Status Update

I just wanted to give you a heads-up on where we're at with 'A Note to Etienne' - that little French short that could. We're finally at the finish line and we're just making very small adjustments before getting the film ready for the festival circuit. We're hitting all the major festivals this coming 4 months and could not be more excited!

It looks fantastic and I could not be more pleased with how it turned out. Again, thank you so much for your hard work, help, donations, and support! This was definitely a collaborative project and can't wait to get this short out there.

Watch for upcoming posts where we'll be discussing festival strategy, post design, and the future of 'A Note to Etienne'!

Cheers!

Eli

The Finish Line's Ahead

Quick Update: Last week we sent a screener to its first festival! Our first festival being Cannes in France - which was our ultimate goal. It was such a great relief to get it done in time. However, it's not officially completed. Still need to finish up sound design, sound mixing, music, graphic design, and color correction.

That being said, it's been such a great, collaborative team effort within the Post-Production team. Even if we don't get into Cannes, the amount of work we did just to prepare something worth sending was victory enough.

Next stop, we're pulling together a list of Festivals we'd like to submit to. The rest of the year, Etienne will be sent to many Festivals to be screened and hopefully enjoyed. We're unable to show anything on the internet yet, but we're very excited to eventually show you what we've all created.

Stay Tuned.

Production Photos

Meet the Post Crew - Volume 4

Meet the Editor

Frank Mohler is a Los Angeles based video editor. He graduated from Appalachian State University with a degree in Theatre, but has been making movies for over 10 years. He currently works freelance; cutting trailers, short films, and DVD special features. His most recent work includes the award winning short film, Rooftop, as well as the DVD bonus features for Transformers and GI Joe the original animated series, and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show. He is currently working on the pilots for two web series.

Meet the Assistant Editor

Born and raised in Manhattan Beach, CA, Caitlin Rafferty attended Loyola Marymount University, in Los Angeles, CA, where she earned her BA in film production. Caitlin also did a semester at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, studying on location documentary film production. Throughout college, Caitlin worked as a videographer and founded her own production company, Two Irish Brats Productions, specializing in event and promotional video production. Upon graduation, Caitlin began working on a variety of reality television shows, and currently works as both an associate producer and editor.

Recent credits: Field editor on season 1 of VH1’s “Tough Love”, associate producer on seasons 3 & 4 of HGTV’s “Secrets That Sell”, associate producer for the HGTV holiday specials “Home for the Holidays” and “Carter Comes Home”, post associate producer on seasons 5-7 of HGTV’s “Carter Can”, and post associate producer for DIY Network’s “Stud Finder.”

Other television credits include: Deal or No Deal, Oprah’s Big Give, Age of Love, The Root of All Evil, The Battle of Gettysburg, Lingo, AKC National Championship Dog Show, and Grease You’re The One That I Want.

For samples of work, visit www.caitlinrafferty.com, or www.twoirishbrats.com.

Meet the Composer

Hamdija Ajanovic was born in year 1973 in Derventa, small town in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina (former Yugoslavia). Most of his childhood was spent in music school, where he studied music theory and received a classical music education with guitar as the major instrument. By his 16th birthday, he was well immersed in the local music scene, playing electric guitar and performing with various bands.

In 1994, Ajanovic moved to Germany and settled in Kassell where he lived and worked as a performing and recording musician, guitar instructor and vocal coach for the next 6 years. Upon his move to Tucson, Arizona in 2000, he enrolled at the University of Arizona and earned a degree in film with highest honors. With extensive music knowledge, musical versatility, ability to play multiple instruments and a university education in film, Ajanovic stirred his career towards a realization of a long lasting dream: creating musical scores for motion pictures. Over the course of the next eight years, he scored several award winning films that had both national and international success.

Nowadays, Ajanovic composes music for films, media and video games, produces own songs and writes scripts… and no one knows if he just may show up on a stage somewhere and sing and play some good blues.

