Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
Back story:
As most of you know I am a big fan of Robert Rodriguez. In fact, he is my favorite director. Not necessarily because of his films, but because of his ideals, and drive. I am still a big fan of Robert's films, and I am always charmed by his interesting back story's as to how they came about. I remember reading Rebel Without a Crew about how he was cooped up in a lab for a month writing El Mariachi. I also just recently watched the director's commentary on Planet Terror, and how he wrote only 30 pages of script before casting (Quentin Tarantino thought he was crazy!) Now, this doesn't always work this way, but Welcome To The Party is very much a film in the style of Mr. Rodriguez.
It all began last summer (Summer 2006) shortly after I had finished shooting Smuggler's Ransom. DVXuser was having a Horrorfest, and I really wanted to be a part of it. So I sat down and thought of quick available resources I had. I put them all down on a sheet of paper, and started reading down the list, and after a few days I had a simple story, and a 4 page script titled: Haunted. I had my cast ready to go, but time wasn't on my side, and I had to scrap the film. I instead shot a very simple short called Into the Darkness, which was all made up on the fly, and really wasn't my best work to say the least.
Flash forward to summer of 2007. The moment I heard about Hallowfest my interest was piqued. I had just finished shooting a children's pilot episode It Really Happened, and was just waiting on music for that. I had time on my hands, and wanted to make a film! I waded through many scripts, and stumbled upon Haunted. I read through it, made some changes, and began casting. I still had the same resources as the previous summer, but I had made some great new connections with a wonderful DP (Geoff Reisner), Gaffer (Wes Carrasquillo), and makeup artist (Stephanie Navarro). I got them on board, and cast the short in a matter of weeks. Then I pored through the script, changed the title (twice!) and in fact changed the entire ending before I was satisfied. And finally on September 21, 2007, the short was shot, almost a year and a half after I had thought of the idea!
Welcome To The Party was shot in a quick one night shoot, in one location, and much like Robert's films, it is fast paced, and it edges the lines of humorous and disturbing. I hope you enjoy it, as it was some of the most fun I've ever had on a shoot.
Crew Credits
Writer/Director/Producer/Editor - Brandon Rice
Director of Photography - Geoff Reisner
Gaffer - Wes Carrasquillo
Makeup Designer - Stephanie Navarro
Sound Mixer - Seth Axen & Matt Gettemeir
Sound Design - Justin Krause
Original Score - Justin R. Durban
Title Animation - Henry Schneider
Set Production Assistant - Jessica Carrasquillo
Script Consultant - Matt Green
BEFORE COLOR GRADING
AFTER COLOR GRADING
As most of you know I am a big fan of Robert Rodriguez. In fact, he is my favorite director. Not necessarily because of his films, but because of his ideals, and drive. I am still a big fan of Robert's films, and I am always charmed by his interesting back story's as to how they came about. I remember reading Rebel Without a Crew about how he was cooped up in a lab for a month writing El Mariachi. I also just recently watched the director's commentary on Planet Terror, and how he wrote only 30 pages of script before casting (Quentin Tarantino thought he was crazy!) Now, this doesn't always work this way, but Welcome To The Party is very much a film in the style of Mr. Rodriguez.
It all began last summer (Summer 2006) shortly after I had finished shooting Smuggler's Ransom. DVXuser was having a Horrorfest, and I really wanted to be a part of it. So I sat down and thought of quick available resources I had. I put them all down on a sheet of paper, and started reading down the list, and after a few days I had a simple story, and a 4 page script titled: Haunted. I had my cast ready to go, but time wasn't on my side, and I had to scrap the film. I instead shot a very simple short called Into the Darkness, which was all made up on the fly, and really wasn't my best work to say the least.
Flash forward to summer of 2007. The moment I heard about Hallowfest my interest was piqued. I had just finished shooting a children's pilot episode It Really Happened, and was just waiting on music for that. I had time on my hands, and wanted to make a film! I waded through many scripts, and stumbled upon Haunted. I read through it, made some changes, and began casting. I still had the same resources as the previous summer, but I had made some great new connections with a wonderful DP (Geoff Reisner), Gaffer (Wes Carrasquillo), and makeup artist (Stephanie Navarro). I got them on board, and cast the short in a matter of weeks. Then I pored through the script, changed the title (twice!) and in fact changed the entire ending before I was satisfied. And finally on September 21, 2007, the short was shot, almost a year and a half after I had thought of the idea!
Welcome To The Party was shot in a quick one night shoot, in one location, and much like Robert's films, it is fast paced, and it edges the lines of humorous and disturbing. I hope you enjoy it, as it was some of the most fun I've ever had on a shoot.
Crew Credits
Writer/Director/Producer/Editor - Brandon Rice
Director of Photography - Geoff Reisner
Gaffer - Wes Carrasquillo
Makeup Designer - Stephanie Navarro
Sound Mixer - Seth Axen & Matt Gettemeir
Sound Design - Justin Krause
Original Score - Justin R. Durban
Title Animation - Henry Schneider
Set Production Assistant - Jessica Carrasquillo
Script Consultant - Matt Green
Raw Screengrab
BEFORE COLOR GRADING
AFTER COLOR GRADING
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