“January” Production Diary #8

It’s been a while. I’ve been busy. Hello, again!

Production on “January” (which I can never decide if I should italicize or put in quotation marks) is coming along quite nicely. Several days ago, we looked at a rough-cut of the film, to see how we needed to proceed forward in order to meet our deadline, February 29th.

When I looked at the rough-cut, I was not happy with it. There were some fundamental issues in this rough-cut, namely pacing. Many of the cuts felt quite mechanical, and the edit was desperately in need of more organic, fluid editing. It felt clunky. At this point, Chris, Dan, and I had a conversation about how to proceed, and we decided to split the work up to cover more ground more quickly. Chris would re-edit several sequences, going off of my notes, and would begin synchronizing the audio. As Chris was doing this, Dan and I would work on fine-tuning Chris’ edits, and polishing up the scenes.

The outlook was grim, to be generous. We had 16 days and were almost a month behind, due to how long it had taken us to get the rough-cut completed. I was terrified.

After the first two days, things were looking slightly more positive. The first scene was looking ten times better, but I was still pretty scared. We had completed roughly a minute and fifty seconds of the film, which will have a total running time of about twenty-four minutes. That meant that we were only 8% done after two days of work. 14 more of these eight-percent-two-days would mean that we’d only be between 60%-70% done with the final film, on the day we needed to submit it to the festival.

It was a weird feeling to have; on one hand, the film was looking miles better, but on the other it was still taking a long time to complete things, as we were trying to get this next cut as close-to-perfect as possible. With these doubts in mind, I went to bed Monday night.

The rest of the week has been a blur. Somehow it was Tuesday, now it’s Friday, and the film is now in the 50%-60% range. Dan, Chris, and I have kicked it into overdrive, but I must really give a hand to Chris and Dan, as they’ve been spending most of their free-time working on the film. It’s really coming along, and one of Chris’ re-edits was so close to the mark, that it only took about an hour to clean it up, and make it even better. Dan, too, has been cranking out tons of high-quality work, and he is easily one of the most efficient editors I’ve ever seen work. 

The film is looking great. It’s really coming together, and the stark contrast between Sunday’s edit and our current, working edit is almost laughable. What’s even more encouraging is that after we complete the montage—which we’re having tons of fun with, props to Zach and Evan for really bringing a lot of energy to this scene—we don’t have much more to polish. Of the remaining four scenes, two of them are monologues, which are 99% perfect, and one of the other scenes, the big argument between Evan and Steph—which still gives me chills when I watch it—is close-to-perfect as well. 

What’s even more encouraging is the fact that tomorrow is Saturday, meaning no classes. From tonight until the end of tomorrow night, we can just start grinding out as much of this edit as possible. Once we have the next edit to start cleaning up, we get to start screening the film to test audiences. This could happen as early as Sunday afternoon, and is a particularly exciting/scary part.

One thing that I’d like to do before I’m finished with this post is shout-out to Jack Atterholt, AKA “Drivel Kid,” who’s done the soundtrack for this film. His soundtrack is phenomenal. The tracks are evocative, poignant, and beautiful. Not only is it a great collection of pieces, they are adding SO MUCH to the editing process. They’re bringing the performances and visuals to life in such a vibrant way, that it’s impossible to imagine any other soundtrack working for the film at all. It’s been a pleasure working with him throughout, and the quality of his compositions is truly appreciated. I know that he’s working on his next album, and I’ll make sure to provide you with the link when it’s released; this guy is going places.

The adventure is beginning to come to a close, but we’ll still be hard at work after we meet deadline; after all, what’s a DVD without special features?

Get there.

LOVE,

BRENT 

“January” Production Diary #7

January Teaser/Trailer from Brent Eickhoff on Vimeo.

The teaser for “January” is up. We have finished 99% of the filming—all we need to do is get one final, aerial shot on a highway, and we will be done. It is in the process of being edited, currently; it looks like we’ll meet our deadline.

