The Final Poster (And Chronicling Its History)

We are well into the post-production phase now, and as such I finally have enough graphical elements to create the final poster.  So now… without further ado…

The official poster for "Down the Road"!

(Click image for higher resolution)

I'm really pleased with how it all turned out.  I wasn't entirely sure how well my Photoshop skills would stand up when it finally came to it, but I'm incredibly proud of the final result.  An odd balance of real and surreal... serious, yet not entirely dark… a fun adventure, yet still very mysterious.  I've had this poster in my head for many years now and I truly think I captured what I wanted quite well.

And now for those interested… a look back at the history of how this image came to be.  (Click each image for higher resolution)

To start, an old sketch I did circa 2008.  I think this might have actually been done before the first draft of the script was even completed:

And some simple designs for the title itself:

Skip ahead to the end of 2009, and the first digital concept is complete (now in full color).  However, the "branchy" text wasn't added until sometime in the summer of 2010.

Until today, this was the single main image used for various website backgrounds, profiles, and other promotional purposes.  It was even used as the background to this blog, as well as the cover for the main physical script during production:

Now, skip to November of 2011, when this blog itself was started, and you'll find the first appearance of a real photo in preparation for the poster (man, has it really been that long…).  Here's the link to the actual post itself: http://dtrfilm.blogspot.com/2011/11/real-poster-base-image.html

This image was ultimately scrapped alongside an entire previous unfinished version of the film (shot throughout 2009 and 2010 if I'm not mistaken).

Jump ahead, all the way to July of 2015 (yeah, seriously, almost 4 years later) and you get this, the base image for what would eventually become the final poster:

And at the end of March 2016, after scouring through tons of woodsy production photos (and of course the magic of Photoshop!), the final poster is composited together:

Then all that was left was to design the title:

And voila, the final poster!

As always, looking forward to posting more as we finally finish this thing!

- Erik (Director)

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)