Acting Like Adults

A Conversation with Assistant Director Paul Reisinger

Assistant Director Paul Reisinger negotiates with some difficult extras on Day 1 of the shoot.

Jason Kohl (JK): Discuss the basics of the shoot; how much preproduction did you have?

Paul Reisinger (PR): I think my first meeting with Kyle and Eric was three and a half weeks before the start of the shoot. For three weekends we scouted all the locations with Jeremy, the two directors, Matthew (the line producer), and Justin (the DP). There were 25 different parks all over Los Angeles. And that was my major contribution to preproduction in terms of meetings and time spent. I also designed and prepped the call sheets and for the 19 shooting days we had. The callsheets along with notes taken by Jeremy formed the basis of the shoot’s organization.

JK: Looking at 25+ locations in 19 days, what sort of strategies did you develop to make it feasible?

PR: We tried to stick to one location or two at the most per day, although sometimes it was necessary to do one company move. I think we only had one or two days with more than one company move. And then we obviously had moving car scenes which we counted as one location.

We kept the production team down to a minimum of people and equipment, and sometimes it was like more of a camping trip than a film shoot because we actually had a production backpack set up with the most important production elements for Ben or Jeremy (The Producers) or me to carry around with a first aid kit, a production binder, water and craft services. All of that was in one backpack, so we were very mobile. The camera department also consisted of Justin and Jason (1^st AC/Gaffer), just two people.

Those were our two basic principles; stick to one location per day and keep the logistics to a minimum.

JK: Could you talk about a typical day for you?

PR: So for me a typical day started by getting up around 5:30. I would get coffee and drive to school to pick up the equipment truck, then drive it to the location, which was usually a park in Los Angeles. When I got to the location I handed it off to Jason who unloaded it in terms of the lighting and camera equipment. Jeremy and Ben would unload the production equipment.

Then I would have a meeting with Kyle and Eric and Justin and look at what our day’s work would be. We reviewed the sublocations and spoke about the planned coverage. Right after the actors arrived they would go into blocking rehearsals while Jason and Justin set up the camera. Depending on how complex the scene was, twenty minutes or an hour later we would do a blocking rehearsal and then as soon as possible go into shooting a scene. We repeated that for all the scenes.

At night we would release the actors as soon as possible because they could only stay on set for 8 hours without having to pay them overtime (SAG rules). The leads stayed 10 hours almost every day so we paid them overtime but we wanted to keep that down, so we would release them as soon as possible and then wrap everything up and go home.

It was tricky because since most of the locations were open to the public, so we had to block traffic and deal with people who were interested in the camera and all of that. It was challenging, but we managed to get it done.

JK: What was one of your biggest challenges and how did you overcome it?

PR: There are two challenges I can think of. One was working with two directors, one of whom I knew, and one who I only knew from chatting with him in the hallways at school. And they were very different too. They had very different working styles, so they had to coordinate what they wanted from a scene or a shot before they could communicate with me. Usually with most directors after he says cut, he communicates with the actors and then the AD to make the next step happen. And in this case that moment was used for the two of them to communicate. So it was hard initially for me to get into that loop of communication between them, but I figured it out fairly quickly.

The other thing was because we had such a small crew we only had one makeup artist, but some days we would have 6 actors. So many days the makeup and wardrobe was challenging. It got better in time; we added an assistant some days to help with the time. It always necessitated tight planning. Fortunately our Makeup artist Andrea was great at doing it and was always accurate in her estimates and working with the actors.

JK: What piece of advice would you give to someone going into a low-budget shoot?

I think the biggest thing I learned was that it’s possible to shoot a feature and I’m not afraid of it anymore.

What I would do if it was my own project would be to force myself to give up the production aspects earlier. The production aspects were handed over by the directors, and they fully trusted their producers, but it may have given the directors more time to focus on the director side of things if they had handed off earlier.

They also had their names on some of the location contact sheets for the parks, so they had to stay in the production process to some extent, so avoiding that would have been great.

The other things you have to think about are what camera, production format and team you need. The 7D was great because it was small and we were shooting in parks etc. But it did overheat quite a bit which meant we had to wait around for a half an hour to an hour for it to cool down.