The teaser/trailer went online last night relatively late, but already I’ve been getting positive feedback. People are commenting that it looks “so good” and “really interesting.” My grandma commented that it looks “very professional,” most of which I credit to the wonderfully strong performances by my actors, and the excellent cinematography/color grading from Dan Edwards. Never before have a realized how much of a difference a colorist can make on a film. Adding all of the wonderful contrast and saturation that you see in the teaser above, changes footage that already looked nice into footage that truly pops. Props to the pop-meister himself for some excellent work with Final Cut Pro’s color correcting utilities.

Overall, I’m getting lots of buzz about the film after the release of this preview. People are asking me when it will be finished, when they get to see the final project, and are asking if they can be invited to a screening of it. I’m beginning to think that between the screening strictly for actors/crew and the (hopeful) debut at FrogBaby Film Festival, we might get a screening for other people who’ve been showing interest. But that’s a question for another day! For now, I’m just excited at the interest that the film is getting—it’s certainly a project that is very close to me, and I’m sort of concerned that it won’t appeal to the general masses. It isn’t a comedy; it isn’t an action film; it relies on the performances of actors and the words that they’re saying more than camera gimmicks or special effects; it will be competing against films that fit some of those other descriptions. Yes, I know that as long as I am happy with the finished product, that’s all that truly matters, but I really hope that others will be able to connect with this film as much as some of the cast and crew have.

Needless to say, all of this excitement is getting me more excited about something I was already excited about. I need to get going on finishing my next screenplay, Anamnesis!

I’m a filmmaker.

LOVE,

BRENT

“January” Production Diary #6

This is literally the first time I’ve opened my laptop since Friday night.

We were scheduled to begin filming Saturday, the 14th, but when the snow hit Muncie, and rain was in the forecast for today, we were concerned about continuity. After all, Indiana hasn’t looked very Winter-like for pretty much all of Winter. Seeing as our film is set in the month of January, we decided it’d be a good idea to get all outdoor filming out of the way this weekend. This bumped our shooting schedule up a day to Friday, because one of our actresses would be gone for all of the MLK weekend. (Thanks again Steph for being flexible with your departure so we could get the footage we needed!)

The only thing concerning me about our shoot outdoors—besides the fact that it was like 12 degrees and all of our feet went numb and we kept having to take breaks in order to warm up—was that we were starting with, arguably, the hardest scene (emotionally). I wasn’t super pumped with having to make Evan and Steph get to that place so quickly, especially considering that we only had around two hours of daylight to film in, but both of them did excellently with each take—even when people from surrounding doors were yelling out their windows at us things like “What are you doing?” and “Your movie sucks!”—and we were able to finish in time with some very powerful performances. Steph, especially, knocked this scene out of the park, bringing tears to the eyes of Dan (our cinematographer) and myself. Day 1 of shooting was phenomenal, and in a scene where the performances were paramount, I got exactly what I wanted.

A quick aside. The two pervading thoughts in my head regarding filmmaking and the filmmaking process as we continue to work on “January” are as follows:

I. In the making-of featurette of Black Swan, a woman working on the film remarks that she loves working with Darren Aronofsky because “he’s not just a director; he’s a filmmaker.” There is a difference between directors and filmmakers.

II. PBS’ American Masters documentary on Woody Allen depicts Allen commenting that when he gets the take he likes, he doesn’t want to do it over because it isn’t necessary. Be economical in your time when working on a film. If you know you like what you got, there’s no reason to do it again.

