Mini Roman Epic

[You can now join us on Facebook! Exitus Roma was made for the Ridley Scott + YouTube competition, 'Your Film Festival.' If we make the semifinals, we'll rely on our fans (you!) to get to the finals. You can watch the trailer here.]

Here are some early images from my new short film. It's a mini epic about roman refugees from the barbarian invasions, AD 410.

The film was produced for the Ridley Scott + YouTube competition, Your Film Festival. It's been filmmaking in the fast lane! I wrote the script at the end of January. My amazing producer, Anna Elizabeth James of Majek Pictures, put it together in three short weeks. We wrapped production last Friday, and I watched the editors' cut on Sunday!

Starring Teri Reeves, David Landry, Brad C. Wilcox, and Nevin Millan. Written & directed by me. Produced by Anna Elizabeth James. Cinematographer: Jonathan Barenboim. Production Designer: Bonnie Bacevich. Costume Designer: Pheobe Boynton. Make-up Artist: Cara Liedlich. 1st Assistant Director: Michael Koerbel. Fight co-ordinator: Bill Leaman. Editors: Daniel Hanne & Nick Wenger. Sound: Alexander Burstein. Composer: Leah Curtis. And many more on an amazing crew! 

More info coming soon.

SoCal Best Student Short!

To Rest in Peace won best student short at the SoCal Independent Film Fest! Congrats to the cast & crew.

The picture above is of me and Mir Waiss Najibi at the screening. Mir played one of the dead men that Malek buries in To Rest in Peace.  We were so grateful for his involvement, and for Ralph Lopez. They were both on set for several days, early in the morning, getting into dead man make-up, and always cheerful.

One of my fondest memories of set was a blooper that Mir and Ralph created. We were filming a close-up of the two dead bodies, and before I yelled 'cut,' the bodies came to life, looked around in a daze, and decided to leave. The whole crew had a good laugh.

Our festival run continues. More news to come.

SoCal Independent Film Festival

 

To Rest in Peace will return to Huntington Beach for the SoCal Independent Film Festival! The festival runs September 28th to October 2nd. Our screening is on Thursday, September 29th at 1:10PM.

I say 'return,' because we shot our last day of principle photograph on Huntington Beach. People often point to this scene as one they are sure was shot in Kuwait. The Towers of Kuwait appear in the background, as Malek is contemplating the water. But these were filmed separately by Ali Younis, and then composited by Michael Ashton. The scene itself was shot by Sean Conaty with our priniciple photography crew in Huntington Beach, California.

Incidentally, if you would like to see more of Kuwait, Ali Younis has some beautiful nature videos up on his YouTube channel. Check out Kuwait's Desert in Spring. And did you know that Kuwait has flamingos?

The beach scene is one of my personal favourites in To Rest in Peace. It is the moment when Malek, having struggled with his choice of whether or not to risk his life and bury the two dead men himself, has reached the end of the road. There is no where else to go, and he is forced to contemplate his decision in a communion with nature. Part of the inspiration was this sentiment by Lord Byron, from Childe Harold's Pilgrimmage:

     There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
     There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
     There is society, where none intrudes,
     By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
     I love not man the less, but Nature more, 

     From these our interviews, in which I steal 

     From all I may be, or have been before, 

     To mingle with the Universe, and feel 

     What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.

Michael Benyaer gave a layered performance, underscored by Leah Curtis's music. This is one scene that stayed almost exactly the same throughout the editing process, from Zachary Dehm's first cut.

I look forward to revisiting Huntington Beach. It was the end of our production, but not of our festival run. More festival news is coming up soon, including our Canadian premiere. And we're off to the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival tomorrow! 

Big Bear Lake Int'l Film Festival

To Rest in Peace will be screening at the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival! The festival runs September 15-17. We are nominated for Best Student Short.

Congrats also to my USC classmate Nate Ruegger for his film, Another Life. We screened our films together at Paramount Studios, and we'll be screening together again in Big Bear Lake. Anecdotally, Nate was also the first person I had lunch with when I arrived at USC.

The festival is organized by Monika Skerbelis, who ran the American Pavilion screening in Cannes. She has a good eye for short films, so I look forward to seeing the selection here.

