As the crew from “Maintenance Man” has just recently discovered, even a well-planned production can run into challenges from the unexpected, but it’s how you deal with it that makes the difference.   Reading producer Lisa Newell’s notes on the shoot are an excellent reminder of the importance of cast/crew dynamics and how collaborative the filmmaking process is.  Because everyone stayed focused on the task at hand, kept their cool and more importantly their senses of humour, their film is in the can and being edited as we speak.  Re-reading that Wim Wenders quote I posted a few weeks ago about the value which a challenging production process adds to the final product, makes me very optimistic that MM and the other three films are going to turn out great.  Don’t forget,the screening is May 31 at the Pacific Cinematheque, our BDTH shorts start at 7pm and the 35mm presentation of “Highway 61″ is at 8:30pm.  Cash bar and reception to follow the screenings.

Like a well-oiled machine, the juggernaut known as Back Down the Highway is picking up momentum.  Skate on Alicia has completed their principal photography on time and on budget- as if they had a choice – and now the Maintenance Man team takes over, while SoA director Jayme Cowley settles into his new home away from home – the edit suite.  Let’s see if our friend Frank Hauser has any pearls of wisdom to offer for this part of the process:

Please, PLEASE, be decisive As the director you have three weapons “Yes”,”No”, and “I don’t know”.  Use them.  Don’t dither; you can always change your mind later.  Nobody minds that, but what they do mind is the two hours of agonizing when all an actor has asked is “Do I get up now?”

Proper audience focus is the key to an effective joke A genuinely funny line wasn’t laughed at.  Why?  Someone may have moved, coughed or otherwise stolen the audience’s attention at an inopportune moment.

After weeks of planning and preparation, the crew for “Skate on Alicia” picked up their gear yesterday morning, and have begun the first of their planned four days of shooting today.  Good luck folks, we look forward to seeing some updates on your page.

In the meantime, carrying on from last week’s post, here are some pearls of wisdom from Frank Hauser’s “Notes on Directing”.

Every actor has a tell A tell is what an actor does when he doesn’t know what to do.  It is a habitual behaviour that is completely irrelevant to the  tack at and and reveals itself at times of insecurity, fear, or lack of focus  or imagination.  Look for stock postures, reliance on melodious or heightened vocal inflections, repetitious movements or cliched gestures.  If it strikes you as false, you’re probably witnessing a tell.

Talk to the character, not the actor When actors don’t seem to have the right idea – close but no cigar – it is okay to say what they did was good because of the quality you were looking for but didn’t get.

A friend of mine recently lent me this pretty excellent book on working with actors and constructing stories.  Although the book’s authors work in the theatre, I’ve found a number of really interesting parallels to the work we do in film, and the lessons are just as relevant.  Frank Hauser directed plays in the UK for several decades through the Eighties, and over that time had compiled his wisdom into a document of 130 notes which he would sometimes bestow on up and coming directors.  This book is that compilation, with the ideas further fleshed out, and over the next couple of weeks I’m going to share some of Hauser’s pearls with you in no particular order:

• Read each character’s part as though you were playing it Skip the scenes you are not in and concentrate on your own lines.  This often gives you a more vivid idea of the character and can help with casting.
• Don’t try to please everybody  Bill Cosby said, “I don’t know the formula for success, but I do the formula for failure; trying to please everybody”. With both the authority and responsibility to stage the play well, you will inevitably have to make  some unpopular decisions.  Accept the grumbling.   Be strong and calm in the face of opposition – and realize that normal conversation includes a good portion of complaint.

Stay tuned next week for more!

Jon Ornoy, Executive Producer

All the teams gathered again at Cineworks HQ this past weekend to send some time talking about the third and fourth scripts to go into production, Bull by the Horns and Dancing in Ashes.  We were very lucky to welcome short-film guru Kellie Ann Benz this week as guest story editor and it was definitely interesting to watch the contrast in styles between her approach and our work the previous week with Daniel Conrad.  Especially refreshing was Kellie’s manifesto that  short films should be regarded as works of art unto themselves and not only as stepping stones towards making a feature.  Kellie blogs extensively on the subject on her site The Shorts Report.  Thanks Kellie.

This BDTH contest is an exercise in restrictions and the challenge is to creatively find solutions around a) making a film in two weeks b) basing it on a chunk of someone else’s dialogue  c)not having any control about the equipment you’ll be using.   Here’s a great quote from director Wim Wenders on why restrictions help the creative process:

I think it’s very rare that you make a film where there are no obstacles to overcome an everything runs smoothly.  And it’s very rare that such experiences turn into a good movie.  In my own experience, those films where you stood in front of a mountain of problems and had to overcome huge difficulties, where you were heartbroken that you couldn’t do things and you had to come up with ideas in order to cover up for something – those are the interesting films….I think that the films that break your heart in between also have the potential to break other people’s.

