Bad Parenting

Screening Finished Film June 6, 2013

Bad Blogger back in action. On June 6th, at 3:30 PM, at the VIFF Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour St., Vancouver, BC, we will screen the final version of the film. This is a "private" screening and coincides with Graduation Day for the 2012 class. We are also screening two other films from the 2012 Class that have had major festival play in this past year: "The Goods" (Whistler Film Festival) and "Genius" (TIFF Student Film Showcase).

We finalized the cut of "Bad Parenting" in late February. Final length: 13 minutes and 15 seconds. We had our spotting session for sound on March 7th at Rukkus House with Gael McLean and Doug Paterson. Doug is also our music composer. At that session we decided to license a third song for the end credits from Bruce Gerrish from his Quirkophony album.

A few weeks later we had a 5 hour session of ADR at Rukkus House with all of the Actors. Almost all of the dialogue had to be replaced (fortunately, there wasn't a lot of dialogue!). We also recorded the wild lines that Winston wrote following our last test screening session.

The whole sound process was fun. I was happy to be working with Gael and Doug (who also did "Rain Down") as they are so professional, experienced and have excellent ideas. It was great be back at work on the film, making decisions and to see it finally come fully to life.

Now for the first time the cast and crew get a chance to see it in its final form. I'm looking forward to seeing it on the big screen.

 

Screenings of Bad Parenting

Here it is, the end of January 2013. I'm not only a Bad Blogger, I'm downright terrible. Still, better late than never - sort of.

It's almost impossible to catch up to what went on in Production. Can I do it in 14 characters (as if I were on Twitter, which I'm not?) Let me try. Production was intense: we shot four "12 hour" days (not including travel time) at a remote location, 30 amateur cast/crew, 2 to 3 cameras running at all times, stunt heavy shoot, working on water in canoes, all exterior.

I was exhausted. I love my students, but try keeping up with a bunch of 20 and 30-somethings when you are 3 times as old as they are and see how you feel. And THEY were tired! Still, we got all of our shots. On the 4th day we split into two teams with me directing the main unit and our First AD, Jackie Hoffart, directing a number of inserts. Then we had a 5th half day, where we went back to Langara College with a small crew and shot about 17 inserts with the real live baby - the most darling little boy, Jasper McGhee, who we dressed up in pink as the movie-baby was a girl. (A big Thank You to his parents, on of whom [the Dad] was an alumnus of the Film Arts program.)

In October, my editor Janin Palahicky (who was also on set doing location sound recording and helping with Data Wrangling) came down to California for two weeks to join me where I was holed up for a few months. He had input all the material for us to screen and organize, and then we worked on a cut of the film.

In late October, Amy Fox (Producer) and Janin organized a screening of that cut and we had a small group of about 10 people show up and give us written feedback. Working from that feedback we produced another cut. Then in November, Byron Lamarque, the Director of Photograph and also a very good editor in his own right, visited me in California and took a run at another cut just to give us some options to consider. We (Janin and I) took some of his ideas and produced a third cut.

Last week, we screened that cut for about 30 people - most of them in their 20's, but ranging up to their 60's. The comments this time around were much more positive. We had cut the film from over 17 minutes down to 13.5, and this seemed to be a comfortable length for the audience.

Interestingly, we got the more positive responses from our female audience than from the men. I think I'm going to put that down to having four very good-looking and talented young male actors in the movie!

And that's where it stands. I'm back in the editing room in a few days with Janin to work on another cut. We'll send it out to a few people for feedback. One of the things the writer, Winston Schroeder, is going to do is write some off-screen dialogue to help things move along and give some needed exposition. This, along with some thematically appropriate music will, I know, enhance the viewing experience.

So! Onwards.

Bad Blogger

OK, so I'm a lousy blogger. And today probably won't make much difference. It seems that there are so many more pressing things to do than blog. But here I am again.

