BUILDING A BAR for an indie film (part 3)

We are getting ready to shoot the last big scene in our little indie short film noir "Battery Row."I just wanted to show a very close to final of the bar with a neon sign in the window. I'll be adding 2 more lights when the actors step into place but for now this is pretty decent for mood lighting. I showed it in color too. I cut holes in blackwrap so that the light came out in spots which I think is much better than just flooding a room with light. Perhaps the one thing that alerts me to a student film is when everything is lit. My opinion is to guide the eyes if possible. We don't need to see the corners of the room in vivid detail when the action is down below. In the movie Nightmare Alley they actually have shot where the 2 lead actors are half in black.... not a gray but a black shadow. You can't even see Tyrone Power's face half the scene. I like that. It's got real element to it. sometimes we have conversations in the dark.:P

it's amazing what we've done with this room. it's been many many different sets in the past 6 years.
Next post I want to show my sketches for some battery row scenes and screen shots of how those same sketches came to life in the film.

BUILDING an INDIE FILM BAR part 2

Ok so one of the reasons I am building the bar for my little indie short film is so I could have time to tinker with it. The kind of time I definitely wouldn't have in a real bar. This is really important when it comes to figuring out my camera movements and lighting placement for certain effects that I want with smoke and mood. Here's a shot of half the bar at this point. I don't have a woodshop at my disposal so I like to use PVC from the plumbing section of any hardware store. I use a hacksaw to cut it and the joints are easily used to get the box shapes I need. I used this similar type of structure a few years ago to make a riser for a dolly that I had an actress stand on when I wanted her to float (ghost) really close to the ceiling. PVC is strong but not always unflexible. So I added some nearby heavy furniture to keep it from swaying. This is really budget thinking.lol

My producer, Amy, lives in Utah and was able to find some amazing prices on antique bottles. Since this is a noir film I wanted to have a bunch of older pieces in it to hold on to the flavor of the old times. Not that we are absolutely true to the 1940's. I added these little push on lights to the bottles behind my show bottles to get an inner light. otherwise we'd never really see them.

We got these selzer bottles at Pasadena's flea market. A flourescent light sits behind them.

Here is an old light that was used to spray light up on a wall and ceiling. I've always like the feel it gives a room. The top picture shows what it does in to the little cubicle. not much. so I put a reflector on the ceiling of the cubicle so the light could fill the space better. I buy a lot of poster board reflectors at film tools in burbank. $5 for a 30x40 sheet.

This is a cheap little flourescent I keep around for small jobs like lighting a face. You can see in the test shot at the bottom how my face has some light. this is the source.

for now this is where I'm at. It looks much less like my living room and more like a bar. I still have much more to do. Including extending the bar to the length of the room and removing my television and the couch etc. so I have room for camera and actor's movement. In the bottom shot you can see i've added candles to the top of the bar piece. eventually this room will be filled with smoky haze.

Building a Bar

in the 6 years I've been making Indie films, I've had several times where a "BAR" was involved as a location. And because of flagging indie budgets we usually dropped the idea or changed the whole concept of the scene to play out somewhere easier to get. In one case we found a large back yard that looked a lot like a hotel garden with pool and walkways and we dressed up the rest with handmade foam core tables that light from inside and 10' column like lights I made from wire, paper and black foamcore.

So here was my first attempt at making and shooting a fictitious bar. It was for a movie that was written and directed by a friend, James Smith and Al Shaker. The location is in Chatsworth, CA.

The reason I bring up this BAR thing is because I am now in the middle of building another one in my living room for Battery Row. Why? 3 reasons. 1. I want to be able to take time with this scene and get good performances out of my actors. I usually have to rush if I rent a place and then the scene suffers. 2. Having the set in my house lets me spend any extra time with Lighting and figuring camera angles as well. And anyone who's dealt with Lighting knows it takes some work adjusting and perfecting. 3. Smoke. A real Noir film is not complete with out that beautiful yet "Publicly illegal" substance known as cigarette smoke. This scene is supposed to be in a dirty little bar in the bottom of the bad part of town. So  here are a few test shots of where I am now. Just the beginning of the lighting I'll be doing since there will be 5 actors in this scene. One where I am, Allen Burns, and then a bartender, Heidi Hamilton will stand across the bar and then there will be 3 actors down at the other end of the bar.

Prima Donna

In filmmaking, especially indie filmmaking, I would say there lies the best and worst of all of us. The best crews and the worst crews. The best actors and well, the worst. To be a successful actor in Los Angeles I'd say that you need a few things. Basic Acting Ability, Market-ability and Pro-Active-Ability.

