Tracking Keith and Lee

September 1st, 2010 by Mike

Hours after Keith dropped off Brigitte, Chad, Fauvell, DVG and myself at Salt Lake City international airport, Keith and Lee were still in Park City, playing Tetris with luggage, gear and other sundry items. This is what they created:

They are blazing their way across America now. Here are some updates, courtesy Lee’s Facebook account.

Sept 1, 3AM (MST): Left Park City @ around 6:30pm. Almost ran out of gas (our second tank) before Kimball, Nebraska. Enjoying the nighttime lightning storms around Porter, NE.

Sept 1, 5AM: I took over from KB about an hour ago. We just hit the halfway thru point in Nebraska. The lightning storms are still with us. Our first week in Park City had lightning storms every night, so this is kind of fitting.

Sept 1, 7AM (CST): Gassing up outside of Grand Island, NE. We’re getting like 18 MPG due to the gear and our speed
9 hours ago

Sept 1, 10AM: We’ve arrived at Very Tired, Iowa. We’re stopping to get about 3 hours sleep in a bed, then getting back on the road. People look at us weird because Keith and I are both wearing 4 week feature T-shirts.

Sept 1, 2PM: We just woke up. According to a receipt, we’re in Stuart, Iowa. Off to find a diner and drink syrup.

Good luck gentlemen. STAY STRONG AND CARRY ON.

-ML/LG

Posted by Mike in Lee Gillentine, Mike Lavoie | 1 Comment »

The Unveiling

August 30th, 2010 by keithboynton

Last night, the entire cast and crew (minus Clint and Sumi, who were dearly missed) gathered at Brewvies for the first screening of the film we devoted our August to.  This was the first time anyone – including me, Mike, and Derek — had seen the entire movie in its finished form; we’d been too busy working on it piecemeal (and exporting the finished product) to actually review what we’d done.

Pretty darn cool.

Just seeing our name on the marquee was a thrill.  Then we got inside, and we started to get nervous.  It didn’t help that the screening before us (a rowdy showing of Back to the Future) had started late, which meant that we couldn’t get into the theater until 9:35 — for a screening that was supposed to start at 9:00.

Finally, at a quarter to ten, the film got started, and I started to relax.  My biggest fear had been that we’d have some last-minute trouble with the massive QuickTime file we’d exported, but it seemed to play fine, and as I sat in a plush chair at the back of the theater, flanked by my fellow Four-Week Feature team members, with the movie’s opening sequence unfolding on the screen in front of us, I felt a palpable sense of relief.

Of course, it couldn’t last.

Five minutes from the end of the movie — just as the story was reaching its emotional climax — the sound cut off.  Completely.  Derek dashed back into the projection booth, but as it turned out, there was nothing to be done; somehow, the audio file we’d grafted onto our QuickTime movie was five minutes shorter than the movie itself.  We paused the film and scrambled as best we could, passing out microphones to cast members so that they could recite their lines as the images played in silence — but of course most of them couldn’t remember their lines, so that attempt only made things more awkward.  The sequence that the whole movie had been building towards — the sequence that was supposed to redeem the somewhat rambling quality of the fim’s middle section — was deprived of the music and the few key lines of dialogue that made it work.  It was insanely frustrating.  We had come so close to having a successful first screening.  Couldn’t our luck have held for just a few minutes more?

Ultimately, we had a nice time anyway.  It was fun seeing our Utah-based cast members again, and people seemed to enjoy the movie (we even got laughs!), and afterward we had drinks at Brewvies and a very pleasant late-night meal at Denny’s.  Not only that, but the folks at Brewvies felt bad about our late start, so they didn’t charge us a penny for the screening!  That was a very gracious gesture, and much appreciated.

All in all, the evening could have gone a lot worse — and now we know what to fix in time for the New York screening!  Priority number one: Watch the whole movie before the screening starts.

