Dys- Day #4: A teaser and a horror icon

First off, I apologize for again going on hiatus for the Dys- Day posts. The last month has kept me fairly busy with a trip to L.A., the Viscera Film Festival and the Fantasia film festival.

BUT, busy is good as it also means I got a lot more work done on Dys-, which in turn means that I'm one step closer to being done!

One of the main thing I worked on, which I've kept under wrap pretty much until shooting day, was the shooting of two extra scenes for the film starring horror cult icon Lynn Lowry! Yes, working with her made me as ecstatic as you can imagine! :D

Our amazing L.A. crew!

(photo by Lori Bowen)

Me directing Lynn

(photo by Lori Bowen)

The second big thing that kept me busy was the first Dys- promo teaser-trailer which premiered at the Viscera film festival before being release online a few days later.

Check it out HERE! :D

It has already received some positive buzz from two awesome gentlemen, Mike Snoonian (HERE) and Justin Hamelin (HERE). Thanks for the constant support, guys!

Char Hardin was also kind enough to give us a shout out and play the teaser trailer on the air (around the 01:20:00 mark), which you can listen to right HERE.

Thanks everyone for the constant support! YAY!! :D Can't wait to unleash Dys- upon you all!

(photo by Lori Bowen)

DYS- Day #3: There's always something that is a little more demanding...

For the third installment of Dys- Day, I'll be answering V-Man's question: "I know filmaking and the filmaking process is your passion but are there parts of the filmaking process that you like or dislike more than the others?" 

This is a tricky question to answer and, even if I love every aspect of filmmaking, I must admit that I do find the whole producing/financing aspect to be draining and time-consuming. And I absolutely HATE negotiating. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do love producing, but constantly having to switch “hats” between thinking like a producer (business) and like a director (creative) can become quite overwhelming.  On the flip side, producing is also great because that when you’re actively planning your film and setting things in motion to get started shooting. I did produce a few of my friends’ projects and it’s always easier (and more fun!) to produce when you’re not the  filmmaker as well.

I’m someone who is crazy organized and I actually love scheduling, planning, problem-solving, etc. But, my creative side is the complete opposite: a post-apocalyptic, chaotic wasteland! On Dys-, I was super lucky to have an awesome production team that really helped relieve some of the burden and allowed me to put all my energy and focus on the creative side of things.

I wouldn’t say that I’m a control freak, but I always find it really hard to let go of this role, even if I have a love/hate relationship with it. I’ve had a few experiences in the past when someone else was supposed to take on the producer role, only to drop out or only do half of what they signed up for. In all those cases, I had to step in at the last second and fix everything which meant that this is where all my energy went instead of being focused on directing and it ended up hurting the shorts. Because of this, I’ve always been wary about relying entirely on someone else to produce. I kept repeating the following motto: “If you want something done well and done your way, do it yourself.”

However, I am hopeful and I’m ready to keep my mind open for the future.  My 100% positive experience on Dys- taught me to trust other people and it helped me grow as a filmmaker. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to completely let go of the business and logistics side of filmmaking, but I’m definitely hoping that one day I’ll find a like-minded producer to work with and who can help me push my own limits as a filmmaker. 

Don't forget! You can always ask me your question(s) or suggest a topic by commenting! :)

DYS- Day #2: Financing. Producing. Shooting. Post. Everything. (part 2)

I know, I know, the Dys- Day posts were supposed to be weekly occurrences... but I was pulling an editing marathon so it’s a good reason for the delay, no? 
 
To pick it up where I left off in the first Dys- Day post, whatever your financing situation is, it’s gonna end up having an impact on the rest of your production.  There’s an old saying that goes along the lines of: “No matter what your budget is, you never have enough money.” So it’s always good to keep this in mind from the start. The chances that you’ll get exactly the amount of money you need for your project are unlikely, so be creative and work within your limitations from the get-go!  

Producing: Given the limited budget, I ended up producing the film with the help of a great supervising producer who had previously produced/directed a 35mm feature film on a really small budget, so he was really helpful and instrumental in helping me find ways to work within the limiting budget without sacrificing quality. We were assisted by a completely dedicated production manager who somehow manage to make everything work and kept the production on track throughout shooting.

A lot of aspects worked in our favor: we had access to the main location for free; secondary locations were found through networking and were, for the most part, also given to us for free; my mom and grandma supplied home-made catering which got rave reviews from the crew who would often go for a second serving. Despite the limited budget, we were able to pay everyone a daily wage which, even if it wasn’t a lot, contributed to making their contribution feel valued. Plus, I got to work with a lot of long-time collaborators who had worked for free on a lot of my shorts, so it felt great to finally be able to pay them for a project. 