Marketability is probably the most crucial in this town. Because I don't care how amazing you are as an actor, the way those in casting see it, you have to make people watch. If you can't draw the eye to the screen then you mostly likely won't help the rest of the cast bring viewers and thus IF you were cast you'd be the weakest link. Think about Inglourious Basterds. Brad Pitt was the main draw commercially yet he wasn't in the film all that much. Now think about the amazing supporting cast, especially Christoph Waltz, now there is someone who drew us in yet no one really knew him. It doesn't matter if you're gorgeous, or young or tall or what your breast size is. It matters that you make people notice you when you are on that screen. If you don't...well anyway. Think about some of the popular young adult shows out there right now. Watch the "Amazing" acting (being sarcastic there). Of course the acting isn't amazing. It doesn't need to be. All we need for those shows to work is a basic blah blah story and some playboy lighting on our gorgeous hunks and barbies. They might even throw in a little socially conscious dialogue or even a subtly racially ambiguous undertone just to get a little more attention. If you are seriously wanting to try acting I would first take a course in marketing (especially in entertainment). I was a creative director in Entertainment Marketing for about 10 years and saw how choices were made. Especially in TV your face needs to attract people so they'll see our sponsors goods and possibly buy them. As well as help me build my Network's Brand.

Pro Active ability. I put this second on the list because if you have Marketability you probably attract those who'll do this one for you, ie agents, managers, assistants. But until then you do need to be able to get out of bed in the morning and get around. You have to be able to market yourself until you have CAA doing it for you. It probably helps to be a little ADD. A little, not a lot. I add to this section Attitude, since it's your attitude that gets you going. Here's where Prima Donna comes into play, or not. I hear that one reason many less than talented stars work so much is because they are Easy to work with. They take direction. They show up and on time. They know their lines. They are cool to be around. I know, crazy right? But that's all you have to do sometimes to get people to work with you...

Here's a story that happened to me recently. An actress submitted to my Non Union, Indie short film through LA casting.com  On that site I had let everyone know what the parameters of the production were. But most obvious was that it was Non Union and a Short film. I had over 400 submissions from  SAG, Aftra, and Non Union actresses. All of them should have been very aware that they were submitting for NON union work. So this actress was my choice and I began the ever difficult task of trying to meet with her at a coffeeshop so we could go over the script and period styled wardrobe and makeup etc. Never happened. She couldn't get her head around a simple text exchange where location was clearly noted. At least that was her excuse for not being there. So from there we skip to dealing with script exchange by email. I sent it to her 4 times because she kept misplacing it. I would follow up with "did you get it" and she'd respond hours later with "yes." Then 3 days later she'd ask for it again. Fast forward to the day of the shoot. 2 and half hours after her call time she is no where to found and won't answer her phone. I have a strict 12 hour time frame at a big studio location and am now forced to rearrange my shot list to fill time while waiting for her. My producer advises me to recast the role with an actress friend of mine who is helping out that day as production manager. Inside I know she's right but for some reason I'm holding out for this other actress. Finally she calls. Says she's been in an fender bender but is still coming. Hmmm couldn't have called 2 and half hours earlier? Guess not. So she finally gets to the set and is about sit in the makeup chair when our producer finds out that this actress now has a problem with the release form. That it gives the production company too much control over the final use of her images. It's a Standard Release form. I come to the makeup room. She says, "What if you take it and use the footage to defame me?" and "You could sell this and I'd get nothing." I said, "This is a short film" I'm not aware of shorts being a huge moneymaker. Most people make shorts as a calling card or to get financing to make it into a feature film in which there would be money for everyone. And why would I defame my main characters? She was one of my Heroes. So for some extreme lapse of judgement on my part I said, "Think about it and we'll talk when your makeup is done." Waste of time. Makeup was done and she is still griping. Not only that but she was just now reading the script and it was very clear that she hadn't read it ever before. Wow! Really?!! So she now wanted to add an addendum to the release that stated that she could stop anything that she felt was going to defame her. I said, "Neither one of us is an attorney so that won't happen." My producer, Amy, said, "What constitutes defamation in your eyes?" We could've ended up with her in the editing room dicing the project to her liking for months or never been able to release it if she didn't like it. She came back with, "Well this is a non union film so I don't have the union to protect me." I said, "You knew you were submitting to a Non Union project from day one." She came back to her first argument. I said, "Well, I am 2 and half hours behind because of you and I don't have time for anymore. Goodbye." Amy went and asked Caitlyn Carradine if she'd like to take the role which she did. And by the way, it all turned out amazingly. Caitlyn saved the film and I can't imagine the role with anyone else. The other actress was stunned that I just dumped her but what else could I do? I couldn't endanger the project and our collective work for one person. I am sure that even a well known actor would have had his or her needs and contracts dealt with long before they showed up. And a good actor would have been there on time and off book (knowing the script) I take responsibility for ignoring the red flags in her case. I was hoping that her TV resume and screen presence would have been worth the many issues along the way but in the end I was wrong. 

On the flip side I have found over the past 6 years a great set of actors who give their all for a production. I suppose that this is why you see so many directors working with the same set of actors and crew. Because they trust them. They know they can get the job done and that they are easy to work with. Filmmaking is very demanding. Easily the toughest job I've ever had. So when you have people to work with who make that job go smoothly, or at least fun during the tough parts, you definitely keep them close by.

