It sounds vaguely familar to me too. Could it have been a festival film? I think I may have seen it in LA or San Diego at a mini screening of some festival stuff.
I’m sure I saw it on a television, so it was either on a video or on a cable network. But it certainly could have been shown at a festival at some point. I’m fairly sure I didn’t see it at the ComicCon in San Diego, and the only other ‘festivals’ I’ve attended have been science fiction conventions. I’m sure I didn’t see it at those venues.
Heh. Someone else said, ‘I have a feeling of forboding, so watch out.’ 
We have a trailer!
We have a little trailer up that was cut together from some of the footage we’ve shot so far. We haven’t done the ghost scenes yet, so it looks more like an action film. We’ll put up a different one as the film progresses.
PLEASE DO NOT POST A DIRECT LINK TO THE PAGE HERE!
This is mostly to protect my own privacy. I’ve posted things in these fora over the past five years that I’ll share with you lot, but which I don’t really want to share with people I know in real life. In addition, we’re setting up a separate production company for the film, and we want to use it to publicise it ourselves. But we’re not ready yet. There’s also an issue with another website that will be promoting the film, and we need to coordinate with them. So please do not post a direct link.
This is a link to my personal webpage. The link to the film page is obvious. The trailer takes a bit of time to download. At least it does on my dial-up connection. There are also some photos of the work-in-progress, and an interactive game will be added eventually.
So… Has anybody watched it?
I have!
I didn’t dislike it, but I prefer trailers that give me some idea of the plot. Also, I think that the “shhh” at the end would have been much more effective without any music. But other than my preference for some plot clues, I think it looks good! I like the music, too.
And now I’ll have to watch the finished product just to see more of the guy who walks toward the camera. 
It does look more like an action film than a ghost story. Is the blend of the two weighted toward action? The teaser didn’t give me any feeling of other-worldliness (did I spell that right?) other than the deer scene.
The whole thing looks very professional, in a BMW films sort of way.
Right, we haven’t shot the ghost scenes yet. (Actually, we’re still looking for extras to play ghosts.) But the guys wanted to get something out there, so it’s made from what we have. I think the actress playing the ghost is due out in about three weeks. Is it a ‘blend of the two weighted toward action’? Well, I’ll just say that action plays a part.
I’ll have to let him know. He has a role in Midnight Money, which was premiered for invited guests localy last month. I haven’t seen the film, so I can’t tell you anything about it or how large his role was.
I personally admire the fact that you have put the entire shoot on hold to work around the release date of a convicted felon. It shows a certain grittiness, and is a terrific hook for the press kits!!
What?
Yes, I watched it. I love the banging on the edges of the frame, enjoy the bird’s eye view shots ( IMHO way underused in filmmaking ), the lighting looks tasty as heck and the camera movement grabs you. I’m first in line to da premiere, baby ! Keep us posted as you have.
I’ve been called ‘old school’, in that I like more traditional framing. But I agree that filming at the edges is effective. I just hope it’s not overused. I like to try to get some wider takes just in case, time permitting.
Thanks! 
This is my first DP gig, so I worry constantly about lighting. I have lots of lights, and I love my kits. But we haven’t used the fresnels yet because they’re too big for interiors. I don’t have dichros for them for the outdoor daylight shots. I mentioned that the hotel room was difficult to light because of the way the room was. Worry, worry, worry…
Not much to report. We shot a fight scene between ‘Chase’ (the big ginger fellow) and ‘Hub’ (the compact powerful tough guy) in an alley the other night. I saw the raw footage, but haven’t seen the rough cut yet. I’ll see it today. I’ve heard it looks good.
Today we’re getting some exteriors in town. Should be a very easy day.
Very, very nice. Looks slick. Looks like your budget is much larger than what it really is.
For some reason, I REALLY dig the dolly shot from behind the bench of the guy doing katas on the shooting range. A striking image. Screams ‘badass.’
The lighting does look really good. The production quality reminds me of HBO’s Six Feet Under and The Sopranos, which is a good thing!
Johnny, as someone who just shot some letterboxed footage last night at his kid’s concert- this trailer looks even wider than letterboxed. Are you shooting Anamorphic???
That would be telling, wouldn’t it!
Today was much easier than expected. Because we didn’t shoot! We’d planned some exteriors, and it’s raining. Nevertheless, I still managed to injure myself. We were sitting round brainstorming. I decided I’d go to CostCo to buy a third battery for the camera. They didn’t have any, but I did pick up a nice salami and some pepperjack cheese. Back at the studio I pulled out my trusty Swiss Army Knife to slice the salami. Now, I never use the blade on this knife if I can help it. I like my SwissChamp for the tools. But of course I wanted to clean the blade a bit. I was wiping it with a paper towel and got my finger too close to the edge. Slice! I’m not the one who fell into the light the other night. I’m the one who saved it. I’m not the one who dropped a zoom lens for the still camera on the asphalt. But I am the one who everyone thinks is accident-prone! :mad: So yeah, the finger slice got some laughs.
I wrote a press release for the local Business Journal. Earlier I helped with some verbiage for the notice on mandy.com.
Tonight I died/
We were supposed to have a local celebrity in the cast today. But he was hanging with Paul McCartney last night (No more buttered scones for me, mater. I’m off to play the grand piano. With Sir Paul!) and we couldn’t reach him today. Dang! We gotta have someone to kill! So it was I. Got it on one take.
This is a bit of a tradition for me. In Mutilation Maniacs I was horribly mutliated by… erm, maniacs. In the lost Elysium my throat was cut by an unseen enemy soldier as I rested against a tree. In Cut Up I was killed by The Patchwork Killer during the title sequence. And now I’ve been gunned down by a hit man. I didn’t get killed in The Right Stuff, but then I didn’t make it into the final cut either so that one doesn’t count.
Thanks. We used my skateboard dolly for that one.
For the gear-geeks (like me!) this is how I made it: I bought the wheels on eBay. I don’t remember the company, but these wheels are very nice. They have a bit of aluminum channel with four bolt holes for attaching them to the platform. The wheels (four per assembly) are attached to aluminum angle stock. The angle stock has a flat piece of aluminum welded across the top. A bolt goes through this flat piece (six washers; three on the bottom, three on the top) to hold the wheels to the mounting bit. This means that unlike many DIY skateboard dollies, this one can be used on curved track. All of the plans I’ve seen omit the top channel mounting plate, and do not turn.
I made the platform out of the best ¾" plywood I could find. IIRC the dimensions are 30" x 40". I used two sheets of this size. I spread a coating of wood glue on the unfinished side of one, and put the unfinished side of the other on top so that both sides would have the finished sides exposed. I used C-clamps and sandbags to press the sides together. The result is a 1½" thick platform that should support at least 600 pounds. Probably overkill, but it’s solid! I sanded the edges of the platform and rounded the corners, drilled the holes for the wheel mounts, then painted the entire thing with spar varnish. There’s a tie-down ring in the middle. I traced the outline using the template that came with the ring and dug it out with wood chisels. It was easy, since plywood gives you a nice even place at your desired depth.
The handles were made at a local shop from a drawing I made. This was sort of a friend-of-a-friend thing, so they’re not exactly as I wanted. As you can see in the photos there are two aluminum uprights. There’s a crosspiece at the bottom, and the top crosspiece sticks out on the sides for the handles. I wanted 1½" round stock, but they didn’t have any. So it’s square stock, with the top piece rounded as well as the welder could do it. Not exactly to specs, but works well.
I drilled holes for the handle in the platform. Since the handle was made with square stock this caused a problem. I don’t have a square drill bit! So after getting the circular holes I had to go back with the chisels. The welder also made two aluminum plates. He made square holes with the plasma cutter. I bolted the plates to the top and bottom of the platform to reinforce the handle holes.
Finally, I painted the top of the platform with Wing Walk Compound from Sporty’s Pilot Shop. Although it’s rainy up here, I think I’ll cover it with carpet like the (professionally made) Doorway Dolly.
The final product is heavy, but it works very well!
There still are no more stills from the shoot, but the ‘interactive sneak peek’ is up. I think I mentioned it before, but I’m being lazy so I haven’t re-read the thread. Basically our graphic artist took photos of my SAR-8 and one of the Berettas and made a little 'shoot-‘em-up’ thing. I don’t see any scoring, the aiming is a bit funky, and only one of the five scenarios is up right now. Not really a game, but mildly interesting to play with for a minute.
Oh… Bugger! 
We’ve been waiting for some funds to come through, so we haven’t shot anything in a week. Don’t like the delay, but we need the money. But there’s another problem.
About a week and a half ago one of our actresses checked herself into a hospital. Some sort of emotional problem. I think she’s bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, or something. But she’s still into the film, and we’ll have her back. She’s secured a location for us for her scene. So that problem seems to be under control. Only one of our actors won’t get in touch with us. He drinks rather heavily, so many people have found him in his favourite bar and told him we’re trying to contact him. We’ve left messages. He has to know we need him. Looks like we’ll have to re-cast the role. And last night our primary actress said she won’t be able to do the film. We’ve already shot a couple of scenes with her photo in it. Of course this is the PNW. Weather isn’t cooperating very much. Oh, and another actor wants to grow his hair out.
So we’ve got a delay. We need to fill one minor role, or two, and one major one. But we’re looking at it as a chance to have a fresh start. We’ve got some good footage, and now we have ideas about how to get even better footage.
The biggest problem has been getting people together. Everyone has his own schedule. This is why we elected to shoot in chunks instead of shooting for three weeks straight. But schedules aren’t meshing. The other problem has been getting exactly what we wanted. Time to step back and take a breath. We now have some time to re-think some of the stuff we want, and to find the proper locations. We can find actors who will commit to the project. We can rewrite part of the script to make it better. We can shcedule so that we’re not trying to get a scene when everyone is dead on their feet.
Yeah, we’re trying to be optimistic and put a positive spin on the situation. Nobody ever said that filmmaking is easy! Right now we’re going to figure out what we can shoot. Then we’ll shoot it. The other scenes will fall into place when we’re ready for them.
The inactivity is frustrating though.
You have my sympathies, that is rough. Such are the vagaries of indie filmmaking. I’m shooting a low budget feature this Sunday. They shoot Fri Sat Sun, but I am only around to shoot Sunday so they are holding all of the Steadicam work for that day. Can’t WAIT- I get to use my DVX 100A for a movie !!!
Patience, Johnny. Take the chance to review all of the footage, reconsider lighting, angles, whatnot. Make use of everything you shot as a teaching tool. Much time will be saved later on, right?
And, keep your head up. Remember, Coppola re-shot almost a year of footage from Apocalypse Now, and just look at how well that project turned out.
Except for the monsoon.
Is it the guy who walks toward the camera in the trailer?
No, not him! He’s totally on board!