Production Day 7

Well, here I am back at home in Illinois, having driven back this morning. Last night Jonathan officially wrapped production, and we actually got to sit down for a while with nothing that had to be done!!!

We started out yesterday afternoon with a funeral scene… attended by eleven people. Jonathan had called everyone that he could think of (and I had even tried recruiting a contact about an hour south of Cedar Rapids), but only eight extras showed up. So it was a bit tricky, but I think that we were able to make it look like there was a lot more people there (and no, we’re not duplicating people via CG…).

After wrapping that up, we had to improvise an “AA meeting” scene… most of the actors had to leave, so we didn’t really have enough to do an actual meeting. But it turned out. Jonathan had a plan B.

Back at the house, we set up an intense scene where a drunk “Uncle Joe” vents his anger on his orphaned nephew. Basically we were finishing scenes that we missed getting during the week do to various and sundry reasons.

So all in all, the last official day of production went pretty well! It was a great week, but I think that both Jonathan and I are glad that it’s over. It was busy and tiring, but great.

Production Day 6

Last night we set up a scene again after a day off, shooting a few scenes with “Uncle Joe.” Jonathan pointed out that we have two famous actors playing in this film: Steve Jenkins (Field of Dreams, 1989), and Jimmy Stewart. Okay, okay…. no, not the real Jimmy Stewart that everyone thinks of… Jim Stewart is the man playing Uncle Joe.

Having went to Columbia College for the film program, as well as being in numerous various stage productions, Mr. Stewart is a phenomenal actor.

One of the scenes we shot was quite emotional… In the context of the film, it’s going to be a quite moving scene when it’s all done.

At any rate, today (Saturday), we have another day off from shooting. That doesn’t mean that we won’t be doing anything, though; we have to return a prop car, hunt down a hard-to-find prop, and do house-burning tests (more on that later!).

Production Day 5

It was fairly simple: drive out to the Happel farm where we were the night before, shoot the footage, and we’re done! Except for a few minor details. Once all the actors found their way to where they were supposed to be, and we had figured out that we were supposed to pick up the two children actors, things started rolling smoothly.

I tell you, it’s amazing being involved in film work. We’re called “independent” filmmakers; but to be honest, we’re “dependent” filmmakers. It’s been amazing; the past few days there have been thunderstorms in the forecast for the afternoons, but by the time we have started shooting, the skies have been mostly clear and the light has been absolutely gorgeous natural lighting situations.

Of course, not only are we dependent on God to provide the weather we need, but also the timing and everything being brought together that’s out of our control.

So that being said, we were very dependent on God today, as there was a whole lot of stuff that was beyond our control. The Lord worked out everything for good, though, and we were able to get the shots that we needed. Praise Him!

Jonathan and I also went into downtown Cedar Rapids to shoot a scene of him as the “older Sam” waiting for a bus. As the original spot he had been thinking about filming was on a college campus (and thus college property, which would mean us having to hunt down someone to give us permission to use it), we found a nice spot on public property that turned out just right.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos from the set today… But just for fun, here’s some screenshots of some footage that we have shot so far:

So anyway, we’ll be off from shooting tomorrow, and will be back on it start Friday evening. That being the case, there most likely won’t be a production update tomorrow!

Production Day 4

Today was an interesting day. Well, the first few hours of it wasn’t, because we weren’t starting to shoot until 6 in the evening. But when we did start out our day’s worth of film work at around 5, things began to get interesting.

We had to take two cars, as we were using borrowed cars as props in some of the scenes being shot. Soon after leaving, Jonathan got a call from his AD; she basically had no gas and needed him to pick her up rather than her driving out to the location.

So I went on alone in a pickup truck to the farm location, near Shellsburg, Iowa. The trip out there went great; it was just when I got there…. I wasn’t sure where to park, as we were going to be using the farm’s driveway, so I drove past it. Realizing that I should have just went ahead and gone into it, I decided that I needed to turn around.