The location of this festival brings back fond memories. One of my favourite production experiences was filming up in Big Bear Lake for Into the Unknown. I co-edited the project with To Rest in Peace editor Ryan Frost, but the first weekend of production I doubled as the script supervisor. The entire crew stayed in one big cabin, which housed a singing moose head. We filmed during day light hours, and barbecued at night. Definitely one of the highlights of my time at USC. Even the first night up, when we couldn't find the cabin in the dark, and had to sleep in the car...

Unsung Heroes of Production Design

To Rest in Peace is unofficially picture locked, awaiting a thumbs up from its faculty mentor, Amanda Pope. This is a good time to reflect on some of the great work that never made it into the final cut.

Films often have to cut out lines, scenes, or even entire characters. (Compare the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven to the theatrical release, which is missing a key character in the story). Fortunately, To Rest in Peace has not lost any scenes or characters. But there's a lot of great production design that won't make it onto the screen.

My personal favourite is the 'emergency room' sign in the hospital scene, pictured above. The art department did an amazing job of transforming a drab Santa Clarita set, into a Kuwaiti hospital. At a test screening in Kuwait, several people in the audience were convinced that we filmed at a local hospital. Thanks to Katie Byron the production designer, Henry Alvarado the art director, Rebecca Eskreis the set dresser, and the art PAs Julianne Dome, Cynthia Fox, Monica Sender and Stephanie Wooten.

The scene ended up playing best in one continuous steadicam shot, beautifully operated by David Baldwin. But the shot never looks in that direction. So, dear 'emergency room' sign, we'll miss you.

There was a lot of great work by the art department that never made it into the final cut, or even into the dailies. But what it did was completely free us to shoot in any direction we needed. We were standing in the spaces of our imagined world, and every detail around us was true to the characters and the story.

Crossing the Gulf

There's a nice little high speed ferry to Failaka. It has luxury seating, and takes about 45 minutes to cross the gulf. It does not, however, take cars.

So... in order to get our 1989 black mercedes over for filming, we had to take this beast of a ferry, which took almost two hours. There was a long lineup of cars, and you had to get there early in the morning, to make sure you found a spot.

It was well worth it, though. The mercedes was both a good platform for getting the background plates for the green screen shots, and a perfect match for the mercedes we had filmed in Los Angeles.

This will be a busy week, with picture lock coming up soon. Next post will report on a small test screening we're having today. Until then...

Valentine's Update

One of the reasons thesis films take so long to make (at least three, but often four or five semesters) is that everyone involved is also working on multiple other projects. This is a great part of being at USC. Multiple projects feed energy into each other, and make each one better than it would have been. (Though there are, of course, exceptions).

I produced a thesis right before shooting To Rest in Peace, and another right after. Now I'm editing one for my friend John Dion. It's a comedy about a disillusioned Cupid, who wants to leave earth and go home. He's tired of causing people suffering by making them fall in love.

John was the 1st Assistant Director on To Rest in Peace, as described in the 'production metaphor' post. And Cupid is proving to be one of the projects that feeds energy into everything else I do, much like our previous director-editor collaboration, Into the Unknown.

To Rest in Peace is now just under the maximum 16 minutes, and close to picture lock! We'll be getting some final thoughts, and doing some final tweaks over the next week or two, and then locking picture and starting on visual effects and sound design.

Storyboards

Several months before production started, I sat down with Sean Conaty (the DP) and shotlisted the entire film. We had no locations yet, no cast. We were still making the decision of whether to shoot the entire film in Kuwait, or whether to shoot the entire film in Los Angeles. But I wanted to have a first draft of the visual design, to inform these choices.

Eventually, we made the decision to shoot principal in Los Angeles, and 2nd unit in Kuwait. To fully understand the division, I looked over our shotlist, and storyboarded the entire script. This was a second draft of the visual design, and it helped in choosing locations, and forming the production schedule.

But the storyboards also proved useful in a surprising way. For the second half of production, there were some off-set problems that made it impossible for Sean and I to properly plan our shots. The storyboards were a life-saver. They helped us keep focus, and we continued to read each other's minds each day.

