"Without Provocation" - a Norm Sanders (Envision) film

Norm Sanders

Norm Sanders

Script Wrangler
Scroll down to view Q&A, BTS, etc.


"It was a simple plan ...
then people were thrown into the equation."

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CAST
Robin ................. Rebecca L. Dunn
Linden ................ Anita Lugliani
Carter ................. Shawn Nelson
Seller .................. Norm Sanders
Wife ................... Alecia Grant
Child .................. Elijah Nelson
Voice of SWAT ..... Matthew Merz


CREW
Norm Sanders ...... Writer / Editor / Producer / Director
Patrick LaValley .... Director of Photography
Herman Witkam ... Composer / Sound Designer
Ken Kupelian ........ Sound / Boom Operator
Claudine Ebel ....... Hair & Makeup Artist
Steve Armenakis .. Post Visual Effects Artist
Jeffrey R. Hawley .. Script Consultant / Editor
Matthew Merz ....... Production Assistant


VENDORS
Nelson Entertainment
[SWAT Gear & On Set Armory]


SPECIAL THANKS
Varizoom, Inc.
David Dunn & Family
Shahna Sanders & Family
Annette Nelson
DVXuser
 
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Questions & Answers

Questions & Answers

Why did you make a film like WITHOUT PROCATION?
I've had some peers repeatedly say here on DVXuser that I'm a 'safe filmmaker', and generally afraid of taking risks. Though I wouldn't necessarily always agree, looking back I can see that I tend to play things on the safer side, sticking with what I know I can pull off and avoiding things I'm not as confident about and/or typically want to avoid in a film, some of which are just personal taste reasons. This film gave me an opportunity to try and push every boundary within reason on a short time frame, with a small cast & crew, and with a very low budget. A perfect opportunity for an exercise of trial & error to see what works and what doesn't. In the end, I'm fairly happy with the results, and believe most others will be as well.

The color correction choice is pretty radical; what made you choose this for your final look?
Again, it goes with polarizing the audience. With the SpyFest genre, there are likely to be MANY films that have similar themes, and beyond that even more may have very similar looks. With the storyline hopefully being different than many of the other films, I wanted to take it a step further and ensure that the film would more than likely have a different look visually than any other film in the festival. I've also always been intrigued by the film SCANNER DARKLY, and their cell processing of the film ... though I knew I couldn't duplicate that with my present abilities/equipment, I wanted to give a look that was at least inspired by it.

How did you achieve the final post production look?
I first applied a color correction to the film that I wanted for the 'live action' version, which will also be on the Cast & Crew DVD. Then I exported out over 8,600 images as a PNG sequence from Vegas (the NLE I cut on), and then processed them all through an automated script I created in Photoshop CS. Next, I took that entire PNG image sequence and imported it back into Vegas, and created a composite track with the setting to 'darken', laying over the original import. From there I applied additional CC to taste, along with Gaussian blurs, etc. Once you get the automation & steps down, the entire process shouldn't take much more than about 24 hours.

What else makes this film different than all the rest you've done?
Oh geez, aside from the extreme final post production look, camera work is a definite stand-out. I'd say the majority of my films in the past have had someone at the helm who was probably more traditional & structured in shots by nature. This has usually been Ryan Walters (235 Studios), and on the last film (Where Silence Falls) it was Dan Ayers, both of which are pros. So for WITHOUT PROVOCATION, I asked Patrick LaValley if he would be the Director of Photography. Not that Patrick isn't a pro, but his personality by nature is for more extreme & unique shots. I mean, this is a guy that will take his DVX100, strap it to his handle bars & then proceed to jump logs or whatever else he can find on trails with his mountain bike! So I knew someone with that kind of personality & edge would help give the film that extra difference as well, and get us in the face of the action with a more hand held look. Speaking of which, we never had a single locked down shot. Everything was shot using the Varizoom unit we acquired from the DVXuser DramaFest, with the exception of one hand held shot because there wasn't enough room for anything but the camera.

Next, we have the language. In comparison to any of my past films, this is a cuss-fest. No prior films have ever had a single swear word. Not one.

Drug use. Not that the story revolves around it, but I wanted to quickly explore the use of it, and the impact it may have on certain individuals within the group, both from the standpoint of those using them and those that have to deal with the users.

