(If Michael Bey comes out of the ground and sees his shadow, will we have a summer of great blockbusters?)

You know it’s bad news when the trailer before the movie is more exciting that the feature presentation. My DVD of HBO’s ROCKET SCIENCE came with a trailer for MARTIAN CHILD (starring the Amazing Cusack sibs – John and Joan). MARTIAN CHILD looks like fun, ROCKET SCIENCE, I don’t know. While trying to be NAPOLEON DYNAMITE hip (even the DVD box art is hand written like N.Dynamite), ROCKET SCIENCE follows a nerdy high schooler, Hal (Reece Thompson, who does handle his role well), who stutters and carries his books in a wheel-along travel case. He joins the debate team, so that means all of his co-stars talk fast, neurotically fast. While the makers of this HBO feature are trying to cash in on the quirkiness of NAPOLEON, it all plays out predictable, tiring, a groaner. ROCKET SCIENCE is trying too hard to be an indie.

I would rather go with the real indie stuff, like Mike Mills’ DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD? This feature documentary follows five Japanese citizens and their battle with depression. According to the film, the Japanese didn’t consider depression to be a mental illness until the mass-marketing of anti-depression medication. These five Tokyo-ites respond to their depression medicine differently. One of them makes the comment “I’m not fighting the depression, I’m now fighting the antidepressants”. What makes this film special is that the medication users are quite ordinary, nothing too glamorous, like the rest of us. IFC plays this film, well worth catching.

Since July 2007, I’ve been immersed in my own film, THE DEED TO HELL. (Our humble editor has a pretty wild role in this film.) My usual venue of DVD duplication is tied up so I have to look elsewhere. I obtained a bunch of recent Long Island indie films to check out the quality of their DVD duplication, and who’s getting the best look for the best dollar. The best film from the bunch is John Lieta’s FORGOTTEN WARDS: THE KINGS PARK STORY. A main purpose of film is to allow the viewer to trespass, and that’s what he does, onto the vast, numerous, long-abandoned buildings of Kings Park Psychiatric Ward. His documentary shows us a slowly decaying metropolis in the middle of Long Island, a city where psychiatric patients lived and had some recreation (One building has incredibly striking murals painted by what was obviously a very talented and unique patient.)

The worst of the L.I. lot was Fred Carpenter’s MARIE. In it, a flipped out policewoman takes on the mob. We know these guys are mobsters because they dress like sixth graders going out as Tony Soprano on Halloween. Footage of ugly strippers is spliced in and slowed up to pad the running time. The moral of this indie column: film what’s in your heart, what provokes your curiosity. You’re an independent film-maker. Your own boss. Don’t say “Hey let’s do something like NAPOLEON DYNAMITE or THE SOPRANOS.”

You-tube! It’s going to be the most accessible and effective marketing tool for the indie film-maker. Before You-Tube, you would have to cross your fingers and hope a festival takes your film. Then there’s the extensive, expensive travel to festivals in Toronto, Sundance (Utah) or Cannes. Then maybe, just maybe, something will click. You might strike a possible deal. Lately, some You-Tube entries have gained national media exposure. Take a look at the strange video blogs posted by “LonelyGirl 15”. It’s landed her on the talk show circuit, all over the news. You-Tube has numerous “Blair Witch” styled staged videos that look real and get on the news all the time. Some of my favorites were the whiny spoiled princess in “Spoiled Girl Throws A Tantrum” or the amazingly shrill “Psycho Girl Cuts Hair.” You-Tube is also a great film achive source. I’ve added to my You-Tube favorites, Japanese cartoons from before World War 2. (You see a Max Fliescher and Disney influence.) You can also find the only known film recording of Harpo Marx speaking. He sounds like a stern NYC businessman. There are educational shorts from decades ago. One clip has Eddie Cantor singing in an experimental talkie short from 1923. Another clip has the Peanuts (aka The Mothra twins) doing a rousing Beatles tune for a 1965 Tokyo broadcast.

Then you get the weird stuff. A search under “Spirit of Truth” comes up with the very loud, hip-hop, and totally lunatic Reverend X. His screaming sermon uses more “F” words than SCARFACE. “The devil is a muthaf—ing liar, bee-yotch!” A search under “Cyriak” shows computer-animated mini-movies by Cyriak Harris, an amazingly imaginative British cartoonist whose work is a combination of Terry Gilliam and some crazy nightmare. With You-Tube, everybody is accepted into the festival, and everybody has an unlimited festival pass.

