The Allan Carter Saga Part I: 'amnesia'

A Candid Look at AMNESIA (Part II)

2010-03-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

Being candid isn't a nice thing to do, especially when it is looking at your own work in front of friends, fans, and fellow filmmakers. What are the things that were flaws, things I'd do differently?

1.) I pursued a look of realism within the film. Because of that I decided to shoot night for night instead of the fake looking day for night that many films in the last decade have adopted. What I would do differently is to shoot day for night, then go into after effects and create a hand made effect where I give it a slight night for night look. I acheived this for some of the films "fake" looking night for night shots and no one could really tell the difference.

2.) I would diversify the accents/races more within the cast. I really believe for your film to inhabit the modern landscape it needs to be more diverse in both speach and look. Having a bunch of white people play most of th roles doesn't give this diverse look.

3.) The cave. We dropped the light level on the cave in post-production because we wanted it to look like a real cave, not one of those fake ones you see in movies. (no, very rarely do people shoot movies in real caves.)

4.) An upgrade in cast. Not that they were bad actors, honestly, most had never acted before. But the fact is that if someone has acted even in several small indie films other people already recognize their faces. Which brings me to the real two flaws that actually hurt the film-

5. (positioning the film for marketing) If you treat a film like art then it is formed like a potter creating pottery. A potter feels his way through shaping the pottery as it is molded in their hands. Problem is that I allowed the film to mold itself. Took many risks. Really focused on the "art" and "story". The music was different, original. The shot style I took big risks. I allowed each scene to dictate how it would be shot, etc. I had little focus on the "audience" and more on the story. What happened? I created a film that was difficult to market. My approach, if I did things differently, would be to go back to the story and eliminate 90% of all suspense. I would take it back to an action-adventure-drama that is original was before I added the suspense elements. The music would bring in more strings/orchestra, but would keep some of the original sound with the flute like instruments and other hand made stuff we had used. The violence would be trimmed back to more action orientated and less realisitic. In essence what I would be doing is pulling back the realism and bringing more of the "fun". (oh, and the begining and end would change. Also there would be more effects. I'd be blunter, less subtle about what was really going on) (also the shot style in the film used what is called "deep focus" photography like in Citizen Kane. I intentionally kept everything in focus for most of the film. Problem. Most people didn't realize it was a shot choice. What I woud do differently is to keep the traditional "shallow focus" look most films have and only use the "deep focus" effect for selective shots, this way the contrast would make my use of "deep focus" more evidient.)

6.) The big, BIG, change: marketing. You have to take into account when I was producing AMNESIA the odds were stacked against me before I even got started. First, we were severally underbudget, understaffed, and in Maine (with a bad internet (dial-up) connection prior to shooting). I wasn't thinking PR. I should have. I should have been transparent to the surrounding community and got their support to help spread the word before we even called "Action". My focus was on making the film, not on the audience. I would consider hiring a PMD to get the word out and make people want to see it. I woud also be talking with different distrubution, theaters, etc about it before the camera started rolling. Fact is, once your film is done, you should have already have acquired a lot of your fan base already! You can't start building the fan base after the film is done. It has to be done while you are making it. How can you have the "big reveal" if no one even knows it's going to happen.

So I find myself at an interesting position with this film. There are 3 directions I can take with it:

1. Hold off for a while and make the sequel. (problem is that it is difficult to build a fan base for a sequel if the original one didn't already have a sizeable fan base. Plus the sequel is much, much bigger!)

2. Raise finishing funs to fix up some scenes and sound issues that hurt the film. Maybe even upgrade some of the music.

3. Remake. Yes, I said Remake. The irony here is that I had considered just before shooting that if things didn't hit a certain standard I was going to remake anyways. I just had pushed things so far that I didn't consider it till now.

How had would a remake be? I pondered that for a while. That I've shot it before I would no have expertise in planning for post-production in the pre-production. 10 months of compositing would probably be cut down to 3-4. I'd have bigger, more epic landscape shots. Much of the score elements that made the film stand are in a libarary. The shooting schedule would also be much shorter 2-4 weeks. I now have a vast amount of connections to cast/crew from around the country and beyond.

But what would it cost to do it? This remake would be an upgrade. I am estimating it would be between 100,000 to 150,000. A portion would be for equipment, CGI, and to possibly hire a PMD. And also, to make sure this time around that I am actually paid for my work!

Your thoughts?

A Candid Look At AMNESIA

2010-03-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

Being candid and transparent is a risky thing... But I'll be candid and transparent...

A year ago, at this time, AMNESIA was screened as part of RebFest. RebFest got the attention of Yahoo News that month, with an article written about it. AMNESIA made up about 3/4 of the article. We were thrilled to get that much attention. During our tour of the film, in my home state of Maine, where we filmed 80% of the film, a sound designer from LA (who has a summer home on MDI, Maine) watched the film. He asked me what other films I had done. He wanted to see more of my work. I said that AMNESIA was it. He said, "but you must have some short films?". I said, "no". He was surprised that this could be a "first film". Then he asked about equipment used. He was surprised. Then he asked the budget. He stated, "so, since you're from Maine, and you're obviously frugile, I'm guessing you're budget was $500,000". I told him I was under $300,000. His jaw about hit the floor. I made a point in March, when we did RebFest, not to give the actual number on the film but to continue to say, "something under $300,000". Fact was... I wished I had had $300,000 to shoot the film. Even $200,000 would have been nice... or $100,000... I would have even been happy with $15,000! Fact was, if you subtract the 1,000 that was spent on the first attempt to shoot the film but wasn't used in the final shoot, we're around $4,000. Yes, a $4,000 film was mistaken for $500,000 (and I was told that was frugile.) All of that is a compliment. But AMNESIA wasn't orignally designed to "sell" as DVD's. It was a calling card. A very elaborate calling card.

It was also a learning leason. I learned that I could have done more. I also have to be blunter with today's audience (subtle doesn't really work). I learned that even though I am a risk taker you have to lean on the side of caution on how "original" you are in story concept. I learned that I could have used more effects I held back on. Since making AMNESIA I have also learned I could have recruited more experienced cast/crew than I thought possible. One of the extra things I have gained is that I have learned that people do like my stories and want to see more.

On the tour and in March I gained the perspectives of audience members. People just told me what they thought. The good, bad and the ugly. Some people were down right rude, mean... but atleast honest. Others used more polite ways of saying what didn't work for them. Many told me what the film reminded them of. I received many compliments on the unique shot style, comments on my acting, the uniqueness of the story. I gained the one, most powerful tool any filmmaker could ever gain: the perspectives of my potential audience members for the film.

But, as I described in my blog post on the Film Courage blog that David Branin has http://filmcourage.blogspot.com/2010/03/true-game-changers-and-what-indies-can.html I compared films to satelites. Using that comparison, I didn't break the stratosphere. I didn't even come close. Based on that standard, I failed. Let's just be honest. I wasn't reaching out to a niche market. I think that could be the death toll to your film and career. I don't want to be stereotyped into a niche. I think they can be a "launch pad" to reach a larger audience, but they shouldn't be your intended audiene. Hollywood doesn't operate in this backwards perspective, but for some reason indies do. Well, I'm not normal and I'm not indie. I don't like to be boxed in. I set my own bar that I have to reach. And based on my goal to achieve and the potential I knew the concept had I didn't hit the mark. This isn't just candid and honest. Some may think I am being to hard on myself, but a goal is a goal.

Knowing, in the back of my mind, that I didn't hit the goal I grappled with this reality and what to do next. Some said, "forget it, drop this story and move on", others just said, "make whatever money you can", etc. I debated whether to forge on with the sequel. Then there was the debate about a TV version instead, (many compared the film to LOST). I even wrote a TV pilot, which wasn't bad. I then explored the possibility of the entire season. To be honest, it starts to fall apart. It just doesn't work.

The truth was, as a filmmaker I wasn't completely satisfied with the outcome of the film. That's the problem. It didn't live up to the potential of the story concept. It's not bad, it was good... but it wasn't great. The concept is so original and the shot style so innovative that it should have blown the competition out of the water. But there were too many flaws.