Editing. This is by FAR the most difficult thing I've ever edited. Ever. With the slower, more structured pace of past films the edits were usually quite simple with locked down shots, longer holds on each character, etc. This was a FAST & frenzied, kinetic approach I wanted to take with this film, which included the editing. If we hung on one character for more than a few seconds, I wanted something interesting to happen visually, whether it was a quick drop in from from panning in post, to a sudden pop in zoom, to a slight blur, etc. ... all of which I have to give props to Jack Daniel Stanley for with his inspirations in BONE HAND. Thanks, Jack. Anyway, with all of the extra cuts & angles that had to be applied, this edit took much longer than I expected for me to do. Did I mention it was the most difficult thing I've ever edited?!

Skin. Though I DO raise my shirt in this one too, I decided to spare the DVXuser crowd of having to see me again (it's framed out - there's a reason to vote for this film right there, lol!!) ... instead, they get to see some more of RebeccaD. This too, could be considered an opposite from the previous film(s). :grin:

What are some pros & cons that you see with a film like this?
Since it's a completely different film than anything I've ever done in the past, which again has typically towed a middle line to draw as broad an audience as possible, this film will be more of a polarizer. Folks will likely love it or hate it, but I don't believe there will be too many left inbetween. This can be seen as both a pro and a con. A definite pro would be that it's pushed my boundries as a filmmaker, which will only help to improve the next endeavor, whatever that may be. A con is the fact that I can't show it to my kids due to the content ... something that I make sure I address with the next project.

Both the banner & poster are stating this is an R-rating ... what makes it so?
Just as the graphic states; pervasive languate (swearing), drug use & violence.

What happened to BERLIN, and where did this film come from, since we never heard about it before?
BERLIN truly was postponed for creative purposes, as stated in that thread (lack of convincing German soldiers at the time). I expect to be able to pick that film up & resume development/pre-production eventually. However, I very quickly was chomping at the bit to at least get something into the festival, and came up with an idea I believed could be executed in a short period of time. I won't, at this point, state how long the film has been planned, nor how long the entire development through to final post production took, as I don't want opinions being formed on the film based on how long we did or didn't have. Some folks could hear that we had a solid 2 months, and may think we could have done something differently, or others could hear that we made this in a matter of 3 days from start to finish, and would then pre-judge the film on that.

In a nutshell, you've not heard of WITHOUT PROVOCATION until now because I wanted to take a different approach than BERLIN. Everything about this film is different, so I thought I'd let that carry over to the marketing, or lack thereof as well. :)
 
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Additional Behind The Scenes!

Additional Behind The Scenes!

Press the below links to view various BTS clips from WITHOUT PROVOCATION!
Humorous "I SQUISH YOU!" clip
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[The following is a clip taken at around midnight (after approx 15-16 hours onset) that shows about the extent of the stress I allowed to show through. I have a rule that if the Director freaks out & shows a lot of stress, it can do nothing but pull down the rest of the cast & crew, so why bother? It's better to just channel it & have some fun. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND that I normally never swear onset, but since I'd been playing a character throughout the day that was using some pretty extreme language, it would just more naturally come out between takes as well, as was the case for I think everyone; even little Elijah (man that kid can cuss like a sailor - JUST KIDDING!).

Rebecca is who I was talking to, directly across from me, as the camera was over her shoulder.]






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Note- black visqueen will not stick to cement siding with gaff tape in a wind storm. That is one of a select few things that gaff tape is not good for.
 
wew hew! COngrats on the entry Norm. You pulled through like a slick willy in a peep hole. Looking forward to seeing your film

cheers!
/j
 
Oh boy.

Yippee.

Goody.

Another tedious film from Norm. Something involving the fascinating life of your hamster no doubt.

Oh. WAITJUSTASECONDHERE! I see that Rebecca's in this one!

Weeelllll OK then! Why didn't you say so?

You've got my vote.

Unless you take your shirt off again. In which case you don't.

Unless .... (WHOA! Not going there ....)

Seriously - cheers, bud. Aren't ya glad?:beer:
 
Yay! I was bummed when Berlin was postponed, so this was a great surprise. I like the stylization you chose for your final CC (thanks for showing the process, BTW). Looking forward to this.
 
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