Day 2 of shooting started off to a late start. There was some confusion over where we were filming, and that, on top of forgetting equipment we needed, required us to begin filming about a half hour later then we needed to. A shopping trip for gear was made before this shoot, which contributed partially to the lateness. Although everything that was bought was necessary to the scenes we were shooting that day, I was a little unhappy that we spent $100 of our budget on the first trip, considering that 30% of it was on a step-stool, which we probably could’ve gotten cheaper or even borrowed. Unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20 in these sorts of situations, but cest la vie. It just means we’ll be smarter about our budget in the future. Shooting went quite well, if not a bit slowly, due to our cinematographer’s meticulousness in composing shots, and the freezing cold temperatures. The way that I prefer to work is at a break-neck pace, running and gunning through scenes, probably a result of most of my work being for things like the 48 Hour Film Project. This certainly does not gel with Dan’s methodical, triple-checking, asking-for-clarification process, but he gets results, so I suppose that’s what matters. The composition of one of the first scenes I am totally in love with. A super strong shot. 

We’re filming on two different cameras for this project. A Canon T3i (a DSLR camera, our primary choice, due to Dan’s familiarity with it) and a Canon XHA1 (which is recording all of our audio, in addition to some scenes—apparently it’s important for video cameras to have XLR input for microphones, unlike the T3i, which, while providing a “filmic” look, is built for still photography). 

Evan, who is playing the lead role of David, is incredibly committed. His conversational approach to the character is brimming with genuineness and he has a natural air of charisma about him. In addition to his portrayal, he let us dump water on him in fourteen degree weather and continued the take with no trace of uncomfortableness until he was off camera (when he sprinted to the warm car we had waiting to drive him back to his dorm to change). 

Day 3 of shooting was super slow. Basically, we filmed our two most complicated shots—one in which Evan writes on the lens of the camera and a shot where he gets onto an elevator and rides it up several flights, with the camera following him up. The first shot took a ton of planning and reworking, because we were initially filming outside and the sun was reflecting the camera into the glass. Then, we moved the shot inside, hoping to counteract the lighting issues. After cannibalizing the slider that we built, we were able to construct an apparatus to hold the glass in place in a sort-of frame. It took about two hours to get the entire shot done, mainly due to my stubbornness about doing the effect practically. After several more takes, I was confident that we’d have something to work with, and we moved on to the elevator scene. Graham, our Visual Effects guy, ran us through how to film it—we put duct tape track points on the wall, so that he could track it on the computer when adding the effects to make sure the motions match with the camera’s movements. The most aggravating thing about filming in the resident halls is that they are, believe it or not, resident halls. Apparently that means that people live in them. So many people stopped, or entered and saw everything and got spooked. We had to wait to get the take, and sometimes in the middle of the take people would come into the scene, and we’d have to restart.

Day 4. This day was a relatively short scene, but it still took a long time to shoot. We started 50 minutes late, and then it took two and a half hours to film, when I was hoping it’d only take an hour and a half. Even though it took much longer then I’d hoped, by the end of the shot, Dan and I were in a “groove.” We had met in the middle as far as the paces at which we both work, and so I’m confident that we’ll be able to move forward working quickly and efficiently. Although some of the past few days have been tense between us—because of my emphasis on using time effectively—I do value the fact that Dan puts time and effort into the composition of his shots. You don’t get awards like Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, or Best Original Soundtrack without putting in time and effort. Yes, we’re doing this because the creative process is something which we all enjoy. But there needs to be a level of seriousness and commitment to the process in order to get a product that we are all proud of and that meets our artistic vision.  I’m reminded of a phrase from a statement we were required to sign when auditioning for plays or musicals back in high school: 

“I understand that being in a play is both fun and hard work.”

To me, that’s how it is with any artistic process, be it film, painting, writing, etc.

One of the strangest things about making this film is the questions onlookers seem to have. “What is this for?” “Why are you doing this?” These questions, especially, bother me, because it assumes that for every thing that anybody does, there has to be a purpose. Our short answer to these random passers-by was that it is for the Frog Baby Film Festival, but that wasn’t why this project was started—I was writing this screenplay before I found out about Frog Baby. Plus, we’re submitting it to other film festivals in addition to Frog Baby. The point, for me at least, is/was to make something real. To create. As a form of art. As a form of expression. One of the last memories I have of the Summer before I came to college was with my friend Eli. We were standing on top of a parking garage, and he said to me:

“I know that you aren’t going to major in film in college, but I think it’s important that you keep doing it. As an expression thing, ya know? ‘Cuz it’s important that people have a way to express themselves, and making movies is something you enjoy. You should keep doing this, even though you aren’t majoring in it.”

