prod log on "MBK"my first horror/thriller (serious attempt) at creating a film

[tbroadwater]

prod log on "MBK"my first horror/thriller (serious attempt) at creating a film

Amazing forum!
This is my first post and I cannot be more excited to find a forum devoted to DV film that seemed perfect for what I was looking for.
I was extremely impressed by the quality of the posts, techincal knowledge here and the treatment of the individuals.

I will be recounting my experiences on the short film "My Brother's Keeper", my first serious attempt at writing and directing of a project of this nature.

My goal is to take anyone who may be interesting through the process from day one leading up to editing the final version.

Feel free to hit me up with any questions or comments...I hope to keep this entertaining as I move forward!

Total cost in the end for 27min was 465.00!!!

 

[tbroadwater]

Preproduction

Preproduction

Alright, I had written number of scripts in the past and always came up with the same excuses for why I could not get started...no time, no money, no equipment, no one to be involved....oh and no real training!!!

Not sure when my mindset shifted, but I had been watching Jim Van Bebber's box set of short films, which I found fascinating and I thought screw this, It's time to get started!

So, I thought about what I had written (which was too ambitious) and thought about simplicity...

my rules for the first film:
-10 pages max
-use as many outdoor locations (to take advantage of natural lighting)
-film in winter (to enhance the tone and atmosphere of the story)
-minimize the number of actors (mainly because I have never done this before and have no idea what I am doing!)
-limit the crew needed (fill as many roles as possible myself)

Next was writing out the script...I had a rough outline which I fleshed out in to a script and I was ready to move on...

 

[tbroadwater]

Script

Script

Oh I should mention the film was orginally called "Homecoming."
I thought the title was perfect until this was released a couple of months after finishing the script



base Synopses for the script:

"Homecoming"follows one man's journey of loss and anguish.
After release from a military psychiatric hospital, Jacob Moors is forced to come to grips with his disturbing past. He begins a journey that forces him to confront his fears and the father that drove him away many years ago.
Jacob's path proves to be both psychically and psychologically difficult, as he succumbs to the hallucinations and migraines brought on by his experiences in the war.
For Jacob Moors, the dead never forgot, and they will go to great lengths to ensure that they are not forgotten...

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-17

What the hell?
What are the chances?
I picked the game up just to check into the basic premise and found that you were a man looking for your younger brother in your hometown...

Time to change the title at the least!

 

[SonicStates]

Thanks for posting this tbroadwater. I am undergoing the same process as you currently. We have our locations (outdoors mostly), the script is almost ready for the proper editing to begin and we even have a few people cast (I know...without even having the script done completely). I am excited to come along for the ride with you and wish you all the best. I have also been mulling over the idea of putting up our process just for people who are interested in what a novice filmmaker does for the first decent attempt at a production.
On a side note, how are you planning to achieve the war shots featured in your script...stock footage or are you going to stretch for a recreate?
All the very best and expect me to chime in from time to time with questions and such.

 

[tbroadwater]

Locations and props

Locations and props

I managed to make a few changes to the script to make sure there were no parallels between the story of the game and the story of my film..not a big deal really, I just needed to move on at this point!

LOCATIONS:
I thought about all the area that surrounded me and used that to my advantage while writing the script. Also, I chose locations that used little to no set dressing that were quiet and would allow me to get permission somewhat easily. Well, that was the idea-you will find in later posts that did not always work out!!!

By tbroadwater, shot with U-CA 501 at 2009-09-17

By tbroadwater, shot with U-CA 501 at 2009-09-17

PROPS FX & WARDROBE:
In an attempt to minimize the number of people involved, I decided to tackle these myself.

I had traditional FX makeup training and started looking at ways of gathering the necessary props for the characters, sets and locations.
Some were rather difficult!

Vietnam era soldier uniform and M16:
filled in by my Nephew who collected old war unforms and the M16 was a cast metal replica I borrowed from someone at work (I wanted the correct weight and reflection on the gun itself, so low end props were out!)


By tbroadwater, shot with U-CA 501 at 2009-09-17

 

[tbroadwater]

Locations and prop cont.

Locations and prop cont.

besides that I knew I had to create a full size dead body that would look fairly convicing on little to no budget!

Terrifying concept!!!!

I finished tracking down all the primary locations that were needed to get started:

hospital ext
hospital int
park with picnic table
street (old historic area)
old bridge
alleyway
payphone (on brickwall)
alleyway
trail
dense woods
stream
railroad tracks
payphone02 (phonebooth)
diner ext
highway
drainage ditch
gas station bathroon
old manor house ext
old manor house int

I have to say at the time, It seemed fine...now I look at this list and think what the hell was I thinking? I must have been out of my mind!!!