Production Metaphor

An appropriate metaphor: The director carried by the ADs.

On the right is John Dion, the 1st AD. We've worked together a number of times, in different roles. Last year, John directed a short film, Into the Unknown, which I edited with my friend Ryan Frost, and which was selected for the Palm Springs Film Festival this year.

On the left is Kaveh Taherian, 2nd AD. His first job as 2nd AD was on Into the Unknown, and he has been a good friend and colleague ever since. You can find his blog here.

In the middle is Isaiah Inderrieden, also 2nd AD. John randomly interviewed him for To Rest in Peace, which was a stroke of good fortune. He recently worked on another USC thesis film I produced.

You can also see the hand of Tony Bushman to the right, a good friend and fellow USC student, who was 2nd 2nd AD for several days. (I never did understand why the title is 2nd 2nd, not 3rd AD).

This team went far beyond their job description, carrying the production through some difficult challenges. The film would not have been possible without their support.

The picture is from our last day of production, after we wrapped.

Lighting Up The Night Sky

There it is, in all its glory. That beautiful light balloon.

There was some contention about whether or not to get the light balloon. Even after Josh got us a good deal, it was stretching our budget. But it was one of the best decisions we made.

The reference I gave Sean for the look of the final burial scene was Caspar David Friedrich's Man and Woman Gazing at the Moon. It has a soft, ethereal glow, the feeling of a solemn nighttime contemplation. That is exactly what the light balloon gave us. And the footage is beautiful.

The Family Connection

One of the happy coincidences of To Rest in Peace was my reconnecting with Mohammad, a cousin of mine I had not seen in years. The last time I remember seeing him was in Kuwait, when we were young teens. He called me out of the blue a couple of weeks before production, and said he was interested in helping out.

Mohammad was amazing to have on set. He was there every day, working hard at everything he was given. Production Assistant, Art Assistant, Stand-in, C-stand.

At one point he brought his video camera along, and got some great behind the scenes footage. Some of it is up on his blog, freemind82.blogspot.com, and some of it will be reserved for the DVD extras. My favourite is the cute "roller coaster" video.

Shots II

More stills. Not colour corrected.

Malek and Ali face the approaching Iraqi soldiers.

The green screen will be replaced by 2nd unit footage of Kuwait.

Joey's big screen debut! See the post from April 30th.

Shots I

Some stills from the film. These were taken from the dailies, and are not properly colour corrected. More to come!

Malek discovers the two dead men.

Haider sleeps on his father's lap. With a cameo from my stuffed tiger, original to 1989.

Malek contemplates whether or not to bury the bodies himself.

Day 10 of 10!

We completed principle photography today!

Our last day was a half day at Huntington Beach. We arrived at 5 pm. The sun set just before 8 pm. And we got all 7 shots we wanted.

It was cloudier than expected, but that may have come out in our favour. We could not see the setting sun, which would not have been accurate to Kuwait.

We will now spend several months picture editing, before going to Kuwait in October for second unit.

In the picture above, left to right, Sean Conaty the DP, Rich Prugh the set photographer, and Chloe Weaver the 1st AC. Mohammed Al-Kazemi is in the background. He is my cousin, and such a pleasure to have on set. He was the stand-in for our lead, Michael Benyaer. He also captured some behind the scenes footage, which I am look forward to see and expurgate.

Days 6 through 9 of 10

A goofy picture.

No... we're not making a comedy. But after 9 days of production, you need a bit of goofiness.

Left to right, our set photographer Rich Prugh, behind him our 2nd AD Kaveh Taherian, then three of our wonderful cast, Asad Durrani as the neighbour, Ralph Lopez as an officer, and Junes Zahdi as a soldier. Ralph also played one of the two corpses that the film centers around. Cardo Blas was another soldier in this scene, but was not around for the picture.

Days 6 through 9 have been challenging, but we made it through, and managed to enjoy ourselves along the way.

Day 6 was the continuation of scene 10, the "Big One" from Day 5. We got up to letter U in coverage. It was particularly fortunate, because this was both the most complicated scene, and some off set issues had prevented me from doing my usual prep the day before. Despite the obstacles, we made it through and shot a good scene, well covered.