And so I did. Or, attempted to, at least… It looked like a fairly even and level ditch; the grass was at about the level of the road. So I turned, meaning to only go a little way into it just to give me enough space to turn around on the road.

Wanna see what happened? Look no further:

Doesn’t look so bad, eh?

Yep, it was that bad. These Iowa ditches are deceiving.

‘Nuff said.

Once the tow truck got there, things started going better (for a while…).

Sooooo… That’s how our film shoot began this evening.

Just before we had left Jonathan’s house, I had a sudden impulse to go grab the second camera, which I hadn’t planned on bringing. I think that the Lord was prompting me to do so, as it was easily accessible (along with the all-essential battery that I didn’t think I would need…) in the cab of the truck rather than in the bed (where the other camera bag was completely blocked by lights and other grip equipment). Thank you, Lord!

Things went fairly smooth after that, except that we were losing light like crazy towards the end. We ended up lighting the outside of the farmhouse and shooting the pre-sunset scene as if it was post-sunset (’cause it kinda was…).

Since we had done this, Jonathan thought it would be good to get some footage of the moon, so on the way back from the shoot, we stopped on the side of the road. One problem: two cars with no headlights on, dark night, out in the country. And a police car.

Don’t worry, we didn’t get arrested. He basically told us that where we were wasn’t a good spot (right on top of a hill), and that we should try a gravel road instead. We were all thankful that that went smoothly…

So we went out onto a country road, gravel, dark. It felt kinda funny though, being out there, two cars in complete darkness…. and a farmhouse not a quarter of a mile away. I don’t know if they saw us or not, but if they did, it probably didn’t have the appearance of being anything good…

But anyway, it was an interesting day, full of adventures and excitement!

(and yes, in case you’re wondering, our drive home was surprisingly without any incidents!)

Behind the scenes video

Father Who Art Production BTS Days 1-3 from Chad Stembridge on Vimeo.

Production Day 3

Today was busy. Very busy. But a good kind of busy. Originally, Jonathan had scripted a bus into the script. When he shot his trailer for the ChristianFilmmakers.org 24-hour contest, he was able to use a bus. But for the film, there was no bus. So what does one do when he can't get a bus to use? Get a taxi, of course! So it was my job to turn Jonathan's car into a taxi. I had some time in the morning, so I cut out the letters, put together the cab light, and began painting. After a few coats of paint and a couple hours, I had to head off to Iowa City (south of Cedar Rapids) to return our Lowell light kit to the public access TV station. That took about an hour or so... well, more actually. I stopped at a Michael's to see if they happened to carry any stick-on lettering or signage, which they did. It was in the scrapbooking section of the store, and if I were to use what they had, someone would have had to use binoculars to be able to read it. Apparently people don't use really big letters in scrapbooks. So I went to Auto Zone... surely they would have at least number stickers or checkered tape. But alas, all they had as far as sticky stuff goes was logos and skulls... Definitely nothing that would go on a taxi. They say that you'll always find something in the last place you look. In my case, the last place I looked was at Lowe's, and guess what? I found what I was looking for! I found out that the number and letter stickers that go on houses and mailboxes work absolutely great for what I needed them for. Soon after my escapade all over Cedar Rapids (well.... all over a couple miles of the city, anyway), I arrived back home and began to work on finishing my paint jobs on the lettering I had already made. Everything being done, I had a bit of free time.