I'm a concept guy. I see my weaknesses and my strengths. Just like in acting, I know my limitations and my strengths, it's the same way as a filmmaker. I can tell you that as a concept guy I have huge strengths. I can look at certain concepts that have come to me and I know how large of an audience would potentialy watch it, based on concept alone, and what concepts that a smaller audience would like... The Allan Carter Saga has big potential.

Imagine a builder built a great house. It was designed to be big, beautiful and the talk of the neighborhood... but during the construction it ended up with inherited flaws. The carpenter had a smaller budget than needed. Instead of hiring a company to pour the foundation, he does it himself. It's not bad, but isn't great. He wanted to hire a crew to do the framing, but once again, did it himself. Same with electrical, painting... almost everything. It theory that house worked... but didn't live up to the dream. So what does he do? Gets all the needed stuff together and starts over. After he is finished the new house makes a dramtic statement about the vision and all those who were involved. Sound odd? I'll describe more later.

How The Terminator and Planet of the Apes Influenced AMNESIA.

2010-03-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

People would be surprised the variety of films that influenced the story development, shot style and overall look and concept of AMNESIA. Two in particular influenced the chase sequences of the film: The Terminator and The Planet of the Apes.

When I first watched The Planet of the Apes, it was on TV, because of that it was edited for time. The cut right to the waterfall where the non-speaking humans stole their cloths and they went after them to get their cloths back. Then suddenly the humans are chased by... Apes? And so the film starts off, for me, with a bit of an amnesia like effect. Where are we? What's going on? And what are these ape doing chasing humans? And then things would develop over time, making me want to know the answer to the story.

After the first 2 drafts of AMNESIA it was discussed with my brother James that we really needed to bring more of the chase effect into the story. The character of Allan doesn't just ask questions, but has to do it every so oftern between chase scenes. The audience is always left wanting to know more. Then we took the story up to the next level of this chase element. These "soldiers", or whatever the audience wants to call them, are chasing the characters around, but they seem a bit impersonal. We needed a main nemesis. Someone, whom we can connect with as being the main antagonist that we are rooting willl loose. This was when the "Derek" character was developed. And this is where The Terminator influenced the film. No, it wasn't because "Derek" has a red eye (that's a whole new story, and a much more important part of the story than anyone realizes). It because if you watch the first terminator film the cyborg is scary, because he rarely talks. He says only what is absolutely necessary. "Derek" is much the same way. The acting would have to be in the eyes, in the body gestures. My friend, and actor, Andrew Doph played "Derek". I knew he could give the expression with his eyes and his body to pull off the character.

In this scene below, Derek is chasing Allan Carter and a girl known as "Sandra".

PART TEN - "Remembering AMNESIA": Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker Shot an Apacolyptic Thiller for $6,000 and Gained the Attention of Media Outlets."

2010-03-10T18:24:00.000-08:00

The Power of Silence

People don't realize the power of dramatic silence. An actor makes a statement... There's a pause.... characters looks at each other... the audience leans in to see what happens next... There's power in silence.

I'm diverting a little from my behind-the-scenes look at making AMNESIA by focusing more on a specific day. My focus is less on how we did it but on the power of a choice I made on a scene that wasn't even in the film.

We shot a scene called, "Put the gun down" where "Allan" and "Sandra" argue over a gun, the week before. After we shot the night time scene with "Allan" and "Sandra" we left the lights up till the next day. That morning I woke up thinking about the "Put the gun down" scene. There is an argument that ends with him still with the gun. He keeps it through till the next 2 scenes. She has no comment on wanting to get it from him or have him toss it aside. We just left the issue alone. Yet, I knew, that her character wouldn't have given up the issue. And at the same time she had some fear about him and was uneasy about what to do around him. Then came the idea for the scene.

Typically Hollywood doesn't like dramtic silence. They don't like silence at all. They like to, since Star Wars IV, cram music wall-to-wall into a film. It's dialogue, action, music. BAM! BAM! BAM!... it's as if they fear that if they stop for just one mere moment the audience might get bored and leave. But what if the storytelling used silence to captivate the audience with the drama of the moment... Then you have magical moments where the audience feels like part of the story... They are allowed to actually think for a moment.... and react!

I've seen a few filmmakers use dramatic silence. M. Night does it alot. It's hit or miss with his stuff though. I love his great use of it, but the times when it's used and falls flat it falls pretty hard. Mel Gibson uses it a little in some of his films, but usually there's still music hidden in there... some where. It seems to be almost a dying artform. But I took a risk. I created a scene with no words. It's all in the looks, the use of silence. And there's no music... just the night time sounds and the strategic use of owl "hoots". And yes, most of the sound in these peice are folly sound because I spent 4 months on sound design for this reason. I was willing to take risks, not just on this scene, but on many others. It's time we finally took some risks. It's art, you know.

Below is the "Put the Gun down" scenes butted up beside "The gun" scene.

PART NINE - "Remembering AMNESIA": Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker Shot an Apacolyptic Thiller for $6,000 and Gained the Attention of Media Outlets."

2010-02-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

PART NINE

Shooting Night-for-Night with out film Lights.
(ha ha that rhymes)

Saturday I found myself grappling with the fact that Monday was our first attempt to shoot a night scene and I still did not have film lights, or any lights for that matter. I did not want to do day-for-night. Day-for-night the filmmakers shoot at daytime but fake you out in post by making contrast with the shadows and usually using a pale blue gel over everything. The assumption is that moonlight is pale blue. Actually moonlight is no color, it's just less light, but this is cinema and it's not realism it's surrealism (a fabricated version of realism).

Sunday, Jenny's brother-in-law told us he had some stuff from his old DJ days. A smoke machine, a red gel that he put over his light (workshop clamp light that had light bulb you use on the outside of your house that shines all the light forward, not like your standard 75 watt light bulb) and he had this big flashlight that gave a big burst of light but died out within about 2-5 mins. We tested everything out late Sunday night and it became clear to me I had no other option. Monday night was Mike and Jon's 3 day of shooting, we would use the clamplight with the broadlight ligh bulb. If this looked horrible, I told myself, we would just remake the movie, right?

Monday morning we tackled the Cave Entrance scene. The shooting took place in Blue Hill, which was about 45 minutes from my house in Orland. We were starting to find the battery that came with the camera didn't hold the charge that we had hoped for. This would cause it more problems as the production continued. I had no connections in Blue Hill, where I could plug in the charger, so we hoped we had enough juice in the battery to shoot the scene and head home with a few hours to spare. We packed a lunch, basically sandwiches, and headed to the gas station. We had a slight problem at this point. NO GAS MONEY!

Everyone in the car pitched in money and off we were, with just enough gas to make it there and back. I would learn on this film production how many hours I could drive on E before the car stalled out. We arrived in the area we were going to shoot the scene. We would have to hike about a 1/4 mile into the forest with our small amount of equipment. This time I incorporated my Little Giant Ladder. This ladder was a heavy steel ladder that could be a extension ladder or a step ladder. When folder down it was extremely sturdy and almost immovable. You're wondering what I was using it for? A cheap jib-arm. I had planned it out ahead of time, based on the location, that I could make this cheap jib-arm and extended the camera, upside down, over this ledge, to see the characters cross this stream to the cave. It would add to the production value because it took the camera to a different angle of view than the standard setup.

We shot the upside down shot first. Then broke down my cheap jib-arm and shot the rest of the scene on tripod. I would admit that I shot every shot in the scene while also playing Allan Carter. There was a trick to doing both. And no, the cave entrance wasn't real. It was trick shooting where the camera was place at a certain angle to give the illusion. Post-production I wished I had just put a big blue cloth over where I wanted the cave and in post cut it out and replaced it with a piece of fake cave. But that's just a minor, almost irrelevant issue.

