Battery Row behind the scenes videos

Just some fun stuff from behind the scenes of the filming of Battery Row my latest short indie film in the Noir Style.






Below, this link features actor Brendan Bradley on the dolly as Allen Burns pushes him during some downtime. You can see me in the distance setting up a big shot in the haunted stairwell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r3RHTvddnU&feature=related

Painting Done

Instead of Indie films I've been finishing up this painting for a girl who commissioned it from me. Next thing I'm going to do is finish up the final cut of Battery Row. I took this photo at 4am so it's a bit off kilter. But you get the idea.

Indie film Instructional video

I just launched a 2 hr 45 min instructional video that is now on 2 disc dvd with
writer, producer Amy Wengreen.

The point of the video is show how you can start and maintain an at home
business of Hand and Foot impressions in clay. This seems like an easy and
simple business but noooo... I found out while shooting and editing this
little feature how multi layered and intricate this business really is and how
it's actually an artform that needs to be cultivated over time and practice.

Here's a teaser....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v016vHrFfE&feature=channel_video_title

We shot in both California and Utah over about 2 weeks and then began the long
process of editing all the bits and pieces together to make a rather well thought
out instruction of this business. Then I designed and built the packaging thats
branded with the look of the menu on the DVD's and website etc.

Side Projects other than Film Making

in process. about half way done.

It's hard for me to just focus on one type of project at a time. I like to work a bit on a project, then move off to another one that is of a different medium. It's like sniffing coffee between perfumes. Breaking up the thought process a little gets the creative juices new and more vibrant. One thing I like to do that breaks up the film making process is painting. Here's a little commissioned painting I'm working on now...

Noir Film review "On Dangerous Ground"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbwL8OPZbls

Indie film makers should definitely watch these old noir films.
This movie has it's moments. Some of it is sooo Noir from the dialogue down to the lighting. Noir is not a genre, it's a style. A style that has been used in many genres including Westerns. Check out the bar scene in this film. I used it for reference when building and shooting my bar scene in Battery Row. The commentary on this film is really interesting too. Since most Noir was made in the 40's and 50's (by definition I think Noir was only between 1941 to 1958) they weren't allowed to outright tell you a hooker was a hooker. And watching it now you'd almost have to guess that the hooker character and her pimp were just that. So the commentary shows you how they cleverly said these things back then to get it around the Hays office.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_H._Hays


2 other reasons to see this film... Nicholas Ray (rebel without a cause) directed it. Bernard Hermann (Psycho) scored it.


Two reasons to watch older RKO noir films... They had lower budgets like today's indie film makers. I mean comparatively speaking to studios like MGM 20TH and WB. So you see how they cut corners with lighting and sets.


Also I recommend a Noir Documentary called, "Film Noir: Bringing Darkness to Light.

INDIE NOIR SHORT FILM STORYBOARD COMPARISON

Ok so here are some of my storyboards with the corresponding screengrab that finally happened.

Lucky and Laura Flirt followed by

a dolly right that changes the this from

a 3 shot to a 2 shot as Laura and Lucky

begin to exclude Butch.

The original shot from the end of the bar which

I had planned to use if we were going to use a

real bar and had limited time. But then when I

decided to build the bar in my place, I also added

to the scene with 2 other actors, 2 other side

stories and lots more angles.

Originally Butch was in this shot but it ended

up begin just lucky and Laura's hair.

Going purely on memory of the factory I imagined

these shots not really remember too much of how

the building was designed.

As you can see this shot changed a bit. much more artsy.

fairly close to my original concept again drawn from

my memory of the factory windows.

This shot got reworked in conjunction with

Saudia Rashed's Right hook which landed

Jaime Alvarez to the left completely flipping

the shot. Still works very nicely.

Oddly enough this turned out almost exactly like

I imagined it in my sketch. Neither actor had

seen my storyboards. Just told em and they did

it. Pretty cool working with real actors.

I sketched these a month before I shot so I would at least have "ideas" that I could use or throw away when it came down to the actual day on set. And I think the best part of this process is that while sketching, my mind is totally in the scene, working out how it looks, like assembling a puzzle. I don't know that I'd be able to envision it as well without also drawing it. I think that the drawings then animate in my mind over the preproduction time period allowing for more ideas to unfold from them. Ideas that need more than shoot date time to perfect. I sketched the bar scene and then about 3 days later it came to me to add a whole new subplot based on a payoff system between the bartender and Butch. Not sure that would have come to me had I not lived in the space a bit through the illustrations. For me film making is very much an art. So the two mediums have to coexist.

MORE INDIE FILM BAR shots

ok so I thought I'd throw in some more photos from this bar I built for our indie short noir film Battery Row. The reason I've been putting of the Storyboard/final shot comparison is because there are some shots I still need to capture off recent footage and my little hv20 deck just died. So tomorrow or the next day i'll get to that.

Here's what the space looks like now that i've disassembled the bar

close up of bar, lit shot counter and cabinet in background

I had to use special small lights strategically placed

to light the clock face since I have a dissolve that

takes place on the clock face showing the passage

of time.

this shows how I underlit the shot counter.

Allen Burns and Caitlyn Carradine in their "get to know

each other" scene at the bar. Vintage Coors neon in the back.

The whole set with 4 arri 650's. Some of the 650's are

dimmed with scrims and one has a punctured piece of

blackwrap which makes the light spray out in fingers.

This photo was overexposed to show the darker areas.

Bar SCENE indie film shoot.

So I meant to put up a post of my storyboard sketches vs. the final shots in this post but I want to download
some footage from last night to finish that idea up. So for now here are a couple cast photos from last nights shoot showing the great work our makeup/hair artist Navonne Johns did for us. The actors are Heidi Hamilton who plays Nick the bartender and Carly Jones who plays Laura.