Had a meeting today (Wednesday, July 25) with Johanne Gregory, our caterer (along with Doris Cheung). Johanne was my co-producer extraordinaire on "Rain Down." Love that woman! Mostly Johanne and I just wanted a visit because we haven't seen each other in a while. But we talked about the project, the location, the needs of the caterers, and I gave her a cheque for $1,200.00 to pay for the food for 4 days for 30 people because she and Doris are taking a first shopping run today. WHAT? How did we get to 30 people? Well, that's another story, for sure.

Later in the day I met with Jackie Hoffart, our First AD. We had a 3 hour meeting in which we talked about how to run a Technical Survey, and then went through the shot list and storyboards talking about how to accomplish stuff and how complicated the set-ups were. Jackie's great. She is a detail oriented individual, has a touch of bossiness (a requirement of a First AD), and is a bit of a perfectionist. Perfect for the job!

Yesterday (Tuesday, July 24) I met with Byron Lamarque (my co-teacher, friend, and Director of Photography on this shoot) for a few hours - going over shot lists and storyboards too, to discuss what was needed from the DOP perspective. Prior to that we had a Faculty Meeting with the rest of the Langara College Film Arts (LCFA) faculty - always a fun affair with my favourite people.

On Monday, July 23rd, I screened all 8 student (Film Arts) movies, starting at 11 AM, to try to get them to a locked cut. We managed to get a few of those done!

At 3:30 (Monday), I met with Garwin Sanford (my co-teacher, friend, and Stunt Coordinator on this shoot), along with the three actors involved in the major stunts (Ben Sullivan as "Bert," Danny Zaporozan as "Grover," and Robbie Adams as "Kevin), to go over and rehearse stunts and discuss details therein. The actors are wonderfully commited and Garwin has a great facility for imagining and coordinating this kind of work. We rehearsed the kick to the head, the breaking of the paddle across the head, the tackle, the tossing of the baby and the sliding off the car hood. Fun stuff!

At 6:00 PM (Monday), I met with Char Hoyt (Art Director) and her Art Department team - all Film Arts students - (Naomi Mark, Shevon Singh and Catherine Jack), along with student producer Amy Fox. We discussed details of wardrobe for each character, and went over the special effects props and props list. Shevon had an excel sheet of special effects props and where to source; Char had all her drawings to share - inspiring and fun - I'll share some here, along with some great fishing lures!; and the others were working away on details. A few things are worrying us: the axe to the head and the breaking of the paddle with the whack. There is still some wardrobe shopping to be done by Catherine, and some props shopping by Char.

What a team!! 

Another thing worrying me is the special effects make-up. Who are they? Do they know what they are doing?

Last Friday (July 20) I drove into Vancouver (2nd day on the road from Skookumchuck) in my Ford F150 so that we can use it for the shoot - carting around boats, equipment, people, etc. I got here in time (10:30 AM) for another Production Meeting. Lots of things to discuss. Amy sent out some Meeting Minutes thereafter with people's tasks, etc. The Friday before I had taken that meeting by Skype from Centennial Park in Cranbrook! In the truck I have two paddles (one old one that we'll break and use for the stunt paddle), one fishing rod, two tackle boxes, one fish bonker, one card table, two camping chairs, and my solar panel, battery and inverter. A weird collection, but all will be incredibly useful.

On Sunday, July 22nd, I had a four hour rehearsal with the actors. 12 to 1:30 with Robbie ("Kevin") and Paolo Miaolo ("Stew"), 1:30 - 2:30 with them plus Danny ("Grover") and Ben ("Bert"), and then with Danny and Ben from 2:30 - 4:00.

I got through all of "Grover and Bert" scenes, but need to do some more work with "Kevin and Stew." I will work on that tonight before meeting with them tomorrow (Thursday, July 26th).

I want to do an improv scene to help them break through to a solid place for the opening scene. My plan for that is this: get "Stew" to show up at "Kevin's" house to talk him into going somewhere that Kevin absolutely wants to go. Then I'll show up as Megan and dump the baby on Kevin. My instructions to the actors will be: Stew - don't leave that house without Kevin and once you get him out of the house, with the baby in tow, give him your line "I can't believe you brought your baby." To Kevin I'll say, you have a wife and baby daughter that you love more than anything in the world. Your best friend is about to show up at the house. You love this guy like a brother. You have no concerns on this day.

