Set Production Photos

Well, for the most part filming is done, so I wanted to get one last post in for 2015, showing a few behind-the-scenes photos taken during production.  Click each image for higher resolution.

First up, a set of three photos that show a little setup we created outside Charlie's (the main character's) window, which is supposed to be on a second story if you can imagine it.  The story takes place in a very wooded area that is frequently cloudy, so we stuck a few branches around his window as well as a white sheet to look like a solid sky of clouds.

The final appearance as it looks from inside his room...

And below, some more set preparations for a scene that's supposed to take place in a theater.

As well as some indoor lighting.

And finally a day scene, which we actually filmed during the night.  A cool little setup where we simply put a bright light outside the window, which should look pretty convincing in the final film.

Looking forward to posting more in 2016 as we finally dive full force into the post-production side of things.

And perhaps soon we'll finally finish this thing!

- Erik (Director)

Principal Photography is Finally Complete!

Principal filming is finally done!  Woohoo!

Technically, I still have a few scenes left, but all critical scenes where any of the main characters are involved (a stage that I’ve been referring to behind the scenes as “Phase One”) is finally complete!  Took a little over two years… Yikes!  But it's finally done!

All that’s still left of actual production now is “Phase Two”, which is mostly just pick-up shots, inserts, a few other scenes of extra/side characters, etc., and then it’s completely off to the post-production stage!  I’ve actually already edited about half of the current footage, so I already have a major jump on it, but I still have a long way to go.

In the meantime, here's some photos of all the tapes we used to film this thing (yeah, we're still on tapes), as well as the script and even a glimpse at some of my notes during filming:

(Click each image for higher resolution) 

Here's to finally finishing this thing!  :D

- Erik (Director)

Trip to Oregon/Northern California

Well I'm finally back with a new post after more than a year of silence.  Yikes!  I have been filming and editing more footage the entire time (piece-by-piece), but never with anything I felt I could post on the blog.  It was all just rough cuts with temp music, and all I'd really be able to show without giving away massive spoilers would be screenshots of me editing or something.  Compound that with the fact that I've basically been going in and out of hiatus the past year or so to round up loose ends on various other projects that I've been backlogged with for some time now, and you've got a recipe for the film moving VERY slowly.

And even though there's still a few projects I have to finish up before I can go full time "Down the Road"…

I'm back!  And the production continues!

But now on to today's post…  I recently took a trip through Oregon and Northern California (half vacation, half work for DtR) to get as much personal stock as I could for the type of woods and locale I'm trying to create.  The story for the film takes place in a fictional town called Clearwood (which just so happens to reside in Oregon by the way, hehe), with a mysterious neighboring woods at its outskirts.  And my basic premise behind the look I want is that it's very lush... and very mysterious.  We took tons of still shots, videos, references, and other various elements to use as part of the visual effects and editing stages, and I'm very excited to share some of them with you.

So without further ado, enjoy this quick glimpse into the collection of photos we took (click each image for higher resolution):

I'm super happy with the footage and stills we got.  And with any luck, I'll be able to translate these into the film itself, into a unified feeling of lush exploration and mystery that I've wanted for this film for so long… calm, yet eerie... mysterious, yet beautiful.

And very… very… lush.  Did I mention that already?  Haha  :)

As always, looking forward to posting more as we progress with this crazy film.

- Erik (Director)