, water damage, drooping wallpaper, and strange props were not the result of the art department. It all came with the house. I had worked in this location on two other feature films and knew that this was the perfect place to set the opening of the film.
What I'm proud of is that the whole opening sequence was filmed in three rooms. The only exception was the door explosion. (More on this later.) I wanted to show him running all over his house, turning on lights, but wanted to shoot it quickly. So, I designed it so we could lay down one section of dolly track and then simply spin the camera 180 degrees and shoot the next scene. For example, the shot after he runs up the steps and is backing down the hallway into the darkness, was filmed right by the front door. I just set the camera down low and was careful not to show the front of the house. This enabled us to move very quickly.
The room he hides out in is the room at the bottom of the stairs. All we had to do was move the camera and lights around the corner and Viola! We're upstairs!
Perhaps the most challenging piece of this opening scene was the shotgun blast at the bedroom door. This house was over 100 years old and we were nervous about discharging a weapon in a small room. We didn't know if the concussion would shatter the antique windows, so, we test fired the gun in the basement. I recorded the blast from upstairs. (The actual sound is in the scene.) When Jerry Buxbaum discharged the weapon the entire house shook. You could hear the dirt rattle out of the floor boards and filter into the basement. The shock wave knocked over all kinds of stuff in the basement, including a can of gas. . .
So, we decided we'd have to fake it.
What I decided to do was put orange gel over the flash of my still camera. The camera dollies in until the end of the gun is out of the shot. We counted down and when I took the picture, he cocks back as if he is reacting to the bucking weapon.
This is the image that the still camera captured.
No windows were broken during the shooting of this film!
The reverse shot was filmed several weeks later in the RSVP studios in Nashville, TN. (www.rsvpnashville.com) We assembled a door, dressed it, rigged it with squibs and blew it off. The final shot is a composite because we had several problems. The first was we didn't really have a lot of time to make the door look seamless and pretty. Right before the explosion, you can really see the squib holes, so we had to doctor it up.
Then, once we blew the door, it flipped a breaker and knocked out all the power! I had to turn on all the lights and shoot the door, post explosion. Then, Greg Tipton from Big Pixture www.bigpixture.com created some post effects with smoke, sparks, and a flying doorknob to finish it out.
So, there it is. It's amazing the amount of work goes into only five minutes of finished film. I considered mentioning some of the continuity problems or other issues we ran into, but I think I should let you find those for yourself!
Stay tuned for more commentaires on upcoming episodes!
January 1, 2009- "Snow Day"
Well, the fun never ends here at Big Puddle Films. Spokane has seen record setting snowfall and since we're all snowed in it's a perfect time to reflect on the last year.
I'm not driving anywhere today.
Last year began with setting up shop in Spokane, Washington, and a staggering move across the country. It's always difficult to pull of such an expedition, but in the end it worked out very well. Professionally, I have seen much more progress and have found an whole new audience for the film.
It's interesting. When you make a film and are so consumed by it, you assume that everyone knows what you're up to. For the most part, that is true. However, people outside your circle may not even know you exist. I have found that moving to Spokane. Not only am I making new friends, and working with a new professional group, I find that I have to re-educate and re-introduce this film to every one I meet. First, you have to get the idea in their heads that you have committed two hours of drama to 1's & 0's, then you have to tell them how much you did it for.
($15,000)
Then, once they hear that, you have to convince them to watch it.
It's been a lot of fun reliving the experience. Nashville, where the film was born, was a three year build up, ending in a blast of a premier. Here, it has amounted to evenings of "Human Trace" screenings to an excited audience.
I have learned much over 2008, and at the risk of sounding cynical, I'd like to share what I've learned.
FIRST: This is the movie BUSINESS.
Okay, that sounds so cliché, but it's true. I knew this going in, and I still know it, but what I didn't expect was to see it at the independent film festivals. In my head I figured all festivals were searching for those "underground films" that the poor and desperate artists had maxed out their credit cards to make. For the most part, they are looking for those films, but the bottom line is this: If they are able to secure the rights to play the latest indie film starring Kevin Spacey, then they WILL bump your film to play it. After all, they too are trying to make money and continue the festival. The hard sad truth is that the general public will make the drive to the festival if Matt Damon is in a movie. If the film stars Jeff Hime, well, sorry Charlie.
(And anyone who knows Jeff, LOVES Jeff!)
SECOND: It's SOMETIMES who you know.
I had this work both ways last year. For the Nashville Film Festival, it didn't help at all. I know a lot of people associated with that festival, and it didn't get me in the door. I suppose that it's possible that the film was rejected because they didn't like me, but I doubt it.
