The World Does Not Revolve Around Me

Welcome back! Mike and I are headed into preliminary meetings this week with a foley artist who has worked on some great films here in Toronto. Hoping to get the wheels rolling on that in the next few days. Still prepping the film for colour correction and currently deciding on the right colourist/colour grading house for our needs. Some exciting updates regarding music -- but I'll save those ;) More on all that later!

This week, I'll take another step outside the world of William's Lullaby (don't worry! Plenty more updates/trivia/stories from set/teasers to come!) and fill you in on what's going on around me in the world of film. A lot of my colleagues/friends are busy creating some pretty brilliant things of their own and I thought now would be a great time to let you know what they're up to. Some of these projects have a direct connection to William's Lullaby and I'll include that information below. So here we go:

Pretty Pieces - dir. Leigh Ann Bellamy

Leigh Ann, a Kingston-based filmmaker, writes, directs and stars in this short piece and I was lucky enough to see a preliminary cut of the film a few months ago. This has been a passion-project of hers for quite awhile and is based on a play which she also starred in. She adapted the script and shot the film in October of 2011. It is now making the festival circuit rounds. 

A story of two people who desperately crave what the other cannot give.

William's Lullaby connection: Amanda Shaw served as Co-Producer on William's Lullaby. A few months later she worked as the set-dresser on this film.

Kenneyville - dir. Brooks Hunter

Kenneyville has been finished for some time now, but it's an important one to include on here. Brooks Hunter directed this tense thriller in 2011 as a metaphor for mental illness and the drugs/medication used to combat mental illness. Brooks seems to have also mastered the art of making a low-budget film look like it was made for more money than it cost to make the thing. The film is a pretty entertaining ride and certainly has its scare moments, but it's even more interesting once you read between the lines and discover the metaphor buried underneath the horror. Kenneyville is now available on iTunes: Buy Kenneyville Now

 

William's Lullaby connection: Stephen Lee served as Location Sound on both Kenneyville and William's Lullaby.

SICK - dir. Ryan M. Andrews

Sick just had its premiere here in Toronto at the Blood In The Snow Canadian Film Festival this past November and is a throw-back to the classic 70s horror in which character development and story took precedence over cheap scares. Andrews even mentioned films like The Exorcist and The Shining as well as TV series like The Walking Dead in his opening introduction. Sick is a huge collaborative effort from the Toronto indie film community and is definitely worth a watch.

William's Lullaby connection: SICK stars Richard Roy Sutton as Seph. Richard also takes the lead as Thomas Splinter in William's Lullaby.

Dana - dir. Mark Drewe, in collaboration with Tommy Chang

I've been looking forward to this one for awhile now. Dana is a short film that looks at an abusive relationship and what one man will do to protect his best friend. Dana is wrapping up post-production and should be popping up around film festivals soon!

William's Lullaby connection: William's Lullaby's Richard Roy Sutton plays an aggressive and antagonistic role as Dave in this short. 

The Golden Hour - dir. Jason R. Gray 

Dana is a nice lead-in to Jason R. Gray's short as it is mostly the same crew, although different production company. This is a major passion project for Jason. He released the teaser trailer on 12/12/12 at exactly 12pm. Set to a beautiful cover of Blue Moon it's quite riveting and this will be one to watch for on the festival circuit.

Tension(s) - dir. Vincent Lecrocq

This action-thriller stars Louis Mandylor as an ex-negotiator of the Boston Police Force who is taken hostage in his own home. And it looks like it will live up to its title! I met these filmmakers following their shooting of this film and had the pleasure of story-editing a new script of theirs. I am quite looking forward to this one coming out.

William's Lullaby connection: Once again, William's Lullaby star Richard Roy Sutton plays opposite Louis Mandylor as one of the hostage-takers.

21 Shorts - A Kingston Collaborative Effort

I'm including this venture on here because I think it's quite an interesting idea. 26 short films from a variety of Kingston filmmakers shot in 26 weeks. This initiative is spear-headed by Kingston local Eric Ferguson and really is a fascinating idea. I believe they started shooting these in August and over the course of the next few months will continue to shoot one short film a week. This is true collaborative filmmaking and should provide a rich platform for the filmmakers of Kingston going forward. 