JK: And last question, what are you most proud of on the shoot?

PR: I’m most proud of the community that was created on set and the kind of family we eventually became. For me that’s a sign that overall everything worked well. We ended up finding a vibe and a way to relate to each other that was both efficient and allowed the directors to tell their story. I think they really got a lot out of their project and that they’re happy with it.

Jason | October 1, 2011

Associate Producing by Melissa Nemcek

Associate Producer Melissa Nemcek

Producing is never an easy job to explain, but I find the complexity of the role one of the biggest attractions of the position. I was asked to join ALA back in April 2011, a few months before production was slated to shoot in August. I read through the script and was excited to jump onto the project.

As an associate producer, my main function was to assist on set during the particularly chaotic and complicated days of shooting. During the months preceding the actual film shoot, I prepared for my role by attendeding several production meetings in order to gain a general sense of the flow and logistics of those complicated days. Allow me to describe one such complex day as an example.

Lake Balboa Park: I arrived on set at 06:15:00. The day’s docket included five scenes spread across a parking lot, two monitor tables, inside a car, and on a bridge. Not to mention, these five scenes would involve a company move to a secondary location halfway through the day. Arriving at the park, we could feel that the blistering heat of the day was soon approaching. Weather would certainly affect the efficiency of the day’s shoot, not to mention the danger of dehydration to the cast and crew. The production team and I quickly began setting up craft services, including a massive amount of much needed water. Once base camp was set up, I spent the remainder of the day assisting with equipment pick-ups, moving production design to different areas of the park, ensuring that cast and crew had enough water when they were away from base camp, and much more. As the day wore on, the sun grew higher and temperatures skyrocketed. Hitting mid-afternoon, all hands were on deck to assist with a company move to a secondary location. Despite the heat and a company move, the chaotic day was a wonderful success.

Despite the difficulties, I truly enjoyed my time on these complicated days. There is something quite special about a team that comes together and fights through heat, fatigue, and the arduous process that is filmmaking with the understanding that a beautiful work of art will be the final result. Like the others, I cannot wait to see the final result of our labors!

Jason | September 22, 2011

Where’s the Permit Again? UPM’ing by Shelly Patel

Shelley Patel, Unit Production Manager

One of my favorite things about making movies is witnessing how effortless the final product seems to be in relation to the hectic pace of production. Most of the people involved with ALA had little to no previous experience on feature films but were inspired by the Tiny Furnitures and Puffy Chairs that have recently defined the success of ultra low budget indie filmmaking. Any member of the crew will probably tell you that emulating these models is a daunting challenge meant for insomnia-ridden masochists who really love craft services and, in this case, city parks. As the UPM, I want to highlight the 18-day shoot from the perspective of the production team that made ALA work from behind the scenes.

My days started out at 4:50 am. By 5:50 am, I was at a Starbucks picking up our morning coffee. By 6:15 am, I was on set with producers Jeremy and Ben setting up for our day. Different daily locations and some company moves often meant that our logistics plans varied significantly for each day. Fortunately, incredible planning on the producers’ parts meant that we ran into minimal problems with load ins, parking, bathrooms, etc. Our jobs during that first week revolved around major troubleshooting as we attempted to find our groove and settled a huge variety of problems that inevitably pop up when you begin production. My days typically ended at 8:00 or 9:00 pm, after we completed load out and I had restocked our perishable/production items and made plans for the next day.

A Typical Day On Set

End Week 1. On my day off, I woke up at noon, got a deep tissue massage, went for a run on the beach, almost bought a piano, and seriously contemplated moving to New York. Begin Week 2.