14 year old Celeste Davis has written one of the best, most disturbing, yet entertaining films about teen angst since REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. Her PURGATORY HOUSE (Image Entertainment) follows what happens when a lonely, isolated teen girl, Silver (well played by Celeste Davis herself) purposely overdoses so she can get out of it all. She is placed forever in a half-way house with other teen suicides. A recreation room there has a big screen TV that shows what her friends are doing on earth. Are they missing her? Do they care. The film’s director, Cindy Baer, making her feature film debut, peppers the film with creepy details. Just like a real halfway or outreach house, the rooms are filled with third-rate thrift store furniture. That’s just one of the details that makes this film so rich. It has one of those love it or hate it endings. I also suggest catching up to Cindy Baer’s earlier short film – MORBID CURIOSITY.

I felt that Peter Lavilla, the writer, director and co-star of OIL AND WATER, a Los Angeles based indie feature, chose a risky genre to enter – the romantic comedy. The majority of a draw for a romantic comedy are the stars. Is J-Lo in it? How about Hugh Grant or Drew Barrymore? The film centers around Dan Lake and Ms. Gabby, two gossip show hosts who are famous for bickering on and off camera. Eventually tempers rise to the point that they become an item. I do have to note that Ms. Gabby is played with the usual charm and spunk by Rosemary Gore. Rosemary utilized her bubbly personality when she played the lead in my film SHARP AND SUDDEN, and she does the same here. The film at times yearns for a faster pace, ala Preston Sturges, Howard Hawks or Edward Burns, but overall I had fun catching another Rosemary Gore performance as well as this sometimes-funny peek into the television corporate world.

Now how about a STAR IS BORN-styled story about the rise and fall of a much loved entertainer, only it’s set in the world of Bar Mitzvah emcees? That’s what GLOW ROPES by George Valencia and Edwin Figueroa is about. Taylor is a very sheltered, somewhat introverted Bar Mitzvah emcee from “Joisey”, who is discovered by some TV corporate types, and is made a big star. Judy Reyes is great as the very business-like star-maker who puts Taylor on the road to glory.

Speaking of the corporate world, I am suggesting to the indie film-makers out there to utilize You-Tube now for all it has to offer, before the suits come in and make a mess out of it, like they did with eBay.

LITTLE SIN ON THE PRAIRIE

A sin-eater is an outcast of the community who comes out of his cave only at funerals. His job is to eat a small meal that is placed on the dearly departed’s chest. You see, all the dead person’s sins have worked their way out of the body and into the food. The sin-eater eats all the food, and the sin within. Are you eating while I’m telling you this? This allows the dead person to enter heaven without sin.

THE LAST SIN-EATER is the latest film from FoxFaith, the Christian branch of Fox Releasing. It centers on ten-year-old Cadi Forbes (Liana Liberato), whose peaceful life in 1860’s Appalachia is ripped apart when she innocently causes the accidental death of her sister. Feeling horrific guilt, Cadi seeks out the forbidden sin-eater. But, according to the film’s press material “In her quest for redemption… Cadi shows (her community) the truth in Jesus, reminding us that human condition is beyond human remedy.” Occasionally, SIN-EATER has the courage to present dark, disturbing moments, something seldom found in Christian Film-making. Generally, in Christian Film-making, an all too gentle world is presented. Characters, even evil ones like criminals, talk in hushed “put babies to sleep” vocal tones, super clean settings are brightly lit, and of course, violence and sensuality are kept to an almost non-existent low tone. (There are rare exceptions, like Mel Gibson’s ferocious PASSION OF THE CHRIST and DeMille’s “sin before the salvation” requirement for his films) Unfortunately, SIN EATER’s dark moments are whisked away as if somebody is telling director Michael Landon, Jr. “Not too dark, Mike, this is a family movie, not film noir. You better cut in a pretty scene in a log cabin.” (Hey it worked for his dad when he made “Little House”) It’s a rather impressive looking film, a period piece that highlights its wide rural settings. I would love to know how Landon pulled this off for only 2.2 million.

I was watching THE ART OF PASSION, which held me somewhat with it’s tale about a young painter, Arthur Egeli, who struggles with everything from the right light for his painted subjects to what direction his life is going in. In the film, his young, lovely girlfriend, Teresa, models for him, and tries to get him to lighten up. I noticed Teresa was played by Jessica Bryant Flannery, who I auditioned for an unrealized film project in 1994. This is how she looked back then. It dawned on me that this film, due for DVD release in April 2007, was made over 12 years ago. By the way, Jessica and her fellow cast members give very believable performances, while the screenplay and film moved forward like a doped up Stegosaurus! Not all films about artists have to be dog slow. I do hope you’re still out there acting up a storm, Jessica!