I may have to let Derek take on that task.  I’ll be spending the next three days driving across the country with Lee Gillentine and a bunch of Derek’s film equipment.  From road-trip movie to actual road-trip!  What a wild summer it continues to be …

-KB

Posted by keithboynton in Keith Boynton | 1 Comment »

Missing the Reveal…

August 29th, 2010 by Clint

As most know I had to miss the final fun filled week to star in a feature length horror film based out of NYC, (while I left SLC 6 days ago yesterday was my first day off) because of this I am missing out on tonight the best of all nights when all of the team (sans Sumi and I) crowd into a hopefully crowded theatre in SLC to screen our baby. (Do we have a title yet?)

I am so proud of our team, I have witnessed a couple quick edits of rough cuts sent out for music okays, etc etc, and I am so impressed with what we have all done, so on tonight I would like to talk about some of the “issues” we had to overcome in order to finish this film. These issues do not include 13+ people in close quarters, time limits, not having a locked down ending until the end, running low on coffee, or water, or sleep, just some of the things that are now “fun” to look back on.

1. During the filming of a camera test politely labeled “We Built this Incest” one of our own and my personal favorite James Fauvell was approached on the street for fitting the description of a Park City Burgler. [See http://fourweekfeature.com/2010/08/fitting-the-type/]

2. I wished to right a blog about this incident but the moment passed but i was pulled over for going 40 in a 20 in the town of Park City, luckily I begged my way out of a ticket. (I kid you not about my politeness and the absolute look of beaten puppy I had on my face when I was pulled over.) Fortunately the Officer did in fact let me off with a warning and I never sped in Park City again. However to be fair the road I was on changes speed 8 times in under 4 miles and I was within a stone’s throw of the 40 mph sign. (granted I can throw a stone quite far)

Please Admire the Cop behind me.

3. Finding a Family Car. Much of this movie is spent in a car, so much that it almost becomes a 6th character, so finding the perfect car was more the just for driving the family it needed to help tell the story, it needed to have something about it that as soon as you saw it as an audience member you could connect with it. We eventually found Woody and woody was and is an amazing car and I couldn’t be happier with it. I like it much more then using either production vehicle (we originally did shoot one seen with a 2006 Ford Explorer look for it in the deleted scenes).

4. Not one. But Two. Flat Tires! While driving up to what we hoped to be a purple lake that ended up looking blue on camera we had to drive over 9 miles on a dirt road that separates the Salt Lakes. The view on the road is amazing and eventually we reached our destination and found the spot that our team scouted the day before I joined them in Park City, only to find the lake that looks purple on a cloudy day looks Blue on a sunny day. This was not the best time to get a flat tire on Woody or the best location, after searching for a spare and a key I found that we did not have the necessary tools to change the tire and proceeded to call for help and after dealing with triple A for over an hour on the phone, I was finally receiving a tow truck at our own expense! (I hate you triple A)

Change me once shame on me.

One hour after our tire was changed we finished the shoot and packed up to head back, we were no more then a mile down the road when another tire decided it too wanted to give way under the strain of back country driving. At this point we had no spare to fit the car and no tow truck would come out to help via triple A (see why I hate them) So at close to 10 o clock at night all the way out in Toelle Utah we had to leave our car, we put a white flag and a note and more then one prayer that everything would turn out okay. Luckily thr next morning I was able to make contact with a tow truck driver who did it for half the price of the first tow truck, and repaired the one tire and replaced the second, all for less then the price of the first tire change through triple A’s tow service.

5. Uncle “Larry”. Uncle “Larry” (name changed) was a supposed part owner of a location we were using. The location was run by a very sweet couple and I have nothing but amazing things to say about them and their staff. But with less then a scene left to shoot in the lobby of a location we were interrupted by “Larry” he spoke with Keith very sternly and asked us all what we were doing.

Larry:

What are you doing in my place?

Keith:

Making a movie.

Larry:

I said you couldn’t be here.

Keith:

I’m sorry, I thought I was okayed to shoot.

Larry:

You’re not.

Keith:

We just have one thing left.

