How has it been two months since my last blog post? I have had a very busy summer this year but not nearly as busy as the summer of 2008. Ten years ago while attending Shoreline Community College I had the privilege of writing and directing a feature film. Nothing about that project was easy and almost nothing went according to plan.
It started with a short film series I produced earlier that year. Those who worked on the project insisted I move forward with a feature film in the same setting. My script was chosen as one of three summer films (the other two films were shorts). I had a very small stipend of money and a lot of college age kids with wacky availability. I managed to pool together some additional funds to secure some gear and a Director of Photography. With the generous support of another film friend of mine, we were able to shoot the film on an entirely new format using the Red One camera!
Like I said, almost nothing went according to plan. When working with a collection of student volunteers, I learned very quickly that not everyone who makes a commitment, sticks with it. I had engaging phone calls and meetings with people who seemed genuinely excited to work on the film and then not show up, not return calls, leaving me totally in the lurch. There were several points during that summer I wanted to quit. I was investing so much of my time and my own money (credit actually, I didn’t have any actual money at the time) and often I felt so alone. But I wasn’t alone. While some people may have bailed on me, I had a few dedicated cast and crew members who stood by me until the end of production. It was a relief when it was finally “in the can” and several months later we actually reassembled to film some additional scenes (those went way better!).
Once everything was shot, I went to work cutting the film and composing the effect shots. Nothing about post production went according to plan either! The problem with shooting on a new format is that software and codecs hadn’t caught up to it. My computer system was relatively new at the time and it was severely under powered for the 4K footage I was asking it to process. When I would compose an effects shot, I literally had to export the scene in tiny sections because any more than a few seconds and my machine crashed!
While I may have struggled with the editing portion of the film, I was fortunate to have some help with the audio. A good friend of mine worked with me to get the necessary ADR (automated dialog replacement, though there is nothing “automated” about it). I had a composer step forward as well as a team of guys who did some Foley work.
Time passed and life happened. My frustrations with the project made it difficult to complete and eventually my bank account required me to take a job out of state. Eventually I was able to upgrade my computer and Adobe was able to finally recognize native red footage. After a few years I went back to the film and was able to re-render entire scenes of effect shots and recompose the film.
I finished the film sometime in 2013, five years after it was shot. At that time I couldn’t upload a huge file to YouTube and the film was too long for my account (there used to be length restrictions on uploads). I burned a few copies to Blu-ray and “turned in” my film to Shoreline Community College. I had always intended on a big screening for the cast and crew, I also intended on finishing the film within the first year but…
My lead cast member asked me about the film the other day and I figured now was as good a time as any to put it out there. It’s not perfect and I can’t watch the film without seeing all the mistakes and shortcuts that were made to get it done. Still though, for a student film in 2008 made on less than a shoestring budget, I think it holds up pretty well.
If you haven’t seen the Vital Force web series, I recommend you watch that first as the film makes numerous references to the events in that series. Happy viewing!
End Transmission