The one name actor in the film is Joe Estevez, the younger brother of Martin Sheen and uncle to Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. Usually cast as the tough cop in scores of low-budget action films, it was nice to see Joe stretch some acting wings here as an artist. Mr. Estevez now looks like Bill Clinton, while older brother Martin resembles Jack Kennedy. Am I giving casting people weird ideas?

Anyway, I’m going off track. THE ART OF PASSION, being an older title with a new release, gives hope to film-makers with unreleased but sellable films sitting on their shelves. This is also proven with VIDEO VIOLENCE PARTS ONE AND TWO, made twenty years ago. This is one of the releases by Camp Pictures, who are rescuing pioneering SOV horror films from total obscurity. SOV, stands for “Shot On Video”. Back in the late 1980’s, videography was still a bit of an eye-strain. Colors, especially reds and yellows, bled and fuzzed out on the screen. Skin tones came out just awful. There was almost no way you could make a beautiful woman look sensual with video back then. It would seem daring to think of making a whole feature on video during the Big 80’s. The selling point of VIDEO VIOLENCE and the other “Retro-80’s” video horror films re-released by Camp Pictures is not the story, the acting, or the director’s vision. It’s the gore, the bloodshed, the over-the-top carnage, presented in such heaping portions, there’s no way one can get offended or shocked anymore.

The linear notes inside the VIDEO VIOLENCE box contains great, nostalgic recollections of the pre-Blockbuster and Netflix days, of the corner mom and pop video stores. There you could go directly to the store owners to stock your finished film for rental. There was one great story (amongst others) where a mother, with tots in tow, came up to the store clerk with a copy of I DISMEMBER MAMA (a classic gore horror fest from the grindhouse days) and asked “Is there nudity in this film?”

“Not that I remember”, says the clerk, “But it has decapitations and other types of gore.” The mother replies with “Oh, okay. Then the kids can watch it.”

“We can shoot a feature film on Digital Video entirely in my apartment with my buddies, and use the local garage band for music. It won’t cost a thing!” I have nothing against that idea, but who will buy your film? Nowadays, a micro budgeted feature film is being lensed in every zip code in the country. For an extra $3,500 to our film’s budget, we added a history making celebrity, music from an 80′s pop icon, and a faraway location.

My film-producing partner Paul Kanter became intrigued with a true story about a young woman hounded by a stalker who knew everything about her. She wondered how he knew where she went on vacation, what she did at night, and why she went to the doctor. Is he a peeping tom? A master at spy cameras? Can he see through brick walls? No, he found all this information by simply going through her garbage.

Paul and I forged ahead on a screenplay. The working title of the film was simply “EVIL”. We didn’t like the ending where the victim, Casey (whom we made a restaurant owner) electrocutes her stalker Anson in a large indoor pool. It was a special effects riddled, and not very original ending. Rather than get stuck in writer’s block, we wrote the scene anyway. We knew we could fix it, and replace it with the more realistic ending the finished film has. Remember, there is no such thing as a one-draft wonder. By Labor Day, 2001, we knew we were weeks away from shooting EVIL.

The frightening events of 9/11 not only delayed us, but put a general halt on much of New York’s independent film-making scene. Investors wanted to hold onto their funds. The reason why we were getting our funding and support was that investors knew that their involvement in a small local film could generate terrific publicity for their businesses.

Erin Cumminsky as Casey, the stalker’s victim

We went ahead with casting anyway. For the part of Casey, I chose Manhattan based Erin Cummiskey. Erin had the good looks and the talent to effectively pull off the part of an ordinary girl whose life is torn apart by a stalker. For the stalker, New Jersey based John Roberts got the part. His frantic/dark comic ability reminded me of a cross between Chris Rock and Claude Rains’ cackling mad INVISIBLE MAN. The part of Casey’s best friend, Trisha went to Brooklyn based actress/model Shawna Bermender. Shawna knows how to mix improvisation while sticking to the screenplay. The rest of the cast was made up of actors who proved themselves in SHARP AND SUDDEN, a feature film I finished earlier in 2001.

Glenn Andreiev sets up the Digital Camera for an inexpensive but effective car / camera mount.

By February 2002, we were ready to shoot. As always, I film my most technically challenging scenes first. If something goes wrong, I have the rest of production to re-do the scenes. The two technical challenges here were a camera/car mount and some blue screen work. For the camera mount, I simply clamped the digital video camera (in this case, a Canon GL1) to a board heavily duct-taped to my car hood. Foam cubes between the board and the car hood cushioned the cameras car ride. The film had several dream sequences requiring blue screening. We always had to heavily light our blue screen. These computer generated effects work best with bright-saturated colors. It proved a challenge because I wanted to go with dark, film noirish lighting.

