Even with the advent of digital technology it still takes a fair amount of money to make a good film and I spent most of mine making this one. Therefore, I want to let everyone know that we will be offering posters and DVDs of the film in return for donations toward offsetting the cost of festival submissions. The average festival submission is $30 and there are currently almost 3000 festivals to choose from on the Withoutabox website. Obviously I’m not planning on submitting to all of them but I think it’s easy to see that the cost of getting Rectify out to film loving audiences can add up quickly. All donations will be used for submitting the film and a calendar of festivals that Rectify and The Addict get accepted into will be made available on the blog. While we will be able to accept credit cards at the premier, cash or checks are preferred. The donation levels will be as follows:

Helping Hand - $3+ → 5″x7″ poster

Pitching In - $5+ → 11″x17″ poster or 5″x7″ poster

Piece of the Action - $15+ → Collector’s Edition Rectify DVD

Got Yur Back - $18+ → Collector’s Edition Rectify DVD and your choice of poster

Big Kahuna - $20+ → Collector’s Edition Rectify DVD and both posters

On the DVD:

• Rectify
• The Addict
• Director commentary for Rectify
• Production stills
• English subtitles
• Spanish subtitles
• A hidden Easter egg for even more cool stuff!

Tags: The aftermath // 4 Comments »

Locked as in D-U-N done! Wayne made the final tweaks to the audio yesterday and it sounds great. I burned the submission DVDs for STIFF late last night and they will be going out in today’s mail. We did it folks!

Tags: The aftermath // 1 Comment »

Mark your calendars. We are officially set for Saturday the 23rd, 7:30pm at The Christoff Gallery. Click the link under RECTIFY SCREENINGS at the top right of this page for more info. Please RSVP to this post so I know how many people will be there. Friends and family ARE welcome. See you there!

Tags: The aftermath // 7 Comments »

It’s hard not to admire the mad genius of Michel Gondry. You probably know him as the director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; a personal favorite of mine. He has also directed music videos for the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Bjork, and Massive Attack along with commercials for Levis and HP. (He’s also pretty good with a Rubik’s Cube)

His latest film Be Kind Rewind tells the tale of two guys - Mos Def and Jack Black - that work at a VHS video rental store. Jack’s character’s brain becomes magnetized and erases all of the video tapes. In order to satisfy the store’s most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films, which include Back to the Future, The Lion King, and Robocop. Here is the original trailer if you haven’t already seen it.

In typical Gondry style he takes the concept one step further and films himself doing a low budget version of his own trailer.

Genius.

Admittedly, I don’t love everything Gondry has done but I think that is indicative of someone with that broad a range of creativity. He is anything but a one trick pony.

Tags: Movies // Add Comment »

What is it with my scheduling abilities on this project?! What was scheduled to be a 3ish hour ADR session on Sunday turned into a 12 hour marathon. I suppose it might have something to do with me going over the location audio with Wayne and saying, “F@#k it. We need to redo the whole thing.” Wayne was nice enough not to slap me and we settled in for what was going to be a long evening. Once everything was set up Eric, Wayne and I spent the next 9 or so hours stuffed in my little office, re-recording all of the dialog… 2 words at a time.

The good news is that Eric matched, and in some cases improved, his original performance which was amazing to begin with. Eric, you’re a pro brother.

The next steps are to line up all of the dialog we recorded, (Yep, 2 words at a time) equalize it so it sounds like it was recorded in that room and not in some studio, add the foley, mix it all together and serve chilled.

So far we are on pace to have Rectify finished in time for the February 15^th STIFF late deadline.

I am shooting for a Saturday, February 23^rd premier of the film at the Christoff gallery in Georgetown. This has NOT been confirmed but it is the target date and location. Stay tuned for updates.

Tags: Pre-production // Add Comment »

I received the still pictures from the shoot this weekend.

Thank you Lisa!

Below is a selection of shots that I feel are begging for captions. Take a look and leave a suggested caption in the comments e.g. Picture 11 - “I’m not gonna drink it. YOU drink it”. Alternately you can vote for a comment that someone else posted. I will update the gallery with the funniest/most voted for comments. Wayne, I expect a strong showing from you.

12►

Tags: The aftermath // 3 Comments »

Two big thumbs up for this movie! Rotten Tomatoes is currently giving Juno a well deserved 93% which passes my “90%+ equals a must see” test for RT. This is how an “indie” movie should be done. You get a great script, attract great actors (some more well know than others), and allow interesting characters the chance to come to life. Juno honestly exceeded my expectations. It didn’t use up all the jokes in the trailer and wasn’t a one-trick-pony of edgy comebacks and quips. Solid performances were given by all of the major cast members; particularly Ellen Page.

The bottom line is if you like the trailer you will like the film.

Tags: Movies // 1 Comment »

Things are moving along quite nicely with the film. The editing is done; save for trimming or adding a frame here or there during the fine tuning process. The rag doll FX shot is done even though someone turned off a light between shots. Good thing I’m an After Effects Ninja. 14 eye blinks have been removed. Don’t worry Heather, that’s actually really good. Color correction is done. All that is left is audio (last weekend got bumped to this weekend) and credits. I will post another update after the ADR is done.

Tags: The aftermath // Add Comment »