FIND OUT MORE HERE

Neutral Territory - dir. Josias Tschanz 

Taking a moment to look out West, Vancouver actor and filmmaker Josias Tschanz tells a deeply personal story in this award-winning feature film which has been seen everywhere from the film festival circuit to the IFC. 

NEUTRAL TERRITORY

Friends in Dark Places - prod. Paolo Malo

Still out West, Paolo Malo is racking up credits in the industry, working in every department from camera, cinematography, producer to director. This short film looks quite chilling. It was produced by Paolo and the cinematography is by him as well. It also stars the brilliant Flora Karas (also a Vancouver actress), who you may recognize from my short film, The Boy Who Knew which is featured in last week's blog post.

The Path - dir. Emily Jenkins

Emily is a force to be reckoned with. A Ryerson University student, she has produced, directed, edited, written, PA'd projects all outside of her school work-load. She even worked on Kenneyville featured above. She is churning out gold and along with Leigh Ann Bellamy, these are two strong women in film. This short film comes from Glass Eye Pictures a Ryerson University based production company.

Mikka - dir. Alexandre Carrière

Mikka has already been making the short-film festival rounds and is doing extremely well. At the OFF-COURTS Film Festival in France, Alexandre won for Best Quebec Director. The short film stars, Roc Lafortune as a dying man who, through a series of flashbacks, relives the last few hours of his life.

William's Lullaby connection: Toby Bisson graces the face of Mikka's poster and takes the title role. He also takes the title role in William's Lullaby.

Silent Retreat - dir. Tricia Lee

Silent Retreat is described as a quiet horror film, with very little dialogue as it is actually set at a silent retreat. This film looks quite haunting and is a unique way to tackle the horror genre. Keep your eyes out for this one.

Teach'er - dir. Cody Campanale

This award-winning short film comes from Cody Campanale, a prominent force in independent film in Toronto with a vast list of credits.

Solo - dir. Isaac Cravit

Solo is a new independent thriller from Director, Isaac Cravit, starring Degrassi's Annie Clark. It received some media attention during production here in Toronto -- and Degrassi fans will likely be keeping their eyes peeled for this film about a teenage girl, terrorized as she spends two nights alone on a remote island as part of her camp counsellor initiation.

SOLO

William's Lullaby connection: William's Lullaby co-producer Amanda Shaw serves as Wardrobe Supervisor on this film.

21 Brothers - dir. Michael McGuire

This Kingston-made and Canadian-based WWI film currently holds the title of "Longest Single Shot Film in History" in the Guinness Book of World Records. The producers built the trench used in the film by hand, an effort that took over three months. This film is an incredible achievement and certainly puts Kingston on the map for record-breaking filmmaking. Worth a watch!

21 Brothers on iTunes

So there you go, folks! A look at what's going on with filmmakers past and present in the Canadian, independent industry. As you can see it's a big, small world! There's more I could be posting but this list is already getting quite long. So for now, check out the films listed above and support.

As always...

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK

FOLLOW OUR TWITTER

WATCH THE TEASER FOR WILLIAM'S LULLABY

Spread the word, like, comment and subscribe for future updates! 

What are your thoughts on some of these films/trailers? Don't forget to comment below!

I'll chat with ya next week.

N.

Films That Influence Me #1: THE SIXTH SENSE

I remember seeing The Sixth Sense in the summer of 1999. It was the drive-in double feature. I was nine years old. First billing was Inspector Gadget for us kids, which we were likely to fall asleep to. I was still awake when it finished and what followed was a film that got under my skin and has stayed there ever since.

I never ended up making it through that first viewing. After a chilling scene in which young Haley Joel-Osment meets an unexpected midnight visitor in his kitchen, it was decided (most likely based on our white knuckles) that this film was not appropriate for young kids -- or rather me, as my siblings were likely asleep. It's true. The film had traumatized me. But there was something about it that stayed with me, and though I had only seen an hour of the film, I could not shake what I had seen. To this day, I'll admit that the hairs still stand up on the back of my neck if I'm walking into a dark kitchen in the middle of the night.

It may have been a year or two later, maybe even less, when I was finally able to convince my parents to allow me to see the film in its entirety. Seeing The Sixth Sense from beginning to end was when I realized that a horror film can be more than just a horror film; that a ghost story can be about more than just the ghosts; that the reason why this film scared me went beyond some of the frightening sequences it featured.