So, lots going on, and lots of fun. I also have to screen Shan Szetho's final cut of "Afterlife," and lock it!

On Friday July 27th, we have our technical survey. A huge convoy going out to the UBC Research Forest in Maple Ridge. This will be a sobering experience, I think, for everyone involved when it becomes "real" for them.

Spent the day on some admin. type tasks regarding locations, crew, rehearsals, but engaged in the creative work too by looking at my list of "Dramatic Blocks" and assigning a camera look to each. There are about 32 of these (which makes sense as there are 30 scenes). For scenes 1 and 2, I then thought of the shots that might be needed to articulate the beats in the blocks.

I have previously storyboarded one scene that was giving me trouble at the script stage to see if it could work. It could!

As the days go by, I think up more and more gags for my comedy. One of the ones that has been with me from the beginning is the "flying through the air" of some of the props: the severed arm, the axe, the baby. Alongside these must be the reaction of the characters at which these are aimed. Makes me laugh to think about it.

Design Metaphor for Bad Parenting: punk fishing lure. Colourful, fun, but dangerous.

Art Department

Every year in Film Arts we seem to pick up an Honorary Member of the Program. This is always someone who is closely connected to one of our current students. This year, that Honorary Member is Char Hoyt, the girlfriend/partner of Christopher O'Brien, Director. Char is an artist and has been extremely generous with her time and talents, not to mention her apartment, in helping out on a number of Film Arts shoots throughout the year.

It was my pleasure to meet her a few times, most recently on the set of "True Love" which she designed with Christopher. It was hugely impressive! The amount of artistic detail and loving attention she had paid to every element added up to a marvelous cocktail of invention for the look of that film.

Anyhow, Char heard about "Bad Parenting" and offered her talents to the Art Department. Thrilling words indeed. So, she is our official Art Director, working with Naomi Mark (Director) and Shevon Singh (Writer), who had also expressed interest in the Art Department.

I had a meeting with her on Thursday, July 5th, in which we went over the script in detail and talked about what I had in mind. I showed her some pictures (of the location, as well as pics I had downloaded of clothing choices, fishing gear, some looks) and we talked about it all. Subsequently, she did a preliminary breakdown of the items needed. I am publishing it herein:

 ART DEPARTMENT MASTER LIST - GROUPED – ‘Bad Parenting’

VEHICLES…

-CAR.... Kevin's … older 70’s-90’s hatchback or station wagon or sm SUV (Allison's pathfinder if necessary) need spacious interior and room for a 'body' in the back and to have nice coverage of the baby in the backseat... Color doesn't matter much but not too flashy (no bright yellow ect.)… note, it will be used for the ‘windshield-hood-jump’ stunt and we may be denting the hood. – do we need a ‘stunt double car’ ? can we find two identical cars? One we can mess up? – lots to discuss ;)

-CANOE… Bert and Grover's .... Rickety... Color? Caitlyn has one? ...Grover in the rear, paddling ... Bert in the front sitting facing Grover.

- PADDLES - will need at least 4?... Need to be able to break one or two of them for the stunt... Note, there is only one paddle in the canoe with Bert and Grover, then Bert eventually breaks it on Kevin’s face! …. making their getaway with one broken paddle very slow! Stunt duplicates made out of Balsa wood ? Ivan?

-CAMERA BOAT… needs to be big enough for 4 people, Quiet, motor-less… paddle boat? Floating dock? Sturdy and not wobbly

* new -SPARE BOAT… Canoe? Or small craft… we can have a set deck crew in the spare boat ready to fish stuff out of the water, armed with an extendable net pole... we don’t want to loose any of our props to the bottom of the lake.

SPECIAL EFFECTS PROPS

- HATCHET… Prop shop!... Needs to be light and safe and able to ‘stick into’ Stew’s head…

- a  SEVERED ARM.... Just under the shoulder, bloody and gross but mostly intact.... Female with wedding ring ...so it needs to be a left arm... No clothing.... We should have more than one! 2-3?... starts out inside one of the burlap sacks ends up hooked like a fish… note, we need to be able to puncture the arm with the a large fishing lure and get it wet.