Shooting: We had two main shooting limitations: first, we only had a limited number of shooting days for budgetary reasons and shooting dates were limited by how many days off work (my day job) I managed to get and the dates during which the lead actress would be in town. Fortunately, we had unlimited access to the main location and the rest of the cast and crew was incredibly flexible and worked around our insane 14 days shooting schedule. Aside from a few miscalculations in pre-production which lead to a 20-hour shooting day with special effects (i.e.: you can really stop otherwise it will mess up continuity), balanced out by a 4-hour shooting day the following week, everything else was smooth-sailing during the production and I am forever grateful for that!


Post: The production is the long part that is often filled with joy, wonder and frustration. Since I’m about halfway through this process, I can’t say too much except that, just like the rest of the film, editing is going very well! We now have a first rough cut that clocks in at 135 minutes for an 80-page script. It’s still too long, but hey, better too much content than not enough! That cut still needs to be refined and then will come the exciting next few steps: sound editing, scoring, sound mixing and color correction!

Now, it’s hard to answer the “everything” part of the original question as I could probably write 500 pages on the whole experience! I tried to summarize and I hope I did a semi-good job of answering your question, Lori! If not (or if you want more specific details), remember that you can ask me your question(s) or suggest a topic by commenting!

And yes, I promise a regular, weekly Dys- Day post from now on. :)

DYS- Day #1: Financing. Producing. Shooting. Post. Everything. (part 1)

For this first installment of Dys- Day, I’ll be answering my friend and fellow filmmaker Lori Bowen who gave me the following challenge: “I’d love to read as much as you want to tell about the film – financing, producing, shooting, post. Everything. No filmmaking journey is ever alike and no filmmaking journey is ever boring.” 

Lori, indeed, it is never boring and I’m convinced this whole series of posts will help cover most of the filmmaking journey of this particular project. I’ll use your four keywords as a starting point because I feel they represent the foundation of any film project. Financing. Producing. Shooting. Post. You can’t really be more thorough that that (except maybe by adding marketing and scriptwriting), but for the sake of this first foray into the topic, let’s stick to these as they are the elements that will have the biggest impact in determining what the finished film ends up being (and looks like). Furthermore, they are all interrelated and will influence once another: how much financing you get will determine some of the producing decisions and will impact shooting time and or means, which in turn will also impact post. You can’t think of them individually without acknowledging how they impact the rest of the production.

Financing: Aside from a bit of money that was raised through crowdfunding (thank you, contributors!), most of the Dys- budget was self-financed with a third of the amount coming from an investor. I could have gone other, more traditional routes of financing (i.e. government funding), but I didn’t feel like putting the project on hold “in case” I find more financing. I had already waited long enough to make a feature, I really wanted to get the project off the ground and take advantage of the momentum I had. Plus, I was fortunate enough to have a decently paying day job that allowed me to save money to make my big dream come true.  Some people go backpacking through Europe/take a six months trip around the world; I made my first feature and I couldn’t be happier. Because yes, filmmaking is also a spiritual journey.

From the start, I knew it was hard for a first feature to get funded, so I wrote the script with budgetary limitations in mind. One of my film teachers always used to say that, when faced with limitations, we should use them to force ourselves to be creative. This is exactly what I did and I can’t agree more! First thing I knew, my initial idea took a turn for the unexpected and I hit a creative zone that I don’t think I would have been able to access without being aware of the budgetary limitations I was likely to face. In the end, I couldn’t be happier with the script and I would not change a thing to the story, the content or the way it unfolds, even if someone offered me twice the budget I had! 

As for producing, shooting and post – I’ll cover those in future posts! :)

Thanks Lori for the inspiring topic! And remember, you can ask me your question(s) or suggest a topic by commenting!

Introducing DYS- day!

Hey everyone! 

Long time no talk! As you can imagine, editing has been taking up most of my free time during the past few months. I spent most of February and March finalizing a ‘Making of’ featurette I edited for the upcoming DVD release of my friend Eric Falardeau’s debut feature film, the disturbingly awesome Thanatomorphose, before finally diving head first into Dys-!

After a few days of intensive editing (thank you long weekends!) and thanks to my usual squirrel speed, I’m now two scenes away from the 50% mark. Yup, my first cut is almost 50% done and I can hardly believe it. Things are going so smoothly and so easily falling into place, it’s almost too good to be true! *knocks on wood* Not only are the images are gorgeous, the acting is impeccable and the editing is almost effortless!

To celebrate this exciting milestone and to keep fueling my motivation and excitement, I’m kickstarting a series of weekly posts about Dys-. These posts will cover everything from the behind the scenes to how I met my wonderful cast and crew.

I want YOU to be involved in the process by either asking me a question about the film or telling me what you’d like me to write about! If you tell me what you want to know, I’ll make sure to cover it at some point during the coming weeks! Don't be shy, I don't bite hard... ;)

First look at DYS-!

Yup, it is with great pleasure that I can finally share with you the first images from my upcoming feature film debut, Dys-!

For those who missed it on Facebook, Planet Etheria scored the exclusivity to the first stills! You can check them out by clicking the link. What do you think of them? Make sure you click the thumbnails to see the photo in full.