Additional Music

Rob Gokee studied under seasoned composer Christopher Young (Spider-Man 3 , The Grudge, Ghost Rider), where he sharpened his orchestration, mixing, and marketing skills. Rob’s score for the period film Until Next Time won him a Silver Medal of Excellence at the 2007 Park City Music Festival. In 2008, Rob put the finishing touches on his scores for the horror feature “Eyes of the Woods,” comedy “Outrighteous” , and the Lifeline Entertainment thriller "Amhurst" with director Rocky Costanzo, which was also released as a soundtrack on iTunes. Along with “SOLO the Series,” Rob’s latest projects include the features “K-Town” & “11:11”, and the short films “Ties That Bind” & “Thank You Mr. Patterson.”

Meet the Sound Designer

With a bachelor of arts degree in the Aesthetics and Criticism of Media Arts and a minor in Music from the University of Arizona, Michaela Pentacoff strives for unique and solid sound designs for film and video. Her work is a hybrid of electroacoustic music and sound design, most recently present in BICAS WORKS. The question what is sound/noise/music and how can it be used to tell a story?sits in the front of her mind, pushing her innovative use of sound.

As a sound recordist, Michaela enjoys working against the elements, squishing into small spaces and listening to ambiences. And like most sound designers and supervisors, she also enjoys the uncontrollable smile of a director who has finally heard their desired sound design and score.

The Pick-Ups

Just last weekend, Jorge, the cast, and I had a fun-filled pick-up day in Griffith Park. We're talking limited crew, hardly any equipment, and a vibrant and playful carousel. Suffice to say, it was tons of fun. In fact, we had a mini photo-shoot that created a few memorable images.

Priceless.

Meet the Crew - Volume 3

Meet the Camera Operator

Raphe Wolfgang graduated with a BFA in Media Arts in 2004 and has since lived in Los Angeles, where he works as a freelance videographer and various crew positions. In 2010 Raphe will be furthering his career in the entertainment industry by directing his own projects. Raphe was raised in Arizona where he developed an eye for photography at an early age, he has been practicing his craft ever since.

Meet the 1^st AC

Jonathan Helms began his career as a photographer and cameraman while in community college in St. Louis, Missouri. Having worked often in narrative series with his still images, he chose to enroll in the film program at Southern Illinois University when it came time to pursue his Bachelor's. He worked as both a director and a cinematographer on his films at SIUC before graduating in May of 2009. After graduation he moved to Los Angeles where he works as a First Camera Assistant and a Director of Photography.

Meet the Gaffer

Brian Patrick Carroll was born into the royal family of San Diego which proved to be quite the privileged childhood. Growing tired of such a lifestyle Brian decided to become a farmer in Humboldt County where he also earned a BA in Theatre Arts. However; all goods things must come to end, and he left the great high north to find himself in the middle of the drama ridden OC where he attended Chapman University. Spending a quick three years there Brian left Orange county after earning an MFA in film production. Now living in LA, Brian has long forgotten his noble upbringing and finds himself just above the starving artist status in the social ladder, being only a hungry artist.

The Film Shoot

Let's just recap for a moment. We've been finished with principal photography for nearly two weeks now. The film's in the can, being processed, and soon to be transfered as a file to our editor. However, I've yet to disclose much information about the production itself. Therefore, I thought it'd be beneficial to write a lengthy blog about the trials and tribulations of the film shoot. Then I thought to myself, this is a film. A visual medium. If you wanted to read lengthy descriptions and paragraphs of my thoughts, a book would be much more appropriate. But it's not a book.

Instead, I wanted to show you several pictures from the set. Both on set and off, because the bulk of the fun was when the camera wasn't rolling. I'm incredibly lucky to have been a part of such a fun and professional team. So, without further ado...

Screen Shot 1: We had this shot where we film Etienne (Lukas Delcourt) from behind a bookshelf as he plays with his toys. At one point, the action figure wasn't tall enough so I had to call for a "mini apple box" to give him a few centimeters.