Here's the clip from the film:

Just before getting to the last shot of the scene the battery died. I told everyone to break for lunch while I raced back to the house and tried to charge the battery enough to get the scene done. Just before leaving Andrew realized he had forgotten his glasses. I told him that we would add in a part, just before he entered the cave, where he asked "Sandra" for his glasses. She would pull them out of her backpack and hand them to her. This was a quick cheat. We would use her taking stuff out of her backpack throughout the film as just and added element.

I got back with just enough battery power and we finished the shoot. We returned back to my house just in time to set things up for the two scenes that Mike and Jon were in with the rest of the group. One was part of the famous Scene #34 (as was listed on the file folder in post) that Mike, Jon and the group were in.

Mike's girlfriend ran the camera as I took on the costume of one of the soldiers and Jon put on a soldier costume. We were particular about the camera shots because we were faking that there were more people in the shot that normal. Jon and I yelled at the group that was laying on the ground while the camera moved back and forth on the tripod, looking almost photo-journalistic during a war scene or tragedy. Then I shot from Allan's POV, running up to the group. I made sure that spot the soldier I had played wouldn't be in the view. Then I put the camera on the tripod from the other angle, ran up as Allan Carter and did the scene.

The scene wrapped and we had everyone eat dinner while I set up for the first night scene. I set up the little giant ladder, ran extension cords from the house into the field in the backyard, several hundred feet, and had Mike's girlfriend hold the light up in the air while standing on the ladder. I hoped that the slight amount of movement from her holding it would not be noticeable to the audience.

We had a fire barrel from the last tenants that we moved over to a rock in the field. We started a fire which would end up being a large extent of the light. One of the tricks they say to shooting night-for-night is to have as many "practile lighting" as possible. That would be lights that would exist anyways. Flashlights, campfires, house lights that would be on, anything to compensate for more lighting needed on the subjects. We would utilize the flashlights and campfire to do what we needed. I wished I had used the reflectors at this points as well, but that's also a mute point of criticism.

One of the tricks I did do to shoot it was to follow a Rodriguez trick. I shot the whole scene from one angle, but zoomed up between lines of the character speaking so that I go 3 shots in one take. Then I would go to the other angle and shoot it.
Then the close up of Mike's character Paul. By shooting like this I cut out a bunch of my time and made it much easier on the actors.

Mike and Jon left and I was inspired to see if I could get another scene in the bag for the night. This lighting for some reason was working. I set up the "blood-red moon" scene that Allan and Sandra had in between two trees. I put the light in the trees and checked it out in the camera. It looked great. At this point I should have turned off the lights, held off on the scene till the next night, and patted everyone involved on the back. I didn't.... I was persistant to get this one done too.

My wife reminded me that I had to get some people back up to Bangor, because I had made an agreement to take some of the extras back myself or they wouldn't be able to do the shoot. It was heading towards midnight. I started driving them back when I realized I was falling to sleep. I traded spaces with another person who could drive and fell asleep in the passenger seat.

When we got back it was around 1AM. I had decided I was still going to shoot that scene. I recommend that there is a reason why people shouldn't shoot like this. You can only push people so far before it shows.

It was a short scene, but it was dark and people were tired. I set up the camera for the first scene. We had no power in the battery so I was running of an extension cord. I tripped... the camera fell... it hit the ground... I swore I almost swallowed my tongue or something... Time stood still for just a second... I checked the camera. It was ok. A near miss, but I was grateful I had not mowed the grass in several weeks, to the dislike of the landlord.

We shot the move-down-from-the-moon-shot, then moved in for a medium shot. We didn't make a campfire but small fire in a tin because I was afraid we'd burn the trees down. It wasn't working. Lighting wasn't that great. We shot the medium shot, but both Jenny and my acting wasn't up to the level I wanted. She was tired, forgettting lines, and another interesting thing most people don't know about Jenny- she has short-term memory issues.

See a couple years prior she was in an accident wear her seat belt almost scalped her. The story is that they had to bring her back to life. She had to relearn her speach and she had a problem with short-term memory. And she had the most amount of lines of the entire script.

We ran out of tape after the medium shot. Andrew went to grab another tape that we had 10 more minutes on and tried to shoot her closeup shot. Things were starting to drag. We never did get to shoot my cloesup. That was it for the scene. It was one of those scenes I regret that I should have not have pushed through, but things are as they are. In post I would correct the problems, but it was very tricky.

PART EIGHT - "Remembering AMNESIA": Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker Shot an Apacolyptic Thiller for $6,000 and Gained the Attention of Media Outlets."

2009-12-18T17:36:00.000-08:00

PART EIGHT

Racing Ahead

(picture to left is before and after skyreplacement from post-production of the House-with-the-Windmill)

After getting the first two days of shooting out of the way I had Wens-Sat to try to get as many scenes "in the can" with the three main characters as much as possible. The original plan, as I explained in the prior posts, was to get the biggest cast scenes (except for scene 34) shot in the first 4 days to get the largest scenes possible out of the way. Mike and Jon's music performance schedule force us to do Monday/Tuesday on week one then Monday/Tuesday of the second week. Ironically this was going to work to my advantage because of our lighting situation.

I still couldn't find lighting for the night scenes. I was going to be shooting night-for-night. I wouldn't recommend it. I researched it and I knew the lights I needed. The original budget I came up with to purchase for this time around with the film was an additional $15,000. A large portion of that was for lights. Then I had to trim the new additional funding budget down to $7,000 which allowed me some extra money to buy this special "broadlight" that I would use for the moonlight. I would then just have to make sure the camera was framed up a way to maximize this one light (simulating the moon). This budget was not going to happen and I ended up with the money to buy the camera and microphone (we made the boom pole to put the mic on.) I was searching for lights. I called anyone I thought I could borrow the lights from. Nothing worked out.

I continued to shoot. I had a certain amount of scenes originally scheduled for each day, but I tried to see if I could cram another one in per day. I had this sneaky suspicion that something was going to go wrong that would either end the production or would temporarily shut it down. I felt that if I got as much "in the can" as possible in the first couple weeks then I had a better chance to finish it.

One of the scenes we shot in the days after the first two days was a scene called, "Put The Gun Down!". In the scene Allan had acquired a hand gun in a prior scene. She tries to convince him to put the gun down, she's trying to live up to her ideals of being a pacifist. But he is angry, really angry. I had storyboarded certain shots that would both create a sense of personal connection with the audience plus cut down on shooting time. We found that the sound isssues we delt with caused the second reason to not happen according to plan. Below are two scene excerpts, the first one is the "Put the Gun Down" scene:

Not having the proper shock mount the microphone would pick up "clicks" and other sounds created by movement. Andrew ran camera for this scene. He had to wrap around Allan and Sandra after Allan turns around. Andrew also ran the sound at the same time so he had to try to keep us in camera while trying to keep the mic from creating the extra, annoying sounds. We did take, after take, after take. Finally Andrew couldn't take the stress of trying to keep the sound from sounding awful. He suddenly burst out in a tantrum of yells (I don't completely recall what exactly he said). Jenny, playing Sandra, stood there in shock. Andrew scared her with his burst of anger... and ironically it helped her play her character better. She was seriously scared for the part where Allan is having his own tantrum

I called "action" for a final time. We ran the shot, I walked up to the camera, Sandra spoke her line, I turned around and start into my tantrum and she started to back away with her face. I became so involved in "the moment" that I actually screwed up the line and it sounded even more natural then the original line. We wrapped up the shot and everyone felt that we had really brought out the best that was possible for the scene.

One of the scenes we shot was at an abandoned stone house that was burned down. It sat at the top of a blueberry covered hill. The only thing that remained was the stone part of the structure. We attempted to shoot the scene at dusk. We found out very quickly on that we showed up too late and it was too dark to shoot. The other concern I had was that the scene was shot handheld with the sky completely open to the view of the camera. The sky in the film is cloud, all the time. The sky when we showed up was bright blue.

The next day we decided to go back up to the burned down stone house, but several hours earlier. Since we had to drive off road to get to the stone house I wanted to get several scenes shot at once. I shot the morning scene which was only 3 shots of Sandra and AJ talking. It went very quickly.

