The last pictureshow...

Murder Party Dos

Hello internet.  It's been a while. 

Last April, I posted a series of blogs about my experience filming our feature horror film, The Cutting Room Floor.  It covered just about everything there was to say about the movie, and it was a good way to shut the door on it and prepare for future endeavors. 

And what endeavors would those be you ask?  Well, none other than the follow up to one of the short films-within-the film.  The last half of The Cutting Room Floor was comprised of a horror-comedy called Murder Party.  It was a lot of fun, and we filmed it in that intentionally-cheesy style that has become so popular over the last couple years.  I was a huge fan of Tarantino and Rodriguez's double-feature: Grindhouse-  so that's where a lot of the inspiration came from.  Well, that and a slew of other (probably less-intentional but still enjoyable cheesy) horror films from the 60's, 70's, and 80's.

The plan was to take a break from the year-long ordeal of filming our "legitimate" feature film, and follow it up with a fun, breezy sequel to Murder Party, since that was a blast to make, and it didn't require the same attention to detail that the rest of the movie did.  What actually happened, was we got everyone together, and made something even more strenuous than most of what we filmed during The Cutting Room Floor. 

What I didn't really think ahead to, was that Murder Party had, by far, the biggest cast and crew.  Most of the other shorts in The Cutting Room Floor were pretty small scale, involving only a handful of actors.  Murder Party, was mostly filmed in one night, in one location, with about 15-20 actors/crew members.  And, as I always do, I decided if we were going to follow that up, we had to go bigger, so this time, I added a couple more locations, and quite a few more people.  Which meant even more fun trying to organize the shooting around everyone's schedules.  And of course, that's a sarcastic "fun," because if you've ever had to deal with this, you know it fucking sucks.

Anyway, long story short.  Murder Party 2 was supposed to be a fun, quick palate-cleanser.  We'd shoot it quick, edit it, and move on to something bigger.  However, my film-making partner, Paul Kurutsides wasn't setting for anything but the best, and I can say with utmost certainty, he brought his A-game to this shoot.  From the footage I've seen, I can say this is one of the best looking projects we have ever done, and most of that has to do with the labor-intensive set preparation.  Setting up lights, churning out multiple takes, and wheeling around crane cams.  Not the level of production value I was anticipating when I wrote the script, but you know what, the finished product is going to be worth the hassle.

If I sound a little bitter during this blog, it's due to the fact that when we prepare for a shoot, we always go into it with an idealistic naiveté.  The movie you picture in your head is a completely different animal than what you seem to be filming when the camera starts rolling.  It's a little shocking.  Not everything turns out how you expect it to.  In fact, few things do.  I'm sure this is common around all film sets, not just no-budget movies from guys who do this in their spare time.  It just happens.  However, the cool thing is, things start to happen organically on set; actors interact and build off each other in ways you never anticipated.  Serendipitous events happen involving lighting, framing shots, practical effects, and just random things you never could try to plan for or recreate.  You start laughing and losing yourself in the moment, and before you know it, what you've just filmed is better than you hoped it would be when you first envisioned it.

 

I'm gonna wrap this up soon, because I know I tend to lose people when I get too long-winded.  There's a couple things I still wanted to cover though...

The original plan was to update this blog in conjunction with the filming.  However, after the first night of shooting (August 3rd - from 7 pm - 6 am) I was so burned out, and things were going differently than I expected, so I figured I just needed to concentrate of the picture, and cut everything else out of my focus.  I'm like that on set too-  everyone is having a good time, chilling and enjoying the experience, while Paul and I are running around like fucking madmen, planning our next eight moves ahead of us.  I shit you not, there isn't a minute of time to relax when we're shooting.  Especially on the first night we filmed.  We had an ambitious shot list, and I think we got about 40% of it filmed.  Not great results.  I felt bad because a lot of the crew had to stand around waiting while we tried to rush through scene after scene.  By the time I got home that morning, I was exhausted, but too pumped to sleep.  I felt like I still had a mountain to climb in front of me, and what was supposed to just be a fun time with friends became a long, long fucking project. 

But... we kept on going.  We shot again the next week.  And then the next.  And the next.  I think we've filmed about 5 or 6 separate times by now.  A couple 8-9 hour shoots.  A couple 2-5 hour ones.  So much for a quick, fun sequel. 

