Thank You!

One of the biggest frustrations involved with producing an independent film is money: specifically, a lack of money. Since we first discovered we would have the opportunity to adapt Tom Kline's play and produce it as a film, there was a certain item Jason and I knew we would need to ensure that the film could hold its own as a professionally produced film in a highly competitive market. This item usually costs from a few thousand dollars to $10,000 or more, so there was no way we would be able to afford it and would just have to do the best we could without it. Then in mid December, we found this item selling significantly cheaper than we had seen before. We're talking a few hundred dollars; and it looked just as good as the ones selling for $10,000. Now, however, we were faced with another dilemma: where would we get the money to pay for it. Jason and I still have props, set supplies and costumes to purchase for the film. But just when the standard low budget film producers' disappointment set in, two different friends gave us money for Christmas and told us to put it towards I Love You Because. Their combined gifts were just enough to cover the cost of this particular item.

So, we are sending out a big thank you to these friends, and our sincere gratitude. Your support has enriched the production value of I Love You Because, and it will be a better film for it.  

Fun With Liquid Rubber

Debra Sussman (Lynn Hendricks) came out to the DaJa Vu Films office space today so that we could do a torso casting of her for when her character gets killed in The Bunnyman. Debbie is currently involved in a big project which we are unable to talk about. I think she's working for the CIA or something, but she swore us to secrecy so we can't say a word. Anyway, she called me this weekend because she was telling her make up guy on the huge project that we were doing a casting of her and he didn't want to have to work on her if her skin was all messed up, even though the appliances he's put on her have caused Debbie to break out in blisters. Oh, what little faith she has in us. But I assured her that we're not using any cheap stuff. We're using a liquid rubber (we did a test of my arm using alginate, which is what most make up books say to use, but trust us, save your money, cause alginate sucks ass) that's made by the same company that produces the material the new bat suit for Batman Begins was made out of.

We made sure to feed her first. Generally, our rule is not to feed our actors. Food costs money and we have better things to spend our money on than something you basically only rent anyway. But when you're going to have actors in an uncomfortable position for four to five hours, its best to feed them so they don't get cranky.
After lunch, I put on Wild Hogs so Debbie would have something to watch so she wouldn't just be standing there for hours doing nothing. Jason and I set to work.

Things didn't go exactly as planned. We had latex gloves to put on the release cream, that worked out just fine. It was the liquid rubber that proved to be the problem. No where did it say that you need to use a thinner for the first coat except on the instructional DVD that we had to buy. We thought we could do the casting without it. We thought wrong. The liquid rubber began to dry almost as soon as Jason could mix it and it clumped up on the bristles of the paint brushes we were using. Same thing for the latex gloves, so we asked Debbie if it was okay if we did it without the gloves. Trooper that she is, Debbie said, "Go for it." So we stripped off the gloves and got down and dirty. Reason number one why it's a good idea to use friends as guinea pigs instead of complete strangers. Friends are less likely to slap you when you are "forced" to grope and man handle them.

We put on two coats of the liquid rubber and filled in the gaps. Wild Hogs had ended so I put on Heartbreakers and we started putting on the plaster strips. These are purchased in rolls of gauze with dried plaster, which are cut into the desired lengths. When cut, the strips are dipped in warm water and applied. They form a support and shell for the mold. We had to wait for everything to dry before we could go any further, so we took a break and enjoyed the movie. Once the mold and plaster were dry, we removed the shell. Then Jason had to cut a strip down the back of the mold so it could be removed.

I had put some of the rubber below where we'd put the release cream, so Jason had to cut some of the rubber from Debbie's skin, accidentally leaving a gash (and they say I'm clumsy). Which is reason number two why it's a good idea to use friends as guinea pigs instead of complete strangers. Friends are much less likely to sue when injured.

And we now have a perfect casting of Debbie's torso, replicas of which will soon be available on our website. Hey, we've got to finance this movie somehow, right?  

Editor Note: The last paragraph is an example of David's poor sense of humor. Replicas of the torso will not be sold on our website. 

The Bunnyman Production Day 3: I Shot The Sheriff

We had David Scott and Scotty Schultz, as well as Trent Stover and Derek DuQuesne out for filming today. It was raining this morning and David drove his bike, so he got a little soaked on his way over.

We started out with David, Derek and Scotty. Since we planned on shooting the sheriff station scenes in sequence, we didn't have Trent come in until later.

We began with Scene 42:

INT. SHERIFF'S STATION - DAY

From a PHANTOM POV we enter the Sheriff's Station and slowly approach the desk where DEPUTY CORMAN sits, his face buried in a newspaper. He takes a sip from his coffee cup. As he sets the cup back on the desk, the paper lowers and he sees.. To find out how the scene ends, you'll just have to wait to see the movie.

When Trent arrived we paused to shoot all of the Sheriff Stephens bits and let David have a break, sending him to the communal "trailer" while we worked with Trent. Once we got that stuff done, we called David back over so we could do the fight scene between Hooper and Stephens. It didn't work out quite the way I wanted, but we got some really cool angles.

When we finished with Stephens' scenes, we let Trent go and finished Hooper's scenes and sent David Scott home. Then we worked on some scenes with Corman and Loomis that the other actors aren't in and worked on some recently added some mostly improvised scenes between Loomis and Corman so that we can have something to fill in any gaps that may arise in editing.

It was a seven hour day, but we completed every one of the sheriff's station sequences. Which isn't bad considering it would have taken a studio weeks to do what we did in only seven hours. Bully for us!

Scotty sleeping on the job.

1st round of auditions

We’re finished with our first round of auditions. Yahoo! We’ve met a lot of cool and talented people, so things are looking up.

It’s not too late to audition, just send an e-mail to casting@dajavufilms.com with your picture attached.