Film Day 19 -- Goodbye Prison!

Date: Thursday, May 14, 2009
Location: Interiors -- Prison
Film: Under Jakob's Ladder

This date was one of those bittersweet filming days. It was the last day of filming for a majority of the cast. (It was not the last day for the crew, by any stretch of the imagination.)

And we had a lot to film on this date; something like 10-12 pages of script! In fact, that morning (before any of the actors arrived) we had to make some hard decisions about making a few cuts to the script. About a page fell victim to the ax.

While, we did have a possible back-up filming date on Friday, but we really didn't want to have to use it. Kudos to the cast of prisoners who rose to the occasion, giving us some great performances; not to mention overtime...

P.S. The photo we chose for this post is a photo of Vovik (Peter Iasillo) saying goodbye to his hole...

Storyboarding Jakob

Okay, all our energies are back to focusing on edits for the movie right now. So, while we are working on the trailer, the movie is... well... it's taking precedence.

So, while you wait for the official Under Jakob's Ladder movie trailer, we thought you might like to watch this...



We just re-discovered it on one of our computers. Originally created last fall, it's a short sequence (the arrest). The storyboards are by Lizzie Hupcey. It even has some of our proto-soundtrack ideas.

A few things of note... Like we said earlier, it is almost a year old. So, some of the things we originally had Lizzie storyboard we later decided to cut out (like the bit with the bread). So, keep in mind that this is not exactly what was filmed.

Another note... Look at the images of the Jakob character. You may notice that they closely resemble Jeff Stewart. That's no coincidence. Actually we gave Lizzie photos of Jeff as her "model" for Jakob.

Enjoy...

On This Day: Non-Aggression Pact

August 23, 1939: A non-aggression pact made between the Soviet Union and Germany at the outset of World War II.

Wow! That's 70 years ago...

And why do we mention it? Well, it probably has to do with the fact that our latest film project -- Under Jakob's Ladder -- takes place in the Soviet Union during this time period. In fact, part of the plot revolves this very topic.

Now we don't want to give away too much of the movie's plot. But it does have to do with a certain country breaking that afore-mentioned non-aggression pact in 1941 (which is when our story takes place).

{Note about the photo -- This is the actual signing of the pact. You can see Stalin standing in the background (he's the one in the pale gray shirt). Then look up and you'll see Lenin glaring out of the photograph hanging on the wall.}

Poll Results | Are You a Credit Watcher?

Well... Let's take a look at what you told us...

Are You a Credit Watcher?

I watch to the very end! -- 48%
I stay only for the list of actors. -- 6%
I watch the credits, hoping for an extra scene. -- 44%
I watch credits occasionally. -- 20%
I rarely/never watch credits. -- 0%

Working on the Movie Trailer

Yes, we're currently in the process of piecing together a movie trailer for our feature film, Under Jakob's Ladder.

Of course, when creating a trailer, it's not a bad idea to watch other movie trailers. To get some ideas and inspiration. And then try a few things out on our own trailer.

The question that drives us is this... What images and lines of dialogue will make people want to see our movie?

Part of this whole process involves us coming up with some strong, memorable lines from the movie. And yet, while some lines are great in a movie, they're no good for a movie trailer. Usually the lines need to be short, pithy; provide intrigue, mystery...

But, most of all, the lines should make you say, "Hey, I got to see that movie!"

(To help with our search, we've even asked for the cast and crew to submit their favorite lines from the movie. So, if you fall into that category, submit your suggestion here...)

Oh, and by the way, this movie trailer isn't the only thing on our plate. We are still working on editing the movie!

Film Day 18 -- The Penultimate Day in Prison

Date: Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Location: Interiors -- Prison
Film: Under Jakob's Ladder

This was our second-to-last day on the prison set. Most of the day was taken up in filming one incredibly long scene: Yasha's story.

Five and a half pages of the script. (That's a long scene!)

Back and forth on the dolly, from Ivan to Norbert to Ivan again and all the guys in between.

Yasha (Quentin McCuiston) telling his story. How many times did Yasha actually tell the story? From beginning to punch line?

Yosif (Sean Patrick Folster) trying not to pay attention.

A lot of hungry prison guys... looking pretty dejected.

Dialog Replacement

So, how's the editing for Under Jakob's Ladder coming along?

Well, we have a rough cut of the movie. But it's still pretty rough. Basically, over the past few weeks we have been focusing on doing dialog replacement.

Most of the production dialog from the exterior scenes is unusable due to traffic noise. So, during the film shoot, after each camera setup, we would take the actors with dialog to a quiet space where we had them speak their lines of dialog, just like they did it during the take.

We made sure to record several versions of each line. (This usually works well if the actors pretty much stuck to the script, and it saves the hassle of bringing in actors months later to try to remember their performance as they lip sync.)

For wide interior shots, the mics are usually too far away from the actors to pick up their dialog. So you take the dialog from the close-ups and shift it around until it matches their lips for the wide angle.

This took almost two weeks to finish.

And now that we've got that done, we can do some serious work on a movie trailer...

(Note: This blogpost originally was from the email newsletter we sent out last week. If you would like to receive our email updates about the film, please sign up here.)

Some Strange Movie Credits

Sometimes we filmmakers can get pretty... creative... with the movie credits. Here's a short list of some rather odd credits. (There's more at this website.)

"Screenplay by James Dearden, for the screenplay based on his earlier screenplay." -- FATAL ATTRACTION (1987)

"Filmed entirely in New York City except for one scene we had to go to Newark for." -- JOE'S APARTMENT (1996)

"Appearing without the permission of his mother, John Cleese, as the man on the beach in Barbados who looks like John Cleese." -- BULLSEYE! (1990)

There's even a credit for "Flash, the editing room dog." -- BROTHER'S KEEPER (1992)

Four casting directors are listed in this; even though the movie has only three humans in the cast, one non-speaking and the other two saying very little. -- THE BEAR (FR 1988)

And, finally, this one is for our friends of the Great White North...

"No Canadians were harmed in this production." -- CANADIAN BACON (1995)

Poll -- Are You a Credit Watcher?

You're sitting in a darkened movie theatre. "The End" has just flashed up onto the big screen.

The credits begin to roll...

What do you do? Do you stay to watch the credits???

(Okay, so, we know that most movies don't use "The End" any more. But, you know what we mean!)

When you're editing a movie (like we are -- Under Jakob's Ladder, in case you don't already know), you really start to think about such things. Then you get to thinking about how many people are actually credit-watchers...

Are you one of those people who sit and watch every single movie credit as it scrolls by?

Or maybe you're just a casual credit watcher?

Or are you a staunch leave-your-seat-as-soon-as-the-movie-ends type of movie goer?

Take our poll. (You'll find it at the top right-hand side of our blog. Oh, and by the way, you do have the option of checking off more than one answer.)

Maybe you have a different approach to credits not covered in the poll? Leave a comment in the comment section. Let us know...