I have since watched The Sixth Sense hundreds of times. I've read the screenplay over and over, and know the story by heart. A lot has been said about M. Night and I'll be the first to say that, along with directing one of the best films I've ever seen (The Sixth Sense) he's also directed one of the worst (The Happening). But whether The Sixth Sense was a one-hit wonder, or a fluke, or not -- it is a gem of a movie that I believe will remain a classic much like The Omen or Rosemary's Baby. And it has greatly influenced my filmmaking.

The haunting atmosphere, colours and even music in my short film The Boy Who Knew are inspired by the overall design and feel of The Sixth Sense and I watched M. Night's masterpiece quite a bit during my directing research for that film.

Even The Boy Who Knew features an ending (although much more subtle) in which the protagonist, alone, comes to a revelation which brings the story together  -- much like the over popularized ending of The Sixth Sense.

For me The Sixth Sense is on my list of influential films because of how well it executes a very real theme through the horror/thriller genre. I love films that have a supernatural edge to them but are based in reality -- and this is The Sixth Sense through and through. The film, in a nutshell, is about a young boy who has the ability to see the dead. What the film is really about is communication -- amongst the living. Who can forget this unbelievably powerful scene. It has been a long time since a "horror/thriller" has featured incredible writing/acting such as this [MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ... although not the big one]:

An Emotional Confession

The film is riddled with symbolism and moves at such a steady pace. It knows where it's headed and as an audience member you feel like the storytellers are in complete control of their masterpiece.

I'll talk about quite a few films that have inspired me in this blog, but from a creative writing and directing stand-point, it's safe for me to say that The Sixth Sense is one of my greatest influences.

LIKE on FACEBOOK
FOLLOW on TWITTER
WILLIAM'S LULLABY TEASER TRAILER

What Math Homework??

Hopefully we'll be able to post exciting updates on the progress of the film very soon. Mike Whissell (sound designer) and I are still hard at work fine-tuning some of the more intricate details of the film. Mike and I are itching to get a foley session going which will happen soon -- and we'll post an update once it does.

Paul Barton is progressing with the score and doing a fantastic job. I had the opportunity to meet with him in Kingston, ON over the holidays and heard a good chunk of what he had been working on. I am incredibly excited to share it with all of you. Those who have spoken to me in the past know how much music in film is important to me. And this film is no exception. It is called William's Lullaby, after-all.

This week, I wanted to take a moment and talk about how this all started in the first place. I will start off by saying that I think every artist has "their way." I don't believe there is a right or wrong way of going about creating art. I guess I'm saying that because I don't want to make it seem like I am putting myself on a pedestal as an 'expert.' In these blogs, I can only say what has worked for me as an artist.

Took a few days off this past week to work on an small outside project. While I did, I learnt a lot about the importance of prep and planning and it got me thinking about the beginning months of Lullaby.

Naivety was my best friend as a young filmmaker. Truly. Having that childlike naivety as a teenager is what allowed me to tackle some of the daunting projects I did back then. When I was fourteen-years-old I had the audacity to think I could make a feature length film with a cast and crew of over 100 people by the time I graduated school. Any film instructor would tell me today that in order to do so I would need a budget in the hundreds of thousands, a professional crew, gear, training etc... in other words, they would give me limitations. And on some level, they are right. Those are some of the things you need to produce a professional piece of work. But where there is a will, there is most definitely a way. And when you find you are restricted with your resources, planning becomes your best friend.

See, I was stubborn. Back in 2004, I hadn't made a dramatic film before, let alone a feature. A few docs here and there and a multitude of backyard films starring my siblings, sure. But nothing of this magnitude. Yet, I refused to take no for an answer and despite people telling me to start small, I committed to creating The Vicious Circle -- a feature length film on bullying and hatred.

I may have been naive, but I wasn't stupid. I had an inkling of how daunting this project was and knowing this, I gave myself the time to pull it off right. Four years really. When a merry band of high-school go-getters and I finally brought the project to life in our tenth grade year, we cast the film over a period of two months... 6 whole months prior to shooting it in the summer of 2006. During those 6 months we rehearsed heavily with our cast and planned every detail of the shoot, so that when July 1st, 2006 rolled along we were ready. 