That’s what I intend on doing. That’s what I am doing.

LOVE,

BRENT

“January” Production Diary #5

Jubilation.

This is happening.

After the read-through, in a circle in the cold outside the library, Zach asks me: “This is happening, right? Because I’ve been on board for a lot of films, but they haven’t come together.”

The answer is an incredible, “YES!” But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to Monday night.

Sunday had been a bust. We sat in the small study lounge on the sixth floor for several hours, and didn’t get much progress, at all. Most of it related to bickering about DSLRs vs traditional camcorders, and we spent more time talking about technicalities of the filmmaking process instead of focusing on the point of our meeting: storyboarding.

But Monday was different. It was a slow, methodical process, but we were making headway. Dan, Chris, Natalie, and I discussed potential shot compositions and visual ideas, and Natalie took our notes and converted them into images on the storyboards. We came up with this concept for the film—relating to the “fourth wall” of film, in a way—that I’m totally in love with. Basically, it hinges on cutting to non-literal depictions of things that David, the narrator, talks about. These will be more representational than anything else, and allow us to have these sort-of playful suggestions of things, rather than hitting the audience over the head with shots-of-the-objects-that-he-just-mentioned-in-his-lines. It was an arduous four hours, but by the end of it we had the first 11 pages of the screenplay marked up with all sorts of margin notes and ideas. These accomplishments, and our new concept, danced through my head as I got ready for bed at 3 AM.

Tuesday. The day of the read-through. 10:30 PM (although I knew that Zach would be late because of rehearsal for the musical) in room 409 in the library. Most of our cast and crew were there, with the exception of one actor (who I’d only talked to about this the day before, and knew he wasn’t going to show up) and our make-up and lighting guys (the latter of which said he’d be there, and was missing in action). Release forms were passed out and signed. We chatted for a little bit, until Zach showed up, and then we began introductions. Name. Role in the film.  One of your favorite movies. We had a varied room of people—Speed Racer, Big Fish, Fight Club, Elf, 500 Days of Summer.

The read-through started. It was good. Like, really good. Some of the moments—the beats, the silences in between lines—were so good. Pregnant (ew!) with meaning. With emotion. There were moments that were light, and moments that were tragic. Evan’s read of David was honest and engaging. Zach played the role (which I had practically written for him) better than I could have imagined. Lauren’s portrayal of Rachel was fun and adorable; she really captured the spirit of performing children’s theatre. From Steph’s first line, as Sam, to her last sentence—which gave me chills—she was on it. Everybody was on their game. They made me all look good, as I’d cast them without really seeing what they could do with the material at all. They made the screenplay come alive in a way that wasn’t evident from just reading through it. This film—this story—was going to be great. The final “act” of the screenplay pulled me in and dragged me along with it, and the delivery of the final monologue was poignant and powerful. One of our boom operators and grips, who hadn’t actually read the screenplay, said at the end, “Whoa. That was really good.”

Indeed. Indeed indeed indeed indeed. 

After the read-through, in a circle in the cold outside the library, Zach asks me: “This is happening, right? Because I’ve been on board for a lot of films, but they haven’t come together.”

This is happening.

LOVE,

BRENT

“January” Production Diary #4

19 days. 

$350, or more.

Is this all going to come together?

That’s like, $20 a day.

Doubt. Fear. Anxiety…Excitement.

This can happen.

This film can happen.

19 days.

Today, I received an email letting me know that Kickstarter.com had approved our project, “January.” 