Larry:

How long?

It was at this point that the conversation turned to intimidation but everyone knew but Keith.

Keith:

Two hours.

Larry:

Pardon?

Keith:

Two hours. (louder)

Larry:

Pardon?

Keith:

I’m sorry, Two hours.

Larry:

Make it a short two hours, I’ll be back at 8 (the time was currently 6:15)

Keith:

Ok

Larry:

I hope nothing bad comes out of this.

Keith:

Okay sir.

At this point “Larry” walked out got into his backhoe and drove away.

We looked around and then got to work finishing up the scene and neutralizing the space before leaving, Uncle “Larry” never ended up returning but we finsihed the scene in record time and weren’t chased out at gunpoint. My apologies to the lovely family who let us shoot for any inconvenience.

Later we spoke to Keith about the situation and he was totally so into directing he didn’t realize the excuse me convo was actually “Larry’s” way of threatening him.

6. Weather, actually weather was overall great except on our last day of shooting we had a big drop in weather and the rain came making us muddy, and tired, and cold but we paged forward and finished the film through the night and into the morning working over twenty hours straight on coffee, adrenaline, and our love for the film.

There are more I hope people could include on my list of six but these are what I encountered personally. We came we saw we conquered. I just got off the phone with James, Brigitte, Gabi, Chad, and Mike Lavoie and it looks like the theatre is packed for the screening I am so proud of everyone and can’t wait for the screening in NYC!

Love:

Clint

Eat, Sleep, Make a Movie.

PS: my title I put in the mix is: “And, We Built this Family.” (I like long titles)

Posted by Clint in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Tonight’s Gonna Be a Good Good Night

August 29th, 2010 by Sumi

I’m back in NYC via a red-eye flight from SLC to JFK– which means two things: HELLO HUMIDITY and I’ll be missing the SLC screening of the 4WF film tonight, along with Clint. :\  But I could not be more excited for us and for the rest of the team who will get to see the oohs and ahhs first hand!!  So let’s turn this up and get ready:

I can’t promise you as much cleavage and glow paint as the music video at our screening, but tonight really is gonna be a good night.

love/peace/it’s showtime,
Sumi

Posted by Sumi in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Wee Hours of the Day After

August 29th, 2010 by keithboynton

It’s 4:30 AM, and most of our team has gone to sleep after a nice little celebration at Maxwell’s in nearby Kimball Junction.  But Derek and Mike are still awake, tweaking audio, and I’m awake too, blogging about them.  It’s a pleasantly quiet moment after a very hectic month.  Mike and I are sipping herbal tea.  Derek runs on pure, unadulterated perfectionism.

I know Mike said we wouldn’t tweak after midnight, but as it turns out, we can’t help it.  We’re proud of this movie, and with all the work that’s gone into it already, we just can’t see our way clear to falling short in the home stretch.  (Well, okay, technically we’re past the home stretch.  But you get my point.)  The plan is to get the film into decent shape in the next ten minutes or so, then start exporting a QuickTime version of it, then go to bed while the computer does its work.  We can still make a few minor audio changes tomorrow, but the picture will be locked.  And then at 9 PM, we screen it!  That’s going to be very surreal …

So have we failed?  If we make changes after midnight, even if it’s just smoothing out audio, is that admitting defeat?  Do we have to re-brand ourselves as The Twenty-Eight-and-a-Half-Day Feature?  You’ll have to decide for yourself.  Obviously, I wish we really had been able to cease all work at the stroke of twelve and still feel good about the finished product.  But in the end, I think it would have been a disservice to ourselves and to the audience to be too uptight about the deadline.  So call us frauds.  Call us cheats.  Call us liars.  But come see our movie anyway!  Because it’s gonna be pretty damn good.