It quickly became evident that we were figuring out how to run the set. Our schedule was harder but our days were becoming easier and easier to handle on all fronts. I started to settle into a daily routine. My main duties as a UPM included taking care of breakfast, lunch, and crafty, handling all the SAG and payroll company paperwork, completing all of the production’s cast and crew agreements, and keeping track of our finances for all purchases made during production. In pre-production, Jeremy and I tag teamed the equipment rentals and the FilmLA permit application – work involving both continued into production, as we quickly found out. After completing two challenging days at Griffith Park with only the smallest of logistical hiccups, we were looking forward to what we assumed would be an easy day at Holmby Park in Beverly Hills. Past producing experience told me that there was always at least one “easy” production day that inevitably gets foiled by Murphy’s Law, and unfortunately for us, this was that day. From newly posted restricted parking signs at the park that forced us to shuttle people back and forth to set, to an emergency equipment run, an unexpected company move, a Coca-Cola explosion in the grip truck, to a slew of misinformation involving the LA City Parks Office and FilmLA that almost meant we couldn’t pick up our second permit on time, to us scrambling to obtain letters of endorsement and certificates from our insurance provider, to Jeremy driving all over Los Angeles and finally to FilmLA to snag our permit just in the knick of time while Ben secured holding for future shoot dates and I held down base camp, to me not knowing where we were getting our next day’s lunch from until 11:00 pm that night – everything that could go wrong did go wrong, but at the end of the day we pulled off all our shots, and that’s all that matters.

Film L.A. - The Source of Many Troubles - And Film Permits

Fortunately for us, we never really got another visit from Murphy’s Law. By week 3, I was so acclimated to the routine that I was baking stuff for breakfast. That’s not to say that we didn’t still have tough days during that last week – there were days when we could afford to throw a football around, and then there were days when we were gripping for G&E in addition to fulfilling our roles in production. Overall I’d say that my experience UPMing for ALA was a positive one, and I sincerely can’t wait to see the product of our hard work!

Jason | September 15, 2011

Shooting a Feature on the 7D by Justin Perkinson

Director Of Photography Justin Perkinson (Photo by Marysia Karubin)

As Director of Photography for ALA, my job was to translate the directors’ vision for the story via the camera and lighting. Kyle and Eric were very clear from the beginning about creating a very immediate, real-life quality to the film — which was quite apt for a story that follows a couple around Los Angeles over the course of a single day. Thus, we drew inspiration from the documentary world, as well as from several low-budget narrative features whose tone and resources approximated ours. (We also reviewed a few “mainstream” films whose cinematographic concepts could be translated to our micro budget.) Through several pre-production discussions and tests, we developed a photographic game plan for the film, which included (among others) 100% handheld operation; significant camera movement; dirty framing (i.e., often seeking compositions with foreground elements); composing along “thirds”; desaturated colors; and a fairly shallow depth of field. One of the most exciting elements of our strategy for me was the film’s handheld nature. Given that there isn’t a single locked-off shot (i.e. tripod shot) in the movie, Kyle and Eric really entrusted me with telling their story via camera movement and pans. An unspoken dance emerged between the characters and the camera on set, which was incredibly inspiring and rewarding for me as a cinematographer.

Justin Frames a Shot for a Bathroom Scene

We encountered several challenges along the way, some of them foreseen, others unexpected. We knew we faced certain constraints with our camera. Since we were shooting a good portion of the film in an unprocessed picture car, we needed a small, portable camera. After several preliminary tests, we decided on the Canon 7D, which fit the size constraint perfectly and provided high-quality images, but also came with certain drawbacks. Namely: a relatively-limited dynamic range, high contrast, overheating, and a 12-minute recording limit.

The first of these challenges — limited dynamic range — was particularly tricky. We tested the camera and discovered that in any given frame, we had only about 5 stops of light between the brightest part of the image and the darkest. We also discovered that we could do very little to adjust the image in post. Given the fact that visible light has a much broader range of brightness than our camera’s 5 detectible stops, we knew going into the shoot that we would have to manage our exposure levels very closely and make choices along the way about what part of the image was most important. We calibrated our camera to a digital Sekonic light meter so we could spot-meter the various elements of our frame on set and determine the best exposure.

The digital Sekonic lightmeter used on the shoot.