The pics can also be found on the official Facebook page. If you haven't liked it yet, what are you waiting for? All the fun is there! :)

Also in Dys- news, expect a weekly Dys- related post right here on this blog as I begin post-production! More information coming soon...

And last, but not least, our friend Mike Snoonian over at All Things Horror profiled the film as one of five indie projects to look out for! Check it out here! Thanks Mike! You made my day as usual. :D

Pinch me, is this really my life?!

So… I just finished shooting my first feature film and I really don’t know where to start to explain how it feels.

When I was 14, I remember asking my parents for a family meeting during which I did my own version of a “coming out” which sounded a bit like: “Mom, dad, I decided what I want to do with my life. I want to be a filmmaker.” They were shocked at first, but I was fortunate enough that they were (and have been ever since - my mom just took care of the catering for the entire length of the film shoot while my dad was driving people around and picking up gear and equipment when needed. I truly have the best parents in the world.) extremely supportive of me. Fast forward two years later when I made my first short film (I was 16) and shortly after had my first film festival experience. Then film school began and with it came the dream of one day making a feature film.

I nursed that dream for many, many years, constantly coming up with ideas for projects that would never happen. For the past 6 years, I kept thinking, “next year will be the year I make my first feature”, but somehow, like most New Year resolutions, things didn’t pan out. Then, something magical happened.

I’m still having a bit of trouble rationalizing the series of events that lead me to where I am today. Some of it has to do with me finally embracing the cinematic genre I always loved (as opposed to trying to conform to whatever was popular). Some of it has to do with being at the right place at the right time, mostly thanks to my thesis project (the BloodyBreasts webseries). Some of it has to do with finally understanding how the indie biz works. And a lot of it has to do with meeting the right people who supported, encouraged and inspired me. Then, the final push came from watching two little gems of independent cinema, Ludlow (directed by Stacie Ponder) and Dead Hooker in a Trunk (directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska) which gave me the ultimate kick in the butt in the form of “if they did this successfully with no budget, so can I!”

And so the adventure began. In 2010, to be precise. Making my first feature became my #1 life goal. In 2011, I wrote the script. In 2012, I started a crowd funding campaign, gathered the cast and crew, and began pre-production. The wheels were in motion and there was no turning back. Sure, it took me longer than expected to get the film made, but in retrospect, I’m glad it did as it allowed me to gather the PERFECT cast and crew for the project; a lot of whom I didn’t know (or had just met) back in 2010.

And now, here I am. I just completed principal photography in 14 days (which felt like only 4 days went by). This is a dream that has been in the making for more than 12 years, so part of me feared or expected something to go wrong (after all, this is a project with a minimal budget…), but it didn’t. Apart from a delayed flight and a few artistic disagreements, everything went smoothly from day 1. You know what? This was the best experience of my life. It felt like coming home. It gave me a sense of purpose and was the culmination of all the efforts I had put in my shorts.

I’m on my way to achieving the biggest dream of my life and let me tell you, this feels fucking amazing (and a bit intoxicating).

I truly cannot wait to unleash Dys- upon you all! Now, moving on to the editing stage… Bring it on, 2013 and a sincere THANK YOU from the bottom of my twisted little heart to those who have stuck by me for all these years and have been there for me when I needed it most. You know who you are. I couldn’t have done it without you. <3>

And the love/support continues!

I'm taking the time to write a quick thank you note to all the new supporters of my first feature film DYS-:

A HUGE thank you to Olga Ganova, Chris Hallock, Simon Nisbet and Marie-Pierre Poulin!

I'm sending you all the good karma I can possibly send your way!

For those who want to contribute, check out the list of stuff you can buy/claim on the film's website: http://www.homeiswherethehurtis.com

And don't forget to link the FB page to get all the updates!

The teaser is live!

...and so is the website!

http://vimeo.com/41212415 


http://www.homeiswherethehurtis.com/

https://www.facebook.com/homeiswherethehurtis

Mark your calendars!

Ok, so I’ve been not-so-subtely hinting at it and vaguely mentioning it… I can now ‘officially’ give you a decent update on my big upcoming project, i.e. my first feature film.    

* The working title of the project is Dys-; so from now on, if you heard me talk about Dys-, you’ll know what that is!  

* The teaser is almost ready and will be released this Sunday (April 29^th) at the same time as the official website will be launched. So keep your eyes on this blog!  

* The film now has a Facebook page where production updates will be posted and where most of the news about the project will be gathered. So, if you’re on FB, please give the page a ‘like’ and help share the word!  HERE is it.     

* There will be a crowdfunding campaign on the official website which will go live at the same time as the trailer.

Those who’ve known me for a while know that this project is something I’ve been looking forward to since, well forever! As you can probably guess, I’ll need all the help I can to spread the word about the project, help get more people to ‘like’ the page and check out the funding campaign.

Are you ready? Because I am and I cannot wait to share this beautiful adventure with you!