In the meantime, please enjoy this video of Mike and me trying to make coherent speeches while giddy and sleep-deprived:

-KB

Posted by keithboynton in Keith Boynton | 1 Comment »

670th hour

August 29th, 2010 by Michael Redfield

Well, we are trying to make any 670th hour changes, fill gaps, adjust audio, add credits…even with less than two hours to go, the list is almost as intimidating as it was four weeks ago.  Can’t wait ’til we get in the theatre tomorrow night, see the actors’ faces twenty feet high, hear voices and music in full stereo sound, watch perfect strangers stare at pictures we captured just a week earlier.  Feeling pretty proud of what we’ve done so far… Also feeling proud that after four days alone in the sauna/pantry/music studio, I resisted consuming all the trail mix and Bud Light.

See you on the flip side,

MR

Posted by Michael Redfield in Michael Redfield | No Comments »

Four More Years! – er, HOURS!

August 28th, 2010 by Mike

Four weeks = 28 days = 672 hours.

With just 4 hours remaining, the project is over 99% done. But the film is still being feverishly worked on. To my left, Keith is editing the audio for a beautiful scene at a location called “Poverty Point,” and across from me, Derek Van Gorder is doing the same to a scene with the stunning Brigitte Choura.

Miles away, Chad Sonenberg and Lee Gillentine are ADR’ing some dialogue with James Fauvell – I’m supposed to be looping that dialogue into a scene with less than perfect audio by 11:59:59 tonight but the clock is ticking.

All that is to say, the work is never finished – BUT WE WILL STOP AT MIDNIGHT. What will be screened in SLC tomorrow night and NYC next weekend will be exactly FOUR WEEKS worth of work, not a second more or less. Eventually, we will sweeten the audio and color correct and all those bells and whistles that make a film feel like actual cinema and not a piece of crap.

As eager as we all are to sleep in a bedroom with less than three people back in NYC where we can get thai food delivered and catch up on Mad Men, we are equally anticipating properly polishing this rock into a glistening movie diamond.

Til then – ONLY FOUR HOURS LEFT!!!

-ML

Posted by Mike in Mike Lavoie | 1 Comment »

MORE TITLES – THIS IS FUN!

August 28th, 2010 by Mike

Snap

Crackle

Pop


Posted by Mike in Mike Lavoie | 2 Comments »

NEWEST TITLE IDEA!

August 28th, 2010 by Mike

Between 2 and 330AM, KB, Gabs, Fauvell, Brigums, and I sat around the couches and brainstormed some truly terrible titles, some intentional some not. Here are some of them:

CHASING BRUCE
MISSING BRUCE
CLEARING
FOOTPRINTS IN THE SALT
SALTY AIR
INTO SALT AIR
EVERYWHERE BUT HERE
EVERYTHING IS POISONED
TAKE
GHOSTBUSTERS 3

Just before bed we thought of one that I think may work. Any last minute thoughts???

TWELVE HOURS LEFT!!!

Yes, no, maybe?

-ML

Posted by Mike in Mike Lavoie | 2 Comments »

The Strange Power of Working Titles

August 28th, 2010 by keithboynton

When we chose Crazy Lake as the working title for this movie, my explicit reasoning was this: it’s a perfect placeholder, because there is no possible way we’ll use it as the final title.

Now here we are, three weeks later, hotly debating what the title should be, and of course Crazy Lake has become a front-runner.  Derek has been its most vocal champion for quite a while now, and in his opinion, it actually makes sense as a title for this movie.  My opinion?  It’s a really cool title, and I’m not sure if it makes sense — but then, I’m not sure if it has to.  Sometimes a title is just a title!  And I’d much rather go with something random like Crazy Lake than something on-the-nose like Family Odyssey or Siblings on the Road.  (Not that we’re actually considering those.  But you get my point.)

Derek mocked up this poster to help sell us on his favorite title. Pushy little devil, ain't he?

Also in contention at this point: Salt Air, Boxcar, and Chasing Home.  I realize that no one reading this blog has actually seen any footage from the movie yet, but — do you guys have any thoughts?  At this point, we’ll take all the help we can get …

-KB

Posted by keithboynton in Keith Boynton | 4 Comments »

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