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

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

Actual footage from day 4

Actual footage from day 4

Film starts with opening (with credtits) and cuts to Jacob remarking on the hospital and leaving there care after 3 years inside...

Payphone02: final call to little brother, fighting on the phone about their mother, explaining to him what happened in the war and hospital and Jacob pushing to find out where the little brother is hding.

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

Day 5

Day 5

Alley and Highway...

Going back to the alley was interesting indeed. It was the neighborhood my friend and fellow camera man grew up in in the late 1970's-1986? The area itself had undergone some series changes mainly in the upkeep of the alleys and the homes themselves..perfect!
Strange and wonderful to be back there shooting out first film together after all those years.

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23
For these we moved around far more tracking the actor himself and I did some shot in the back of a pickup truck while the producer drove matching his speed.

For this scene Jacob is recovering after his breakdown in town and struggling with himself to move forward and continue the journey

the Highway was fast and somewhat unevenful to shoot...besides the running across 4 to 5 lanes of road to get to the opposite side!

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

Day 6

Day 6

Stream and Public Restroom

On the way to the trail (from the railroad tracks) i wanted the character to spot at the water, reflect a bit while filling his canteen before moving on and experiencing the dead soldier hallucination.

Well, it was December and cold as hell in the stream! there were bits of snow scattered on many of the stones and bank which we removed to match the other shots and the actor did drink the water in the shot! Not too sure how clean it was, but he was hardcore...

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23

the bathroom was also interesting to shoot. We asked the owner to sign paperwork giving us 30 min to get our shots of Jacob cleaning up before returning home...Sounded very simple until we started shooting and after 10 min stood outside the doorway of the bathroom swearing at us for blocking the bathroom usage and "playing around with our stupid hobbies!!! and that we all needed to get real jobs..."

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23
By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

Day 7

Day 7

bonus shots! pickup, makeup, or whatever it may be called....But this point, I had started editing and found that I was not crazy about the stock footage to start the film, I wanted something to pull people into the story and something more personal since it is a very lonely internalized struggle for the character.
So I decided to start off the opening with the end of the film!
?
I had Jacob digging a grave while the credits are rolling and pulling a body (who's face is obscured-so you don't know who it is until the end) over to drop it down into the hole.

Wow, digging a full size grave is some serious work. Two of us working back and forth took almost two hours to dig a 6'x3' hole large enough for the body.
we filmed a bit starting and then once it was done ---I wanted a shot of the dirt being dropped onto the lens. Once I climbed inside though, my own body and the height of the camera destroyed this illusion so we had to dig another 3-4 feet down!

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23
IMG]http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4082/37514968.jpg[/IMG]
By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

Day 8 ending one

Day 8 ending one

we had wrapped 80% of the filming with only the ending needing to be done at this point. For the location I wanted an old rundown house to represent the family home. Unfortunely, I did not find much that fit that idea using existing locations. Most were either too abandoned and too dangerous or too well kept to capture the mood of the home and the father that resided within.

I called the Maryland film board which lead me out to a house in the middle of nowhere-an old colonial estate house built before the civil war. It was awesome in concept and so not in execution!!! hahah
first off, it was too damn big to make sense for the storyline. I should have realized this but I was blinded by it's cool historical nature. Also, during the Civil War, the husband who built the house, went off to war and was killed in battle. The wife, then distraught, hung herself from the turrent on the 3 floor where her body was discovered by passerbys gazing up at the window.

The building currently was a vacation spot for nudists! We were there mid january and safe from the horror that represent what nudist colonies truly are; not the images we have in our minds LOL.
scenes from the shoot: (sorry these are low res pulldowns from VIMEO

Jacob leaves bathroom and finally makes his way home-entering the house and searching through the upper floor for his brother.

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

Day Part b

Day Part b

Alright getting back to the space itself...the script orginally called for Jaocb entering the house looking for the brother calling out-triggering another attack and him basicly losing his mind, collasping to the floor. He then turn to leave, his foot gets caught in the floorboards (breaks through) he then rips up the boards and finds the body of his brother resting there. And he has been dead for years. Unfortunely, they would not let me rip up the floorboards so I tried to be fliexible with another solution. Hav eht ebody stashed in the rundown top floor of the house, concealed in a closet.

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24

for one thing, it was colder inside than out...I have no idea but they did have a thermometer downstairs for me to check and it was 3 degrees. 7 outside, 3 inside?
Our actor was a good sport after being bound and left in a closet for a considerable time while we filmed the shots.