The fundraiser is officially up and running. You can visit this link to make a donation.

You can read about the project more, how the money is going to be used, etc. by clicking on the above link, so I’m not going to reiterate most of the stuff that’s in that. Instead I’m going to say two things, one of them in relation to the fundraiser and the other in relation to the film itself.

Kickstarter operates in a pass/fail sort of way. Meaning, if we reach our goal of $350, we get the money, except for the fees that Amazon Payments takes for processing all of the donations (see, it uses trusty old Amazon.com as the payment site! Told you Kickstarter was reputable!); however, if we don’t reach our goal, even if we’re only $1 short, we don’t get any of it. That would be bad. Because of this, I made our goal relatively low. I don’t know if we’d actually be able to pay for the equipment, props, costumes, and particularly the food/water to feed a cast/crew of 10-15 college students on a budget of $350, but if we make more money than our goal, all that means is that we just get more money. So, please, even if you are reading this and we are above $350 in donations, don’t feel shy. ;-) $350 is probably the bare minimum this film needs to be made, and believe me, I’ll be happy for every penny, but I also know that the more money we get, the less we will be limited creatively, and the more flexibility we will have. 19 days to reach, or exceed, our goal

The second thing I have to share with you, which I thought would be interesting, is why I chose to name the film, “January.” This, too, was in an email to some of the crew, and I find it encompasses my goals for this film quite well.

“January” is broad, just as this film’s portrayal of real life, of honesty, is broad. There’s a lot going on in this short, it’s very slice-of-life in its focus. The month that the film will be filmed, the setting of the film.

Something that can be poignant. Personal. Playful. Powerful.

Evocative of a season, a month, when all of these feelings occur. Winter is the deeply reflective months when we all search for something to warm us up, amidst the chilling air.

So, please, donate to make this film a reality! Tell your friends, tell your family, tell anyone you know who loves film and wants to make a difference in a group of students’ lives. Just $5 will get your name in the Special Thanks of the credits, and who doesn’t want to see their name in the credits of a film?

LOVE,

BRENT

“January” Production Diary #3

My meeting with Jack (AKA Kaptain Kewl, now known as “Drivel Kid”) went phenomenally. When I arrived, he greeted me, asked how I’d been, and then lead me to the back of his house. We climbed into a closet—his recording studio—and he opened up his MacBook. The small “room” was fitted with headphones, his laptop, an expensive-looking microphone, and some speakers. His guitar sat in its stand in a corner on the left, and the white walls were scrawled with various notes—bits of lyrics, phrases, ideas. It was certainly a Do-It-Yourself sort of studio, but it had the character one would expect, knowing Jack. He began by telling me that he loved the script—which, considering my nightmare last night where he told me he hated 2/3s of the script, was quite nice to hear—and told me he thought the ending was perfect, and that he loved the final line. Jack’s certainly the kind of guy who means what he says, so it meant a lot to hear that from him. He told me that the hardest part about composing the soundtrack was coming up with a tone that would translate from piece to piece to create a cohesive soundtrack. There were six songs displayed in his iTunes window, but he quickly explained that the final “album” will have around twelve songs. He’s hoping to have it entirely finished by this Friday. He prefaced each song by telling me that none of them were set in stone, and that if there was anything that I needed changed, to just let him know. The six songs that I heard were great. Each one was grounded in a similar melancholy, while still having nuances of the warmth of friendship. Jack said that while he definitely wanted the soundtrack to have a solemness, but tried to keep in mind that “even though it’s melancholy, there are friendships here. David really appreciates everything Jack [the character] is doing, and Sam really does love David and want what’s best for him.” The fact that Jack was implementing such themes from the screenplay into the creation of the music for the film speaks volumes of his talent, especially considering that this is the first time he’s done something like this. After listening to every song, Jack stressed that if I hated all of it, or only liked one song, to let him know so that he knew what exactly I was looking for. He said that if in two weeks we decide we need something longer, or want more of a specific sound, or need something recorded at better quality, that he’ll record something new. In his words: “The soundtrack won’t be completely finished until the film is, too.” What an excellent guy to work with, specifically considering how great all of the music already is. The moods are cohesive, but there’s a definite versatility in each of the tracks, so that I can imagine it getting put to use in multiple areas of the film. Overall, I’m totally impressed with the music, and can’t wait to hear the next six tracks.

