Meet Our Crew & Get Up to Date!

Hey everyone, 

Sorry for not doing an update in such a long time but we’ve been busy with pre-production work.

Like doing a blocking rehearsal for the car scenes! 

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Or having our final table read (or couch read, as was the case here)!

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Some wonderful news is that we attached our amazing DP, John L Murphy, a couple months ago and he and I have been talking and working hard to accomplish the look we want for Summit. Check out his reel HERE!

He is incredibly talented and an awesome person. I’m excited to work with him and the rest of our fantastic crew! 

Here’s the Summit team in full: 

Christina Raia: Director, Writer, Producer

John L Murphy: Director of Photography/Cinematographer

Matt Gershowitz: Assistant Director, Associate Producer, Editor

Paris Powe: Production Manager

Christopher Carroll: Associate Producer, Art Director, Photographer

Charlotte Simpson: Gaffer

Peter Westervelt: 1st Assistant Camera

Erin Clayton: 2nd Assistant Camera

Adnan Malik: Key Grip

Colin Petty: Sound Mixer, Boom Operator

Kelsey Rauber: Script Supervisor

Andrew Bradley: Production Assistant, Driver, Craft Service

Jesse Rodriguez: BTS Videographer, PA

Our actors are an integral part of the team as well and have been a huge asset in pre-production:

Lauren Ashleigh: Jesse, Associate Producer

Rob Ceriello: Sean

Emma Barrett: Sarah

Ricardo Manigat: James

Ryan Kramer: Will, Associate Producer

And, of course, our essential off set helpers:

Marlene Mungalsingh: Associate Producer, Caterer (& best mom ever)

Natasha Singh: Caterer 

Justin Petrillo: Associate Producer

Gabriela Bararata: Production Assistant

Also, some updates on pre-production:

-We’re aiming to shoot on the Canon C300 but our budget can’t completely afford it, especially in terms of the lenses we need. If anyone owns a Canon C300 or Zeiss prime lenses and is seriously interested in working with us on the rental price, I’m offering an Associate Producer credit to that generous individual. So send us a message if you’re that person!

-We’ve also taken multiple trips up to our shooting location in Lenox, MA and John and I have been working on the shotlist. We’re so excited about the artistic choices we’ve made!

-Paris, Matt, and I are working on finding one other location needed within Lenox, casting our final supporting role in the film, and finalizing some other key logistics.

Then comes the part where we’re just dishing out the money for everything we need. So don’t forget, if you’d like to receive any of our Kickstarter rewards, we’re still accepting pledges through our How To Support Page!

-Our production dates are January 19th - February 3rd! We’ll all be living and breathing Summit during that time; and Chris and Gabby will do their best to capture every moment behind the scenes so that we can share it all with you during and after production! 

-Also, for you big backers, our wrap party is February 8th! Save the date! We’ll have details at the beginning of next year! 

That’s all for now. But we’ll be keeping you updated as much as we can as we get closer to production. Thanks again for all the support! Enjoy the holidays!

-Christina

Puppy Love - Our Crash the Superbowl Submission

We submitted our Crash the Superbowl Doritos commercial today! Now all we can do is wait while we cross our fingers and hope that we make it to the finals! But, in the meantime, you can give it a 5 star rating to help us get closer to winning 1 million dollars so that we can continue to produce even more awesome content for you wonderful viewers! So give it a watch, have a little laugh, and help us out with one click of the 5th star above the video! 

Crash the Superbowl 2013

Luckily, we were able to beat Hurricane Sandy and shoot our Doritos commercial on Saturday. I directed, Chris shot it, Lauren wrote it and starred in it, and Summit actor Rob Ceriello starred with her, along with a very cute bulldog named Holmes. Chris and I are now working on the final edit for the November 16th deadline; and we’re crossing our fingers for that million dollar reward!

Regardless of winning though, it was a really fun shoot, hanging out with some of my favorite people, doing what we all love to do. We’ll share the commercial once it’s complete!

-Christina

“House Near The End of The Street” for Horror Spoof Contest

About 3 weeks ago, I came across the Cabin in the Woods and Vimeo sponsored Horror Spoof competition and decided I wanted to submit something before the October 23rd deadline. I ran the idea by Chris, Ryan, and new team member/Summit lead actress Lauren Ashleigh. We were all determined to participate. Ryan and I spent a day brainstorming and ended up writing a great script together. We then spent a stressful week and a half trying to put all the pieces together for an impromptu shoot on October 8th. He and I co-produced the film; I directed it, he acted in it along with Lauren, and Chris was the Cinematographer. Our usual crew of people, plus some awesome newbies, helped the production day go smoothly. I’m extremely happy with the final cut Chris and I have put together and I’m excited to submit it to the contest next week! We’re currently finishing the last touches while Matt works on the sound mix and my “S.K.A.” composer, Raymond Rossetti, works on the score. We can’t wait to reveal the film to the world after the contest promotion period ends! Check back at the end of the month for the official online debut through Vimeo!

-Christina

Christina Interviewed by New York Filmmakers

Christina Raia is a filmmaker currently residing in Queens. She has made several short films including Do-Over, Come Here Often, and S.K.A. She is currently in pre-production on her first feature: a Kickstarter funded project called Summit. More info about Christina can be found on her website http://www.ChristinaRaia.com. For more about her upcoming feature (and how to help support the production) you can go to http://www.SummitTheMovie.com. For more about I Was There visit http://iwastheremedia.org For more New York Filmmakers Interviews Visit http://NYFilm.Tumblr.com

I first connected with Sean Mannion during the Summit Kickstarter; he was raising funds for his own film, a short experimental horror titled “Abel and Cain”. 

He recently began a webseries called New York Filmmakers and invited me to be a guest. It was a lot of fun and I’m really happy with the final product. He interviewed me for an hour and asked over 35 questions, so there’s a chance some of my other answers may pop up in future compilation episodes. But regardless, be sure to check out the site every week to get to know a new filmmaker! We at CongestedCat definitely will; it’s always nice to see what our peers are working on out there, especially in our home-base of New York City.