One of the nice things about shooting with small digital video cameras is that you can get away with cinematic murder. We shot two rain scenes. All we had to do was wrap the camera in heavy plastic. For one rain scene, we hid a microphone under Erin’s heavy coat. The small equipment took the scare out of business owners when we shot on their locations. At the end of the film, Casey is forced to flee her stalker by moving from New York to Florida. What do we do since we’re the poor kids on the block? Have some people sit in a room, where a Florida newspaper sits on a table. That would really cheap.

EVERYBODY LOVES A LOCATION

If you saved money by shooting on digital, seriously consider putting those savings towards some cool locations. Unlike theatre, a film can take you anywhere, from your friend’s messy apartment to the back alleys of Parnu, Estonia. We spent two days in Jacksonville, Florida filming what happens to the New York based Casey. For the $ 500 cost of flying our actress, Erin Cummiskey to Florida, and housing her at a beachfront motel, we were able to add an extra location to the film, and make the film more believable.

Upon returning to New York, the rest of the filming went smoothly. For economic reasons, we filmed mostly one day a week. (I am normally against this, because changes can occur in an actor or directors life if you stretch filming like we did from February to June.)

EVERYBODY LOVES MOVIE STARS

Distributors instantly lose interest when you answer the question “Who’s in your film?” with “All unknowns”. Our first celebrity search ended with a false happy conclusion with wrestling legend Captain Lou Albano. Although Captain Lou is one of the nicest people I ever met, he’s a Screen Actors Guild member. That proved a problem.

Bernard Goetz as “The Criminologist” demonstrates gun use to Amythyst Valentino

The so-called new SAG agreements for very low budget film-makers to use SAG actors is jammed with oceans of paperwork for the producer, and finally an expensive “bond”. We had to look beyond actors and actresses. We decided to go with a newsworthy celebrity. We got no responses from famed Long Island women like Amy Fisher and Lizzie Grubman. Finally, I found a contact number for Bernard Goetz, who as you know, in 1984, shot a street gang who threatened him on a Manhattan subway. The “subway vigilante” was applauded by many for sticking up against the rising amounts of violent crimes infesting New York City at the time. Mr. Goetz instantly agreed to do the film.

“I want you to play a rather distant commentator to all the action that occurs in the film”, I told him. “So, you want me to play it like Raymond Burr in GODZILLA?” Goetz replied. I figured, great, I have a fellow film buff here! We shot his scenes in one day, allowing him to improvise. A week afterwards, the Goetz cameo got us a write up in the New York Post. This sort of publicity is much better and effective than going the festival route. (I usually cringe when people ask “So, you’re going to submit your film to Sundance?” To me, that’s like a fashion model saying “the only employment I seek is winning the Miss America pageant.”)

MANIAC MUSIC

John Robetrts (as the stalker) records profanity-laced voice overs.

One aspect that often drags down an ultra low budget indie is the music the filmmakers feel they have to choose. Most classical music is public domain. It’s just that classical music performances recorded after 1922 are not. You just can’t go to your favorite Beethoven CD, and record away onto your film. Nicholas Kent, a classmate from School of Visual Arts created the music for all five of my films. Not only did he create a unique almost 60′s monster-movie style score for the film, he was able to perform a version of Schubert’s ‘Unfinished Symphony’ effectively on his own. “But getting the rights to a known rock tune is going to cost a bloody fortune!” exclaimed one co-worker on the film. Not so. We secured the rights to use Samantha Fox’s “Do Ya Do Ya Wanna Please Me” for a reasonable sum. (During the late 1980′s Ms. Fox was England’s more fun and spunky answer to Madonna) The license holders to the song at first turned down our first request, to use the music during one of the film’s violent scenes. We used the song in a less violent scene.

Being able to say you have a known singer in your film, having a celebrity in the cast, and choosing some neat locations is going to make you more desirable to distributors.

Surviving the mad indie film-making market

“You want to make a profitable low budgeted film?” longtime producer Alfredo Leone told me, “You either make horror or adult!” Well, nudie-cutie films aren’t exactly my favorite flavors, but horror is. I wanted to make a profitable, yet small-budgeted feature film. I immediately began working on the screenplay for SILVER NIGHT, which I based on NIGHT, a vampire film I made that wrangled a distribution deal in 1997.

SILVER NIGHT told a story about vampires being hunted down by Margot, a determined young woman. The vampires are led by Garring, a long dead bootlegger who has become a vicious crack dealer.

