Inserts and Cutaways

What's an Insert? What's a Cutaway? Well, both are part of filmmaking.

As we've been busy editing, we have mentioned that we had to get some shots that we failed to get during principal photography last year. In fact, last month went back to shoot a bunch of inserts for the movie.

The difference between inserts and cutaways can be confusing. Some people use the word interchangeably. And in some ways, they're very much alike.

An Insert is a close-up of some detail in the scene, having the camera's full attention for a moment. For example, one insert we wanted to get (and did manage to get a couple of weeks ago) was the a close-up of the Red Queen. In the scene, the Red Queen (a chess piece) is being handed from one hand to another. We already had shots of it. But we wanted a closer shot, so it would be clear to the audience exactly what was being passed.

Last October, on the other hand, we were focusing mainly on cutaways. A Cutaway, as the name implies, cuts away from the action, usually to show simultaneous action; it also can be used to create suspense. It is a shot that introduces content or scenery that is away from the central action of the scene at hand.

We got permission to film in the black dirt region of Chester (our main filming location). We wanted some wide open shots. (If you look closely at the photo, that's us with the camera back in October. It was magic hour.)

Modern Actors in Historical Clothing

It's 1938.

You're in the Soviet Union. But something strange is going on.

People are wearing modern jackets and sneakers... Drinking tea out of travel mugs... Pulling out cell phones.




That's when you realize...

You're on a film set.

Valuable Dirt

Last year, when we were filming Under Jakob's Ladder, we gave the props department some clumps of dirt.

That's right. Dirt.

They were perfect for a certain scene in the movie. But because they were clumps of dirt, a sign had to be written: "Don't throw away. These are props!"

There’s an important lesson here. Don't throw anything away. When making a film, even dirt can have value.

Point Me in the Right Direction

A year ago, yesterday, we officially wrapped our film shoot for Under Jakob's Ladder. After a very long month of filming, we were probably ready for a very long nap.

Just point us in the right direction.

(As you see in these production stills, we did quite a bit of pointing during the film shoot!)






And it wasn't just the crew... The cast also had some pointing moments!

A Jakob Comic

Today we are introducing the very first comic strip featuring the cast of characters from our feature film, Under Jakob's Ladder.

Yes, you read that right: a JAKOB comic strip.

All drawings are by Lizzie Hupcey, our storyboard artist on the film. You'll see many of the main characters brought to life in 2D! With the special technology of paper and pencil. (Or whatever Lizzie uses.) The situations stem from scenes from the movie, as well as story ideas that did not make the final draft of the screenplay.

So, while you wait to see the REAL movie, we hope you enjoy this...

» Read the comic at our website

P.S. Got an idea for Lizzie to draw? If you think you have a scenario for the comic, please send us your idea. If we use it, we'll be sure to dedicate that particular comic strip to you! Send us your ideas

Silence Can Be Golden

Movies are just moving pictures. Right?

Legendary director, Alfred Hitchcock, is said to have loved silence. Perhaps that can be traced to his beginnings during the era of silent film.

Certainly, some of the most remembered sequences from his films could very well have been silent. If there was sound, it was natural noise. If there was dialogue, it was more often than not unintelligible.

Think of the guy falling from the Statue of Liberty in Saboteur. The championship tennis match, (not to mention the fairgrounds sequence) in Strangers on a Train. And in Rope, it's the maid clearing the trunk, quietly observed by the camera -- the main actors aren't even on screen.

These golden moments of silence can be very powerful.

Sometimes, when you're editing a movie, you have something all planned out. But then you find a moment of silence -- quite serendipitously. Which is what has happened in one particular spot in our feature film, Under Jakob's Ladder.

As we were editing one section of the movie -- a scene involving a character who angrily throws a box against a wall -- we wrote music to underscore the tension of the moment. However, on one of the renders, we noticed something missing from this scene. The music had disappeared, but only on that section of the scene. (This would have been due to us muting the track that held the music before rendering the scene out to watch it.)

And that particular moment had become silent. Well, not completely silent. But the music was gone. And the moment became stronger with its absence.

Sometimes, action is louder than words.

Or music, in this case.

Inside the Ruins

A common theme among the cast remembrances of this film shoot a year ago was that cold, cold Wednesday.

Because it threatened to rain (and it did, in fact, rain), we had to rig up tarps to cover our equipment in video village. (You can see the tarps in the photos.)

The scene involved the cast of prisoners standing in line. Fortunately, it wasn't raining that that time, but the wind was pretty brutal.

Meanwhile, some of the crew were holed up in what we had nicknamed "the ruins"; watching the monitor as each take was filmed.

There wasn't a whole lot of room in there, especially when all the equipment -- including the camera and tripod . But some of the cast thought that maybe, just maybe, we had a heater in there?

No, even though we had some walls, it was just as cold in our make-shift video village. The wind made its way inside. (If you could call it "inside.")

Yes, everyone suffered that night.

(Oh. Did we mention how cold it was?)

Wrangling the Sheepskin Coat

Jakob's Sheepskin Coat...

In some ways, it was almost like having another actor on the set of Under Jakob's Ladder. Our costume people were quite careful with how it was treated. Even Jeff Stewart (Jakob) was pretty protective of it.

And that's because it was an authentic sheepskin coat we tracked down and had shipped to us from Europe. (Interestingly enough, the ebay seller's ID was moonmember!)

We had tried other sheepskin coats... closer to home. But they didn't look quite right. This coat actually dates back to World War II; and as such, we knew it wasn't easily reproducible.

Notice the "Coat Wrangler" in photo below -- in this case, a.k.a. Lee Squires Sussman -- keeping the coat from all harm!


So, why even bother with the sheepskin coat in the first place?

Well, since this movie is based on a true story, one thing we do know is that the real Jakob Seel did have a sheepskin coat that he wore during his time in prison.

And yes, the sheepskin coat does figure into the movie's plot...

Jakob wears the coat throughout the movie (although, in some scenes he does take it off). And being in prison, it even had to spend time on the dirt floor. But don't think our costume people weren't looking out for the coat... It usually had a blanket underneath it to protect it.

Hey, when you're 70 years old, wouldn't you expect the same treatment?