The offer? No Money. No Help. No Experience. Come work your ass off for free! We'll throw in all the bowls of rice you can eat!
Well, not quite that bad - but almost. Being the 'creative brain' behind this flick meant that I had to decide on who would help us with the 'look'. From Rob's experience working on nearly every local project as an actor, he had extensive contacts and feelings about who might work out. We started interviewing several people to step in as DP. Our first choice was of course unavailable - we weren't offering much and his wife was having none of it. We talked and did test shooting with several more people, all competent, all creative, all excited by the possibilities and all convinced that I was crazy and by extension, Rob had lost it as well.
The results of our tests were pretty exciting. I had already conquered (so I thought) how to capture lowly mini DV footage and using my own unique alchemy with available software (see Post Production), turn it into gold - or at least something not distracting!
I had already decided to embrace the hand held, docu, Cinéma Vérité look - mostly because I wasn't sure of what we could create or control, but Rob and I had confidence in my editing skills to construct a story even out of random, guerilla shots. I knew we would not get away with tripods and dollys; jibs and cranes were out, as were lights and flags and even reflectors (some one has to hold them and generally - the three of us were on our own).
So we (myself and the different candidates), shot every test I could think of. In a room with a single dim desk lamp. Laying on rail road tracks as a train was coming; the sharp angles and oblique delineations of downtown buildings in bright light, in gloom, at dawn and at dusk. Crowds of people in close up, and single figures against every type of back drop. We filmed in the woods - both greenery and browned, dead wood. We filmed the brightest candy colors and the most somber browns and grays.
Throw in the different shutter speeds with nearly static shots, then repeat with the fastest motions we could find, punches and kicks in the sunlight and again in near dark, and our confidence grew. We all became convinced we could certainly shoot 'something'.
All the above test were captured and manipulated in post, utilizing the lessons discovered in the previous 3 years of work, and again, confidence grew that we could achieve something significant.
"This was to be guerrilla film making at the extreme. Somehow, I planned to shoot and create an action movie without anybody really knowing what I was doing. A six foot six cameraman did not seem ideal, especially to shoot in an Asian country."
We had found our cameraman and didn't even know it!
One of the first people I had interviewed and had been impressed with was Troy Barusso. Troy's reel showed his ability with the camera, his innate sense of composition, and his ability to work with very little. The fact that he had directed a few of his own spots and that he came from a photography background added to the appeal. He had never shot a feature - but so what? - neither had we!
Troy and I had many discussions, I showed him the results of my testing and we talked about stylistic choices and both the practicalities of the shoot and how the ascetics would affect our story. My main reservation with Troy was knowing that even at 5'11'', I many times stood out in the streets of Thailand, that Troy at 6'6" would draw too much attention. So I passed.
I never got the chance for shooting tests with Troy, but I continued to test on my own, and interview. But... I kept coming back to his reel; knowing that if my ideas could be captured remotely as well as what he had done, we would have a 'real' movie.
I continued to meet and test with other people, watching Troy's reel, testing, watching Troy's reel, and finally said - enough already - let's use Troy. Rob was all for it, we jumped on the phone, called the number we had, and were told that Troy had moved to LA to make his mark.
"Troy and Kely had already decided on the NYPD, Blair Witch style of filming, but were now ready to travel to the other side of the world with Rob without having ever worked together."
Talking in the office, watching clips and making theoretical decisions on filming styles and ascetics was one thing, but now, not having even had a beer together, Kely, Rob, and Troy were about to be put into not one but several of the most stressful situations imaginable. One - traveling to a foreign country with only the smallest rudiments of the language spoken by Kely; two - making a film of any type; three - making a film with almost no money; and four - trying to pull off an entire film with nothing set in stone or lined up - no cast, no crew, no locations, and no money! Cool!
Rob made the deal with Troy over the phone and bought the tickets. Kely would travel first, meet up with Troy in Korea, head to Bangkok, and start putting it together in hopes of shooting 6 days later when Rob arrived.
"Insane? Sure. But somehow Kely was convincing them and they were buying into it. Not really that hard, 'cause what the hell? We're Film Makers! "
Research on the internet and past experience from teaching martial arts in Bangkok, pointed us in the right direction for housing. We would bypass the main tourists' routes and stay in Bangkok's Chinatown.
Bangkok's population was over 10,000,000 (when we started - 2 1/2 years later - it's bigger!), and it's a huge, sprawling metropolis - endless high rises and gleaming glass buildings towering over the golden domes of their temples or 'wats', casting long shadows with the aid of the tropical sun onto the swarming streets of pedestrians, cars, buses, motorcycles and scooters, bicycles and tuk tuks. Incredibly noisy, incredibly busy at all times of day and night, nearly every inch of sidewalks and soi's (the alleys), are dedicated to the merchants, selling both new and used goods of every quality and description, and the myriad smells of exhaust, incense and spice, and multitudinous exotic foods.
Chinatown has its' own look - the neon signs, the wide avenues strained with traffic of every form. Chinatown is also famous for its' fresh seafood, birds nest soup, and fresh shark fin, crowds and traffic jams. More...