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

Day 8 part c

Day 8 part c

this was meant to be an emotional moment, him with his brother and seeing him as he did when he was living. We would then cut back and forth between dead body and living version...the problem was the upstaits felt bizarre, there was no furniture of any kind and it did not feel like a home at any point.
Next came the confrontation between father and son (and dead body)
Jacob's father is seen in the background moving around in shadow and approaches him and they argue about the past, there mother and the father killing the little brother and leaving him to rot.
For one, it felt extremely heavy handed, much of the film up into this point was very lonely and isolated with dialog being addressed in ways that lead you to believe much of what is happening is all in Jacob's head.

Also, father and Jacob had really bad chemisty onscreen togheter.
father & older son bad
father & younger son good
older son and younger son good
damn! That was a problem in itself.

carrying body away...(he stops in the turrent-where the civil war woman hung herself!...check the earlier post on day 8 for details)

hmm, even after seeing it, looking at the dailies I could not take how the father looked...not right-he felt too refined for one and I hated the hat!!!

after arguing Jacob cut his father off and pulls his knife into view screen fades to black....
that was the orginal ending.

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

Conclusion on Ending 01

Conclusion on Ending 01

wow, that was bad....What sounded awesome in my head (and looked good on paper) left me feeling flat and unsatisfied. Problems ranging from the location itself-chemistry among the actors-a heavy handed ending and that fact that why should anyone care about Jacob finding this person no know sees onscreen alive and how they were together as brothers...

I needed to rethink the scenario:
that location would not work. The conversation between the two would not work, the death of the father needed to be more sophisticated...

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

ending 02

ending 02

Moving forward I started to look at new locations that were better fit for the background of the main characters. I also wrote out a full backstory on the father which I passed to the actor and replaced his waredrobe to be rougher and less refined.

Now I wanted a scene of Jacob and Jimmy "younger brother" together in the past and a scene of the father and Jimmy showing the psychical and psychological abuse that they lived with.
I wrote the two addtional scenes up and contacted everyone involved. It was a few months before I foudn a suitable location
We shot the original ending in Jan and did not get our reshoot until may!

By tbroadwater, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-09-22
ahh much better and more suitable to the story....Interior required very little set dressing as well!
even better..there was building on the property...an old slave house!!!
Perfect for setting up the body discovery there. that woul serve as the place they would go to get away from there father and would make sense for Jimmy to tell Jacob that he is there (from the last phone call)

By tbroadwater, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-09-22

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-17

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-17

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-17

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

End02 actual shooting

End02 actual shooting

I may have explained the setup in the last post but just in case...Jacob arrives home and heads directly to spot Jimmy said he would meet him.
He does a search through the interior before heading downstairs and hears Jimmy's voice coming from the back corner. He stumbles over some of the toys they played with as kids. (an army man goes flying and lands directly over the trap door that has been nailed shut) Jacob kicks through the boards and drops down the hole to find the body of Jimmy.

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24

Jacob hears sound at this point and runs to lower level

that is an army man...too dark at this point to make it out. I may lift it out more in post

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24

tbroadwater · Sep 24, 2009

end02 continued

end02 continued

We are almost there, just hold out!

Picking up where I left off...
After finding the body Jacob spends some time struggling with his emotions of sadness and rage-all the while we see Jacob's point of view and then the reality where slight tears comes through showing the true condition of the body. By the time he rises to his feet and leaves the shack we see the state of the body complete and (hopefully) acknowledge that Jimmy has been dead for years...

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24

Jacob then walks to the homestead carrying the body in his arms

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24

tbroadwater · Sep 25, 2009

Insert scenes Porch and house INT

Insert scenes Porch and house INT

Now before I jump right into the ending, I wanted to share two of the insert scenes we shot for adding more backstory on the father and little brother.
The first one was filmed on the porch of the farmhouse and meant to show one of there laast conversations before Jacob left to join the military.
It is meant to go into the PARK scene where Jacob is gazing at the photo of the 3 of them...Only the war vet severs his thought and pulls him back into reality.

The basis: Jacob want the two of them to leave but Jimmy refuses, stating that there mother will return to fix their situation...Jacob countering by pushing the issues that she is never coming back and that Jimmy cannot spend his life hiding from their father (mainly in the old shack right off of the property)

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-25

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-25

HOUSE INT (extra scene)
the next scene was meant to showcase the father and his treament of Charlie. The father is shown as an abusive and powerful figure that ill treats Jimmy and makes comparisons to his mother and his weaknesses...
(alot of screaming at him in his face as Jimmy sits there crying...of course the father insults him for that as well)

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-25

tbroadwater · Sep 25, 2009

Finally the NEW ENDING!!!

Finally the NEW ENDING!!!

