Morphy's Wild Film Ride

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

As the handful of you who even know who the hell I am know, I’m starting work on directing my first feature film. Hrmm. I sure like saying that. It still hits me every once in a while what I’m about to do, and I break out in a spontaneous grin. :smiley: See, there it goes again. Anyway, I thought this would be a great opportunity to share my rather limited sphere of knowledge with the SD community. Where people who don’t know much about the film process can look in and hear about it as it happens. Sort of a mini-journal of my experiences working on the film, as we go from pre-production to filming to post-production, to (fingers crossed) advertising and release. And anyone with questions about the process can ask here, and I’ll answer as best as I can.

A quick synopsis of the film (which will be called "Stark Raving Mad): A group of young criminals hold an after hours dance party, but they’re doing it as a cover to rob the bank next door. They’ve figured out a flaw in one of the banks’ security systems, wherein if they can keep the vibrations from the loud music and dancing at a certain level, it will counteract the alarm. The film is a comedy of errors; the bank robbery itself actually goes fairly smoothly, but everything that could possibly go wrong at the party does. You can read a little more about the film at http://www.upcomingmovies.com/starkravingmad.html

The behind-the-scenes story so far: we were going to film in Los Angeles, but due to budget constraints (it’s a fairly low-budget film), we decided to film in Canada, where it’s cheaper (No offense meant to the Canadian dopers; I’m not saying your country is cheap, it’s just that Canada offers a lot of rebates to films that Los Angeles doesn’t). So here I sit in my apartment in Vancouver. So far, so good. Vancouver is beautiful, and the crew we’ve hired so far seem great. This past week, we hired our cinematographer. This was probably the single most important decision I’ve had to make on the film. The cinematographer is the director of photography, and defines the look of the film. It’s his job to capture what I want on film.

This week the art department also came together, and planned out all the sets and figured out what they’re going to have to do to the locations we’re filming at. We’re building two sets; the basement of the club and the banks’ corridors. We decided to build these because of certain stunts and other story reasons that we wanted more control of the location for. The dance club itself will be filmed at a cool theater on the University of British Columbia campus. We’ll also be filming some scenes in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

Our storyboard artist also came aboard this past week. She’s spending this weekend storyboarding one scene; I can’t wait to see how it looks. Altogether, she’s probably going to fully storyboard about 6 or 7 scenes from the film.

Tomorrow, Monday April the 23rd puts us three weeks away from shooting. It’s a five week shoot. It’s scary and exhilarating at once. There have been a few headaches and heartbreaks over the past few weeks, but I wouldn’t give it up for anything. I can’t wait to be onset, rolling film.

So, if anyone has any questions at all about the process, post ‘em here. I’ll do my best to answer them. Oh, and go see the film when it’s released!

2

Just wanted to wish you Good Luck!

I’ll start off with a couple of questions–how many pages is your script? Can you divulge the names of your DP, cast members, or other technical crew? Though you’re filming in Canada, is the story set in the U.S. (and if so, anywhere specific, or just a typical crime Anytown)? Would you say you have any directorial influences stylistically (or is it too early to know yet)? The link says you are a co-writer, co-director–how do you envision this impacting the onset dynamics?

Take your time on the answers (natch)–I’m sure you’ve got plenty on your mind as it is. :slight_smile:

3

Very, very cool. You’re in there sluggin’ away and that’s the important thing.

I’ll be watching your project with great interest. I wormed my way onto the set of The Patriot as an extra and it was a blast to become part of a huge production. A group of extras were discussing heading down to South Carolina to join up with the Bagger Vance filming, and I was very tempted to go along. Just like running away to join the circus.

4

Morphy: I just found out about your career a few days ago from a mutual doping friend. I read http://www.upcomingmovies.com so I had heard about Stark Raving Mad (and immediately thought it had something to do with that tv series starting Doogie Howser), but I didn’t know it was YOU! As it turns out, I also OWN your short film, Hate (A comedy) on a dvd collection of short films. I watch a lot of short films, and Hate is easily and truly in my top three or four.