I complain, but the thing is, I love doing this.  I just discovered with this last film, that I just can't do it anymore.  Full time job.  Wife and kid.  Plus, everyone else has there own things, and I'm sure there's going to be quite a few more families springing up before too long as well.  I love making movies.  I think we all do.  The only problem is the time.  That's the one thing we just don't have enough of.  So, I think it's safe to say, this will be the last big movie out of me.  Kind of sad, but kind of freeing too.  Over the summer I got a nasty case of strep throat, and I remember laying on the floor in a medicine-induced daze just fucking dreading having to make this movie.  Granted, I was doped out of my mind and wasn't moving around much, but I couldn't even begin to fathom the amount of preparation I was going to have to do to get ready for the shoots.  But, we'd been talking it up- we had people committed to coming to Dubuque from out of the state to film again with us- I've had the script written and re-written, and adjusted, and the re-re-written for months.  I had already spent way too much time on this bastard to stop before we even pressed record.  So, I got my shit together, kind of already knowing this was gonna be the last one, and we dove in, head first. 

So shit Dave, it sounds like you had a real fucking blast making this you sun-shiney piece of shit asshole.  Well, it's been fun when it hasn't been a pain in the ass.  It just seems like this shoot has been a lot more stressful than others.  Maybe it's the scale.  This wasn't supposed to be Cutting Room Floor-style scale, but sure enough- I think it managed to be.  Again, the time is the biggest factor.  If we had all the time in the world, it would be nothing.  But unfortunately, we all have other things to do, and I can't write short scripts, so here we are.  Will we ever film anything again?  Oh shit, yeah.  Will I write anything again.  Most definitely.  Will it be another hour and a half epic involving tons of people and locations.  Nope.  I envision a pretty long break after this, and then maybe, down the road, a couple short things, like the Ghost Hunter Dave series.  Fun, easy stuff like that.  Things that don't involve multiple lights and camera operators.  In fact, I have an idea for something, but I'm so not even wanting to go there until I've had a break, so it's just hanging out in the grey matter for now. 

So, there's that.  At the time of writing this, we have one more day of shooting.  And it's going to be a piece of cake.  Maybe that's why I feel confident enough to start talking about the production now.  The worst of it is behind us.  The beast has been slain, gutted, and hung in the trophy room.  One more couple-hour evening of shooting, and then the editing stage begins.  That's when the movie really takes shape.  It's weird. I described above how different the filming is from what you picture when you write the script.  Well, that same feeling extends into the editing, and that's when your final re-write happens.  It's like everything you've written was just a rough draft, and all the footage you filmed, that's your finished thesis- you just have to figure out how to arrange it and clean it up a little.  This is the fun part.  And partly because it involves sitting in front of a computer; the final reward to sweating your ass off in an abandoned warehouse for multiple hours a day.  (I lost 10 pounds from the first day of shooting till the last.  That's insane.  I guess there went the baby weight.)

Alright- that's it for now.  Since I covered all the fun stuff in this one (ie: me bitching and complaining), look forward to the next couple posts, where I go into some detail on the actual filming process, and what to look forward to in the sequel.  I didn't even get a chance to talk about the cast (which is fantastic) and the story.  One thing, I'm exceptionally proud of, is that I feel nothing was held back on this one.  Everything we film, there's always a couple things I was really attached to that don't make it into the finished product.  Sometime its money.  A lot of time, it's time.  Well, all those little things I've wanted to put in a movie... they've found their home in Murder Party 2.  It's essentially a catch all for every fucked up idea I've wanted to film but haven't been able to yet.  So, believe me when I say, you haven't seen anything yet.

And- credit where credit is due-  all the photos in this blog are courtesy of the wonderfully talented, Jasmine Rodgers.  And she even says photographing people isn't her strong suit.  She's been documenting a huge chunk of the shoots- which is something we've always wanted to do- but like I said, when we're filming, we aint got time for anything else- so it's much appreciated.  Check out everything she's snapped here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/96487370@N04/ 

And- last but not least- for more up-to-date coverage on the filmmaking process, and all things PKP- check out Paul's blog and podcast- http://www.wearepkp.com/index.html