Day 7 we stayed at El Toro Airfield to shoot the scene when Malek first sees the two dead bodies that start him on his journey. We did so well with that scene that we were able to sneak in a few more close ups from scene 10, before closing out the location. We also managed to have some fun with Ralph and Mir, who were playing the corpses. After a long shot of them in the car, they asked us to roll again for a surprise. We slated it "10 Z" for "Zombie", and I called "action"; to which Ralph and Mir slowly woke up, snuck out of the car, looked around cautiously, then BOLTED in the opposite direction. It was a great laugh.

Day 8 we filmed our neighbourhood scene, where Malek sees his neighbour arrested, and later brought back tortured. It was a rainy morning, so we shot our close-ups first, which was a good gamble. By the time we were finished, the rain had cleared, the ground had dried, and we were able to shoot our wides.

Day 9 was a green screen day. We had a slow pace, got more than we planned for, and finished earlier than scheduled. We shot various driving scenes, which we will then combine with footage from Kuwait.

Today is a day off. We have half a day left at Huntington Beach. Then we go into post production, and start seeing cuts.

Updates will continue to be posted. Thanks for following us on this journey.

Days 4 and 5 of 10

We missed a day of blogging! Monday was a day off. Sunday night was our overnight, to shoot the climactic scene of the film. That went enormously well.

Today was the first half of shooting our scene 10, commonly referred to as the "big one." It's 3 pages, with five vehicles and eight actors. That was very complicated and very fun to start on. Looking forward to completing it tomorrow.

Short blog today. It's almost midnight, and call is at 6AM. More to come!

Picture above is from our wonderful set photographer, Mr. Rich Prugh.

Day 3 of 10

A good day 3. We had some big technical set backs that pushed our first shot until after lunch. With only a couple of hours left, the team rallied together, pushed through, and was able to create a beautiful scene.

It was so lovely to see all the actors in Kuwaiti clothing, moving through a space that the art department had made completely authentic. We missed a couple of shots that would have really showed the full glory of the art department's work. But we have our scene, and a beautiful scene, with several options for post-production, which is exactly what we need.

I was moved by how many people we were able to get for extras, and Prasanna Iyengar, our costume designer, did a great job of dressing them all. Pictured above, left to right, are Vachan, Kamal, my dad Faisal and Mohammad, who was kind enough to bring Kamal and a contingent of seven or so people. Mohammad will also play a man who is stopped by soldiers and interrogated on Tuesday.

Rich Prugh, our set photographer, was not on set today, and will not be tomorrow. We missed him! Looking forward to having him back on Tuesday for Day 5.

Sunday night is an overnight shoot for our climactic scene. Then a much deserved day off for everyone on memorial day.

Day 2 of 10

Day two complete. It was a packed day, and we had to push hard, but we got everything we needed.

The dinner scene was filmed right before lunch, with the family sitting on the ground and eating with their hands, in the traditional Kuwaiti manner. When lunch was called, the family stayed on the ground, and kept eating their dinner food. I joined them for my lunch. With Joey the parrot squawking behind us, it felt like real Kuwait!

Saturday is a big hospital scene, with lots of extras. Should be fun!

Photo courtesy of our set photographer, Rich Prugh.

Day 1 of 10

Good first day. We have our opening, our ending, and two important scenes. Including the one with Haider, the eight year old son (see the "Anniversary" post from April 18).

The picture is from our wonderful set photographer, Rich Prugh.

Tomorrow is a big day. It's Joey's big movie debut! (See the "Parrot" post from April 30).

The Eve of Production

On the eve of production. Call time 6AM.

Everything is prepped and ready to go.

As a reminder of what we are trying to accomplish, I watched some of my favourite scenes from my favourite films. I watched the opening of Gladiator, and the Non Nobis Domine scene from Kenneth Branagh's Henry V.

Also watched this inspiring and informative interview with my favourite director, Ridley Scott.

Tomorrow is the first of ten days, after which production on To Rest in Peace will be past tense. I look forward to sharing this journey with you.