I’m excited that you, a very casual on-line acquaintence of mine, is having this level of success. I’ll be following your progress very closely. I’ll see it in the theaters (at full price, not matinee) and I’ll even buy the dvd as long as you include lots of extra features. :slight_smile:

(By the way, if you need a 300+ pound rave dancer for your film, I’m you’re man.) :slight_smile:

Good luck, Anamorphic! (Widescreen forever!)
URL coding fixed

[Edited by UncleBeer on 11-14-2001 at 11:06 AM]

5

Woo!

Am SO happy for you, Morphy :smiley: :smiley:

Congratulations and good luck and …

… you’re going to do just fine, hon :wink:

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Thanks! We’ve been editing and tweaking the script pretty much since we sold it, and likely will be continuing to make small changes up through filming. Right now, it’s at 100 pages. The rough guideline is 1 page = 1 minute of film time, but of course, this is approximate.

Sure. Our DP is Chuck Cohen, who shot Varsity Blues. He also shot the football sequences in Any Given Sunday and Jerry Maguire. Obviously, he’s known for filming football stuff, but he really wants to move out that. My directing partner and I watched over 100 DP demo reels, and narrowed it down to just a handful we liked. One of the things that attracted us to Chuck was his lighting style. Alot of DPs seem to be afraid of the dark, flooding their sets with light. We wanted someone who wasn’t afraid of letting actors fall in and out of shadows, which we felt was very important in recreating a nightclub scene. Set in the club atmosphere, it’s a look I’ve dubbed “Rave Noir”.

Our Production Designer is Keith Brian Burns, who worked on most of John Singleton’s films.

Our film stars Seann William Scott, from American Pie, Road Trip, and Ivan Reitman’s next film, Evolution. He’s a terriffic guy, by the way. Also in the film will be Dave Foley from Kids In The Hall and “News Radio”. I’m really excited to be working with Dave, as I’ve been a KITH hall fan from way back. Also in the film are Patrick Breen, who you might remember as Quellek, one of the main aliens (the one who dies at the end) in Galaxy Quest, and several great young up-and-coming actors.

We’re keeping it non-specific, Nowheresville. Since 95% of the film takes place inside, that shouldn’t be too hard. :slight_smile:

Bits and pieces of influence from several directors, I’d say. Hitchcock, of course. Kind of a cliche answer, but there’s a reason. :slight_smile: The Cohen Brothers, most definitely. David Fincher has a great sense of style, and his story-telling ability is finally catching up to that.

My partner Drew and I have been working together since college – nine years now. We’ve directed a number of music videos and one short film together. A great deal of our work is done in pre-production, planning the film out before hand. We shotlist the whole thing, carefully figuring out how we’re going to shoot every scene. That way, once we’re on set, we can divide up to take care of more things at once. Onset, I tend to work more with the actors, and Drew tends to work more with the camera crew. Just sort of works out that way.

Thanks for the kind words, Joey. Glad you liked “Hate” so much! :slight_smile: It was quite a labor of love. And btw, we had the title “Stark Raving Mad” first! We originally wrote the script in '97, way before that crappy sitcom. We were going to change it when Doogie’s show stole it, but it came and went so fast, we decided to just keep it.

Thanks for the encouragement, pesch and chique. We ARE going to need a lot of extras, so if you’re in the Vancouver area… :smiley:

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Hey, glad to see you finally put the thread up! It’s a shame you had to go to vancouver (not that it’s not a nice place), since LA would have been so much easier to get to to be an extra. Who knows, maybe i could make the 12 hr drive from here to there and do it? I hear I-5 goes up that way :).

Oh, and i agree, Hate: A Comedy is one of my favorite film shorts. The friend I showed it to you whom i talked about in the email, said it was probably the best short film she had ever seen.

8

I’m back in Los Angeles this week, getting a few days of rehearsal time in with the lead actors. We’re actually meeting socially tonight, having dinner together. This will be the first time the lead actors all meet each other. Tomorrow, we’ll have a table read-through of the script, and on Monday, we’ll start rehearsing individual scenes.

