As the title says, we got there! 100 hours of filmmaking complete, resulting in one film. We’re so proud.
At one point I mentioned to our Executive Producer that everything had to go right for the film to be made. Everything. There could be no significant fail.
Of course I dropped the ball a couple of times, forgetting props at one location and causing a brief scramble, and probably asking a little too much of everybody, but the film we made was/is absolutely worth it. I can’t tell you much, because according to contest rules, we aren’t allowed to release it until we are confirmed as either a non-finalist or after the finals screening.
And I’d like to keep it as spoiler-free for as many people as possible.
So how about some fun facts?
Our required elements were Deja Vu (Theme) Filing Something (Action) and a Rope or String (Prop).
The writing mechanism that resulted in our script was produced by Andrew Wade within 5 minutes of the competition starting. He brainstormed while I updated the cast/crew on the required elements, and it was in there. It was a perfect metaphor, and we followed it, and you’ll see it right away in the film.
We used a cast/crew of 11 people, which is pretty large for us. Everyone appears in the film, including everyone who did a behind-the-camera job, which is common for us.
Four members of our cast were doing their first film race with us. Two of them, Jamie and Dwayne, were brand brand new to us. Most of us met them for the first time on set! Both were better than I could have ever imagined.
This is Teala’s first in-person acting role for Barigord, though her voice has already appeared in our Stop Motion Lego Grand Prix!
Our Executive Producer Reina also made her debut in the film, though like Teala, she’s the voice of Megan in our BC Culture Days project. What does an Executive Producer do? In a nutshell, they provide multiple elements of value, usually of $$ value. Things like financing, locations, transport, and even being cast and crew. However, an Executive Producer title/credit can be given to a singular contribution of significant value. Reina provided a constellation of value, and so she gets a great big star of a credit.
We shot everything on our Canon Eos M50, using mostly a default lens. The camera has been, as our DoP (and actor!) Ramiro put it, ‘our best investment.’
AFAIK, everybody slept every night.
This is our 5th consecutive successful submission to filmracing.com. We’ve been finalists in 2/4 so far, and I think this is our strongest film. It was certainly our strongest production, with a smooth flow, successful schedule, and terrific technical elements. There’s no ‘I wish we could’ve…’ because we did, and we had time to fix it in post when we didn’t.
Thanks again to everyone for this, especially Kiki, Victor, Charlene and Phil, who were tough to talk about without giving away spoilers. They all gave us multiple levels of excellent, and have been a huge part of our previous work as well.
You’ll have to wait and see the film. We’ll apparently know pretty soon if we’re finalists again. Stay tuned.
