PRODUCTION
NOTES:
or
HOW
TO MAKE A MOVIE FOR FIFTY DOLLARS
First - get Fifty Dollars.
If one already owns or has access to a
DIGITAL VIDEO camera, all you need is some tape (about 5
dollars a piece) and a couple of friends, who will act for
free. Then sketch up some type of little story. Then go make
a movie. Its really as simple as that.
Around the first of February, we realized
that the FAYETTEVILLE FILM FESTIVAL was rapidly approaching.
We deeply wanted to be involved in this years festival, but
had nothing even close to being finished, which might have
proved worthy of an independent film festival. Nachash and I
began drinking and pondering.
Around this time, Art Bell had returned
from his retirement, and began filling the late night hours
with stories of UFOs, Crazy Weather, weird religions and all
sorts and manner of phenomena. It did not take but a few late
night discussions to conclude that a short horror movie would
be a perfect way to explore all manner of cinematic
technique, camera angles, dialogue, music, special effects,
etc. A good way to showcase our abilities and potentiality,
while returning to our Movie Making roots, all in one swift
gesture. We immediately began creating scenarios and thoughts
on imagery and quick sketches and character ideas and before
long a nice little horror-movie arch had been constructed.
We started shooting fast and cheap.
Deciding that black and white would not only be approp
riate
for the "Orson Welles meets
Night of the Living Dead" kind of atmosphere,
but helpful in maintaining a consistent look. A look which
most certainly would have been compromised by using color
video. Black and white allowed us to get away with things
that otherwise would have been much more involved and
expensive.
NOTE: in black and white,
chocolate syrup functions brilliantly as blood.
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ALSO NOTE: in black and
white, one can use VERY inexpensive lighting, as there
is
less concern about color temperatures and such. My favorite
lighting source for GOL-
GOTHA was a handheld fluorescent
flashlight. The kind you carry in your car (with flashing
distress lights and a bright yellow plastic outer case).
Recruiting some of our friends (sometimes
an unwitting visitor would come by the house while shooting
was happening, and suddenly found themselves dressed up and
in the movie!) we shot out of sequence, using a rough
scene-list and outline. Getting the footage for one scene,
would help dictate what we needed for later scenes. In this
way we were both improvising and writing the script as we
went along. Having a BASIC notion of what scenes we wanted
and where we wanted the story to go, then filling in the
details along the way.
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Rodger Chennault offered his services for
FREE to score the movie with a rocking original soundtrack. His work on the project gave us a professional sound that
could not have been achieved without his gracious offering.
INTERLUDE
"Man,
I don't like this." the Actor grimaced.
"Don't
worry." the director grinned while adjusting
exposure controls on the DV cam.
We
had chosen to shoot this night in downtown
Fayetteville at a Public Parking lot and among
the surrounding buildings. The scene evokes
strange urban concrete, which stands in tot
al
contrast to the Southern Gothic moss and trees of
the Horror Movie we are working. Harmless
tresspassing. In and out. Everything's going to
be fine.
"Dude."
the actor groaned. "These are the kind of
things you read about in Film Threat!"
No
problem. We got the shots.
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We were working like mad, shooting,
writing, editing, shooting some more, rewriting, scheduling
and rescheduling, during every possible waking moment. With a
MARCH 15 deadline quickly approaching. Started editing around
MARCH 1 with se
veral key scenes still not even shot. The
final scene of the movie was shot on SUNDAY MORNING MARCH 11.
We were editing in 6,8 and 10
hour
blocks (using the
non-linear editing computer called SCREENPLAY, at Community
Access Television) pushing the entry deadline LITERALLY until
the 11th hour.
We turned in our entry to the FFF at 7:30pm
March 15.
A few days later, returning to the editing
room for a couple of quick clean-ups and fixes. Re-edited a
few dis-continent shots. Also redubbed a large amount of the
soundtrack music for better levels and mixing with dialogue.
Not to mention, the Frogs.
Finishing the movie fully around APRIL 1, 2005.
The bulk of the budget was spent on video
tape. The remainder of the money was
spent on chocolate
syrup, beef and cheese combo pack, a little makeup, some
eyeliner sticks and batteries for the flashlight. Whatever
the cost of the Mimosa and Frittata
breakfast served at the BAPTISM SCENE, can also be included
in our so-called budget.
Golgotha AR. was
completed for less than 50 dollars.
Four
years later, in Sept. 2005 GOLGOTHA finds itself re-edited slightly
once again - to feature better title and credit sequences as well as
some minor editorial repairs (adding almost 3 minutes to the running
time.) The DELUXE EDITION DVD contains bonus material as well as
outtakes and trailers.
Since
finishing the project, more money has been spent on promotional
materials, blank VHS tapes and DVD-R, ISP costs as well as hardware,
software and the transfer of the Golgotha TRAILERS
onto our website and so on. But the heart and soul of the movie came to
life, not from the initial 50 dollars nor the website
nor the DVD, but
from a the raw desire to make the best movie we could
and go from there...
Now, let's all go out and make some more!
-joel t. kattner
copyright©2005 dark pumpkin pictures