Inside THE RED ROBIN: The Making of the Feature Film: December 2011

Thursday, December 29, 2011

ALMOST A WEEK SINCE WE WRAPPED

Recovery from a film shoot I would imagine is a bit like returning to your home after being in an exotic land that resembles nothing like the landscape you're used to. Those things that were once commonplace are seemingly out-of-place...but the real truth is that you're out-of-place. You're what has "changed" (at least for a period of time) You also realize that the pace of things you became used to on the film was much faster and adrenalized than what you were accustomed to BF(before filmmaking). All this made the perfect storm for me to feel emotionally and physically exhausted when I returned from wrapping THE RED ROBIN last week, Dec. 23, 2011.

I collapsed and probably could've done a Rip Van Winkle but I'm a dad with young boys which means time for rest is a thing of the past. My first few days back to reality I was in a perpetual half-awake state which meant I bumped into walls and whenever i sat down I basically snored myself into a stupor. All this was my bodies way of saying "You don't get to go to such highs without paying for it!" It's almost a week since we wrapped and I finally feel re-adjusted, if not completely ready to return to the land AF(After filmmaking).

The next chapter is one of my favorites because I'm an editor by trade. For me, movies have always been made in the edit. You can make a bad film tolerable, a good film great, or a good film horrible. That's a lot of power and to understand that is important if you're going to be a filmmaker. I highly recommend that every aspiring director learns how to edit or at least immerses themselves in the process. Not only is it where you really learn the ingredients that go into making scenes work and storytelling thrive, it's where you will gain your most confidence as a director(the next time you shoot a film). People ask me why I'm so calm during shoots. My first answer is because I am doing what I always did since I was 8 years old and enjoyed more than anything in the world. Why wouldn't I be calm and composed? I'm where I have always wanted to be. The second answer is really because I've been in the editing room for many years. I've edited features, documentaries and shorts and one thing I have discovered is that when you start thinking like an editor(on the set as a director) you don't go hog wild overshooting and getting things from every conceivable angle, 100 takes. You have a greater security in your choices hopefully and have a stronger idea when you have a scene in the can. I have always prided myself on being a conservative shooter(I don't mix politics and filmmaking). I don't agree with burning negative or hours of time with innumerable takes and countless angles. Filmmaking is hard enough shooting moderate amount of coverage, I just don't feel like most movies require shooting till your DP has lost vision out of one of hs eyes and your actors have been reduced to robots reciting lines. I attribute my leaner style to my experience in the edit. Also, I hate working past 12 hours as I will turn into a monster the next day should that happen.

So, editing is on deck. I'm watching dailies on my macpowerbook and I'm reliving every shot we did in December. So far I am enthusiastic to the point of bordering on immodest. I know when i start seeing scenes cut, it will be a reality check. Certain scenes may under deliver, others may not work as intended, but I know that the sculpting process is one where things will evolve. Editing is the final chapter of screenwriting and it takes drafts to get things where you want. Therefore, patience is essential. I am about to bring on an editor and post will begin the around January 5 for 3 months. The goal is for us to be done with a locked cut by May/June. That will allow us time to find the necessary representation and sales team to help bring the project to the festivals and marketplace. As we're putting the film together in the edit, I will occasionally blog the experience. Occasionally because I think it will be far more interesting when the film is done and people can watch then learn about the construction. Right now, I can't give too much of the story away because it's a thriller/mystery so anything I would talk about in detail would sail above readers heads or be too spoilerish!

My entries from this point forward will relate more back to the making of the film. We still have 5 days to shoot in january and we're hoping this warm winter turns frigid so we don't have to matte icicles in post. Thanks for taking an interest and definitely check in over the next few weeks when I start adding VLOGS from the first shoot.

MW

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

2 DAYS LEFT TILL WRAP!!!!

Oh my...Where did the days go? How has this incredible experience gone by so quickly? And more importantly, how do I stop time?

We are very close to wrapping my second feature and to say that I am already getting separation anxiety is a colossal understatement. What's so great about moviemaking is that you are this tightly-knit family for a very short period of time and you all have one thing in common that most people in company environments rarely have(at the same time): you're all working hard and enjoying what you do passionately. It is truly a transformed environment to be in and one that I'm keenly aware is not something to be taken for granted. I instinctively feel this will be the launch of our company and one of many films to come...yet there's always a distinct feeling in the back of my head "What happens if this is it?" My response is that if I don't have the opportunity come around again, I will still feel so blessed to have made it to this point with such a great team of creative people supporting the project.

We have averaged 5-6 pages a day and the coverage has been minimal for the first 2/3 but now, with the pace stepping up in the last 1/3 of the movie and the story covering more psychological terrain, we are doing MORE shots....so things are a bit more hectic...but hectic is just right for the nature of these scenes...there's a frantic urgency to the second half of the story that builds right up to where we are right now.