 

[tbroadwater]

Sonic State asked:
"On a side note, how are you planning to achieve the war shots featured in your script...stock footage or are you going to stretch for a recreate?"

Hello SonicState, thank you for asking and wishing me the very best. I wish you the same in your production!

In terms of the war footage, I did go the route of stock footage from the VietNam era...some of this was found using free press searches I did on the internet and I approached someone in television production to get their take on how to proceed. They recommended the free press route.

 

[tbroadwater]

Casting call and readings

Casting call and readings

Onto the audition:
Let me start by saying, I like my job...I have a great job working for game development company on the east coast and they treat myself and everyone else really well. However, I do spend most of my hours and days in one of these.

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

So when it came to setting up the casting call for roles I thought hell no! I went through the list of all those that responded (400+ in about 12 days) and narrowed it down to 20 or so.

I know that this sort of thing (conference room) is industry standard, but I thought why not do something different?

By tbroadwater, shot with Photosmart M425 at 2009-09-21

So I booked two Pavillions at a nearby park that were side by side. One for signing in and meeting some of the other actors and the second one was where we would do the readings for the part.

My wife and two children stayed at the first one, meet everyone and cooked some really good hot food. After eating and talking they would wander down the path to meet up with me.

Worked out fine...We managed to find 3 out of 4 of the major roles

By tbroadwater, shot with NIKON D200 at 2009-09-21

FATHER: WILLIAM MOORS

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

SON: JAMES MOORS

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

OLD WAR VET: ??

Unfortunetly we had to run another session to find the right lead. So the following week my wife and I repeated the process. WE HAD FOUND THE RIGHT PERSON AT LEAST!!!

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

LEAD: JACOB MOORS (OLDER SON)

 

[tbroadwater]

Equipment and scheduling

Equipment and scheduling

Intially I had no equipment....finally I did some research and decided to go with two Canon Xl's knowing that I would want to upgrade after this project but that would be a good starting point for me.
Also I added a few Sennhauser mics as well as a Zoom mic for pickup recording of the environments.

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

Now I did do a great deal of testing and research on the equipment itself with tests in different lighting conditions and speeds and so forth. I used to shot and develop 35mm years ago in a dark room I had setup so the translation went well.

The film itself I went about differently..I did not research or read much on writing script or filming in general on purpose; not because I was lazy- haha, but I wanted a hands on "learn through experience" for the film itself. The goal being, try it first rather than be saturated by influence and information...more of a look at what I attempted afterwards-indentify what is wrong or needs serious improvement, and then research and learn better methods afterward.
This a bit counter to the way I work for my day job LOL but i wanted to try it this way to learn through mistakes so to speak.

 

[tbroadwater]

Day 1 of shooting

Day 1 of shooting

the first day! I had to be prepared (having never done this before) but I do a great deal of planning and organizing during the day so I took advantage of that! So I prepared and scheduled all location and built a shot list for everything.
I also spent a few years doing storyboards (years ago for comic and toy industry) so I storyboarded te key shots

Crew:
Myself -
as director and 1st camera
my childhood friend of 25 years (also a photographer)
addtional direction and camera 2
Our PA/Sound PERSON
that was it...just 3 people.
Oh and my wife-for there for moral support and attempt to figure out what was happening.

By tbroadwater, shot with DSC-W150 at 2009-09-17

By tbroadwater, shot with DSC-W150 at 2009-09-17

 

[tbroadwater]

Day one- actual shooting

Day one- actual shooting

the day itself went really well. We managed to hit all the locations we planned on with only having to relocate 3 times locally...Many of the shots are transitional to suggest the progress of the character's journey home. And these all all out of object but wanted to offer some sort to basis for the scenes.

STREET:

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

movement through historic town street-migraine trigger-hallucination-stumble across traffic heavy street

ROCKFACE

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

from stumble-collapse at rock face and gather self together again
BRIDGE

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

movement over bridge-stop to cue dialog about time spent in hospital and release

RAILROAD TRACKS

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

connecting town to wood- character stops to rummidge through bag and use compass

DINER EXT

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-21
after chase scene running from spectre of soldier, resting at diner and coming to grips with fellow soldiers he killed accidentily years before.

 

[tbroadwater]

Shooting on day 2

Shooting on day 2

DAY02 was not nearly so sucessful!
Starting off, I made the mistake of not factoring in that I needed to cast for an undead ghostly soldier. We found another actor that was willing to do the part and then we meet at a local park to start makeup on him in the morning.
He did not show!!!!
It was the end of November in Maryland and cold as hell...I had a full beard and realized I would have to fill in the role of the soldier (which took away my ablility to direct and shoot as main camera) and that I had a full beard at the time!!! So, I ended up having to shave at the stream in freezing cold water...Not an easy task.
I spent maybe two hours applying the makep and getting in costume. It was so cold we ended up burning wood in some of the pavilion grills on site.