We had brought a guy named Sergio up with us. We convinced him to run the camera for one of the shots in the main scene at the burned down stone house. He had never run a camera before, but we convinced him that we could show him how to do it. The shot was suppose to look like someone spying in on a conversation between Allan, Sandra and AJ from on top of the stone house. Sergio had alot of guts, so we convinced him to climb up on a ladder and sit on top of the stone house. Once again, the cameraman had to run camera and the mic at the same time. This time we put the mic in his hand, hoping it would cut down on shake. It did, but we also were fighting against the wind, being on top of a hill.

I was inspired by our shot inspiration "Citizen Kane", so after the first shot was finished, and Andrew had the camera I improvised on the shots I wanted. I had him go outside the building and shoot through the window to see the back of my head with Sandra in the far background. Then I had him reverse the shot and shoot through the opposite window, seeing her head in the foreground and Allan in the far background. I then grabbed the camera and shot Sandra from the point-of-view from the fire pit (no fire). I gave the camera back to Andrew and he shot my closeup as Allan.

The greatest part of the reshoot of the scene was the fact that in the entire shooting of the film it was the one scene that showed an entire landscape full of cloudy skies and that was exactly what we got in-camera the day of the shoot. It would have been a nightmare to do the post-production skyreplacement for the scene if I had to do.

The cave was entirely demolished by a rain storm a day after we had shot the main cave scenes. Before doing the reshoot of the burned-down-stone house, we had created a cave tunnel full of rocks and candles. Emmeditaly, after the reshoot of burned-down-stonehouse, we shot the cave tunnel scene.

At the end of the week we shot the House-With-The-Windmill. The house that was just up the street from where we were living. It was one Route 1. Anyone who has travelled down Route 1 in Maine, especially on the coast, knows that the traffic is almost non-stop. How could I give the impression of a house in an area completely unoccupied by any humans?

I set up the camera on a tripod, in my car, across the stree, in a gas station and shot the wides shot of the scene. We ran over and over again, hoping the one of the shots we would have enough screen time without a car driving by. Then I brought the camera across the street and shot the other shots. All of them were on a tripod (we borrowed from a friend). I knew that locking the camera down on a tripod for the shots would achieve two purposes: enhances the suspense of the scene and also making motion-tracking easier for skyreplacement. We ran each shot over and over again. Luckily for me I had written the scene with very few lines and they were spaced out. This made it easier for us with the issue of the traffic. One of the things I really like was that I set up every camera shot in the scene.

We continued to push through as many scenes as possible. I still needed lights for the night scenes coming up on Monday and I still didn't have a blank firing gun for one of the important scenes coming up. Things were becoming increasingly more stressful

Citzen Kane's Influence on AMNESIA.

2009-12-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

Spatial distance in images has a huge impact on the subconscious of an audience... and they don't realize it at the time. When we exagerate the distance of space between characters it exemplifies the distance in the relationship of the characters.

(picture is screenshot from "Citizen Kane")

Citizen Kane

Film scholars and historians view Citizen Kane as Welles' attempt to create a new style of filmmaking by studying various forms of movie making, and combining them all into one. The most innovative technical aspect of Citizen Kane is the extended use of deep focus.[27] In nearly every scene in the film, the foreground, background and everything in between are all in sharp focus. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Kane )

Flashforward to AMNESIA:

Welle's use of "deep focus" cinematography and exagerating distance between characters influenced my storyboarding when I redesigned the shot style of the film. I decided to take some risks. Use the camera as a psychological tool, as if a character itself, to provoke certain emotions within the audience to feel a certain way in certain moments. Obviously, every film does this to some extent. But I had felt that for that vast majority of the time filmmakers, especially Hollywood film directors, tend to take less risks on their shot choices and instead use industry-standard shot styles that have been in use for each genre. The films that take risks of using unique shot styles either are praised or criticized.

I decided with AMNESIA to use distance and "deep focus" both as key film techniques. The idea was that Allan is distant from the other characters he is travelling with. He doesn't trust them and in a sense he is in "another world"... kind of like those people who are in a deep thought and you're really not connecting. He's searching for answers and asking questions. They don't trust him and trust will take some time to build. At times we are able to reveal some truth, but it is with hesitancy. Should he trust them? Should they trust him? What's really going on?

(Allan asking "Sandra" "what season is this?... It's been overcas since the day I woke up... but not much rain?"

(Sandra and Allan "Doesn't matter what season. These are the type of storm clouds that don't go away."

One of the things that I did was to try to keep everyone in focus in the camera at all times as much as possible, except for the flashbacks or a few key moments. Typically, Hollywood films followed a new shot design after Citizen Kane by going with "shallow depth of focus". They keep either the foreground or background in focus with the other out of focus. Sometimes they even employ "rack focus" . This technique is the force the audience to focus on what the director wants you to focus on and not the other. My concern sometimes is that we loose the facial reactions that are in the subtleties. We you watch AMNESIA the first time you notice the main action going on, but if you watch it a second or third time you see more because I kept the focus pretty much the same on all things in the scene.

The other reason for this was that you would notice the spatial relation between what is in the background and foreground. You notice why they are in the shot together and reflect on the relevance of it.

(In this shot the gun stays in focus in the foreground while Allan Carter walks away in the background. The natural reaction of the audience is, "What are you doing? Don't leave the gun there!" I wanted both in focus because I want to you connect both foreground and background and how they relate with out using dialogue.)

(Allan's head in foreground just over the edge of stone house wall and Sandra in the background. At this point I wanted to show the distance in their relationship. He did something in the last couple scenes and she's now a bit aloof. She is neither condeming his actions nor condoning but has decided not to talk about it. Allan speaks his line, "Don't you think it's a bit cocky to be wearing red?")

(now I reversed it so that we are looking through the window behind Sandra looking at Allan. Sandra is speaking and he is listening to her reaction. Sandra, "Why would you say that?")

(We flip back to the original shot for Allan's response "Just because it makes you an easy target?"

(We now move into a closer shot of Sandra. It's becoming more personal, but they're still not connecting enough. Sandra replies, "It's sentimental".

(We now move in closer with Allan saying his next line. He's curious and asks her what her favotite line is from the book she has been reading.)

(We now move into the closest shot of the scene. Sandra quotes the line from her book, which ends up being more of a statement about herself than anything else.

(We end of the conversation going back to the extreme over-the-shoulder shot, this time behind Sandra as she walks away. Allan sees her leave, turns back to his journal. She leaves the burned-down-stone house to go after AJ who is the one person who is causing the most amount of division between Allan and Sandra. By going back to these extreme over-the-shoulder shots I am showing that yes, for a brief moment Allan and Sandra were connecting in those closer shots, but in the end they still have distrust and distance between them. It will take something more than a quick exchange to connect the two and bridge this gap.

The "deep focus" and the exagerated distance shots were some of the ways that Citizen Kane had its influence on The Allan Carter Saga Part I: AMNESIA.

PART SEVEN - "Remembering AMNESIA": Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker Shot an Apacolyptic Thiller for $6,000 and Gained the Attention of Media Outlets."

2009-12-03T18:12:00.000-08:00

PART SEVEN

Caves and Secret Tunnels

Leading up to Sept. 1st, (first day of shooting), the prior week I spent building "the cave". A few years before I had watched the film Matawan. That film they shot several scenes in an actual cave. The book I read about the film the spoke about the difficulties of shooting in a real cave. So I was building a new cave, just like last time. We had a friend who allowed us to build it in his back yard. It was large and made out of wood my landlord was going to toss, fencing that was like chicken wire (we got on a deal) and rolls of newsprint paper from a local newspaper that hadn't been used yet. We were planning on using our sprayer from our last paint job when everything was finished. But it was only two people who were building the cave and leading up to Sept 1st our time was running out.

A few days leading into Sept 1st Andrew ended up leaving the construction to do some work, so it ended up being just myself working non-stop on the production. Before we had put any of the fencing up I had put clear plastic poly up which was used in our last film production. I was concerned that since it was leading into Sept we were going to have rain during production and the cave would be destroyed. I didn't think we would get more than one day to shoot the film before it would be destroyed anyways. I had wanted to build it in a barn or some other facility like that, but it didn't work out for me.

Sept 1st showed up, but the cave wasn't entirely painted yet. Two days before we attempted to spray it with our spayer... but it was broken. We changed plans and bought a ton of spray paint cans, but they were running out too quickly. Andrew went to Walmart and bought more while I started to get creative. We rolled tons of rocks from all over into the cave to give it as much reality as possible. We even had a bunch of boulders in one corner around where the fake campfire would be. We had ton of candles and some flashlights to use for the cave, but no lights. My brother was unable to show up, as I had mentioned before, so I wouldn't be able to use his lights. I would have to get creative.

Sept 1st I was spray painting while the cast was showing up. Mike had asked me the prior week about whether his girlfriend could hang out on the set. I was ok with it, but made sure that his focus would be on getting the job done. Andrew made a another trip to Walmart for more spray paint and I recruited the cast to spray paint the cave. This wasn't my plan, but I had to finish it because that was the first scene on the list to shoot. I wanted the hardest stuff done first and those were the scenes that included Mike, Jon and a few more extras. Andrew showed up with more spray paint, but at the end it wasn't enough. White was still showing through in spots in the paper. This wasn't anything like I wanted. It the camera it looked bad... really bad. I decided we would come back later at night, around 7:00 and hopefully it would be dark enough to hide our imperfection.

We went back to our house where I had picked out a location for another scene near a small broke in the forest. We nicknamed the scene, "single woman" from one of the lines in the script. This was another scene in the film where this "group" including, actors Mike, Jon and a few extras where in with the three main characters (Allan, Sandra and AJ). This scene ended up working out perfect for Jenny, who played Sandra, because in this scene the actress acts a lot like Jenny would which made it easier to get her into the character.

I found out at this point that Mike's girlfriend had photography experience, so I taught her how to use our camera. The opening shot of the scene she would run the camera as it moved into Paul (Mike), Matt (Jon) and AJ (Andrew), and then wraps around the group to see Allan and Sandra walk up to the group. The shot was designed this way to bring the audience into the conversation, then wrapping around to show us the two (Sandra and Allan) whom the three had been talking about, before the know they show up. By doing this I am able to make the scene more personal in its connection to the audience and bring up different emotions. The rest of the scene I ran the camera. Mike's girlfriend was so committed to getting the shot great that she took off her shoes and walk around in her socks to eliminate the sound of her walking. She also ran the mike at the same time which made it more complicated, but made her into a one person crew. I did the same when I ran the camera too.

When went back to the "Cave" at 7:00 but at this point it was too dark. The candles, the flashlights were just not enough. Time was running out and my cast was reminding me they wanted to get this scene over with and go home for the day. My first day was not going as planned. But if we could get this scene in the can then I would have all the scenes done for the day as planned. I had no other light source, then I turned around to my Ford Explorer whose headlights were on... I had an idea.

The right corner of the main room of the cave had never been completed. It was totally opened. I drove my Ford Explorer around to the corner and clicked on my high beams, shooting the light straight into the cave main room. I knew this didn't fit the rules for filmmaking. There are certain temperture lights you use for exterior shooting and certain temperature lights you use for interior... Head Lights On You Car Don't Fit Either One!... but... I figured it worked for the cave. A cave would not have sunlight in it, and that's what they based the different temperature lights for interior/exterior shoots. This light would come from a floodlight that campers use or something of that sort. So the cheat could work.

Mike's girlfriend told me that she could see really well in the camera. I checked, it was perfect. We ran the scene. Then for the close ups we used my homemade reflector: tinfoil taped to a circular cut out of cardboard to reflect candle light. When the candle light wasn't strong enough the cast members would aim a flashlight at the reflector and move it back and forth really quickly to mimick the flicker of candle light. We were able to pull off the two scenes that were in this part of the cave. Everyone went home. I made it through day one.

Mike and Jon and the rest of the cast were going to show up around noon. They were really tired. This gave me enough time to build the next set peice I never got a chance to work on: the trap door and the secret basement hideout. It took me much longer than I wanted it to. I needed just enough of the trap door for the look from the basement looking up. I had people covering the windows to darken the basement. Mike and Jon showed up. I was racing to build the trap door into the basement stairs of the house I was renting without leaving any permanent marks. I barely got it done in time.

To light the scene I had one person of both groups with a flashlight. The two groups merged together in the center of the room with their flashlights pointed at each other. I put tinfoil on the front of Jenny's (Sandra's) red-hooded sweat shirt so that it would reflect the light form Mike's flashlight on to Jon's face to light him up. I had her make sure she was turned a certain angle for that shot so that the audience didn't see the tin foil. We shot the several angles that I had storyboarded, improvising with the flashlights and reflectors to make a natural looking light to the scene.

With that scene out of the way, Mike and Jon headed of to play at a concert with the band, to return the followin Monday/Tuesday for their remaining scenes. I built the trap door from the top part so that we could shoot the scene where AJ, Sandra and Allan escape into the trap door. I had to get creative to pull of the disguise and with very little resources. When I got it done my wife looked at it and exclaimed, "I really didn't think you could pull that off... but it looks real".

We shot the scene and I was able to once again meet my schedule demands. I was happy, but worried that something could go wrong to end production. We were barely getting through the scenes as it was. I was up against a lot. But atleast the rest of the week's scenes would only consist of the three main actors: Myself, Andrew and Jenny (Allan, Sandra and AJ).

PART SIX - "Remembering AMNESIA": Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker Shot an Apacolyptic Thiller for $6,000 and Gained the Attention of Media Outlets."

2009-11-25T21:03:00.000-08:00

PART SIX

Like Sand in an Hour Glass...

Time was running out. The job that was suppose to end in two weeks stretch out to 2 months... and then I got a call from my mom that my grandmother was going to give me my inheritance early... so I could buy my equipment. I was suppose to call her, but I got busy, so I put it off till the next Friday... that's when I received the call. My grandmother had had a stroke. I went with my mom down to the hospital. My grandmother was alive, but she didn't fully recover. To make a long story short, a couple months later she died.

I was suppose to get my inheritance just before the September 1st date that we had scheduled for the shoot. But somethings happened with the company that had the money in an annuity. I wasn't suppose to get the money until the middle of September, when it would be too late. Then my brother had to back out of his participation in the project. I contact one of the actors who was suppose to play a minor role and asked him to play my brother's part. He agreed.

I had no money for equipment and still no lead actress. I also could not find a waterfall for the one scene. I ended up heading up to Northern Maine to meet my mentor/teacher from years before, Brenda Jepson.

While waiting for Brenda Jepson to show up at the store we were going to meet in, I decided to venture in. I thought, "maybe she is already inside". She wasn't, but on a postcard rack I saw a postcard with the photo of a place called Moxie Falls... a waterfall in Maine. And not just a waterfall, but one of the tallest in New England. When she did show up, I asked her if she had ever heard of the place. She hadn't. But it was someplace in Maine.

A couple weeks from the day of the shoot I found myself with a delemia. Should I back out? It seemed all the odds were against me... I felt a sense of fear overtake me. If I back out, this is it. No one will ever take me serious. On the other hand, if I continue with the schedule and the necessary peices of the puzzle don't come together than no one will take me serious either. It seemed like a no win situation. But I decided I'd rather be seen as a fool than a quiter. I grabbed the phone number to the church building we needed to use for that one scene in the film. I dialed. I left a message...

About an hour later I received a phone call. It was the pastor's wife of the church that owned the building. At first I just asked to use the building for exterior shots. I didn't know them, they didn't know me. If I could atleast shoot the exterior of the building I would get creative for the interior shots. She said, "You don't have to just shoot the outside of the building, but the inside... and you can shoot in the cemetary". All I had to do was tell them what days I wanted to shoot at the building. She was excited about the idea... Then she said, "Are you looking for any actresses?"

