Carte Blanche - A Feature Film Written & Directed by Matt Kieley

filmman said:
Something is wrong here. You may have made a mistake that cannot be fixed.

This is not how to make a movie. But then it doesn't have to be a movie.

Ask yourself this question: would you have been better in the role?

Since you're shooting video, it would be interesting to shoot the whole movie with each actor in the same role and then give it a professional editor to decide which actor performed better.
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It's not a matter of better vs. worse. The original guy is a talented actor, but he just wasn't really right for the role. I don't know if I went about this the right or wrong way. All I know is that, when all is said and done, I don't want to make a shitty movie. And in a character-driven film like this, the two most important things are the script and the cast. I would also like to point out that nobody here was actually there. Nobody here saw the footage, or has even read the script. Francis Ford Coppola replaced Harvey Keitel with Martin Sheen a few weeks into apocalypse now. Robert Zemeckis replaced Eric Stoltz with Michael J. Fox a couple weeks into shooting Back to the Future. It happens. Again, maybe I went about this the wrong way, but I don't regret it.
 
Thank you for raising this issue. I'm going to be dealing with it on my next felliniesque project I'm going to shoot starting in a few months.

It's hard to tell what Apocalypse would've been like with Harvey Keitel instead of Martin Sheen -- maybe a better movie? I don't know. With big budget movies such experiments aren't possible; but with no-budget digital productions, we have the luxury of shooting with different actors and seeing the results.

The toughest issue for me is replacing actors after I've cast them -- especially as in your case when the lead actor is your friend. He's also talented and a handsome kid, so what do you say to him?

Well, good luck with the project. I'm glad your shooting ... and sharing your experiences.
 
He took it well. I just told him we wouldn't need him anymore,. He just said "Okay. Good luck with the project." I told him he wasn't doing a bad job, it just wasn't what I was looking for, which is the honest-to-god truth. He's a fairly zen guy to begin with, so I didn't really think there would be sour grapes, but I was still kind of nervous, and felt kind of bad about it, although I don't regret it.
 
Here's a couple stills with Brandon Nebitt in front of the camera for the first time:

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So filming with Brandon as Elliott has been going great, except since he used to be the boom guy, and was available all the time, I never had to worry about that. Since he's int he cast now, shooting his scenes are harder because I have to find different people who are both available and willing. Sometimes I've even had to prop the boom up on things because we can't get anyone. The past few days we've grabbed random people we know who happened to be there, but they did well. In fact, despite the physical demands, a lot of people seem to have fun doing the boom.

We shot at the Basement, a local art gallery/venue tonight and last night, and have one more scene there tomorrow afternoon. The first night was fun, because I couldn't get any extras, so we literally grabbed strangers off the street. Okay, maybe it wasn't quite like that. A girl came in to use the bathroom, and I recruited her on the spot. Then she left for a few minutes and came back with about ten people. They were all nice people, but it was hard to get them to be quiet and just mouth their conversations in the background. They were also somewhat intoxicated. We also had Aaron Novak of The Silence Club play a few songs for the scene. Those will be on vimeo shortly.

Both nights I had recruited master chef Ty Bell, brother of Deon Bell, the owner of The Basement, as the boom guy, and he had a blast. Tonight we had an intimate group of extras; some of Coryn's friends, a friend of Chris DeBondt's, a friend of a friend of Chris DeBondt's, Deon Bell, and we even had Ty be an extra, since recording sound wasn't necessary for the shot. I basically crammed everyone into a small space and tried to clutter up the frame. We shot three takes, and I sent them on their way. They were much better than the group the first night. Everyone would quiet up and focus, and take the direction without any misunderstanding.

Coryn had written a wonderful poem for the big scene, and it was great finally getting to hear it and record it. After that was the big big scene. The emotional stuff. I've never asked anyone to cry in a film before. It was interesting seeing Coryn get to that point. Since she's supposed to be hiding in a stairwell alone, crying, she didn't really have anything to react to. She just had herself and her thoughts. For about a half hour she went off alone and wandered around. She then approached me and said "I can't get it." We all said we'd wait. She wandered back off, and a few mintues later, returned with tears on her face, ready to go. I already had the camera ready, and Ty had been ready, holding the boom for several minutes already.

I had the camera set up a distance away, and was zoomed in. Now, what originally was int he script, was a scene between Elliott and Helena, followed by the lonesome crying, but instead, I threw it out and created a new variation of the scene on the spot. Instead, Elliott would find her and take it as his chance to be her hero and console her, and instead she tells him to go home. There was a similar exchange, but not quite the same. We didn't cross out any lines or rehearse anything. I started rolling and she walked into the stairwell. She threw her notebook containing her poem (something I hadn't even thought of telling her to do, but worked brilliantly) sat down, and just went for it. Brandon and Coryn had their improvised exchange, and it went beautifully. We only shot one take, and I'm really pleased with it. This is the first time Coryn has ever had to cry in anything. In theatre she's usually cast in comedic roles, so even she was unsure if she could do it, but she did, and in an incredibly realistic and moving way. I was so convinced I just had to give her a hug afterward.
 
Also, funny extra story. As we were waiting for extras to arrive, Roscoe stopped by. Apparently Coryn had texted him and invited him down as a surprise to me. And boy was I surprised. But it was nice. He just stopped by to say 'hello' and gave us all hugs.

I've been slacking with this thread, so to make up for it, here's some photos:

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Rickey Bird doing the boom.

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One of two photos of me during the shoot. Coryn took this one.

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One of my favorites.

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Chris DeBondt

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Photos by Zoe Wolfe:

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"Is that a boom mic up there, or a big black dick?"

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The other photo, and this time I'm actually in action, and wearing a stupid expression.
 
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My cameo in the film. This is a portrait of me by fred, a year ago. I even took a picture as she did it:

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I need to have someone to erase the "fred" signatures from some of the paintings. Anyone here willing to do it? You won't get paid dick, but you'll get credit.
 
So that's the girl that broke your heart? Women....

I get the feeling that you're madly in love with your leading lady... any truth to that?
 
aurantaurant said:
So that's the girl that broke your heart? Women....
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It's funny. When fred was hanging her art at the basement for the night's shoot, I had gotten a sort of closure about everything. I knew I was over her at this point, and have been for a while, but as she was hanging her art whilst giving me shi* about quoting her word-for-word in the script, I felt nothing romantic for her whatsoever. I didn't even feel remotely sentimental about the year we were close friends. Nostalgic, for sure, but not sentimental. It's weird. For a while she was my closest friend, and now there's a definite riff, that will only grow wider after she moves to LA in two months to attend art school. I'll definitely miss her.

aurantaurant said:
I get the feeling that you're madly in love with your leading lady... any truth to that?
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Now where would you get such a silly idea?
 
Last week of filming starts tonight. I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, we've been having such a great time, and I'm going to miss it. Not that we'll never see each other again, but this project was almost like a clubhouse, and it's about to be torn down. On the other hand, I'm growing more detached from the material, and I'll be glad to start working on the next project (possibly Godmakers in the summer). I have literally over a dozen ideas for feature films that I haven't even put to the page yet, as I've been focusing on this one for two and a half years now.
 
It really breaks my heart to see how much you're willing to suffer for the sake of art :-(

Keep up the good work, Billy. I will pray for you :-)
 
I like whimsical stuff like that. I used to love it when I was in my twenties.LOL Now I just like it. It reminds me when I was young and the world was young ... when a dollar was worth a nickel -- not like now! It's worth nothing! LOL Thanks for cheering me up, Billy :-)
 
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