Waylon Baur and Anthony Kinsella in a 2006 rehearsal for "The Vicious Circle."

Of course, we were still kids. Things still fell apart, we made tons of mistakes, but we managed to pull through and premiered the film on September 28th, 2007 to a sold out room in Duncan McArthur Auditorium in Kingston, ON.

Actor and Musician, Jim Patterson, speaks at the 2007 premiere of "The Vicious Circle"

Had we not planned -- truly done our homework -- over the course of our making of the film, I think The Vicious Circle would have fallen apart for good and never seen the flicker of the silver screen.

A film about kids, made by kids -- that was always the goal, and that's how the film will forever remain. Of course now that I have gone through school, learnt about filmmaking and begun to hone my craft through other projects, there are times when I look at The Vicious Circle and re-cut it in my head, even re-shoot it with more purposeful cinematography. I re-write the script in my mind. But I'll never touch it. Though it may not be a great showcase of my skills today, it is a wonderful time capsule of where I was creatively at age 15, as well as what being a teenager is like through the eyes of teenagers -- quite literally (only fifteen/sixteen-year-olds peered through that lens.) And I like to think that there's something quite powerful in that.

Of course, pictures are always better than words. Here's a fun video that showcases the achievement of a group of teenagers, who did their "homework," and pulled off something memorable.

In the years since, I have directed more, worked on numerous projects and learnt more about my craft. Part of the reason I am so excited about Lullaby is that it truly showcases where I am at today with my filmmaking and storytelling. It is beyond what I have done before, professionally and creatively, and this again goes back to strategic homework and planning.

Between 2010 and 2011, it had been about a year and I hadn't directed anything. I did one quick short to keep my brain working, but other than that -- nothing. There came a point where I had to ask myself what I was doing -- what was I waiting for? I had a script. One that I had written while still in High school. Surprisingly, when I asked myself if I felt I could direct that script tomorrow, the answer was 'yes.' 

So what was I doing??

I was allowing $$$, $$$ to get in the way! Looking at the script again, I realized that, although being a complex story, it didn't require much to bring to life -- small cast, minimal locations. I looked back over an email Mike had sent me in 2008 when I wrote the first draft of the script. His email read:

"Nick, I just read the screenplay, I think it's great. I would love to work on it -- I don't know how we're going to do it. We'll need to do a lot of planning, but someway we'll make it work." 

That's the spirit!

Ensuring that, years later, Mike was still on-board, I took the plunge and in January 2011 committed to shooting William's Lullaby in late August. In the meantime I would plan and do homework like I never had before. Although William's Lullaby was already raking up dollars double that of The Vicious Circle, we still had to think creatively and economically with our pre-production.

One thing I did for the first time on this project, and will now continue to do for the rest of my directing career, is storyboard. I have storyboarded scenes/sequences in the past before, but never the entire film. Because I knew we would be shooting the film with little resources, a small crew, and a jam-packed schedule, storyboarding every shot of the film was, for me, an exercise in patience and truly helped me study every word of the script I had written. I was thinking about every shot of the film months prior to being on set. When the time came for me to stand and direct, I would know my script like the back of my hand. I would reach this level of understanding through hours and hours of storyboarding as I prepared for shooting.

The result was an enormous binder filled with over 400 frames. It became my bible on set. I would walk around with it and use it as a constant resource for myself and my actors. If ever there was a question as to why we were doing a certain shot, what it meant in the grand scheme of things, or what was ahead visually -- it was answered in the storyboards. Having done this much homework also allowed me to improvise on the day, if ideas came up from cast or crew or we wanted to try new things. I was comfortable enough in my planning to know when to be adventurous and try something risky.

This experience was invaluable and the result, I feel, is a meticulously-put-together film that is purposeful and well thought-out. I will storyboard again and again, on every project I direct, no matter how big or small. Perhaps I'm just a visual guy -- but this way of planning really works for me.

Of course, I could go on and on, talking about planning and homework. I could talk about re-writes, for which there were many. Rehearsals. Wardrobe/camera tests. Set sketches. Camera schematics etc... and perhaps I will down the road. 

Bottom line is, when you are against the odds with a project that seems larger than life or perhaps unattainable and beyond your means, giving yourself the time to strategize and make it happen is the key to success -- for me anyway.