LOVE,

BRENT

P.S. In a couple days, I might post my favorite song from the soundtrack. Right now it’s just hard to decide which one is my favorite; they’re all so good for so many different reasons!

“January” Production Diary #2

This is real. I—we—are making a film.

I’m not sure when it hit me the most, but today has been a triple-whammy as far as reminders go.

Before I become too far entrenched in my story-of-the-triple-whammy, let me first offer you with a short summary of “January,” because I realize I haven’t yet provided one. “January” is a short film about David, a college student, who finds himself on a quest to find purpose in his life after he interprets the writing in a bathroom stall as a sign from some higher being.

Now, on to the whammies!

Earlier today, I submitted an application to Kickstarter to hopefully gain a way to accept donations/get funding for the short. There are other websites which provide a way to get notoriety/money, but the fact that Kickstarter has an application process (which is reviewed by staff members, to make sure users don’t abuse their Terms of Service) makes me feel as if it’s a little more reputable. I have yet to hear back from them as to whether or not my proposal has been accepted, but I’m hoping that it is, as it’ll certainly be a confidence boost for the rest of the team and me. 

Speaking of the rest of the team, I got a text message from Jack Atterholt (AKA “Kaptain Kewl”), a friend of mine who’s composing the score for the film. We have a meeting tomorrow at noon, and he asked me to bring blank CDs and a USB drive to the meeting tomorrow. This thoroughly excited me—I may or may not have jumped up and down—and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to take some samples (or all!!!) of the soundtrack to share with the cast and crew. Having worked with Jack before on several films (he was the lead in my award-winning short film “Amalgam” 3 years ago) I know his commitment to excellence in everything he does, and he and I seem to be kindred spirits when it comes to artistic matters in film. I have seen him perform live multiple times, and can say that he is an incredibly talented, incredibly passionate musician, and it is for these reasons that I cannot wait to hear what he’s come up with tomorrow. I know that the rest of the crew—Dan, Chris, and Natalie—are also on the edge of their collective seat for this music, too, because we all want to storyboard with some of the music in mind. I think that’s one of the (many) cool things about the four of us: we all get some of our inspiration from music, in that we all (although I’m only speaking for myself, technically, I guess) project images in our imagination to match the moods and emotions that we’re hearing. 

The third “whammy” came when I was sitting with a friend watching an episode of Celebrity Wife Swap. I looked to her, after sharing my Jack-story, and said, “I’m going to be a filmmaker.” It was almost a whisper, and I’m not sure why I was so surprised when I said it, but this—this whole production—is a dream come true. Yes, I suppose I’ve been a filmmaker since I picked up my mother’s JVC camcorder back in second grade and began making a movie with friends about wizards, but “January” is such an undertaking, and with such high goals, high sights, high aspirations, that I feel like I’m for real. I know that the cast and crew have already heard this, because I told it to them in an email a while back with the second draft, but for the rest of you (whoever “you” are) this will be new:

When I got to high school I became more involved in theatre, which I still do love, but it always felt like I had to choose between theatre or film in high school, because of time commitments. Now that I’m in college, I feel like I can finally get back to film, and it feels fucking* fantastic.

I feel like one of the characters in A Tale of Two Cities right now, with that phrase: “recalled to life.” This experience is about to be totally crazy, and entirely unforgettable. I can’t wait to get started.

LOVE,

BRENT

*I swear [pun intended] that the profanity was purely for alliterative and superlative effect. :-P 

“January” Production Diary #1