I was a bit taken back. To be offered the use of the building was one thing... but an actress too? She told me her daughter would like to be an actress in the film. I said, "sure, we can do an audition". I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but I figured I should atleast audition her.

Andrew and I visited the church building. We checked out everything in the place. I found out it was the oldest wooden building in Bangor. I also found out that several years earlier it was set to be demolished by the city, but the Pastor and those in his church adopted the building, saving it from destruction. I also found out that they had built in a small, still under construction, balcony section within the sanctuary of the church building. I needed a balcony section so I could shoot the widest shot for the scene in this part of the building.

I chit-chatted with the Pastor's wife while Andrew chit-chatted with the Pastor. If you are going to using a location you need to get to know the people that own the property or are in charge of it, especially in a state like Maine. Maine is like a big "small town". You need to acquire their trust.

The Pastor's wife asked me about the film, I explained the basic idea. She thought it was interesting. Then she said, "you know you should shoot some scenes up at Moxie Falls". I was surprised.

"You know Moxie Falls?", I asked her.

"Oh, yeah, I grew up there when I was a kid"... I explained that I was looking for Moxie Falls. She said she would place a phone call with a connection up there to give us directions on how to find the place. She also asked if I was still interested in her daughter as an actress. I told her we could do an audition on Monday, two day from then.

We auditioned Jennifer Dickinson, for the part of "Sandra". Every actress we auditioned for the part always seemed to find a reason why they couldn't do it at the end. Honestly, it was the worst audition I had done before. She was extremely nervous. I didn't know what to do... Andrew and I went to Walmart to get something.... I kept thinking about the delemia. Jenny was available the entire month of September, which was the schedule for shoot... but she hadn't convinced me that she could pull off the part. On the way out of Walmart I was inspired. I knew that if we didn't go with her the movie was over... but if we went with her, and the movie was great but her performance wasn't then the worst case scenario we could use it to inspire others to get involved in making a remake.

I placed a phone call to her house. I told her she had the part and that the next day, Tuesday, we would give her a copy of the script.. It was exaclty one week for the shoot date.

Then I got a call that my brother's replacement quit. But then his two band members, (he was in a band with two other guys), wanted to do it. I told them I would audition both of them on Tuesday, and one would play the larger part while the other played the smaller part. They told me they could do Monday/Tuesday of the first week and Monday/Tuesday of the second week. This ment that I would have to adjust my schedule.

I got home and found out my inheritance money had showed up, two weeks ahead of schedule, just in time. We cashed the check, and started searching for the equipment. My budget was really time.... REALLY tight!... I would have about 3,500 to buy the camera, microphone and pay a few expenses.

I found a camera on B&H Photo that fit what I needed, but it would eliminate our ability to buy the microphone. My wife took a shot at eBay. She found the camera at around 3,000 but we were taking a risk. If we bought it, it might not work... but we needed it for 3,000. We took the risk. We purchased the camera and then bought the microphone from a company in New Hampshire. Both were to arrive on Saturday, two days before shoot day.

Leading up to all of this I found out that the friend from Michigan wasn't going to be showing up and my old "Maine friends" were going to be available. I now lost extras and my crew... now the crew consisted of one person... Me.

We auditioned the two guys from the band and chose Michael Gomez as "Paul" and Jon Lowry as "Matt". That Saturday the camera and microphone showed up. I had less equipment than the first attempt to shoot the film, but I was determined that make it happen this time. I figured if everything fell apart, if everyone quit I would be the last one to quit. I had come to far to fail this time... but in the back of my mind I was wondering.... how long can this crazy adventure last until it falls to pieces?... Will I actually make this happen, or will something end production again?... only time would tell.

PART FIVE - "Remembering AMNESIA": Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker Shot an Apacolyptic Thiller for $6,000 and Gained the Attention of Media Outlets."

2009-11-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

PART FIVE

Picking up the pieces...

I spent several weeks dealing with the fact that my "one shot at trying to bust into the business" had just fallen to pieces. What would I do? What do you do next when everything that can go wrong, does go wrong?... You find a way to get back up and doing it again.

We had talked about another attempt to shoot the film a year from September... it was now August. My mom called me from Maine and told me about work there. Suddenly I started realizing that the scenery ideas we had originally conceived for AMNESIA looked the way they did because it was based on the landscape of my childhood in Maine. I remembered rivers, forests... even a waterfall. I felt myself drawn back to the state. Within a couple weeks the right amount of paint jobs became available for us to visit Maine and see if it was possible for us to move there. When I mean visit I'm not talking about something glamorous... but a family of four driving late at night from Michigan to Maine. We drove at night because that was the best time for the kids to stay asleep so we could get as many miles behind us as possible.  (I don't recommend night driving.)

We stayed at my mom's house in Maine while I checked out the work situation. There was more work there than in Michigan and things started to fall into place. I was offered another paint job back in Michigan which would pay me just enough when I finished to move the family to Maine.  We returned, I did the job, and we returned to Maine.

Within a week of being in Maine we were looking for a place to move into. We went to look at the first place, a house with 3 acres of forest land in Orland, Maine.  As we drove down the road the house was on I noticed a house with a windmill... just like was in the script for AMNESIA... We found the house number for the place and it ended up being only 2 houses down from the house with the windmill. I had a good feeling that we found what we were looking for... We did.

We moved into the house and I started to work at a local boat building place an hour away. I had tried to get a hold of Andrew for months before moving to Maine, but somehow I was never able to. A month into moving in to the new place I received a phone call. It was my mom who told me she had received a phone call from Andrew. I called him, we talked, I convinced him to come to Maine and live in the basement of the house. This way it would cut down on our budget and help us to focus on making the movie.

Andrew showed up just as I had put in my notice to the job at the boat factory so that we could do paint jobs together. By doing paint jobs together we could schedule the shooting right after a big job and be able to make the film and survive at the same time... atleast that was the idea.

We found many of the different locations, including this old wooden building on the outskirts of Bangor, Maine. We drove by it once when I was lost, looking for Walmart. (Walmart happened to be the other direction). I saw the wooden building, this old colonial style church building, the type you see in movies about the Revolutionary War. And it fit the look. In the film, there was a old colonial church building with an old cemetary in it, paint peeling, etc. This building fit everything we were looking for and it was in the country.

I lined up my brother again to act in the film and help us with the camera and other equipment. I also roped in another cameraman, someone we had met while doing "test" shots the last summer. I talked with a few other old friends from my "Maine years". Everything seemed to be moving forward, except we had no equipment, no leading actress, and I still wasn't able to convince the owners of that old church building to let us shoot on their property.

Andrew and I lined up the biggest paint job I had ever had. It was suppose to be able to be completed in 2 weeks. It would be enough to buy most of the equipment. I was told that when we finished it, someone had another possible one lined up as well. With summer in full swing we would be able to make alot of money for the film...

That's when things started to go wrong...

PART FOUR - "Remembering AMNESIA": Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker Shot an Apacolyptic Thiller for $6,000 and Gained the Attention of Media Outlets."

2009-07-22T21:25:00.001-07:00

PART FOUR

When All Else Fails...

After much debate and a walk in the mall with my wife, I had figured out how to resolve the DP/cinematographer problem.... I'd do it myself. Now I know it sounds crazy, but I had figured out a few years before some techniques to both act in front of the camera and run it at the same time. I would also train other people how to do it as well. It would be tricky, but not impossible.

The other problem I had was the fact that my brother was bringing the lights for the shoot. Now it seemed that just when I resolved one problem I had another. Months prior I had done some exstensive research on cinematography with books, research on the internet, etc. My concern was how to shoot a film that was night-for-night and realistic. I wanted people to feel like they were in the movie with Allan Carter, running with Allan Carter, experiencing what he experienced... One of my leasons was the use of "practicals", or things that woudl be in the scene anyways, to light the scene. For instance we would use candle lights, flashlights in the cave.