I got back the first set of storyboards from the storyboard artist, and they look great! I can scan them and post them online if anyone is interested in seeing them. Also this past week, the art department began building the sets. It’s very exciting walking through the half-constructed sets, knowing it’s all coming from some shit I made up!

There were a couple of headaches this week, too. Some have been sorted out, some have not been. There was an argument over which camera company to go with. We (meaning, myself, my partner, and our cinematographer) wanted to go with Panavision, as they make the best equipment and by far the best lenses in the world. But of course, there’s a price for quality, and the producers wanted us to go with another company, which was several thousand dollars cheaper. It looks as if we’ve won this particular argument. There was some give and take, though… we had to give up most of our camera crane days. Oh well, we’ll get by without it.

Another argument that it looks as if we’re winning (for the time being, at least), is in film proccessing. There’s a particular developing proccess that we’d like to use, called ENR. It’s a silver retention proccess. In normal film proccessing, all the silver is removed from the film. In ENR and other silver retention proccesses, not all the silver is removed, giving the final print a very distinct look. Basically what it does is make the blacks really pop out, and saturates the other colors. The reason this is more expensive, is a) additional cost in setting up the lab to do this, and b) normally, the lab resells the silver that is removed from film. Since the silver is not removed in these proccesses, it doesn’t regain that money. Bored yet? Ain’t filmmaking exciting!? :slight_smile:

Anyway, we went round and round with the producers on how important we felt this proccess was to our final look. Eventually, they at least allowed us to test it so we could show them how it will look. We do a camera test next week. I’ll still be down here working with the actors, but my partner will be up in Vancouver to take part in the tests.

We also auditioned snakes. Those of you who haven’t read the script may well be asking, “Why the hell do you need a snake in a film about a rave/bank robbery!?”. To which I answer: Pay your $8.50 like everyone else to find out! :smiley: One of the snakes got freaked and emmitted a foul odor into the conference room. I had no idea snakes even did that, but there ya go. Anyway, I think we cast our snake (no, not the scaredy, smelly one).

Anyway, those are the highlights. Lots and lots of meetings. I’ll check in again in a few days. Hope everyone is doing well.

9

Good to hear from you Morph. Though, you need to check your e-mail more often. If I were you, I’d put your e-mail on block from the public, just in case some fanatic wants to drill you for information and your mailbox becomes a bludgened monstrosity.

Any truth to the Seth Green rumors?

10

Congratulations!

And I’m glad to hear you’re in Vancouver, since I’m right next door in Burnaby. (If you post a shooting schedule, maybe I’ll come down and watch.)

I’ll look forward to reading this as it develops.

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I think that for the nature of the film’s storyline that this will be a very good thing, especially with lots of shadows and stuff being set at night and in a club scene. I cant wait to see the final product!

Oh, and i WILL get around to finishing up reading the script :). I just need more time…perhaps when the semester ends :).

12

You’re working with the D.P. who was smart enough to get Jim Muro on board? Didn’t they build the HelmetCam for that shoot? Right on,I wish you zero hairs and zero flares, warm days and dry nights. NOTHING like making your own movie.

Got a Steadicam Operator picked out yet? <hint>.

Are you shooting Anamorphic or Super 35? And, we could debate lenses all day long- but I’ve got to ask you, have you shot with the new Cooke Speeds yet? They put Primos up to a great fight, and aren’t as wickedly contrasty. Me, I love the old “C” series lenses from Panavision. They’re not as brittle and are just lovely looking. If I won da Lottery? A Compact, an XL for the Steadicam work and Cooke’s all around. Oh, and cause I love toys, a Squishy lens for the music videos :smiley:

Kick some ass and keep us posted !!!

Cartooniverse

13

Congratulations! It sounds like an improvement on Small Time Crooks. I’ll definitely see it!