As always, like us on FACEBOOK, follow us on TWITTER, share our blog and comment below! We welcome the discussion.

Bye for now.

N.

The Art of Teasing

Well, we have officially released our teaser materials to the public. As filmmakers this is the best kind of incentive. The filmmaking life can be a very quiet one, especially if you are in the post-production phase. It can be years before you hear any sort of feedback from an audience for your work. And if you're not careful, years can turn into years and years. Being a perfectionist is, of course, a blessing and a curse. So, needless to say, it is definitely a strong incentive to finish Lullaby now that we have gone ahead and told the outside world that's what we intend to do. Releasing our Facebook page, Twitter page and website on January 1st seemed like the perfect New Years Resolution to us. It is a clear sign of what we plan to accomplish in 2013.

The teaser materials that we have released are just that -- a tease. We are not showing much and we know that. Of course that may be to the annoyance of some, but there is an art to teasing and if you look closely, we are actually showing you quite a bit. Well, that is to say, we're giving you a few starter pieces to the puzzle. And over the course of this year we will give you more. It is still some time before you'll see the film. There is plenty of work to be done and marketing is a strategic journey of its own. Giving you too much now just wouldn't be fun. So bit by bit we'll give you the pieces to what we hope is a very complex puzzle.

When I first met with Leslie Martin almost a year ago to discuss designing the promotional materials for William's Lullaby I stressed simplicity for the first phase. We both agreed that each phase of teaser materials would have its own level of simplicity and modesty. This is, in the end, a very quiet film -- loud in some of the taboo subjects it tackles, but quiet (and perhaps chilling) in its simple execution. Both Leslie and I wanted this to be reflected in our first teaser poster.

I never would have thought that so much work and thought would go into the selection of a font, but Leslie assured me that when you are creating what is essentially a logo (and one that you'll look at for years to come), it is a vital step in the process. After many different options, we came up with this is our final word-mark for Lullaby.

I love this look. Simple but chilling. Exactly what we were looking for from the start. The all-caps font is a bold choice. And the way the last few letters in "Lullaby" seem to separate suggests something far more sinister than a simple title, let alone one that reads as harmlessly as "William's Lullaby." The way the letters seem to drop into the black also suggest something much darker is at hand and this is something we wanted to make clear from the get-go. 

This also applied in Leslie's design of the first teaser poster in which the text, which fills the entire page, seems to drop into blackness before revealing, in all-caps, WILLIAM'S LULLABY at the very bottom.

Also, and this is what I mean when I say "look closely," the text that fills the page is of vital importance to the film. It is the classic story of The Ugly Duckling -- a duckling who did not fit in and felt himself unworthy, questioning himself, his looks etc... until one-day he finally transformed into the beautiful swan he was meant to be. Starting our teaser materials off with this was something we felt would be an excellent hook. 

Leslie also came up with a second teaser poster which essentially has the same information, in a slightly different form.

The William's Lullaby Duck Logo is also the face of our Facebook and Twitter page.

Again, Leslie has taken a simple, harmless image of a duck and transformed it into something quite ghostly while maintaining its simplicity. The medium she has used -- a rough, pencil-sketch like drawing reveals something dark and menacing.

We are suggesting, right off the bat, the idea of The Ugly Duckling -- that story and what it means in terms of loneliness, grief, depression and destiny -- is a major part of the story we are planning to tell. It might be of interest, given this information, that the original title associated with William's Lullaby years ago was "Ducklings and Swans."

I look forward to working with Leslie more on some of our upcoming teaser materials. So far I think she has done a brilliant job at "showing" rather than "telling" and holding back while still giving quite a bit. What do you folks think?

I'd like to briefly mention our first teaser trailer. I am perhaps guilty of showing too little here. But I do like holding back at this stage. What I can say is that this initial teaser has introduced you (very quickly, mind you) to Toby Bisson and Richard Sutton, two of our brilliant actors in the film. Furthermore, you catch a bit of Paul Barton's haunting score in the background.

William's Lullaby (2013) - TEASER [HD]

Hope you have enjoyed what we've been giving you thus far. Plenty more to come over 2013 so stay tuned!

Please remember to share and spread the word. This film is lost without you!

Like us on FACEBOOK

Follow us on TWITTER

For more information on Leslie Martin's design work

Comment below and talk soon!

N.