By far, the biggest exposure challenge of the shoot was the car. How do you expose for faces inside the vehicle without it looking like a nuclear explosion in the much-brighter exterior? Our whip-smart gaffer Jason Knutzen devised a setup where he custom-cut sheets of ND-6 gel for the windshield and front side windows, which decreased the exterior exposure levels 2 stops. Then he rigged the interior with mini Kino Flo lights and diffused LED panels, which increased the light level in the car about a stop. All the lights inside the vehicle were on dimmers, so we could adjust on the fly as conditions changed while driving. The overarching principle was to crunch the exposure variance between the interior and exterior into an acceptable range for our camera, while still making sure to have the characters appear naturally lit by the sun.

For the sake of brevity, I’ll address the other, less dire camera challenges more quickly. High contrast: The Canon 7D is notoriously contrasty. Our solution was two-fold: 1) Dial down the contrast in the camera settings, and 2) Shoot with a customized “picture style” called CineStyle, which we downloaded and installed free from Technicolor. Cinestyle shoots a slightly flatter image than the Canon factory settings, which provides more flexibility to adjust contrast in post. Overheating: Cut the camera off between takes. Keep it in the shade as much as possible (e.g., under a courtesy flag). If the camera does overheat, stop recording, turn it off, and open the battery and CF card slots to help the camera cool faster. (You could even remove the lens for more breath, but beware the risk of dust introduction.) 12-minute record limit: I personally don’t view this as a big problem. Film cameras have always had time limits. But with the 7D you risk losing the entire take if you shoot past the limit. So keeping track of a take’s time count is VERY important. On our long takes, we had sound recordist Neal Doxsee notify us at 11 minutes 30 seconds so we cut wrap up the take and cut in time.

A Sample Menu For Technicolor's Custom "Cinestyle" Settings

One other notable challenge came not from equipment but rare weather conditions. Who would have thought that LA’s classic “June Gloom” would linger through August? Nearly every day of our 19-day shoot commenced with thick cloud cover that lasted at least a couple hours, and then opened up to hot, bright afternoons. So then, what do you do if the bulk of your film is Day Exterior, is supposed to be a single day, and consistently sunny? Without a generator to produce electricity for your lights, you have to be flexible and improvise. Sometimes we flipped a day’s entire schedule on its head, shooting in the car in the A.M. when it was cloudy, and saving a park scene until after the sun came out. Other times, when all else failed and schedule shifts weren’t possible, we tried to stage scenes in shadier areas, where they could conceivably play on a sunny day. For example, we would stage under trees with a forest background that wouldn’t cook up as the sun got hotter. To help us with our planning, gaffer Jason Knutzen utilized an ingenious iPhone app called Helios to detect the exact orientation of the sun at any given time of day, so we could anticipate our sunshine and shade. (A big lesson learned: When you go on location scouts, scout them at the exact time of day you plan to shoot, or bring Helios/Knutzen with you!)

A Screenshot of the Helios Iphone App Used by Gaffer Jason Knutzen

Overall, I believe our preparation payed off, and our ability to improvise helped us when curveballs came our way. I am quite honored and proud to be part of the ALA team and to have worked with such passionate, collaborative filmmakers across the various departments. Congrats to everyone! I can’t wait to see the finished product.

Jason | September 9, 2011

Designing Costumes on a Budget by Brianna Quick

Guest Post By Costume Designer Brianna Quick

As a Costume Designer the bulk of my work happens once the cast has been signed. Establishing the character’s look requires research, but the actual sourcing of the costumes, the buying or renting of the items, occurs after the actors have been locked. While a designer can give the director(s) many inspiration pictures, what becomes the defining influence on the character’s style is what is actually readily available in stores, costume rental houses and what can be made from available fabrics.

Mark Famiglietti As Brett

For ALA, as in most shoots, sourcing was mostly influenced by budget constraints, the casting timeframe, and finding enough multiples for a 3 week shoot. The limitations of the 7D’s resolution was also a major constraint, due to the exclusion of certain types of patterning, specifically grid patterns and small repetitive prints like polka dots, stripes and plaid or large open weave fabrics in some sweaters in order to avoid moire. Unfortunately, patterns and texture create interest and breathe life into character’s clothing. To simply put them in a nondescript jersey teeshirt is far from interesting to the designer, as well as the viewer. We found that camera testing on all patterns and weaves was necessary, and though it was time consuming, it helped us keep interest in the costumes without sacrificing the quality of the picture.