Casting the film was easy. I picked actors who proved themselves to me on previous films. Shawna Bermender, a very natural and photogenic actress on my last film, EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE, got the role of Margot. Frank Franconeri, whom I worked with on three films, would play Garring. This was helpful since I knew their strong points, and I knew I would be spared the dreaded “Star Fits.” You need to surround yourself with as many easy-going people as possible. The rest of the cast included previous cinematic coworkers like Vernon Gravdal (who also co-produced the film and helped with the special effects), Ashley Wren Collins and Greg Dashkin.

Shawna Bermender as Monica, the Vampire

Unused office space owned by the film’s main producer Paul Kanter became SILVER NIGHT’s central location and long-standing set – a crumbling underground speakeasy – Garring’s favorite hangout. Walls were made from already damaged sheet rock supplied by Home Depot. (The beauty of set building is that the set does not have to be functional. It just has to look that way) Rotted ceiling tiles were supplied by a construction crew gutting a nearby abandoned Chinese restaurant.

“If you are making a low budgeted film, avoid stuff like car chases or war scenes” commented writer/director Edward Burns at a recent Q & A session. “Your car chase will automatically be compared to Hollywood. Your main concern is to tell a good story.” It was decided that much of SILVER NIGHT’s blood-splattering and vampire mayhem would erupt off camera. The camera lens would only suggest horror, a la Val Lewton or Mario Bava.

It was also decided to shoot the film in 16:9 widescreen. “More people are buying high definition widescreen TV’s.” advised photographer Chuck Lipnick. “To a distributor, the 16:9 letterbox format actually adds production value.”

Shooting began in late July, 2004. The Summer proved unusually rainy for New York, so many scenes were filmed with our main camera, a Canon GL1, carefully wrapped in plastic. The shiny pavements and gray clouds over nighttime Manhattan created a film-noir look. Our only hair-raiser on the set occurred while shooting an establishing shot of the NYC skyline from our car while racing up and down the FDR drive. The people in the car behind us saw our camera popping out of our sunroof. They called Homeland Security, rattling off my license plate. I explained to the bewildered police the next morning I was midway through shooting a vampire movie. Later on we filmed a quick scene in a New York subway station, despite a well-publicized announcement scowling that photography is prohibited on subways, bridges and tunnels. Like, we didn’t learn our lesson from the FDR.

The one thing a film needs is publicity, and we got plenty of post-production ink courtesy of one of our main actors, subway vigilante Bernard Goetz. AP wire picked up the story, as did “The Globe” and “The New York Daily News”. In SILVER NIGHT, Goetz plays a nagging nutrition advisor to the sickly vampires. In another scene, Goetz shoots a criminal who threatens Garring’s vampiric wife, Monica. (Shawna Bermender also played Monica, taking on a dual role in the film.) The crook was played by FIR editor Roy Frumkes, who added: “Wow, getting shot by Bernie Goetz! I would have done this for free! Hey wait a minute; I did do this for free…”

When you edit your own film, you need that second opinion, somebody who will honestly say “Yes, that’s a beautiful shot, but it stops the movie cold. Delete that shot and your plot will move smoother…” or “It would be cool… if…” This happened with Shawna when she saw a rough assembly of scenes we already shot. Her opinions were so commercial, and sensible. There was nothing self-serving to them. “It seems many indie film-makers turn
their films into little therapy sessions. Your audience wants a story.” Shawna remarked. Her and I became an editing team. It was a relief to have her handle the music selection. It allowed me to focus more on the film.

A rough cut of the film was soon assembled. We looked at it, and decided that the first third of the film needed to be more lively. “A scene with a vampire attack!”, we thought. “There should be a fight!” was another comment. “Something sexy!” These comments birthed a scene where Margot, dressed as a belle dancer at a costume party, is attacked by Garring, but she puts up a tough fight.

The belle-dancing/fight/almost neck-biting scene was filmed a few weeks before the scheduled premier of the film at Long Island’s Cinema Arts Center. This is one of the advantages of shooting on video. Additional scenes can be filmed quickly, and with very little money. Sometimes, when we could manage with a crew of one, we were able to shoot scenes in faraway places like San Francisco, and Jacksonville, Florida, and not break our budget.

Two disadvantages of shooting on video is that anybody with as little as several hundred dollars, a camera, and a computer, can make a movie. Sadly, this floods an already tough independent film market. Many first time filmmakers don’t go through the proper legal channels. A friend of mine acted in a small budgeted film where the film’s villain watches 9/11 coverage on TV (we see the news-station logo clear as day). He steps outside, where a popular piece of music can be heard, for a long time. I asked my friend if he signed a talent release. He shook his head ‘no’.

A distributor will demand talent releases from the entire cast, licensing agreements for all music used, as well as agreements to use somebody else’s video footage. If you are not armed with these elements, you’re rather lost.

SILVER NIGHT is newly finished. Before we start knocking on distributors doors, we plan to gather more press material. Stay tuned in several weeks as the drama unfolds….

For more information on the film, contact the writer, Glenn Andreiev, at Gandreiev@ aol.com.

“We can shoot a feature film on Digital Video entirely in my apartment with my buddies, and use the local garage band for music. It won’t cost a thing!” I have nothing against that idea, but who will buy your film? Nowadays, a micro budgeted feature film is being lensed in every zip code in the country. For an extra $3,500 to our film’s budget, we added a history making celebrity, music from an 80′s pop icon, and a faraway location.

My film-producing partner Paul Kanter became intrigued with a true story about a young woman hounded by a stalker who knew everything about her. She wondered how he knew where she went on vacation, what she did at night, and why she went to the doctor. Is he a peeping tom? A master at spy cameras? Can he see through brick walls? No, he found all this information by simply going through her garbage.

Paul and I forged ahead on a screenplay. The working title of the film was simply “EVIL”. We didn’t like the ending where the victim, Casey (whom we made a restaurant owner) electrocutes her stalker Anson in a large indoor pool. It was a special effects riddled, and not very original ending. Rather than get stuck in writer’s block, we wrote the scene anyway. We knew we could fix it, and replace it with the more realistic ending the finished film has. Remember, there is no such thing as a one-draft wonder. By Labor Day, 2001, we knew we were weeks away from shooting EVIL.

The frightening events of 9/11 not only delayed us, but put a general halt on much of New York’s independent film-making scene. Investors wanted to hold onto their funds. The reason why we were getting our funding and support was that investors knew that their involvement in a small local film could generate terrific publicity for their businesses.

Erin Cumminsky as Casey, the stalker’s victim

We went ahead with casting anyway. For the part of Casey, I chose Manhattan based Erin Cummiskey. Erin had the good looks and the talent to effectively pull off the part of an ordinary girl whose life is torn apart by a stalker. For the stalker, New Jersey based John Roberts got the part. His frantic/dark comic ability reminded me of a cross between Chris Rock and Claude Rains’ cackling mad INVISIBLE MAN. The part of Casey’s best friend, Trisha went to Brooklyn based actress/model Shawna Bermender. Shawna knows how to mix improvisation while sticking to the screenplay. The rest of the cast was made up of actors who proved themselves in SHARP AND SUDDEN, a feature film I finished earlier in 2001.

Glenn Andreiev sets up the Digital Camera for an inexpensive but effective car / camera mount.

By February 2002, we were ready to shoot. As always, I film my most technically challenging scenes first. If something goes wrong, I have the rest of production to re-do the scenes. The two technical challenges here were a camera/car mount and some blue screen work. For the camera mount, I simply clamped the digital video camera (in this case, a Canon GL1) to a board heavily duct-taped to my car hood. Foam cubes between the board and the car hood cushioned the cameras car ride. The film had several dream sequences requiring blue screening. We always had to heavily light our blue screen. These computer generated effects work best with bright-saturated colors. It proved a challenge because I wanted to go with dark, film noirish lighting.

One of the nice things about shooting with small digital video cameras is that you can get away with cinematic murder. We shot two rain scenes. All we had to do was wrap the camera in heavy plastic. For one rain scene, we hid a microphone under Erin’s heavy coat. The small equipment took the scare out of business owners when we shot on their locations. At the end of the film, Casey is forced to flee her stalker by moving from New York to Florida. What do we do since we’re the poor kids on the block? Have some people sit in a room, where a Florida newspaper sits on a table. That would really cheap.

EVERYBODY LOVES A LOCATION

If you saved money by shooting on digital, seriously consider putting those savings towards some cool locations. Unlike theatre, a film can take you anywhere, from your friend’s messy apartment to the back alleys of Parnu, Estonia. We spent two days in Jacksonville, Florida filming what happens to the New York based Casey. For the $ 500 cost of flying our actress, Erin Cummiskey to Florida, and housing her at a beachfront motel, we were able to add an extra location to the film, and make the film more believable.

Upon returning to New York, the rest of the filming went smoothly. For economic reasons, we filmed mostly one day a week. (I am normally against this, because changes can occur in an actor or directors life if you stretch filming like we did from February to June.)