It looks like I'm snoozing... but I'm only posing for a rare self-portrait.
Soon Jonathan got home though, and I flew into action, getting all my taxi signage together, and soon had his car looking like it was for hire.
No, it definitely didn't look real from close up... but it had a great squint factor!
Heading out to Shellsburg, we met up with the actors and continued on out into the country, where we shot some footage and waited for our chase airplane. A couple of Jonathan's friends had agreed to fly, and Jonathan's roommate Jacob was the cameraman for the aerial shots we needed. I gave him a crash course in "DVX100b 101" last night, and all things considered, he did a good job! Unfortunately, Jonathan's plan for using walkie-talkies didn't work out so well (big aluminum boxes called "airplanes" tend to have an effect on signals...), so we had a bit of trouble with getting the timing of shots worked out. But we got 'em worked out, then shot some more regular footage in the gorgeous light of the late afternoon sun, diffuses by whispy cotton-ball clouds. It was kinda funny working out on the road shooting; I could tell that people driving by were probably wondering what exactly was going on... a taxi cab the kept turning around; a couple kids walking along the side of a road; a camera guy; and a camera crane three feet from the road... Yep, it had to be an interesting sight!

A One Step Taxi in a Step One film.
So all in all, it was a great day, full of new and challenging things, and overall very fun! I'm looking forward to tomorrow's shoot... and getting to have a bit of free time before it!

Production Day 2

Things have been so busy the past couple days, I haven't been able to give any updates on progress... better late than never, though! Sunday after church, Director Jonathan, AD Leah, and yours truly went to one of the most interesting Mexican restaurants I've been to. It's called Ponchero's, and if you can imagine a Mexican Subway (as in the sandwich shop), that's what it is. You order your basic meal (taco, salad, or burrito), and then build it from there. It was quite delicious! Soon afterwards, we headed to Noelridge Park, where we shot a couple of flashback scenes. Unfortunately, I didn't take any still pictures of it... It was a pretty light day as far as the amount of shooting went. The third and last scene we shot was at some of Jonathan's friend's apartment, where we set up lights, got makeup on talent, and got the scene in the can fairly quickly.

Blended cherries are actually pretty good for a makeup base... =)
Curry helped make the bruise look real.
Two-point lighting in a bathroom mirror... needless to say, the room got quite warm very quickly.

Production!

(By Chad the DP)

Well, here I am in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the production of the short film from Step One Films, Father Who Art. Jonathan Spaulding, the director, and I went on a shopping excursion last night to hunt down the remaining props and food items that he needed for today. Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling to well last night, but thanks be to the Lord, he was feeling much better today. We began work at 2:00 this afternoon, setting up lights (loaned from the local Public Access TV station), cameras, props, etc., in a gorgeous early 20th-century house. It was the perfect setting for the scenes that we were shooting today.

Built quite a few years ago, complete with push-button light switches! We started out in the living room, shooting the scenes with the most dialogue. This morning I had to go to Walmart to get a print made, which you can see in this picture: In case you're wondering, no, I didn't take it... it's a public domain image from the U.S. Government, which we obtained from the handy-dandy source called Wikipedia. He's an Airborne soldier from the U.S. Army. We changed his name for the movie, though (gotta love photoshop!).
"The knife is a sharp guy; he's always right, so he goes on the right...."
Things got a bit complicated when it clouded over really bad and a rainstorm hit (our outdoors lighting source was hidden from view...). However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as because of the rain, an actor who had to leave early was able to come back to do a scene we had forgotten about. Light began to fail us a little after we ate supper, so we set up Jonathan's halogen work lights outside, which turned the dusk into a right nice noon-ish feel. So anyway, we had a great day; the Lord blessed it, and I feel that we got some good footage. I'm so glad that I could come out to help!

Be an Extra!

Dear Friends and Drama and Film Enthusiasts,We at Step One Films are in the middle of our week long production of "Father who Art." Many of you helped in the trailer and now we need your help again.

For those of you not familiar with the project you can see the trailer we made for a 24hour film fest at www.steponefilms.com This short film follows the heartwarming story of two Orphans searching for there place in the world.

We need Extras Sunday Aug 17th 1-3pm
at Westminster Presbyterian Church
1285 3rd Ave. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403

Extras should wear formal clothes for a funeral scene
and bring a spare change of casual clothes for and AA meeting scene

If you can come please let us know. This will help us with planning and logistics.

Thanks,
Jonathan
(StepOneFilms AT gmail)