We finally got a hold of my wife's cousin who explained that the guy I wanted to rent the camera from was trying to get a hold of me. There had been a mix-up in communications. I got the number to the guy, but had 30 minutes to get him to promise to rent it to us or I wouldn't be able to make it happen. See I was getting a hold of him on a friday, driving down to pick up the camera the next day and on sunday Andrew arrived on the bus, monday was the first day of shooting. I had all the other equipment, but no camera. If this guy said "no" at the end, then I wouldn't be able to move forward.

I got the guy on the phone and offered him the original 300 for 2 weeks, plus after the shooting he got the rest of the equipment. It was a gamble, but without the camera I would loose the cast we lined up. I offered it too him, he took it.

I drove down to the southern part of Ohio the next morning from Central Michigan, picked up the camera, and headed back up towards Michigan. I was tired, but I was excited. I was going to make it happen. Finally the one missing puzzle piece was in the trunk of my car...

I stopped at a gas station near the border of Michigan. I called my wife to make sure she knew I was heading back home. She said to me over the phone, "'K' isn't coming to Michigan..." I was a bit bewildered... "She won't able to do her part in the movie..."

What followed when I got back home was repeated phone calls to try to find a way to get her to show up, but some personal situations had developed so that she was unable to do it. We tried to find multiple women around town who could play the part. One after another our options were running out.

Remember that my original intent was just to make a film that showed my talent, potential, but not something that would be a big hit and sell itself. So I wasn't looking for much, just someone who could fill the role...

Andrew showed up on Sunday from the Grey Hound. He had not had a chance to read the script before getting on the bus, he just knew my prior work. He hopped in the car and told me he loved it, one of the best stories he had ever read... Then I told him the bad news.

We weren't able to shoot the film. Two weeks after Andrew showed up he would be hopping on the bus and making the long drive back. This was it. I may never get another chance. We decided to take a "leap of faith" and believe that some how I would make the film... or atleast hope to get another shot at it. We took the camera and shot "test photage" of different scenes to see how they would look in the camera. This gave us information on how the lighting looked in the cave scene, etc.

Andrew hopped on the bus, headed back home... Then reality sunk in... I just watch my dream disappear... That may have been it, the end of my possible film making career... What could I do next?

PART THREE - "Remembering AMNESIA": Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker Shot an Apacolyptic Thiller for $6,000 and Gained the Attention of Media Outlets."

2009-07-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

PART THREE

(Epiphanies, muzzle-flashes and squibs...)

Just before the fall of 2002 myself and my wife made the distinct decision to move our family back to Michigan and to shoot AMNESIA there. The story was based in the mountains somewhere in America, but we felt that her family were our biggest supporters of our cause. Little did I know that Michigan's economy was getting worse and the chances of finding a great job was slim to impossible.

I pursued every job lead, every idea. I had somehow conceived the notion that I would find a way to not just take care of my family but raise all the funds for the film without any outside help. Every time I came up with a great idea it didn't work out.

Finally one night, while working at one of my dead-end jobs, I had an epiphany or as the line from the movie HOOK goes, "lightening just stuck my brain" (Bob Hoskins who plays Schmee). I suddenly realized that I had been looking for some secret ingredient that would solve all my problems when I should just start working on what it takes to make the film happen. That night after my shift ended at 11pm, I went on the computer and did research on squibs and muzzle flashes and any other special effect I would need in order to do the gun scenes in the film.

I learned something interesting: using squibs and muzzle-flashes without a pyrotech is illegal and extremely dangerous. Rodriguez actually "got lucky", something could have gone terribly wrong (as I saw in many videos on the web) and someone could have gotten hurt or even killed. I learned of techniques so that I didn't have to waste money or risk injuring anyone.

I lined up several actors that I knew. That weren't established actors in the business but they were people I had experience with. One was my brother who I was also going to bring on board as the DP (director of photography or otherwise known as cinematographer). My brother I had considered one of the best actors that I knew and also a great director. He was an extremely great cameraman as well who could "shoot on the fly" if needs be. James was originally suppose to play the leading role as Allan Carter while I played the charecter of "Paul" who is a male supporting role with limited screen time.

The second actor was someone I had worked with before on some small time theater performances that were unpaid. I knew what he could do. His name was Andrew Doph and was living in Seattle, Washington. I had contacted both of them and they both wanted to be involved in the project. Andrew was to play the part of "Derek" the nemisis.

The most important part that needed to be filled was the female lead character. I contacted a friend that I knew that we'll call "K". At first she seemed interested in the part, but then rejected the idea of acting in the movie, so I auditioned an actress from the local college who was planning on movie to LA soon to audition for movies.

An interesting thing about taped auditions is that later on the people who watch the tape see something different than during the audition. I had no one else to read the part of Allan Carter for the audtion since it was just myself and this actress, so I read his lines for him. While watching the tape my wife commented, "that actress really isn't made for this part... but you are defintely Allan Carter". I had no actress, but I had a realization that I needed to switch parts with my brother and have him play "Paul" while I played "Allan"... but how does someone play the leading role while being the director?

"K" the original actress we wanted finally consented to the idea of playing the female lead. She sent us her audition tape and I viewed it with my wife. Both of us concluded that she was exactly what we needed for the part. She started to get in shape for the charecter and memorize her lines.

I had 2 other delemias.... I had the male supporting role of "AJ" that needed to be filled and also the lack of funding for the project. We filed our taxes and received some money back, but it still wasn't even close enough to buy the camera we wanted: the Canon XL-1. My brother was going to bring the lights and the tripod with him. My brother came up with the best equipment list he could on a shoe-string budget.

Suddenly I received a call to do a paint job for a friend of the family. I had picked up painting from my father as a trade, but it never seemed to bring in much money. This job would intale staining and varnishing 17 windows and 3 doors in a matter of a week and a half. I tried to give an estimate based on pictures but later found the pictures to be deceiving. It was a daunting task that later effected my wrists because I pushed myself with very long hours with few breaks.

I figured out who would play "AJ" and also found the camera we could use. Andrew would play both the nemisis "Derek" and also the male supporting role "AJ". It would be tricky, but I figured out who to do it.

I received the money from the paint job, but it was still not enough to buy the camera and all the equipment needed. A few months before the painting job my wife and connected me with her cousin who knew someone who had the camera I needed. We exchanged emails and it seemed like the perfection situation. Rodriguez borrowed someone's camera for 2 weeks, I'll borrow someone's camera for two weeks. Except that guy never got a hold of me...

There was an even big problem as well and it was in the woods in a friend of the family's property... a very large cave construction... Yes, a cave! People who have watched AMNESIA have asked where I found the cave... I built it, mostly all by myself. It was a very large construction of wood, chicken-wire like wire, paper, texture paint, dirt, rocks, paint, etc... And it was a very daunting task....

The cave wasn't finished... the camera wasn't found... and a month before shooting I received bad news... my brother wouldn't be able to make it for the shooting of the film...

Posted above is an excerpt from the film. Our warning is that the video has violence in it and is recommended for a PG-13 or older audience.

PART TWO of- "Remembering AMNESIA": Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker Shot an Apacolyptic Thiller for $6,000 and Gained the Attention of Media Outlets."

2009-06-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

PART TWO

(Conceiving a Saga)

John Wayne Bosley

After a few days thinking through the concept of this world of Allan Carter, I sat in front of a computer and wrote out a summary of the scenes that made up the film, then wrote the first draft of the script. After a a few hours the first draft was done and several people close to me read draft one. A large portion of the final version of AMNESIA still has scenes that are almost word-for-word what was in that first draft. My brother James read that script and recommended that we go for a car ride to Barnes & Noble. We never made it into the store, but instead sat in his car developing the concept of the story into a more complex and layered story plot.

One of the things that scared me about AMNESIA's story concept was that the world Allan Carter wakes up to has a permanent cloudy sky and a few other special effects elements. Being that this was my first feature film I was scared to death with the idea of special effects or blue screen/green screen and wanted to do something easy. So I kept the cloudy sky and other special effects elements of the world either out of the screenplay entirely or as low key as possible (that was until later drafts were written).