I was so sure that this film was going to get into Nashville that I never gave it a second thought. I even had "behind the scenes" confirmation that the film was in. So, when the rejection letter arrived I thought for sure it was a mistake. I had to read the letter several times before the truth sank in.
I won't lie. It hurt pretty bad getting rejected.
(If I recall, I probably wrote some sort of angry blog that day.)
Actually, though, I believe that what REALLY happened was what I was talking about in point #1. As soon as I found out I was rejected I learned that they had just landed a Meg Ryan film, and she was actually going to be in attendance at the festival. I think they kicked me out to make room for her. I have no proof of this, and maybe I'm saying it to make myself feel better, but it makes perfect sense. After all, if I were in that position I may do the same thing. Imagine how many Nashvillians would show up for the screening if Meg Ryan were in town!
(Probably a lot more than if Jason Satterlund were in town.)
This lesson actually worked in my favor at the Memphis Film Festival. Eric Jambor, the festival director from the Birmingham Sidewalk Film Festival, remembered me from a previous film I had submitted a few years earlier. He was great to work with, very accommodating, and someone I've tried to keep tabs on since that time.
Last year, he relocated to Memphis and is now the festival director there. He actually invited me to enter! That was really great. I wish I had been able to attend, but alas, it was not meant to be.
THIRD: Entering the film business is life inside the Total Perspective Vortex.
If any of you have read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," you may remember the "Total Perspective Vortex." It was a device invented to show you in relationship to the rest of the universe, on a map, to scale. It had a sign saying, "You are Here" that pointed to a microscopic dot, on a microscopic dot. The effect was so mind blowing that it would drive anyone mad who entered it. It ended up being the worst torture device ever invented.
Well, this is the movie business. As an independent film maker, you are infinitesimally small. You are a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot. And that's if you actually live in L.A. If you live in someplace like, say, Spokane, well nobody knows you exist. You are but one person in a sea of film makers, and you have less money and connections than all of the others.
I don't want this to sound depressing. I'm actually smiling as I type this. It's part of the thrill. It's the risk you take. Because if you happen to win the lottery, you truly know how lucky you are! It's the fantasy that makes this so appealing. We are all like the green toys in the toy picker machine in the movie, "Toy Story." We gaze up at the glorious "Claw" as it descends. As it pikcs us out of the crowd, we smile and sing, "I have been chosen. . ."
FOURTH: You won't make it until you make it.
Aren't you glad you've read this and learned so much?
The whole reason I made this film was to show that I could actually make a movie. A few years ago I was trying to raise money for another feature called, "Searching for Winter."
You can watch the trailer at www.bigpuddlefilms.com
I pitched that film to investors for years, and the comment I kept hearing was, "How do I know you can actually make a movie?" I also talked with several agents and their comment was, "Go make a movie and lets see what you can do."
Well, guess what folks? I made the film and strangely enough, I actually expected to be welcomed by these gatekeepers. However, as I placed the glorious, "Human Trace" at their feet I was greeted with,
"Go make another one. We'd like to see a track record."
I could go on with more things I've learned this last year, but I'd hate to bore you all at once. I'll split this up into multiple blogs to give you something to ruminate on from day to day.
However, I need to leave you with my final and most important point.
FIFTH: No film maker is an island.
As much as you'd love to, you cannot make a career without a lot of other people.
Even though you'd love to think that it's all about you, it isn't. You simply must remember to scratch other people's backs. Work on other films. Support other people's films. Help other people make it, and believe me, it will pay off.
Last year I had the opportunity to work on an internet series titled, "Animus Cross." It was directed by Amanda Steen, the art director for "The Human Trace." I am and forever will be in her debt for helping me my on my film. Her and her husband Jerry drove across the country to work on "The Human Trace," and it came time to support her in her dream.
"Animus Cross" is a thriller set in the 1800s. It stars the talented Jeff Hime (Gordy Fellowes) and Jerry Buxbaum. It was shot for several days last August and has been released as an ongoing web series.
Amanda graciously asked me to act as cinematographer and it was probably the most fun I have ever had on set. In fact, on the last day we actually had a moose walk though the set! How often does that happen?
I was great to participate in building someone else's dream. I met a lot of great people and several great actors, many of whom I plan to use on future projects. This is the quid quo pro of independent film making. Technically, you are in competition with those around you, but in reality, we're all in this together.
That said, be sure to visit the official "Animus Cross" website.
www.animuscross.com
And for Pete's sake, enjoy the journey!!!
: )
To read up on all the happenings of
2008, click below.
