BTS of New Short "Enough"

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PART ONE (September 11, 2016):

Last night (1am this morning), we wrapped the first half of production on my new short "Enough." 

Logline: The lives of three women collide in one night when two of them decide to rob the house the other is house sitting.

I wrote "Enough" back at the start of 2014 and have wanted to make it since then. But after shooting Summit & 'Kelsey' without paying people, I really wanted to be able to do this film on a budget and pay the full team that makes it happen. After crowdfunding for "We Had Plans" and "Not Our Living Room," though, and experiencing how much even moderate dayrates ate up the budget for such short pieces, I realized I needed significant money to make this project. So I kept putting it on hold and trying to find funding. Last Spring, I thought I'd actually get to make it because someone I met on twitter was a fan of my work and a producer, and he wanted to fund it for the EP credit. He turned out to be somewhat of a creep though, and that fell through. (But it worked out for the best because everything kind of aligned perfectly this Fall, particularly with finding the perfect cast.) After shooting "Night In" last month (on no-budget) and feeling so at home being back on set (hadn't been since "Two Gays & a Girl" a year before), I realized that I just need to make this film. And when I asked everyone attached if they'd be down to do it no-budget but full-effort style, they were totally onboard. So thanks to a talented & dedicated volunteer cast & crew, and loans of equipment & locations from friends & family, this 12-minute short is finally getting made. 

As for the shoot, it started out rough: first our sound person bailed less than 2 hours before call (thankfully our amazing gaffer Jeff was able to pull double duty) and then we realized our 2nd camera battery wouldn't charge (our AC Diana was a lifesaver with this one) --- but the day turned around and it was fun and full of passion & progress. Despite the scorching heat & setbacks, our small but mighty crew pulled it off and we wrapped early! Our next shooting date isn't until the end of October. Our picture house is currently being renovated, but I needed to shoot a scene in my apartment before moving in October -- so it meant separating the 2 shooting days almost 2 months apart. It works out well though because it gives the cast some time to rehearse the choreography for the actual break-in! 

Check out 3 raw Stills from what we shot below. Because of our lack of budget, our DP Peter decided it'd be best to shoot on the Sony a7s for its low-light capabilities. We decided to embrace the grain and go for it. So we had our camera, 2 little LED lights, and that was it in a black car with black seats, with actors wearing all black, at night. I quite dig the look and I'm extremely excited to see what it all looks like after color grading. 

And even more than that I'm excited about just getting to collaborate with the team again next month & finish up this film with them. 

See BTS photos from the day:

PART TWO (November 1, 2016):

Saturday night, we wrapped production on "Enough!" I'd like to send a huge thank you to Joan Berger for letting us shoot in her beautiful home, and to the cast & crew for filling the day/night with productivity and fun. I can't thank them enough for their dedication to the project. It was a 12 hour shoot - a LONG night - but we pulled it off together, and I'm so proud of what came out of the day. 

Check out 3 raw Stills from what we shot below.

See BTS photos from the day:

Thank you shout out to:

  • Cast & Crew members: Matt Gershowitz, Peter Westervelt, Dani Thomas, Gwen Albers, Kristine Gordan, Jeff Davis, Diana Molina-Sosa, Nicole Solomon, Kelsey Rauber, Elizabeth Zambrano, Travis Youssef, Adam Lim, Christina Shea-Wright, Sean Mannion, & Ryan Kramer,

  • Cat Papadimitriou & Chris Haddix for loaning their camera,

  • Joan Berger (and family) for offering their house & car,

  • Marlene Mugalsingh for cooking (and being my mom),

  • Justin Petrillo for getting out of our apartment so I could shoot in it for the 5th time.

-Christina 

IndieWorks - October (Halloween Special) Recap

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Happy Halloween! Last Tuesday was the October edition of IndieWorks, and our annual Halloween special! We screened 6 genre shorts, and had almost 50 people in house despite the jarring chill in the air! The films ranged in sub-genre throughout the night, but all had a macabre spin and really put us in the Halloween spirit. Some wonderful conversations came out of the lineup; we hope connections were made, as well!

We'd just like to say thank you to everyone who came out to support the filmmakers and spend the evening with us & them. We hope you'll join us again for our November screening on the 22nd. After two months in a row of speciality screenings, we'll be back to our usual diverse lineups through the rest of Year 4. 

The Films of the night:

Arts & Crafts (Directed & Written by Nina Gielen)
When Misha was small, he and his mother would spend hours creating their own toys and animals out of sticks and leaves. It’s been over a year since Misha’s mother died, and he now lives alone with his dad. Still hoping she might come home eventually, Misha leaves the door unlocked for her every night, much to his father’s consternation.

Burnt Popcorn (Directed & Written by Rafael De Leon)
When a naive young woman is reluctant to break away from an unfulfilling dating situation, her father convinces her to handle it in an extreme way and complete her transition to adulthood.

The Price of Bones (Directed by Brandon Taylor, Written by Samantha Kolesnik)
Caprice and Heather go to extreme lengths to be thin.

Stitched (Directed & Written by Heather Taylor)
A sheltered woman, reeling from the death of her mother, shows her sister how far she will go to be heard.

The Grind (Directed & Written by Christian LaMorte & Alejandro Veciana)
A mini web series satirizing modern movie cliches with absurd, surreal humor.

Sticks (Directed & Written by Mark J Parker)
Four college students reunite on a summer night at a house in the woods. As they tell scary stories around the campfire, the line between imagination and reality blurs, and they get the feeling they may not be alone on the property.

Watch our Q&A Recap (shot & edited by Kimberly Drew Whiten). *Please know there are some film spoilers - feel free to look for an opportunity to catch the films at a festival or computer screen near you & then come back to watch!

The awards go to...

At the end of the evening, we announced our winning filmmakers for both Audience Choice Award & Silver Whiskers Award. The Audience Choice Award is voted upon by all those in attendance, and the Silver Whiskers Award is judged by the CongestedCat Team based on a system rating 8 categories of Story, Dialogue/Writing, Direction, Acting, Cinematography, Sound, Editing, and Production Value. The Silver Whiskers winner goes on to screen again at our end of year Best of Fest screening next April. 

The Silver Whiskers winner also receives $50 towards a crowdfunding campaign onSeedandSpark.com should they use the platform and a free Social Media audit ($200 value) from4MileCircus. And both winners received a free 2016 subscription to Bright Ideas Magazine.

For the October 2016 lineup, our winning films were:
    Audience Choice Award:  "The Price of Bones"
    Silver Whiskers Award:  "Arts & Crafts"

Watch the Trailer for both winners below: