A Behind the Scenes Sneak Peek (No, Really, Sneak Peek; I'm Not Sure If I'm Allowed to Give This Much Away)

   So, I spent my day today shooting for the upcoming director's cut extended edition remake of On Our Own, the indie post-apocalyptic on-the-road drama about two brothers trying to make it and reunite with their father and uncle in a near-future America where hyperinflation has led to chaotic anarchy after the dollar becomes worthless and everyone quits their jobs. Yeah. That's the one. Since I had literally any experience with cinematography, I was personally tapped by the director to consult, best boy, boom and grip on the film. Basically, I'm about half of the entire crew. Maybe a third or a fourth, counting editing and other post-production stuff, but anyway. The full length remake is going to be far superior to the 45-minute original version, with such new features as better acting, more character development, and not looking like it was shot with the camera that's built into your standard cell phone. I've heard estimates saying it's going to be up to an impressive ten times better than the original. Since I don't know whether or not that's going to be true, I didn't usually like talking about how I'm on this project, but from the quality of film-making I've seen today from behind the scenes, meh, why not. If the movie fails, it won't be my fault. It's still an impressive thing to have on your résumé for when you're considering the career paths I am.

   We really got to shoot in some of the most devastatingly remote and beautiful locations, and it was a real pleasure to set up some of the shots, trying to capture the majesty of nature. Every view was an absolute postcard, as they say, as compositionally unbalanced as some of the postcards may be. The desert is truly its own character in the film. It's just a pity that the film's not in 3D, because the absolute grandeur, how mindbogglingly large the locations are compared to the characters, is hard to capture without the aid of depth perception. I think we pulled it off, though. The angle of the sun surely helped, what with the shadow-making.

   Our first location for today was the exterior shot for a trading post-type deal, an old shack that had been around since at least 1890, which is the date that the earliest "... was here" graffiti I could find on the building had. The building was right next to this cliff, right where the fields turned into mountains. Very scenic. The interior scenes were shot on an entirely different historic location, but I think the continuity should match very well, seeing as how other people seemed to have the exact same idea to sign and date the engravings on their wall carvings there as well. Huh. I think the bricks are made of limestone or something. Something soft like that. Anyway.

   What was really exciting was the shooting we did in the afternoon. It detailed a confrontation with bandits (who wanted the stuff from the trading post) that takes place in what amounts to be a canyon (I say "amounts to be" because desert trails between the mountains are crazy; needless to say, another gorgeous location.) This shoot lasted from around four or five until sunset, but the continuity on this should be alright as well because the canyon was bathed in shadow as it is, the non-cell-phone-looking camera we're using has this built-in light adjustment technology, and we can always color correct in post if the difference becomes too noticeable (the discovery that we have color correction technology on hand is really what makes me willing to divulge that I'm on this film in the first place; too many similar-budget films have colors that are all muddy which really mars the entire film-going experience because you're constantly being reminded that you're watching a no-budget film, especially knowing that good post production or indeed any post production at all can make the project look far more professional (I tried making the 2003 Alex Kendrick film Flywheel look like notcrap just yesterday and it took me literally five seconds on Photoshop to do so.)) Anyway, in this scene, the bullets are flying (or at least the bullets will fly, with (once again) a little post-production) and there is much corn-syrup-and-cocoa-powder-with-red-food-dye blood. It was exciting for everyone, I think. It will definitely be exciting for the audience (yay  take-off-your-shirt-to-use-it-as-an-impromptu-bandage scenes.) We had to do that shot in one take, understandably (the shirt was all fake-bloody after that.) Other than that, we had to do a lot of reshoots. (Our poor lead actor just doesn't know how to do a good serious face, for one. But I digress.)

   The film still needs a soundtrack it would actually be legal to use. The fact that the director apparently has Moby's "Porcelain" on his playlist (to which we listened on the long car rides there and back, and man does he have a much better taste in music than the music in the original On Our Own would have you believe) reminded me that Moby leases his songs free to independent non-profit filmmakers, but I don't think that the full-length version of the film is going to be non-commercial. So we still need a composer for this movie. I suppose that as the frontman of my own band, I could do it, but it's a tad more ambitious than anything I've before attempted. In my capacity as that, all I've got is a few chords, the truth, a set of better-than-average pipes, and a keen ear for songwriting, with "song" meaning of course "that which is sung." I don't think I'm up for doing a full-length film score quite yet. Maybe after we're actually on iTunes or something. I don't know. Comment below- What do you guys think? And, barring me, do you know anyone else who could compose a film score?

   Either way, a very good, productive day today.