Picking up after Jacob returns home with the body in his arms and gazing down at the Jimmy he remembers while alive (the fleshy one!)
"welcome home Jimmy..."
fade to black and fades back in with father pulling up in old truck:
He takes a few swigs before getting out and enters the house (notice the change of clothes)
the door is ajar and he searches around uneasily where he notices the figure seated in the chair in the window...he does not realize Jacob is inside waiting in the shadows.

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-25

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-24
I recycle the final two shots for the beginning to tie it all together and end it like it began!

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-23

One more final note...the scenes of the father screaming cut into back and forth as the father enters the house so it is a series of quick cut to build tension until Jacob comes from behind and slits his throat....

tbroadwater · Sep 25, 2009

Photos from the final day os shooting

Photos from the final day os shooting

..thankfully everyone seemed to be taking photos on the final day of shooting (maybe they were happy to be done!)
And the landowner who let us film on her property was great, she stayed right alongside us all day if we need any help in any way.

That location was great and I plan on going back to shot another film in the future..I have always wanted to do a snow covered zombie film on a farm and that would be amazing to do there!!!
I thank you all for looking over the images and notes in this post and let me know if you would like to see any segments of the film.
I can cut it into smaller chunks for friendly downloading.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and I learned a great deal about all aspects of filmmaking and of course, what not to do on the next shoot. And my two kids, wife were and closest childhood friend (the other camera and additional direction) was there to support and help out which was awesome.

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-17

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-17
(THE LEG KEPT FALLING OFF WHEN TRYING TO FILM THIS SCENE!)

By tbroadwater at 2009-09-17

tbroadwater · Sep 25, 2009

Test trailers.....

Test trailers.....

http://vimeo.com/6512449
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQn7XSC24ZU
I know this is for production only but I wanted to put the trailers tests up there for all those to see.
Curious as to what one is prefered.

Next up with be me post review of all I learned and what I did wrong!
Please any feedback or question would be great!

Azmyth · Sep 26, 2009

your video is private

tbroadwater · Sep 26, 2009

fixed privacy settings
please let me know if they both work.
thanks!

Azmyth · Sep 26, 2009

works now thanks.

nice work.

SonicStates · Sep 26, 2009

Before I have a look at the video, I want to say, "You're a machine!!!" Being pretty new to the game myself I can't say much but the way you worked (even just based on your own commentary) was impressive. The first attempt maybe, but nothing seemed to phase you. I think a vital trait for anyone looking to do this type of work. Thanks for taking the time to write all this out and post pictures etc. really appreciate your effort....now I'm going to check the video links.

EDIT:
Back. Only had time to check a couple of your vids but gotta tell you that, even though some of the effects I would have left out (in the trailer)...it was REALLY captivating. It was great because I only noticed I was 100% fixated on the screen (Ending 2) at about the 3/4 mark. The story didn't have to try to make me interested...it was naturally interesting. On the vimeo link someone posted that it was obvious the character was holding the dummy but I don't think they got the point...it was a skeleton to all but the lead character. Man, I liked it. Cool.

Also what BLOOD were you using?

tbroadwater · Sep 28, 2009

Thanks for the kind word SonicState...much appriecated!!! I tried to be fairly throughrow in explaining much of the process and will add details if I have overlooked anything or anyone wants any info or any stage of the process.

And thanks for feedback on the trailer!!! The more feedback I can get at this point the better. Being this is my first attempt at any of these aspects, the more feedback I can get the more I can improve as a filmmaker. I will look at scaling back on many of FX in the trailer (you mean the warping or the distorted voices?) And you are right in regard to the dead body-to the lead it is the normal living version that he sees.

To answer you question about blood..
For those of you looking for THE blood recipe here is a recipe created by master makeup artist Dick Smith. This is the same blood that was used in the movies, TAXI DRIVER, THE EXORCIST and LITTLE BIG MAN among others.
Ingredients: 1 Quart White Corn Syrup 1 Level Tsp Zinc Oxide (any laboratory supply) 2 Oz. Ehler Red Food Colour 5 Tsp Ehler Yellow Food Colour 2 Oz. Kodak Photo-Flo *Poisonous* (any photo supply store) 2 Oz. Of Water Instructions: Put the zinc oxide into a bowl, add an equal amount of water and paste. Add the food colouring and stir (If you are not using Ehler's brand yellow, use only one-half the amount indicated). Add a little of the corn syrup and mix well. Pour into a container that holds more than the final amount (you have to shake it up before use, as it may separate), add the remaining corn syrup and mix well. Then add the amount of water specified and mix again. This will give your blood a normal consistency. Keep this and all corn syrup recipes refrigerated when not in use (or it will grow mould) and mix well before use.
Note: Due to one of the ingredients being poisonous, this blood Recipe should not be used if it is likely to be swallowed during or after application -

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

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