Screen shot 2: Etienne, always the couch potato, was shot yet again watching television. Our camera operator, Raphe Wolfgang, frames the shot diligently.

Screen Shot 3: Before we shoot our actors, I needed to peer through the viewfinder to frame the shot as I envisioned. Fortunately, the Director of Photography (Jorge Urbina) and I share a very mutual vision.

Screen Shot 4: With any shoot, there's always bonding during lunch. The cast and crew take a load off on our living room set. Note how everybody's seated exactly the same (with their legs crossed). That's what happens when we're working together for hours on end.

Screen Shot 5: One of our super PAs/Art Assistants (Stephanie Coogan), stands in for one of our actors. Don't let her innocent smile fool you. She's actually a phenomenal producer.

Screen Shot 6: One of my favorite shots. Our actors, Isabelle Giroux and Lukas Delcourt, film a scene of intimacy. Incidentally, they both became very close friends throughout the filming process.

Screen Shot 7: One of our Second ACs, Eric Patton, inserts the slate before we shoot one of the film's beginning scenes. Our Gaffer (Brian Carroll) did an amazing job lighting the set.

Screen Shot 8: Our Amorette, played by Isabelle Giroux, gets into character as we prepare for a very emotional scene. Not only is she our leading lady, she's also our narrator.

Screen Shot 9: Check out a great photograph of our Production Designer (Gilberto Vega) and his beautiful restaurant. The ambience was perfect for this particular scene.

Screen Shot 10: Our Script Supervisor, Maura Concannon, was my right-hand lady throughout the entire production. In fact, we'd have our own little pow-wows off set just to figure out a few shots.

Screen Shot 11: The Queen of the entire production (i.e. our Producer, Allison Vanore) poses for the camera between putting together the entire film. She and I have a lot more work to do...

Screen Shot 12: Love this shot of Lukas. He keeps himself occupied between lighting set-ups by posing with the production slate. Or... we're making him work double time...

Screen Shot 13: This is a prime example of how the entire crew came together to create something magnificent. This exemplifies the work of our Costume Designer (Joslyn Sifuentes), Hair/Makeup Artist (Moira Taylor), Gaffer (Brian Carroll), Director of Photography (Jorge Urbina), and Production Designer (Gilberto Vega) -- and several key people from the camera team. Not to mention Allison Vanore and Isabelle Giroux, prime factors in this entire film.

Screen Shot 14: This is a screen shot of the scene. Amorette tunes out while Etienne continues on and on with his story, oblivious of the his girlfriend's heartache. Pretty shot.

Screen Shot 15: Our last day of principle photography... and a very fun one. Our Crane Operator, Ryan Elliot, showed up and did some fantastic work for our exterior shot.

Screen Shot 16: Jorge and Ryan working hand-in-hand to get this shot as perfect as possible. Well, not literally hand-in-hand. This isn't 'Park Bench' (one of my other shorts).

Screen Shot 17: Unfortunately, the sun decided to work against us this day. We had to figure out a way to make the crane's shadow as inconspicuous as possible. We worked it out.

Screen Shot 18: Our Camera Operator, Raphe Wolfgang, sneaks in with the slate. He looks rather confused. He probably was...

Screen Shot 19: Moira Taylor, our makeup and hair artist, entertains herself (and the rest of us) between takes. This is a fun set!

Screen Shot 20: Since we were unable to get her a desk at this particular moment, Scripty Maura Concannon is roughing it while timing several shots.

Screen Shot 21: We're getting one of our last shots of principle photography. In all actuality, this would be 2nd unit, but we're fully capable of doing everything ourselves with an unbridled level of enthusiasm!

All in all, it was a fantastic shoot, and I'm looking forward to closing up production with a few more pick-ups this weekend and the confessional scene next week. I'm confident our post-production team will be just as fantastic.