I went back and wrote draft two and started to realize that the story dictated the need for a sequel because the first one only seemed like an introduction into this world we were creating and the delema that Allan Carter was facing. But then I put everything on hold...

You see, I was starting to become concerned that since AMNESIA dealt with different topics that would possibly be controverisal, I didn't want to do the story anymore. It is very easy for different people to treat the story as something more than it was. So AMNESIA was shelved, and I had determined that I may never make the story...

About 4 months later I had come to the conclusion that I had no other choice but to make my next film. I was leaning towards a sci-fi thriller about time travel and my brother had talked about a film about dreams, and then there was AMNESIA. I pitched all three to my wife and asked her what she thought. Her response: "If I had a choice of which one I thought would make it to Sundance on the concept it would be AMNESIA". Her comment settled the decision for me on the film, but little did I know how difficult a journey it would be to bring the film to life and how many times the project would almost be canceled.

After our decision on AMNESIA being the film to start my career, I decided to do something no other screenwriter or filmmaker ever did: write all the sequels before shooting the first one. I am a idealist when it comes to stories. I believe that if a sequel is to be made it should be because the story dictated the need not because they can make a lot of money of a great concept that people loved. I also believed that all sequels should atleast be written out in a summary, at the least, if not as scripts as well, long before the first film is shot. That is what I did. I wrote THEM right after committing to produce AMNESIA and wrote the summary of 11th HOUR as well. I knew the ending before I shot the begining...

TO BE CONTINUED...

"Remembering AMNESIA": Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker Shot an Apacolyptic Thiller for $6,000 and Gained the Attention of Media Outlets.

2009-06-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

PART ONE
By: John Wayne Bosley

The story of AMNESIA started four months after 9/11, when I was just 22 years old. I had bought the book, "Rebel without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player" by writer/director Robert Rodriguez. His book is considered a "must-read" by most independent filmmakers. (For those who don't know Rodriguez, he produced recent hits like SPY KIDS and SIN CITY.) After reading it, I did what many other aspiring filmmakers did: I decided to produce my first feature film... The one main difference between "us aspiring filmmakers" was that I was going to attempt an Apacolyptic Science Fiction Thriller, which would ultimately need more editing and special effects than many would think.

Rodriguez's book may have inspired me to produce a film, but it was the combination of the events of 9/11 along with the 1968 film THE PLANET OF THE APES that inspired the script. I envisioned what the world would look like if something even worse than 9/11 had happened and what would unfold afterwards. Then I envisioned the main character, Allan Carter, waking up sometime after "the event" with amnesia. The audience would be forced to learn his past as his memories slowly returned and follow his adventure into the unknown world.

AMNESIA wasn't my first screenplay, or even my second. I started writing when I was 7, but didn't write my first screenplay until I was 12. What was unique about AMNESIA was it's apacolyptic-like world, but I knew going into production that I would have a very limited budget. How would it all get done? And, get done the right way?

The book, "Rebel Without A Crew," wasn't the first book I had read about a filmmaker's journey. It was the finale of a series of books I had found along the way and had been reading for around a year about filmmakers. Before "Rebel Without A Crew" one of the books was called, "Titanic and the Making of James Cameron" which it told how he became the filmmaker who created the famous TERMINATOR movie which launch his career and eventually led to his mega-budget film TITANIC.

Cameron created TERMINATOR because he knew that sci-fi was the genre that was "hot" at the time, but knew that for the budget he would be pursuing he couldn't create an entire science-fictional world. What he did was to instead set it in a modern-day setting and have the sci-fi element be the Terminator character so that the special effects would be limited to key moments.

Applying the concept of minimizing the science fiction elements to key moments, I wrote a screenplay that would reveal the world in small dosages, but would keep the effects to a minimum. At least, that was the plan...

To Be Continued...

Sci-Fi Film Attempts to Re-define Genre

2008-11-29T17:26:00.000-08:00

Sci-Fi Thriller Attempts to Re-define Genre

“Everything can change in the blink of an eye…” This simple statement was never more true then when we all watched the TV screen on the fateful morning of 9/11. While some were saying that 9/11 was the beginning of the end, writer/director John W. Bosley found himself envisioning what the world might be like if something even more terrible happened.

“We attempted to create something that was new, something that was fresh,” Bosley explained. “We mixed up genres and allowed the story to dictate the styles of our shooting and editing of the film. We hope when people see the film that they say, ‘I’ve never seen anything like that before.’”

Bosley’s film, “amnesia,” took six years to complete from scriptwriting to final product. The film was recently taken on tour throughout various theaters in Maine and Michigan. Presently, Bosley’s company, J.B. Movies and Visual Arts, is pursuing various options to nationally market the film.

“amnesia” is the story of Allan Carter, who wakes up with amnesia and can only recall that he is looking for his wife and son. Soon, he finds himself being chased through the forest on a crazy adventure full of action, suspense, and drama. The whole while, Allan tries to unlock the mystery of what really happened to his family, and what kind of world he woke up to.

“I was inspired by the original version of ‘The Planet of the Apes.’ I liked how the film reached many different types of audiences and had some relevance to the time and the culture that watched it,” Bosley stated. “‘amnesia’ has been compared to popular TV shows like LOST and Jericho. Some audience members say it is similar to movies like Signs and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.”

To read more about “amnesia” and J.B. Movies and Visual Arts visit: www.jbmovies.com.

Filmmaker Creates a “Revolution”

2008-11-26T17:58:00.000-08:00

During a time of economic anxiety, one filmmaker is striving to demonstrate that, with creativity and determination, anything is possible. After six and a half years of production, writer/director John W. Bosley has finished his first feature-length film: “amnesia.” Inspired by the events of 9/11, the film was shot in Maine, Michigan and Colorado.

Bosley spent the majority of his childhood and school years in Maine’s poorest region, Aroostook County, and relocated to Michigan after getting married. “I grew up in an area that was about as far away and disconnected from the Hollywood film industry as is possible in the United States. But, something inside of me always dared to believe in the impossible and that one day I would be a filmmaker,” Bosley stated.

Bosley didn’t have Hollywood funding or investors to back the film. Instead, he produced it on his own, with the help of family members, and started J.B. Movies and Visual Arts, LLC. Knowing the challenges of producing a film with special effects would be difficult, he decided to personally do the post-production work and also enlisted the help of his brother, James Bosley (a visual effects artist).

“With the economy like it is you have only two choices,” Bosley explained. “You can either accept things the way they are, or you can become creative and innovative. I decided that I would rather fight for a dream than give it up, even if it took me six and a half years.”

After the completion of “amnesia,” Brenda Nasberg Jepson, Co-chair of the Maine Film Commission and Bosley’s mentor, reviewed the film and suggested that he should take it on tour. Bosley took her recommendation, and “amnesia” went on tour throughout the state of Maine in July 2008. The tour, consisting of twelve screenings at six different theatres, was a success and gained the attention of State Senators and Representatives. The tour also focused on promoting filmmaking within the state and supporting Maine’s local filmmakers.

“amnesia” is the story of a man, Allan Carter, who wakes up with amnesia. He doesn’t understand the world he has woken up in and searches for his the only thing he can remember: his wife and son. “The story contains tragedy and hope. It’s about redemption and second chances,” explained Nina Hegyi, publicist for J.B. Movies and Visual Arts.

Bosley recently returned to Maine in October 2008 to do additional screenings and speak to film students at a local college and state university. He also visited his former high school video productions class (Caribou, Maine) to show the students that they could work in the film industry, no matter what their financial situation. “I don’t want to only focus on my own career goals, I want to encourage others to follow their dreams too.”

Presently, “amnesia” has been entered into the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas and awaits consideration. “Even if the film is not accepted at this festival, that isn’t the end of the road for this story,” Bosley stated. “Our company’s slogan is ‘Join The Revolution’ and we are already inspiring people to pursue their own dreams -whatever those dreams may be. Anything is possible, don’t ever give up. I won’t.”

For more information visit: www.jbmovies.com.