Cain Rose Up - Day 4

Today we shot all the flashback scenes and some more of the dorm room where Curt picks off his peers. Overall everything went smoothly today. Had some issues with Spot however after she calmed down we got some great footage. Little kids and guns become very scary very fast. Lots of good stuff today and tomorrow is our final shoot.

Cain Rose Up - Day 3 (Hump Day)

Today was our third day of shooting and it was stressful. We shot all of the scenes in the dorm room and our location did not work with the shot list I had planned. From the beginning we had to improvise and go just off what would look good in camera. Out of the 3 scenes we had planned to shoot, we got 2 and a 1/4 done. Tomorrow is a very big day of shooting and one of the ones I've been looking forward to, however, now we are packing on one more scene to the day and I hope that everything gets finished. On the other side of things we had a great cast today and I am very pleased with everyones acting. 2 more days to go!

On a different note when we finished lunch we walked back to set and some student had his music blaring (extreme techno). I glanced into his room and saw him sitting at his desk fist pumping by himself. He had no audience... It was awesome.





(Pictures courtesy of Mitch Cde Baca)

Cain Rose Up - Day 2 of shooting

We finished out second day of shooting. We worked all day but I think we came out with some really cool looking footage especially during the dream sequence. Got some great extras who really helped out with background and were paitent with the whole process. 2 of 5 days finished. Next weekend are our big shoots (pun intended).




(Photos courtesy of Evan Carter)

Cain Rose Up - Day 1 Finished

Finished shooting the first day of "Cain Rose Up." Shot three scenes and managed to get some really cool looking footage. This film is going to have a very odd quality about it because I'm making a dark film in the light of day. Below is a set photo from one of the scenes once Curt takes his first shot.
Tomorrow is day 2 of shooting. We will be focusing on the dorm scenes up until Curt makes it to his room.

More to come!!

Cain Rose Up only days away!!!

Friday we begin potential photography for "Cain Rose Up." Pre-production has been rough on this project. There is so much red tape to go through on campus. I'm still trying to get specific scenes approved and we are only days from shooting. However, I just saw the special effects demos for the final scene and its going to be a wild shoot.

More info coming soon. I will post some production photos once we get going.

Law Abiding Citizen Review

Last night I got to go to an advanced screening of "Law Abiding Citizen." After I finished my friend and I sat watching the credits just thinking. She turned to me finally and had the same issue with the film that I did. The ending was terrible.

Synopsis: Gerard Butler plays a father who looses his daughter and wife in a brutal murder. He watches as the killer is only given 3 years in prison because he testifies against his partner. 10 years later Gerard Butler gets his own form of justice on those who let a killer off with a very small sentence.

This movie was wild up until the end. There are a few scenes that are horrifying. Watching Clyde chop up the killer in the most inhumane way possible, but there is a twist. You are with him the entire time. You want him to kill. I think this is a very hard thing to accomplish in film. It's done on Dexter amazingly and in this film you are right with Clyde from the beginning. You want him to get revenge on everyone that screwed him over. My issue is that towards the end of the film the writers flip it so that you are rooting for Jamie Foxx who's the evil one at the beginning. The reasoning is obvious, to show that justice will triumph and have the audience regain trust in the American system. I was so angry when I saw this flip happen. They demonize Clyde to the extreme at the end and he begins to kill innocent people that had nothing to do with the case. My friend and I both saw this as the downfall of a great story. There is much to be said about siding with the killer and approving of his actions. It's a topic I'm personally interested in and future films/research will be exploring it.

Wes Cravens "People Under the Stairs"

Fool (played by Brandon Quintin Adams) gets stuck in his landlords house. Come to find out the people he's trying to rob are sick and twisted. They steal children and lock up all the "Evil" ones. Alice, the good child, is not stuck under the stairs because she hears no evil, sees no evil and speaks no evil. A telling moment is when the parents confront Alice and the sign reads over their shoulder "A child is to be seen not heard." All hell breaks loose as Fool gets away and tries to save Alice.

Cool film! Defiantly think it would be better to see on the big screen. I was very impressed with the set especially the use of light when in the walls. There were essentially two worlds in this film, the house, and the walls. Fool was able to go in and out and create havoc for the parents. In the basement there were flashlights being used to make the space seem more chaotic. Each of the "evil" children were given a flashlight (told in a expository moment) and these were used not only to show the chaos but the beams of light interacted with the characters and lead to the downfall of the father. Another strange bit of this movie was the father when he wore a dominatrix suit to hunt down the kids. It was very telling for his character and I enjoyed the visual aesthetic of it. It becomes a monster that is on the hunt making the situation creepier.

If you haven't seen this flick I'd say check it out.

New "The Let Go" music video

This summer I shot a music video for "The Let Go" in Seattle.

Check it out!

Cain Rose Up - Script Finished

Wow, 2 years working on a 10 page script is crazy! I have gone through so many drafts and I think I finally got a piece that will be both shocking and an eye opener to larger issues in life. I think I went through something like 30 different drafts. I have found that there are so many different ways to adapt this short story.

The film is almost completely casted. I have 2 more roles to fill and will be on the hunt the next week.

Next step... Breakdown script, schedule dates, shots lists and inform the troops!

This film is finally coming together and I'm so excited by the way things are turning out.

More to come soon