- PADDLES - will need at least 4?... Need to be able to break one or two of them for the stunt... Note, there is only one paddle in the canoe with Bert and Grover, then Bert eventually breaks it on Kevin’s face! Then making their getaway with one broken paddle very slow! For the stunt…duplicates made out of Balsa wood ? Ivan?

-BURLAP SACKS...3 + 3 Backups 6 total… (more maybe? What if one or two sinks!)..... they are in the canoe at Bert& Grover's feet ... The lumps are body parts, we can have our severed arm bags and ones just stuffed with body part like stuff  and mud and dirt... The sacks need to be heavy so they sink and we need to attach the sacs to the boat with fishing line and have an extendable pole net to retrieve them from the water just incase.... we will also need a TIE for the sacks... Hemp or jute cord  ... Natural color, not white, could be black.... Will need 3 equal length pieces cut .... Plus spares

BLOOD-  lots of it …make fake stuff… kristof had a good recipe

CAMPSITE … set deck

- Remote… Kevin and Stew  drive their car into the ‘abandoned’ site….

But this is one of Bert and Grover's  sites, one of many they have around the lake possibly?... It's a bright sunny spot with a dark side… it’s surrounded by trees… you can see out, but you can't see in...

 the stuff in it needs to be worn- in , dirty, very old and creepy feeling, everything's covered in soot and dirt.

- the SIGN .... An old wooden board .... Crude black faded painted words 

" welcome to the lake ! " … most likely I will find the board and paint the sign

- an old creepy large fishing LURE... Is stuck into the sign

- the PICNIC TABLE....Carved up , rickety, swear words are carved in wood .... Need to find an old used one, that we can carve up…  dark  color preferred, or ‘old wood’ grey… not a ‘fat’ parks board one, old 70’s style is best

- HATCHET… need 2 - one real - one 'prop' .... 

Real.... Leans against chopping block, old, rusty and used …dark blood stain?

Prop... Needs to be light and safe and able to ‘stick into’ Stew’s head… we will need lots of blood ;)

- the CHOPPING BLOCK.... An old stump? Round, used , dirty … burnt a bit… need lots of wood bits and splinters too… we can do some chopping but I don’t want it to look like fresh cut wood… we have to age-distress everything

-car TIRES.... Old weathered, only one or two… maybe a bike tire or spokes?

-WORK BOOTS... Bert's ? Or someone they killed? Need to be very old and abandoned burnt? Are they sitting together under the picnic table … or strewn about? 

- TIN CANS ect.. Again… old, used, bent.... Looks a bit like leftover garbage.... This is where we can bring in some reflective elements, shiny things ( only one or two - to reflect our 'lure' inspiration) maybe there’s a piece of glass in the fire pit … or a frayed bit of bright colored rope laying around.

KEVIN AND STEWS STUFF…

  - FISHING RODS.... 2… Not 'fly '... Strait up, reel ‘em in, regular lake fishin rods… they need to be strong enough to catch the baby basket and the burlap sack… believable

-LURES.... 4-6...Stew hooks the severed arm in the burlap sack and Kevin hooks the basket, baby inside and pulls it out of the canoe. They both need to be different and big enough for us to believe they can accomplish those feats.... Both need to be big serious scary lures , three pronged or single hook .... They cannot be fly fishing lures 

- COOLER…Big enough so it needs to be carried by two people when full of beer, but not so big that they can't run with it together, one on either side... Need to find one with good handles on the sides … ice and beer inside – the color matters, it should not be the same color as the canoe… maybe blue or orange

-BEER... At least 24 , twist off, bottles...I have a good relationship with R&B brewing, will try them first... We don't really need the beer, just the bottles.

- ICE... Strait up ice yo.... For In the cooler... Will need a lot because it will melt… it needs it’s own separate cooler, will need to replenish supply. daily?

-FOLDING LAWN CHAIRS... Need 2 at least .... Spare set?  I have two turquoise blue chairs… if we can find two more the same color that would be awesome! 