By tbroadwater, shot with DSC-W150 at 2009-09-17

By tbroadwater, shot with DSC-W150 at 2009-09-17

Both my kids were there...this one assisted me with the props.

In the end, I looked at the footage that featured the soldier and decided that 75% of it needed to be reshot, so that meant---damn I have to get in the makeup again!!!
this time around I worked with the other guy and went over each storyboard and the pacing within each shot. Far better result and I also went over the makeup, adding white contacts, fake zombie teeth and did all the makeup at home in a warm house!
I failed to mention that when doing it the first time, all the makeup was frozen from the winter air!

 

[tbroadwater]

Footage from day 2

Footage from day 2

TRAIL:
migraine trigger #2...this one was far worse with difficultly moving and distorted vision, voices and visual hallucinations

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22
you may notice it looks out of focus...I dual layer the cut offsetting them slightly to increase confusion

WOODS:
Hallucinations increase and his guilt manifests the one of the soldier's from his past

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22
By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22

hopefully the makeup is much improved!

 

[tbroadwater]

Rough test of day two

Rough test of day two

http://vimeo.com/6298063
HERE IS THE (day two) SCENE ASSEMBLED TOGETHER...THIS is not done and will not be in black and white for the final...
please let me know if anyone has any problem viewing it. Also, I had it set a bit low (volume wise, so you might need to turn it up a bit)
thanks

 

[tbroadwater]

Should I keep going?
I cannot tell whether or not I am boring anyone....LOL

 

[tbroadwater]

Day 3

Day 3

Day three I was uneasy...it had rained the entire night before so I figured I would wait until morning to decide whether or not we would be shooting (if it was downpouring all day) And I called our crazy old vet actor and found that he had driven a few hours to stay iwht a friend in baltimore to be closer to the sight! So we had to move on wiht the shoot!
Without covers for the xl's we had to umbrella both locations...

Once we started the day progresses fairly well in the park area. We then broke for lunch and moving into a really low end neighborhood in baltimore city and filmed while all sorts of people stood yelling insults and asked a hell of alot of questions. that falls on my shoulders since I wanted a payphone in a city or town that was run down and had to have a brick wall behind it.

On a side note (having to do with people hurling insults)The other camera man worked a number of years as a bouncer in bar within Baltimore and I knew the combination was not a good one!!!
He loved throwing people down the stairs as his signature move LOL.
Oh and it rained the entire time we were at the payphone as well. the traffic and noise levels were terrible and I knew it was going to have to be ADR after....

 

[tbroadwater]

Day 3 actual shooting

Day 3 actual shooting

park shots:
after leaving the hospital Jacob stops at a park right outside the grounds of the Hospital Property to go through his merger belongings (looks specificly at a photo showing him, his little brother and father) that triggers a flaskback to when Jacob ran off to leave his brother to fend for himself.
His rememberance is cut off when an old war vet approaches singing/screaming nonsense that relates to both him and his brother in a detached sort of way...Eventualy Jacob forces the old man to leave.

Phone Call01
Jacob makes a call home to his brother and deal with some of their issues from the past...focusing on leaving him with his father and why he never wrote back while overseas for his time spent in the military-

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-22

 

[Azmyth]

looking good so far. And keep it coming, I'm doing the same and love seeing a film come together.

 

[tbroadwater]

thanks Azmyth, I will have more coming up over the next few days and then my post review of what I learned and what I failed out during this process! I look forward to seeing your own progress!!!

 

[tbroadwater]

day 4

day 4

Moving on!
Starting off on day one we shot a scene of Jacob leaving the Hosptial as the sun was setting but I looked at the footage and decided that I hated it!!! haha, so I spent some time looking around and found the perfect rundown hosptial only 20 miles away...and yes these buildings were still in use!

By tbroadwater, shot with Canon PowerShot A560 at 2009-09-22

By tbroadwater, shot with Canon PowerShot A560 at 2009-09-22
this was perfect I could not have been happier...
So we ride up, I could not get through to anyone but decided to go on through with it. We had permits for every location up unitl this point...we pull up to the front get out of the vehicles and bam!!! A car pulls up and stops us before I even had the camera out of the case!
Ha...I took a few moments asked for the supervisor on the grounds and contacted her by cell phone. A few minutes later the phone rang and we were on!!! Not a problem, left paperwork release forms for her to mail back and we went about our business...

The next location was nearby...Phone call02, right before the end of the film. This time I wanted a payphone that was a booth! I must be insane, but we managed to find one. Once again, when you need quiet for a scene based entirely around dialog, nothing works better than 40 mile an hour winds!!! I am not exaggerrating either. I could hear nothing through the headphone but whoosh almost the entire time. ADR again, damn...

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-17