EVERYBODY LOVES MOVIE STARS

Distributors instantly lose interest when you answer the question “Who’s in your film?” with “All unknowns”. Our first celebrity search ended with a false happy conclusion with wrestling legend Captain Lou Albano. Although Captain Lou is one of the nicest people I ever met, he’s a Screen Actors Guild member. That proved a problem.

Bernard Goetz as “The Criminologist” demonstrates gun use to Amythyst Valentino

The so-called new SAG agreements for very low budget film-makers to use SAG actors is jammed with oceans of paperwork for the producer, and finally an expensive “bond”. We had to look beyond actors and actresses. We decided to go with a newsworthy celebrity. We got no responses from famed Long Island women like Amy Fisher and Lizzie Grubman. Finally, I found a contact number for Bernard Goetz, who as you know, in 1984, shot a street gang who threatened him on a Manhattan subway. The “subway vigilante” was applauded by many for sticking up against the rising amounts of violent crimes infesting New York City at the time. Mr. Goetz instantly agreed to do the film.

“I want you to play a rather distant commentator to all the action that occurs in the film”, I told him. “So, you want me to play it like Raymond Burr in GODZILLA?” Goetz replied. I figured, great, I have a fellow film buff here! We shot his scenes in one day, allowing him to improvise. A week afterwards, the Goetz cameo got us a write up in the New York Post. This sort of publicity is much better and effective than going the festival route. (I usually cringe when people ask “So, you’re going to submit your film to Sundance?” To me, that’s like a fashion model saying “the only employment I seek is winning the Miss America pageant.”)

MANIAC MUSIC

John Robetrts (as the stalker) records profanity-laced voice overs.

One aspect that often drags down an ultra low budget indie is the music the filmmakers feel they have to choose. Most classical music is public domain. It’s just that classical music performances recorded after 1922 are not. You just can’t go to your favorite Beethoven CD, and record away onto your film. Nicholas Kent, a classmate from School of Visual Arts created the music for all five of my films. Not only did he create a unique almost 60′s monster-movie style score for the film, he was able to perform a version of Schubert’s ‘Unfinished Symphony’ effectively on his own. “But getting the rights to a known rock tune is going to cost a bloody fortune!” exclaimed one co-worker on the film. Not so. We secured the rights to use Samantha Fox’s “Do Ya Do Ya Wanna Please Me” for a reasonable sum. (During the late 1980′s Ms. Fox was England’s more fun and spunky answer to Madonna) The license holders to the song at first turned down our first request, to use the music during one of the film’s violent scenes. We used the song in a less violent scene.

Being able to say you have a known singer in your film, having a celebrity in the cast, and choosing some neat locations is going to make you more desirable to distributors.

FIR‘s heartfelt condolences to all involved (except the perpetrators) in the terrorist attack in Manhattan and Washington DC. My son, who is a grip in the film industry, hopped on his bike and went downtown when the call was made for volunteers, and he said he was most affected by the extraordinary silence at the scene of the crime. It was late afternoon of the first day. There turned out to be not a lot he could do, being rerouted over and over by well intentioned police. But the sight of nothing where those two buildings had stood all his life profoundly impressed him with the impermanence of things.

Uptown, where I sat marooned, aimlessly perusing manuscripts, the wind blew South, and no dust reached 83rd Street on the West Side. No indication of the chaos down town except, when I went for a walk, the looks on the faces of everyone I passed or spoke to in stores. They all seemed to be almost guilty for being in good health and going about life semi-normally.

James Lorinz and Barbara Sicuranza in The Sweet Life (shot on the Upper West Side of Manhattan).

Who would have ever thought that De Laurentiis’ crappy King Kong remake would end up being a melancholy time capsule?!

The female lead of my latest feature lives just blocks from the World Trade Plaza, and it took a week to find out of she and her husband were okay, which they were. Phone traffic was so great that connections were hard to come by.

This was my first feature film in over a decade – The Sweet Life – produced by me and directed by my writing partner, Rocco Simonelli. A romantic comedy, it’s both funny and bleak, with a wonderful cast featuring James Lorinz, Barbara Sicuranza, Robert Mobley and Joan Jett. Five weeks of shooting took place in and around NYC, and are being followed by several months of editing on Final Cut Pro. And so there was a partial FIR blackout for a few weeks there in August, but I’ve endeavored to keep the reviews coming via stalwarts Victoria Alexander and Glenn Andreiev, myself when humanly possible, etc.

We shot on digital video, and I’ve been watching every DVD shot this way, and listening to every commentary track of productions shot for under a million either on film or digital video. I’ve got a list of those that seem most helpful, and it doesn’t depend on the quality of the film, really. More on the ability of the director to relate enlightening details.

