The 7th Mile

[tzpilot]

The 7th Mile

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/poster.jpg



Filming was scheduled for two nights. We were able to film the first night without any problems, then after 8 hours on day two, we had to shut everything down due to rain. We're scheduled to film the remaining pages this upcoming weekend of October 1st.

[tzpilot]

CAST
Brody (fugitive) . . . . . . . STEVE "PAPAW" PYATTE
Draven . . . . . . . . . . . . . EVAN CARNES
Erik (scout). . . . . . . . . . HAYDN JAMES


CREW
Line Producer . . . . . . . . . . Gregory E. Berry
Written & Directed By . . . . .Dan Lennox
1st AD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Don Becker
Director of Photography . . . Ian Krinock
Original Score . . . . . . . . . . Harry Manfredini
Grip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peter Bowse
Location Sound . . . . . . . . .Chuck Budreau
Boom Pole . . . . . . . . . . . . Adam Bailey
Makup/Wardrobe . . . . . . . Kim Osbourne-Conolly
Stunts/Firearms . . . . . . . . Rick Bittle
Special Effects . . . . . . . . . Dave Schalatter
Still Photographer . . . . . . .Don Becker
Production Assistants . . . . .Gunnar Campbell, Tim Large, Ryan Lennox, Brant Lennox

[tzpilot]

After a very long night on the set, we finally wrapped on Sunday morning. Here are a few camera grabs. Enjoy.

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/Haydn_Evan.png



http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/Steve_Evan.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/Evan4.png

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/Screenshot2011-10-02at35928PM.png

[tzpilot]

Here are a few production stills

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/IMG_0040.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/IMG_0053.jpg



http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/IMG_0064.jpg





http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/IMG_0048.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/IMG_0082.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/IMG_0126.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/IMG_0026.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/IMG_0085.jpg

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x458/tzpilot1/The 7th Mile/IMG_0151.jpg

[MOVIE MASTER]

i like your style

[MOVIE MASTER]

the darkness is grim

[tzpilot]

the darkness is grim

Yes, but very fun...

[Noel Evans]

Welcome to the fest. Nice thread so far. Good luck!

[Matt Harris]

When you have a production still of a crew member with a zz top beard and nose ring, you are an automatic top 3 contender.
seriously though this looks good, congrats on the shoot!

[tzpilot]

Crewmember??? The ZZ Top Guy is one of the cast... lol

[Matt Harris]

even better!

[tzpilot]

even better!

I hope so... lol I see you're from W. Hollywood. I'll be up in the 818 to meet with Harry Manfredini who'll be doing the score for our film.

[Matt Harris]

dude that's amazing, he's a classic horror movie composer, how did you get him?
his credits: http://www.harrymanfredini.com/filmography/

[tzpilot]

He's a very close friend of one of our cast members, Steve 'Papaw' Pyatte (The guy with the ZZ Top beard). I spoke with Harry for a few hours and he loved the story so much, he wanted to do it. After some negotiation, he offered his services for a few bottles of wine. I couldn't refuse...

[Matt Harris]

That is one scary dad! I wish your stills didn't give away the end though :( but you built good tension anyhow. I totally believed in the situation, and what the boys were dealing with.
The shot at 5:45 with the boy and fog behind his head, GREAT shot. Your compression though, you might want to shrink the physical size of your movie so it's sharper and less compressed?
Good short, nicely done!

[tzpilot]

Thanks Matt,

I appreciate the feedback. I did have issues with the compression as the original file from compressor was around 800mb, and I had to get it down to 100mb. I never thought about shrinking the frame size down. Oh well, you always learn something new.

Dan

[thetvirus513]

REVIEW!

I liked this one a lot, it was a fun story, pretty nice visually and I enjoyed watching it.

What I liked - Your lighting was well done for the campfire scenes, very believable. I thought your acting especially the boy and his father was great, and the other boy was good as well. I really liked the scene from around 2:55 to 3:10 or so when he hides and the boy finds him with his flashlight.....and then lets him go. That decision was powerful in your character building. Also some of those shots were nice. I also liked the angle/framing when the one boy is shooting the other boy......and of course the brains were cool!

What I didn't like as much - The chasing through the forest scene was too dark, I really couldn't see anything. I think the sound when the dad hits his son for sassing him was lacking, it didn't sound like he hit him. My biggest complaint though was that this didn't seem SCARY to me. Of course scary means different things to different people, but even though the situation was believable, the boy being held there didn't seem very scared, and in turn the whole scenario didn't seem "scary"

Overall though it was a nice story, with good acting and some really well done lighting, very enjoyable.

[Mobie540]

This was good. I forgave a lot and really got into the story. It left me with that creepy feeling.

I'd say tighten the sound design. I wish the acting was more consistent throughout because you would've hit a home run.

Also kudos to the makeup person!