Leslie Murphy as Shannon

Although the characters wear the same outfits throughout the film, which takes place in one day, the logistics of shooting required us to have multiple backups of all clothing worn in the film, both for the sake of continuity and the actors’ comfort. Kyle, Eric and I agreed early on that one of our biggest fears was being in the middle of one of our park locations and having something get ripped, stained, or otherwise destroyed beyond my abilities to repair the item. We also wanted to make sure that the actors weren’t wearing the same unwashed clothing for days at a time. Having clean backups so that laundry could be done properly and as regularly as possible, was a consideration.

Another of the major challenges I had was budgeting to afford multiples for all 4 principal actors’ clothing, while still being able to accommodate the rest of the 10 actor cast, as well as the many background actors’ wardrobe needs. While ultimately the actual cost of the final looks were feasible, being able to bring options to fittings was a complication. This required a larger output of money than the budget that was given to me. Because of the small time between locking cast and shooting, there was little time to set each character’s costumes individually and return options that didn’t work to free up funds. Though in situations where there is little money and and time renting is more cost effective initially, I’ve found that shopping at stores like, Ross, Target, TJ Maxx, Kohls, etc, tend to be more cost effective in the long run if the story requires contemporary dress. Sourcing at clothing stores require a larger amount of money to be expended initially, but most stores have return policies of 30 days or more (always double check at check out though!) which leaves ample time to figure out what you want to keep and what will be returned. I usually always end up finding what I need and coming in under budget using these stores.

Despite the challenges in the design process for Acting Like Adults, I believe the costuming highlights the nuances the actors have worked into their characters by utilizing color, pattern, style, and attention to detail. I also believe the collaboration between myself, the directors and the actors resulted in realistic characters who can be easily identified with by those who see the film. I can’t wait to see the final product of our work!

Jason | September 2, 2011

Paint by Numbers

Production wrapped late last night, and in honor of a terrific shoot, I thought I’d put some numbers out there. Some of them are just my best guesses, but they should be pretty close.

315 – number of blueberries our AD ate
202 – hours I spent on set
87 – number of times I asked our AD “what are we waiting on?”
70 – scenes we shot during production
58 – total cast and crew members
39 – “rolls” shot
21 – number of times I regretted eating a granola bar
18.25 – days of production
15 – days we spent in exteriors
9 – complete drafts of the script
8 – number of non condiment items in my fridge at the end of production
7 – number of spoiled (non condiment) items in my fridge at the end of production
6 – hours I slept per night
5 – number of times I ate a proper dinner since production began
2 – number of times I did the dishes since production began
1 – number of times I had to break into my own apartment because I locked myself out
0 – number of times I had caffeine during production

Eric | August 30, 2011

Jill Bencsits – Production Designer

Jill Bencsits

As a Production Designer my main goal is to always tell the best story I can through visuals. Everything else is secondary. It’s easy to get caught up in the little details, but I tend to focus on the big picture. This being my first feature film I made it a goal to add personal touches to certain little things.

One of my biggest projects has been creating a complete look for the “Southland Scavenger Hunt” the characters participate in. This included a logo, a set of game cards (see below), t-shirts and a whole host of other items.

The Southland Scavenge Logo

I’m used to being on shorter projects, so I was pleasantly surprised when I started to have that sense of community starting on our second week of production. Seeing the same people six days a week can be as maddening as it is comforting.

Working with Kyle and Eric is incredibly pleasant. I’ve never had two directors before, and was worried at first that it would be like having a two-headed monster for a boss. But not only are they always on the same page they are both equally easy to approach with ideas and suggestions. With any other pair of directors I doubt I would be so lucky.

Admittedly, I’ve made my share of mistakes on this film. From a few continuity errors to communication problems, I’ve already learned a great deal. I had yet to make a continuity error before and despite how small they were I did beat myself up about it. But part of the process is learning to accept that you cant catch everything.

Certain nights I lie in bed anxiously anticipating a challenging day to come. Not because of self doubt but out of the fear of possibly forgetting something.