Ten of my Top Indie commentary tracks:

The Brothers McMullen (didn’t warm up to the film; loved the insights)
Black Caesar (Larry Cohen, stealing the third act. Inspirational.)
Combat Shock (No budgeter, with Buddy G and Horst Butgereist, fortified with booze in Berlin, on the commentary track)
Night of the Living Dead
Martin
The Blair Witch Project
Document of the Dead (One of mine but, immodestly, I think it’s useful)
Clerks
Chasing Amy
Cry Uncle

I look forward to adding mine and Roc’s commentary to the Sweet Life DVD. The nature of filmmaking is changing so rapidly, with its swing toward the digital, and digital’s attendant confusions, that there is much to say both laudatory and cautionary, and the pitfalls will be spelled out on commentary tracks more thoroughly than in articles or in classrooms.

Radley Metzger visits the location, here standing with director Rocco Simonelli.

What did we find? Savings on lab costs, naturally. More speed in the filming process (no changing of reels, black bags, etc, since each DVCAM PAL cassette was three hours long). Lighting time remained the same, as it is undetermined whether we’ll be doing a 35mm blowup or staying in the digital domain. (On that, next summer will tell, if a thousand or more digital projections theaters really sprout up around the US. Under such circumstances, there would be no need for a blowup, possibly ever again, for independent filmmakers.) Certainly less budgetary consideration for reshoots, since we saw what we got on the set, which you don’t actually with film even with a video-tap. And the cost cutting in post is astronomical, but it’s also in progress so I can’t be more specific about it at this time.

For further info on the mutating industry, check out Glenn Andreiev’s piece elsewhere in the articles section.

James Lorinz and Nicole Potter, both Street Trash alumni.

Columnist/reviewer Victoria Alexander flew in from Vegas to do a cameo in the film, as she had in Street Trash back in the 80s. She fascinated everyone on the set. Some were excited by her presence. Others were afraid of her. Check her pic on the staff page and imagine what the Sweet Life crew witnessed as she stalked into FUBAR off 1st Avenue where we were shooting that morning, in her tight blue oriental dress. Victoria is indeed a commanding presence.

It was also great fun to be reunited with James Lorinz and Nicole Potter, two other Street Trash alumni. This was primarily Rocco’s script, Rocco’s film, and Rocco’s life. So I took my pleasures where I could. I’ll keep you updated on its progress, but don’t expect to see it until at least next Summer (unless you want in on a private test screening, in which case drop me a line).

On The Sweet Life location - director Rocco Simonelli with rocker Joan Jett.

Many things happened while I was inundated with Sweet Life. Film historian and preservationist David Shepard alerts us that a new company took over the rights to the Chaplin film library and are re-releasing the titles on video and DVD next year without any of the extra scenes Fox and Image Entertainment inadvertently unearthed several years ago when they made the first deal with the Chaplin estate. Using the original fine grain negatives, they discovered additional footage which Chaplin had trimmed after test screenings. On laserdisc these precious scenes were included in the bodies of the movies, but by the time the films made their way to DVD, the scenes had been excised and included as Xtra material to be accessed separately from the film. Now these remarkable finds will be withdrawn from release completely for the duration of the new owners’ contract. Good or bad? Well, don’t sell your laserdiscs, or DVDs. That scene in Limelight where Calvero reaches into an armless man’s pocket to borrow money is like walking into celluloid heaven. It’s in the script, which circulated quietly for decades, but no one suspected it would ever come to light. Now it’s retreating back into the darkness…

I am highly recommending a film that I know isn’t for every taste. The National Board of Review Screening group was polarized on it, which wasn’t at all surprising. Our Lady of the Assassins is a bleak picaresque of life as hell, shot in Medellin, Colombia, where life apparently is as close to hell is occurs on this planet at present. There is a wonderful non-actor presence in Anderson Ballesteros, one of the two young men used in the film, playing Alexis, a casually gay, casually murderous, amoral adolescent, and director Barbet Schroeder dropped in after the screening to talk with us, charming even those who were angry at the film, and told us the fate of the two young non-actors, but made us promise it was off the books, so you can give me a ring after you see it and I’ll tell you what I remember, but I won’t be printing it.

The film is as important as it is good, because it was the first feature shot in High Definition digital video, and looks so good blown up to 35mm that frankly it spells the end of film in the very near future. I mentioned that to Schroeder, and although he used it for very specific technical reasons – enhanced depth of field, etc. – he readily agreed with me. Outside of a few artifacting pans, the difference from film was practically unnoticeable.

So long, 35…