The process began when I enrolled in a video production class with the intent of learning more about how a film set operates. I did end up learning that but I also learned much more about the high level of organization, motivation and time-management required to not only pull off a successful production but to maintain relationships while doing so.
The initial idea for the script was all my own story and writing. It was a 13-page drama. When I began writing it, the first thing I did was establish the synopsis: Ben is an addict who is serious about his recovery and is approaching 5 years sobriety. His father, Don, is an alcoholic. After running into Don on the street one day, Ben begins to suspect his father might be homeless. Ben’s suspicion is confirmed when he is out volunteering and he spots Frank drinking in a nearby alley. With the intention of offering help. Ben confronts him. There’s a fight and it doesn’t end well.
Once I had the synopsis down, I wrote very rough character sketches for each of the 4 characters in the story. I wrote just a few paragraphs to start and get to know them. In addition to fully original characters traits, I also pulled aspects from myself as well from people whom I've known in my life to sketch these characters out.
The beat sheet is a rough outline of each scene, what occurs and how it fits into the larger narrative. I frequently referred to the website www.savethecat.com and compared the sequence and impact of my beats to beat sheets shared there. Using the character sketches, I was able to drive the evolution and connection of the beats based on natural character reactions to given circumstances provided them by the synopsis.
Nobody wanted to make my film. I wrote it over 7 days, between the first day of class and the day where we could pitch our ideas to class in hopes people would want to join your team and make your film. It did not surprise me. The other ideas were action-adventure, rom-com and a piece about mental health profiling. These were all more popular and I ended up joining another as script supervisor and "Don Before Midnight" hit the shelf for a bit.
I ended up joining the group who produced the mental health piece. I was script supervisor. It was my job to monitor continuity, mark the slate and keep the cast in line with the script. I took set photos and mainted the props. Working on the other piece was rewarding. The director, Assistant Director and Director of Photography were smart, organized and driven. I left that set knowing that with a similar group of like-minded people, I could make a film too.
I set out to simplify the project. I cut the locations down from 5 to 3 and move as much of the action into a single, interior location as I could. Then, with my wife’s help, I roughed out all of the beats for an alternate, comedic version. I then continued to flesh them out on my own and once they were solid, I wrote the pages for the new story.
Robert Schmeltzer was the Director of Photography from the mental health piece. He was hungry and on board from the start. With his help, I slowly pieced together the rest of the crew looking for equally excited and reliable folks. Nearly everyone on the crew came from the class with the exception of my next door neighbor at the time, Chad Smith. I set a shoot date and planned to shoot the film over 2 consecutive weekends late that summer.
Over the next few months, I pieced together the elements that were necessary to pull this thing off. One by one I knocked out the props, shot list, lighting floor plans and a rough storyboard. I later learned that focusing more on the storyboard would prove to be priceless. While I was working on each of these things, I continued to add, edit and trim the script.
I needed to learn to direct but there were no classes in directing happening at the time. I read a lot about directing online and one thing I came across repeatedly was that directors should also know something about acting. I went to a few drop-in acting workshops and registered in an 8-week screen-acting course. The shoot was planned before the classes would finish, but I figured every little bit would help.
The cast came entirely from people I met in the film workshops and acting classes. I was amazed at the eagerness of these great folks to dedicate themselves to a project. I am very lucky to have met them.
I had initially arranged for an assistant director to help me out. When it came time to shoot, it seemed as though those hands were better suited for assisting in the camera department. I managed the schedule, scene times and set on my own. It was challenging. Juggling both directing the talent and the schedule taught me about why having an Assistant Director is important.
We shot over the course of 3, 12-hour days. I used detailed overheads combined with a shot-list and storyboards to get it all down and communicate with the crew about what was coming. An added challenge came in the form of moving the lights around in an efficient manor and making sure that all footage needed for a particular setup area was captured before moving on to the next setup area.
The shoot was exhausting. I learned a lot. I ended up sitting on the footage for about a month before editing it. This was the first time I had edited something of this caliber. I started out by organizing all of the footage and syncing up the 3 separate audio sources we used with each clip. I created individual timelines for each scene and placed them into one larger, master timeline. This allowed an extra layer of flexbility in the final edit as each scene transition could be moved in isolation from the inner scene edits.
I had originally planned to edit the audio myself. Once I was in the thick of editing the picture, I realized I needed another set of ears to do the piece the justice it deserved. I employed the expertise of Phil Garrison with Gold Lemon Productions to complete the audio edit and write original music. This collaborative experience provided another valuable learning opportunity. I had never worked closely with another editor before nor had I needed to communicate my creative vision so another creative could implement the vision. Phil did a terrific job. The audio edit turned out very well and the original music was the perfect fit.
I did all of the color grading by hand using the scopes built into Adobe Premiere. I had a vision in my head of a blue, low-contrast image. By reading up on color-grading techniques, learning the purpose of the scopes and a lot of trial and error, I balanced the color to match what I was seeing in my head.
I organized a small premiere in the studio at the same college where I originally took the class, Portland Community College. I invited the entire cast and crew and asked that people bring their family and friends. The turn out was better than I expected and the film was received well. I am currently exploring festival opportunities to further share the film.