I remember the day we shot at Balboa Park. It was blistering hot, the day felt long because of the weather and just before lunch I had realized I had forgotten the gridlock card which we needed promptly after lunch. Luckily I had my laptop with the file on it, booked it to kinkos and printed it out.

One of the cards used in the Scavenger Hunt.

This turned out to be much more stressful than the pizza place (I have a nice photo I can add here), which was essentially me staging something out of nothing. The day not only went smoothly but I had my first birthday celebration on set.

Our Pizza Parlor Location - Made From Scratch

My biggest regret was having a confrontational misunderstanding with Paul our AD. A lesson I learned is that when you’re needed the circumstances don’t matter. The desire to be right and inconvenience aside just going and doing it is easier than dragging your feet in the sand. In the end your AD will appreciate you more for it.

With less than a week left of shooting I’m very content with the work I’ve done. I’m nearly at the finish line!

Admin | August 25, 2011

So Why Co-Direct? – by Kyle Laursen

I’ve been in a healthy relationship for the past 2 years, but when I decided to co-write/produce/direct a feature film with Eric, I knew I was entering into another relationship that offered different kinds of rewards and hardships. I think I first realized the depth of my relationship with Eric when I saw both of our girlfriends becoming jealous of how much time we spent together. Or maybe it was when we opened our first joint checking account together. Or maybe it was when I almost passed out hiking up a Griffith Park trail during a location scout and Eric had to feed me some of his lunch.

In any case, the question, “why did you decide to co-direct?” has come up many times. And our answer is simple:

The beast that is film.

Between Eric and myself, we’ve made over twenty short films. In the last three years of grad school at UCLA, we’ve co-directed two short projects and made six other individual short films where each of us has been highly involved in the other’s storytelling process. We have both written other feature film scripts and seen thousands of movies, from short films, to docs, to the Hollywood blockbusters.

Each of us is growing more experienced at filmmaking, but the challenges of putting together a film and telling a story are still monumental. The time and effort it takes to bring a film to life is mind-boggling, and every day is fraught with the possibility that something may go wrong in a big way (for instance: we start in 6 days and the Film LA permit office still hasn’t given us permission to shoot at half our locations). These roadblocks and hardships create a metaphorical creature that haunts the dreams of every filmmaker; this creature is the beast of film and anyone who has set off to make a movie knows just how enormous this beast can be.

While Eric and I have tackled this beast before individually, we both knew that a first feature was another beast entirely, and it was going to bring new challenges we couldn’t imagine. While we could have taken this step alone, we knew that we could make each other better as we battled the beast of our first feature film together.

A few months ago, Eric and I were watching a Q & A with the Duplass brothers, where we heard Mark and Jay explaining that they disagree all the time. But no matter how big the challenge, disagreement or argument is between them, in order for the film to get finished both Jay and Mark attack the film and not each other. Eric and I have woken up every single day for the last year and talked about how we were going to attack the film in the next 24 hours and it has made both of us better storytellers. When one of us has a moment of doubt or uncertainly, the other was there to prop things up. When one person got frustrated or stuck, the other was there to carry on. There have been breakthroughs, laughs, arguments and reconciliations, but no matter what, we have chosen and will continue to choose to attack the beast of film, because we both love movies and both hate that goddamn vicious beast that haunts our sleep. By doing so, over the course of the last year we’ve learned more about the filmmaking process together than we would have alone.

Without a doubt, we have a lot left to learn about storytelling. But by going through this process together, we’ve learned a lot from each other, and increased our chances of tackling the beast that is a first feature.

Kyle | August 4, 2011

Learning To Be An Adult: Marketing Acting Like Adults

My name’s Jason Kohl, I’m an MFA Director here at UCLA. I’m also serving as the producer of marketing and distribution for Acting Like Adults. As a PMD, a big part of what I do is identify potential audiences for movies, then get in touch with them to make them aware of the film. As an example, next month I’ll be working on a crowdfunding campaign for a documentary that heavily affects the filipino community. For that piece we’ll be contacting filipino celebrities, bloggers, press outlets, etc.