Here's Battery Row indie short film teaser. Just thought I'd add this to show off what we shot in the Factory (mostly) to those involved and those friends who were interested. This isn't meant to tell a story or sell the film to any investor. As of last sunday we now have almost another 1/3 of footage and some great little scenes that are not represented in this video.

Location Location Location...

For this Indie short film the Factory Location was the inspiration for the story. So I didn't need to run out and search far and wide for a great place. To be honest I have searched downtown LA and found very few locations to match this for the money. The stairways, the vast open floors with nothing but columns, the foggy, early factory sized windows. Hard to replicate without using several different locations.

there are 6 floors plus a basement and a roof. each floor has about 60,000 square feet.

burnt out stair well was used often through Battery Row. We have a very nice fight scene in here toward the end of the film. As a still photographer I find this stairway one of the best locations in Los Angeles.

More to come...

Working in the Battery

Indie films (at this level) often have very low budgets. I brought in Amy Wengreen to produce Battery Row with me. She showed me some great places up in Utah to buy wardrobe for  our cast. We went to Deseret Industries which is like a Salvation Army type of store. We bought a suit, shirt and tie for $17. Used but in amazing condition. We got several things there and barely spent $50. It was lucky that I was in Utah at the time although these stores do exist all over the country.

We also bought wardrobe at some shops around Los Angeles like Wasteland and Crossroads which sell pretty cool Used stuff. Here is a photo I took of our main character's wardrobe to get a sense for how they looked in Black and White. The idea was to look vintage or different (No Target) without it always having to be vintage. It helped to have the actors in place and their sizes on hand early in the production so that whenever Amy or I were in a store and saw something we liked we knew if it would fit our characters. We didn't have the budget for a costume person so we had to deal with keeping track of everything ourselves. Tough thing by the way. The best Hat shop I found was on Melrose near La Brea in Hollywood. Hollywood Hatters....
http://www.hollywoodhatters.com/

I bought the lead character's fedora there. Very cool place with a plethora of different types of hats and they actually know how to help you where many many places do not. Save yourself some time.

Here is a lineup of our characters with their wardrobe. Again I decided to light them in the Noir style and  see what they looked like in Black and white. Black and white is great because we could marry colors that wouldn't work together. All we cared about was fit, shading and textures.


More about Battery Row in the next post....

short sighted

I thought I'd start off by talking about my current film project. Then as time goes by I'll pull in some of my past stories from films I've made since 2005. I may even talk about a couple little music videos I made in 1992.

                                                  Story boards and directions for lighting.

BATTERY ROW©2011 Actor Allen Burns Under Santa Monica Pier

So right now I am about 3/4 of the way through shooting and editing simultaneously a Noir short film called "Battery Row." The reason I began this film was because I was shooting and editing 2 feature films for other people in 2010 and really really needed to fill that creative urge that is only satisfied with actually writing and directing. Maybe some of you know what I'm talking about.

About 18 months ago I shot a commercial in a newborn Hospital set studio called Central City Studios in downtown LA. They are next door to American Apparel. The studio is inside of a large (60,000 sq ft per floor) 6 floor (and a pretty cool basement) factory that was built in 1913. When I shot the commercial I took a break to wander the building. It's age and vastness inspired me to write something that I would shoot there eventually. Fast forward to last January and I shot part of episode 11 of Apocalyptic Playground there in the amazing 11' deep pit of the basement. Eventually I will release the footage of that web series after we're done pitching it to IMAGINE.

Now fast forward to October. I decided I'd had enough of not creating my own stuff and began drafting up a gritty, bloody, noir short to be shot there in the bowels of that wonderful structure. I love noir as a style and realized that they couldn't really push the limits much in the 1940's and 1950's so I wanted to maybe try that combo a bit. I knew when I started writing it that I wanted it to have men and women characters and that they should all be out for themselves. That they should only team up if it served their own personal motivations. I also knew that I wanted the women to be just as gutsy and tough as the men. I do hate to hear the helpless girl in a film scream at the sight of blood. Probably because that was never the type of women I grew up with so I find it silly. I've known some women to be able to pack a solid punch just like any guy. They are actually more dangerous because we (men) are so not expecting it from them. Lesson learned.

I'm not going to go into my story too much at this point. Let's just say I worked on it here in LA and while I stayed up in Utah over thanksgiving. I think I had 5 drafts overall with some minor tweaks just before shoots. I also like to note where I think it's safe for actors to improvise because I love what actors come up with. I used to write songs and play guitar in a band. I would bring a song to the drummer and bassist and then let them play along however they wanted. I like that sort of co cooking every now and then. Apocalyptic Playground began that way. I brought a basic guideline and makeup and location and then the actors were left to make up their characters in reaction to the "Rules."

to Be Continued....(Working in the Battery)