As the old saying goes, writing is all about re-writing, so in that spirit we’re doing some workshopping sessions with our filmmakers in order to get their scripts as polished as possible before they go to camera.  Big thanks to director Daniel Conrad and actors Nathalie and Phil for volunteering their time to come work with us.  Here’s what it looked like.

While our teams are hunkered down and getting ready for a first round of script workshops happening this weekend with the help of director Daniel Conrad, we thought we’d take a moment to acknowledge our funders, as well as the industry partners who are helping us pull this off.

The City of Vancouver

BC Arts Council

Canada Council for the Arts

• The Pacific Cinematheque
• dbc sound
• Rukkus Sound
• The Sound Kitchen
• Post Modern Sound
• Fullcolorduplications.com
• Neil Clements

We kicked off the production process for BDTH this week with an orientation meeting for the teams, to give them an opportunity to meet each other and to take care of some housekeeping details before they get started in earnest.  Everyone’s chomping at the bit to get started and here’s the order they’ll be shooting in:

Two Skaters – April 9-15

Maintenance Man – April 16 – 22

Dancing in the Ashes – April 23 – 29

Bull  by the Horns – April 30 – May 6

Please stay tuned to these pages to follow the teams’ production process and don’t be afraid to get involved through the crew call page!

It’s been an exciting week and a half for us around here reading all the script submissions which came in for our first ever short film contest.  We were really impressed by the quality of the writing and creativity thrown at this challenge, and it definitely made for a difficult decision making process.  In the end though, we’ve made our choices and here they are in no particular order:

• “Maintenance Man” – Director Gayatri Bajpai, Producer Lisa Newell
• “Bull by the Horns” – Director Tito Kamel, Producer Tito Kamel
• “Two Skaters” – Director Jayme Cowley, Producer Samuel Luk
• “Dancing in the Ashes” – Director Jordan Barnes Crouse,  Producer Dylan Thompson

Please check back in regularly to see updates from each team about their production process and keep up to date with all the developments.

The results of all this hard work will be seen in a theatrical presentation at the Pacific Cinematheque on May 31st, 2012.  Following the presentation of the “Back Down the Highway” compilation of shorts, audience members will be invited to stay for a rare local 35mm screening of “Highway 61″, as well as a “meet the filmmakers’ reception in the Cineworks studio (cash bar).

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the release of Bruce McDonald’s “Highway 61″, Cineworks is excited to announce our new programming initiative “Back Down the Highway”.   Using this seminal Canadian film as an inspiration and jumping off point for the creation of new work, filmmakers will be challenged to realize an entirely original short film from a section of dialogue excerpted from this indie classic.   Judges will be looking for originality and distance from the source material, and the top five submissions will be selected for production.  Cineworks will supply each team with a week’s rental on the same package of production equipment as well as a week’s time in one of our edit suites to complete their projects.  In May 2012, the compilation of films will receive a theatrical presentation which will see each short shown back-to-back, followed by the original scene from “Highway 61″ so that audiences can see from where we drew our inspiration.

THE DIALOGUE

1: I brought you some coffee if you’d like some coffee.  What do you think you’re doing?
2: I know what I’m doing!
1: Naturally you’re a little upset about this, Maybe you should just relax for a little bit, until you’re a little less bereaved.
2: I thought you had to go to work.
1: I do.  Why don’t you stay here today and I’ll drive you home tonight, there’s no hurry.  I met a friend of Jeffrey’s last night
2: A friend?
1: Yeah, kind of a weird guy, he’s going to come by this morning
2: There is a hurry, I’m going now

RULES AND REGULATIONS

Who is eligible to apply?

• Writers, Directors, or Producers of a project are eligible to apply for BDTH
• The Writer may also be the Director, or the Writer may also be the Producer. However, the roles of Producer and Director must be filled by different people
• Producers and directors must each have completed at least one short film
• Cineworks members and non-members are all invited to apply
• Applicants must live in the Metro Vancouver area

How do I apply?

• Completed applications must be received no later than 5pm Friday, February 10th 2012 at the Cineworks offices (300-1131 Howe St.)  Incomplete applications will not be considered.
• A completed application will consist of:
  • 3 copies of a script no longer than 10 pages (10 minutes running time) that uses the assigned piece of dialogue in its entirety somewhere in the body
  • Submissions must include a title page that includes the title, the applicant’s name, address, phone number and Email address.  The applicant’s name must not appear anywhere within the body of the screenplay to ensure anonymity in the judging process.
  • A completed application form
  • Short resume/bio for producer and director
  • One page “director’s vision” describing how the script will be brought to screen
  • $50 application fee
• The submitted script should be an original work created for this contest, all genres and styles accepted

Download complete rules, regulations, and application form here