[Edgen]

A pretty solid story and decent acting by the kids. I think the father needed another angle to really give him a menancing feel. Otherwise, it's just another wannbe badass biker buck with a zz top beard. I would have liked to see some really Close ups to his soul. I bet he's got one in there somewhere. Which... leads me to another point. he's definitely the weakest link and I wanted to see some dimensions to him. Perhaps a slight bit of sympathy, a story of why he's such a jackass to his son, a phone call from his wife nagging him about not putting away the dishes before they left on the camping trip... etc.

I also wanted to know more about the scout. How did they meet, why he was tied up. (which I didn't see that coming in the opening).

I know films like these don't always get a happy ending, but I felt cheated as I was rooting for the lil' guy to turn the gun on the dad. Or, after the first bullet, have the dad say he's proud of his son for having the balls to actually take the shot. At that point, the scout could have saved the day, or perhaps would have lead to an opportunity for the son to take action on his father. Maybe the moral of this story, once a menace, always a cold hearted menace?

Looking forward to your next film and to see you progress.

Cheers and congrats on entering.
/j

[Hawk Teflon]

SPOILER REVIEW:

The good: The kids were pretty decent, which is rare. The music was great as well. The dad's acting was pretty legit, too. Good flow in the story, too. Believe it or not, I didn't see the end coming. Everyone here puts a twist on the story, so I expect it. Good job.

The not as good: The lighting was hit and miss. Some of the dialogue was a little off to me ("What's that?" "I already told you ... it's the___."). This hit from the dad sounded like a thud (like a body hitting the ground) instead of a smack. That big guy went down pretty easily, too. It was kind of hard to see anything during the chase. I think the boyscout would have pleaded more for his life more before the trigger was pulled.

Favorite part: the dad walking into the blade calling out the boyscout.

[ZazaCast]

This one had me a bit confused and I had to watch it a few times to get a take on it. You did a really good job lighting & shooting this one.
The kids did a great job acting, the biker...he was just o.k. and not as believable. I'll go into detail below.

Thoughts as I watch:
- Opening dialogue seems random, just to get the required line out of the way...strange way to start the film.
- "Sh*t" is totally hard right and threw me...a little off center is fine.
- ...then he says "relax"? I don't get it...he is relaxed, couldn't be more relaxed. That might be the problem for me right there.
- It goes on about the 7th mile...haunting...murder... Dad will get us out...eat the hotdog. This all makes no sense to me. There's no back story. How did they get there in the first place? Why are they there?
Who, what, why, where... the first 1:30 of the film could be cut IMHO. I could see this starting with a shot of the kids hands tied up, over to the other kid grabbing the gun out of the bag and go from there.
- Now another spot that bugged me, as the dad enters, his back is to the scout and he's untied...why didn't he push him then and run? The scout is too relaxed for being kidnapped or whatever.
- I can't see a thing in the chase scene, just too dark...and you had such great lighting around the fire.
- Really good score for the chase
- "Dad...over here...no, I think he got away.".... what? Again, a very strange thing to say if you're letting the kid go...yes?
- Then, how did the dad find him? And why isn't he any good to them now? You see what I mean? It's just not jiving...
- Why wouldn't the scout just stab him in the throat when he had the chance?
- End scene is good, although I don't understand the russian roulette thing....and the kids eyes shift after he shoots and pulls you out of the moment there for a second.
- Great job on the make-up!

So... I guess for me, I had too many question for the story to work for me. I hope you understand this is all meant as constructive criticism.

[Chris_Keaton]

Haha. This was pretty good once I got over that opening sequence of dialog. But maybe it was that bit of awkward friendly banter that let me not guess he was a captive. Oh and you showed his brains! :)

[Charli]

I couldn't get into the story itself. Bully dad and son who can't stand up to him. It's not original. I didn't get it. I wasn't interested. It was predictable, part of the problem. While the acting was okay the dialogue really didn't reveal much. I didn't get it.

[Three Billion Seconds]

Very cool poster.

[lawriejaffa]

I think this film had a nice concept/premise going on that struggled a little (first of all because I mistook the boy scout for a state trooper) and his kidnapper for Justin Bieber (the ZZ Top cameo was welcome though!) In fact that particular actor looked the part, but unfortunately we were stuck with the two kids - and while they do their best (and they do a decent enough job) it just...

it just .... well...

feels like your watching a film made by 14 year olds (EVEN WHEN IT CLEARLY WAS NOT!)

This could have been remedied I think had teh scout actor had not been so 'passive and mature' about the whole kidnapping affair. I mean the young dude is a kid? - the biggest fright in his life is facebook crashing or his online porn stash getting stolen by his androgynous emo-rapping friend TQ (i hear thats what all the hip kids are called nowadays...) AAAnyway, there he is, stoic like a Spartan just complaining that halloween sucks with as much fear as an... um... an egg.

Eggs know no fear. Because their eggs, but had our state trooper been more like a kid, shitting his pants a little, and the other dude kidnapping him less metroseuxal, and more ragged dirty bandit/kid kinda look (I didn't say hick) then BANG it would be believable.

Like ZZ top - he looked BANG ON for the part, its the other kids that looked like they were borrowed from a highschool nativity play!

[tzpilot]

Thanks for the honest feedback. It is much appreciated.