CHARACTERS – WARDROBE IDEAS….

KEVIN- Male 25 ... The not so great father.... But is the more prepared of the two... He has lucky fishing vest, he pulls it out once a year, should be used but not really worn in.. I'm thinking he's a little clean cut but only because his wife is whipping him a bit lately ... lighter colored t-shirt with a short sleeve button-up layered over top… Knee length shorts, board shorts? Dark-ish color...  White socks and runners? Crocs? (lol!)  Regular ball cap?  Or no hat, maybe he’s all about the vest

STEW- Male 25… the best buddy from way back… he was a little bit rocker in his youth… maybe a bright colored rock shirt (red or yellow maybe)( my friends band is named Trout – I’ll try to get a t-shirt) He has on his kick –ass fishing pants, lots of pockets, keeps his harmonica in one of them, maybe they zipper into shorts right above the knee? Cargo pants? He has his cool fishing hat on too, with lures sticking in it…. Not a tilley hat , something more city cool- doing country … Hoodie?

BABY GIRL LIVE-  newborn to 3 months...needs a little pink bonnet or something girlie. She's swaddled in a blanket, soft, light in color or with a faint pattern maybe (not blue) an infant swaddling blanket would be best

her BASKET... tight bound wicker basket, large enough for a baby but not so big that it cannot be 'hooked' by a lure and pulled from the boat, it needs a strong handle, should be oval, needs to float. The baby should fit snug into it, so it doesn’t fall out during the various stunts

BABY GIRL DOLL - newborn to 3 months ...needs to be wearing exactly the same thing as the live baby! ... Her head is the most important part... Must find the perfect life like doll ... We will swaddle her in the same blanket as we find for the live baby. Note... The baby needs to be ‘spiraled’ at one point, must be wrapped snugly

BERT- think Outsiders / meth lab skid  – he’s a bit rocker hillbilly cause of family ties,  he’s musical (harmonica) he’s covered in dirt…. Super faded dark colored heavy metal t-shirt, sleeves rolled up onto the shoulders, where does he keep his harmonica? Back pocket? – Dirty strait leg boot cut jeans… not too tight, not skinny jeans. Uneven rolled up pant legs?  Red bandana? Kicks? Chuck Taylors or high tops? White socks … messy and dirty… need doubles-triples of all clothing! Including shoes

GROVER- the meaner one I think- a real greaser- I see him chewing on something, stick-smoke-chew? He wears an army green? stained t-shirt –maybe it’s a lighter color so dirty it looks dark… stained with sweat and dried blood around the collar (we will need to manage the sweat stains and keep the clothing wet for after they go in the water- im thinking a mixture of spray bottles and a bucket) pants? Jeans too? Big work boots? Army boots? Lace ups? Or… cheap rubber boots? They are on the water after all… need doubles-triples of all clothing! Including shoes

 OTHER PROPS AND SUPPORT MATERIALS…

-HARMONICAS...2 + a spare? ... One for Bert and one for Stew

-WET SUITS…for Bert and Grover dive

-WATERING CAN – SPRAY BOTTLES to keep the actors wet when they are supposed have been recently submerged in the lake

-CLEANING SUPPLIES- Windex, paper towel, we will need a full water station set up for Make-up and Special fx…

- EXTENDABLE POLE WITH NET

- FISHING- MONO- FILLIMANT LINE

 

STUNTS…

HATCHET  TOSS –

 

PADDLE BREAK ON FACE-

TACKLE / BABY SPIRAL -

DIVE OFF CANOE + SWIM-

DIVE ONTO HOOD/WINDSHIELD+ FALL-

Casting

On Thursday, July 5th, 2012, I held auditions for casting in Room A025 at Langara College. This went from 9:30 - Noon. The call went out to all the Actors in the Film Arts program, but because Directors and Writers also knew about it, I had a request from a Director to audition. I said, "sure, come one out." So our Danish Director, Anders Neilsen, showed up. He was a trooper. He came in costume: a great looking hat, rolled up pants, and had decided to give the "hillbilly" a limp.