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Heh. I check my email almost everyday. Lately I’ve just rarely had the time/energy to respond to it very much…

Seth was attached to costar at one point, yes. But before we completed our deal, he got an offer for a much bigger film for a lot more money. He had to take it. No hard feelings, can’t say I blame him. He’ll be regretting it one day, though! :smiley:

Sigh. Sort of a sore subject, actually. Since 90% of our film takes place inside, under dark lighting conditions of a club, anamorphic did not seem to be a very good choice. So we had planned to shoot 35, and do a 2.35 blowup. They did that in Fight Club, and it looks fantastic. But cost became an issue. So, sadly, we’re shooting 1.85. My screenname is a lie!

**
I have not shot with the Cooke Speeds yet, no. We’ll be doing this film on the Panavision Primos. Our short film was shot on the c-series lenses, and yes, they looked friggin’ fantastic.

And yes, we do have the squishy lens for a day, for a drug sequence. We’ve got some other fun toys in our package, too: innovision cam, a periscope lens, swing and shift lens, lipstick cam, image shaker… all sorts of fun stuff!

**
Hell, I didn’t know you were an operator! Wish I’d known that earlier! We did hire an operator already, yes. He’s a local Vancouver guy. I don’t remember his name offhand, and he’s not on the crew list yet. He came highly recommended. We’ll see how it works out…

Tomorrow makes us two weeks away from shooting. Getting scary! More later.

Morphy

15

You should have asked for contributions from people on the boards. To think, you could have bought everyone 1/4 a piece of gum with the money you would have gotten!

Keep the posts coming.

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Oh, that reminds me, Merc. Almost forgot… don’t forget to purchase shares of my film on the Hollywood Stock Exchange… ticker symbol: SRAVM. :smiley:

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Ok, first of all, when can us California Dopers expect to see the invitations to the premiere party?

How much input does a director have in the marketing a film? Is it too early for you to know?
Like, do you cut the preview? Do you come up with nice catch phrases for the movie posters? Or is that all left up to marketing to perform their black magic?

Along the same lines how much influence do you have over who is cast in the roles? Do you supply a rough outline of who you want, and a casting director does the rest, or are you there for auditions and that sort of thing to pick the perfect person?

I am guessing the answer to both of these questions varies from film to film, depending on the influence the director is able to pull. I don’t know, though.

pat

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That is seriously fucking cool! Congratulations! I’ll see it, most definitely.

How can I buy a DVD of this much-hyped “Hate: A Comedy”?

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**
Heh. We’ll talk. :slight_smile:

**
Yeah, this is a marketing thing. I’ll have final approval over everything, of course (along with the producers). And it’s usually a seperate company that cuts the trailer.

**
The director has almost total control over the casting. Of course, the final decisions must be approved by the executive producers, but a smart producer isn’t going to force a director to work with someone he really doesn’t want to work with. Yes, we supply the casting director with a rough outline of what we’re looking for, but then we’re there for almost all of the audition proccess. The casting director will prescreen some people (usually actors she’s never had come in before), but almost all of them will audition for the director directly.

Auditions was a very interesting, tiring proccess. In one sense, it was very cool seeing all these actors come in, and the script start to come to life, to hear the words said out loud by actual actors. It was great hearing the different takes and different ideas different actors brought to the parts. Overall, I’d say I really enjoyed the audition proccess.

It certainly brought me new respect for actors. Not that I ever didn’t respect actors, this just brought it to a new level. :slight_smile: Certainly not a job I think I could handle. All those auditions, all that heartbreak. We saw a lot of actors who were really, really good, but for one reason or another, just wasn’t quite right for the part. It must be tough, knowing you’re talented, but you didn’t get the job because you don’t look quite right, or you’re just a little too young looking, etc.

Then, on the other end of the spectrum, were the actors who just weren’t good at all. That kind of depressed me. Seeing these people come in, and knowing this was their dream and their passion… and they’re just no damned good at it. Pretty sad.

**
Why, I just happen to have a web site you can order the dvd from right here.:slight_smile: Also, you should be able to find it at most larger dvd stores. I know Virgin Megastore carries it. It’s on “Shorts: Volume 11, Ecstasy”.

20

Thought of this this morning…

Was driving in and I heard that the strike deadline is tonight in Hollywood…if there IS a strike, would it affect you in any way? (I’m hoping not, but I was curious…)