A lot of marketing and distribution work for indie features comes down to the specific tribes or themes addressed by the film. Who’s in the movie? What social issues are addressed that certain groups would relate to? In the case of Acting Like Adults, the tribe that our film most addresses is the generation of late twenty-somethings who are still figuring out what adulthood is all about.

We wanted to make this film because we find ourselves grappling with these same issues of growing older, but somehow failing to grow up.

Fortunately for us, one of the biggest consumers of independent filmmaking is that same generation of late 20 somethings. So we’ve decided to focus our marketing efforts on the indie niche. We’ve started by reaching out to our peers via Facebook, Twitter, and word of mouth.

We love the support we’ve gotten thus far, but for the film to reach a broader audience, we’ll need to reach beyond our circle of peers. So we hope to convince some of the numerous publications that cover indie film and its makers to give us some press. There are lots of indie films out there though, so to peek interest in ours, we’ll be talking about how we think Acting Like Adults is part of a paradigm shift in the culture of student filmmaking.

What will our pitch to these larger outlets be? Something like this:

While the indie film world seems to undergo a dramatic shift every three years, film schools generally do not. Venerable institutions like NYU, USC, and our own UCLA have giant faculties and mission statements that can make them slow to change like any large corporation.

The result can feel a bit like time travel. Back when film schools started, they were the only reliable way to get your hands on a 16 or 35mm camera, then the only (extremely expensive) option for making films. In those days student filmmakers shot long, expensive thesis films, often 30 minutes or more, to try to show the studios or producers they were capable of making a feature film. These shorts could cost upwards of fifty or a hundred thousand dollars.

Today we have newfangled technology like DSLR cameras and non-linear editing, but despite these innovations hundreds of film students around the world will still drop anywhere from 30 to 100 thousand dollars to make their thesis film.

Kyle Laursen and Eric F. Martin, two graduate UCLA directing students, decided to try something different for their thesis. For that kind of money, they thought, we could make a low budget feature.

In order to do so within the aegis of UCLA, they decided to combine their thesis films into one small feature. They will co-write, direct, and produce that feature, which will begin shooting in August. To its massive credit, UCLA said “ok,” and even provided them with thesis grants to help fund their project. As Dylan once said, “The times they are a changin’.”

That feels like a compelling approach, and one I’ll be using to approach a number of press outlets over the course of the film. We’ll see whether the press agrees with me.

Jason | July 26, 2011

Developing the Idea

Kyle and I just had a meeting with Paul Reisinger, a fellow student here at UCLA who is serving as the Assistant Director for us on our shoot (he made a terrific schnitzel, and informed us that despite the infamous, “doorbells and sleigh-bells and schnitzel with noodles” lyrics, no one in Austria really combines the two). At one point Paul asked us to describe how we’d gotten this whole low-budget feature off the ground. We started at the beginning, and it was a long story, but during our recap, I couldn’t help but be excited by how far we’d come, so I wanted to share a little tid-bit of it.

Once Kyle and I decided we wanted to collaborate on a low budget feature for our thesis, we sat down to figure out how to do it. We didn’t sit down to write out our dream script, or to write a script we thought would be “The Greatest Movie Ever”. We sat down to write a script that we could accomplish given what we had at our disposable, while still exploring characters we found interesting and a story that excited us.

We knew right away the biggest issue we were going to have would be shooting locations here in LA. We had read lots of stories about low budgets being shot all over the country, where aspiring directors would roll into town and propose shooting a little movie in a local cafe/warehouse/hotel, and the owner would think it sounded fun and exciting. But here, nobody gives a shit. It’s hard to describe how un-excited people are when we tell them we’re making a movie. It’s like trying to get folks here really pumped for another sunny day – it’s nothing new down here.

Then finally, we hit on the idea of a scavenger hunt around the city. Why not come up with two interesting characters in a relationship, traveling around the city on a scavenger hunt. The precise places they travelled to were essentially irrelevant – they could be whatever we could get our hands on – because the conversations they were having along the way and the difficulties they ran into would be the interesting part of the story.

From there, we just set about crafting the best story we could under our circumstances.

Eric | July 21, 2011

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acting like adults

a feature film by kyle laursen and eric f. martin