Also auditioning were five of our male Film Arts Actors. The parts were for two fishermen (aged 25) and two hillbillies (aged 25). I had let the female actors know that I was up for some gender bending, but the one actress who had initially shown interest, decided she really wanted to be part of the cast and learn more about camera. So we've given her the role of Assistant to the Director of the Documentary/Behind The Scenes footage.

In the auditioning room were Amy Fox, Producer; Winston Schroeder, Writer/Producer/Locations Manger; Garwin Sanford, Stunts Coordinator/Professional Actor/Film Arts Faculty member (at my request).

As I had held earlier auditions on the "if-come" ("If" we do this, I hope you will "come" out), I had an idea of what I would see. And that is pretty much what I got. What sold the specific roles, however, was when we put actors together to test on-screen chemistry. Still, I had one actor who had some really interesting stuff to give, and it was difficult cutting him out. But it had to be done.

I have ended up with what I consider quite the dream cast for this film: 4 young actors who are almost pitch-perfect for the roles in which they've been cast. It was so interesting to me to see which actors wanted to audition for which roles. They have an innate sense of what they can do and what they would be good at.

So, here it is: Fishermen: Robbie Adams as "Kevin," Paolo Miaolo as "Stew": Hillbillies: Danny Zaparozan as "Grover," and Ben Sullivan as "Bert." I love them all!

Tomorrow, Sunday July 8th, we have our first rehearsal, with the writer, Winston in attendance. Here's what we'll be working on, as per my email:

Hi Robbie, Danny, Ben and Paolo,

I am confirming our first rehearsal for tomorrow, Sunday, in Room A025, 10 AM - 12 PM. We'll talk about tone, characters, filming style, and do a read through, concentrating on the details of the script (blocking on paper, sort of), and do a few run throughs to get a sense of how the whole thing works together.

In later rehearsals we'll do more detailed beat work, but for now, I want to get an overall sense of the flow, maybe even get outside. We'll see how much we can accomplish.

For your calendars, please put in the following dates. (Let me know if these DON'T work for you, otherwise, I will assume they do work.)

A.     We'll rehearse again, Sunday July 23rd, 12 - 4 PM, at Langara. I will probably break this one up into three blocks of

1.     Kevin/Stew (12 - 1:30),
2.     Everyone (1:30 - 2:30) 
3.    Bert/Grover (2:30 - 4:00)

B.    On July 27, Friday, we are trying to organize a technical survey to the Location. I would like you guys to come along, as I'd like to rehearse on the set that day. We will confirm whether we're able to do this (Winston is making the tech survey arrangements), but please put it on your calendars. Amy has it scheduled from 9 AM to 3 PM.

C.    On Thursday, Aug. 2, rehearse 9 AM to 12:00 PM (at Langara). (I will give details later if we break this into groups.)

D.    Monday, Aug. 6th, is a Prep Day (hopefully) on Location. It MIGHT be a final rehearsal date as well. Please block it off.

Cheers,

Alyson

Hoping for a great cast and crew. Some interesting requests for cast/crew positions coming in from the 2012 students, and very excited to move ahead.

Have been in touch with a local musician who specializes in harmonica playing, Andrew Huggard who plays with a band called Leonard and the Lab Rats. As far as I can tell, he is Leonard. He loves the script and gets the "vibe," so am looking forward to his take on it. He will send me some musical ideas via i-phone. Yeah!

Crewing Up

I have asked the 2012 Film Arts students to write and apply for the jobs that they want. Most of the Directors have done so, and most of them want to work in the Camera Department (Kristoff, Naomi, Shan, Brittany). One wants to work in the Art Deparment (Jackie, with Naomi saying she'd like to help out here too), and one wants to Produce (Amy - yay!). I have also had a Writer (Alleli) interested in producing and assistant editing.

I need to write them all again, and remind them of tomorrow's deadline to apply to work on this film. They are still in production on their own films, the last one wrapping today! I'm so proud of this year's students. A truly collaborative, mature and hardworking bunch.

Malcolm Knapp_UBC Research Forest_Marion Lake.