I am nervous about missing a shot...I know that I will get to the edit and wish I had done this or that but truly we have gotten so much done in such a short period of time. Nonetheless, I'm sure there will be a few moments I wish I had captured but as long as I can still make my scenes work with what I have...such is the lot of filmmaking.

Anyway, will spend more time avidly updating this blog once we wrap. Then I will have more time and energy and focus to talk about the shoot and discuss the workings of THE RED ROBIN.

t a)

Monday, December 12, 2011

WE'RE HALFWAY THROUGH!

So I've been taping and photographing this entire experience and therefore haven't had much time to do any "Blogging" When you're in the middle of it, time in anyone area is scarce. Being a director means you are answering 50 questions at the same time. You start answering this person and another member of the team needs you which means that you simply can't commit any significant time to writing. This is about it for me right now.

Let's say that to those of you who actually survived my first few posts and grievances about how hard it has been to get the film made...well WE ARE MAKING IT!

Did I ever have seeds of doubt that this auspicious day would arrive? I would be lying if I didn't say yes. But after our last false start, I basically gave myself a real "do or die" deadline and said no matter who was onboard as cast/crew, we were green lighting.

What this project has become is bigger and better than I ever imagined. Really. The level of talent both in front and behind the camera is mind boggling to me. What this has taught me, simply, is that great people gravitate towards strong material. Okay, forgive my immodesty but there's nothing else that has been a common denominator that could account for why we have assembled such a strong team except the refrain I most often hear "I joined because of the script or the story" When you have little money to pay people, that's the only way you're ever going to be able to bring aboard peeps with the right stuff. So I credit not only the determination of me and my producing partners but eventually the material married to the right sensibilities. I've never doubted that it's the written word that starts this process off and if it's not well written, the process will have a hard time igniting into anything.

So here we are, 10 days into shooting, 8 days left to go, then another 5 in January for our flashbacks. We still have some very challenging scenes to go but everyone is at their A game and I think the communal sense is that we're making special, something that people will want to see. I am at once inspired by the effort of everyone onboard and moved by any thoughts that this all started in 2005 in my living room, born out of frustration of not having made a movie in over 12 years and knowing my time was running out to do this again. Here we are...the dream has become a reality and I feel, for the first time in many many years, that this is where I'm supposed to be in life....

The Eskimos believed that if you spoke a word, it had the power to grow into something. I hope that anyone who is sitting in front of a computer screen with a story that's inspiring them will read this and take away that words have power.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

The Red Robin Enters Week Two of Production!

Check out a few new shots from the set!

Director Michael Z. Wechsler talks with actor Judd Hirsch.

Actors Ryan O'Nan, Jaime Ray Newman, and C.S. Lee sit in the Shellner kitchen.

Cinematographer Adrian Correia (left), and actors C.S. Lee and Joseph Lyle Taylor.

Monday, December 5, 2011

BEHIND THE SCENES of THE RED ROBIN

Production on THE RED ROBIN is underway! Check out a few behind-the-scenes photos from the set over the weekend:

THE RED ROBIN cast (from bottom left): C.S. Lee, Jaime Ray Newman, Ryan O'Nan, Caroline Lagerfelt, Judd Hirsch, and Joseph Lyle Taylor.

Read-through of the script with director Michael Z. Wechsler and actors Judd Hirsch, Ryan O'Nan, Caroline Lagerfelt, C.S. Lee, and Joseph Lyle Taylor.

Playback on the monitor during the shoot.

The inside of the Shellner house.

A few models from Dr. Shellner's office.

The stately Shellner Manor.

Director Michael Z. Wechsler and the cast on the front steps of the Shellner House prior to the commencement of principal photography.

THE RED ROBIN Makes the News!

Big thanks to Variety & Screen Daily for their articles on The Red Robin last week, announcing our cast of Judd Hirsch, Ryan O'Nan, C.S. Lee, Jaime Ray Newman, Caroline Lagerfelt, and Joseph Lyle Taylor! And a big thanks to Nicole Goesseringer as well.

- VARIETY article

- SCREEN DAILY article

About The Red Robin

“The Red Robin” focuses on the dynamics of a family whose dying patriarch stands accused of a shadowy past by one of his children. Every aspect of the filmmaking, from the acting to the visuals and editing, are tinted by a traumatic incident from the family’s past that remains unknown to them. As the director of the film, I plan to visualize the damage this buried incident inflicts on the Shellners, how it twists and subverts their reality, and its combustible ability to reap havoc on their lives over the course of one night. The palette of this film could best be described as “Cinema of the Traumatized” and this expression should live and breath inside every frame. Inside the house, the interior design hasn’t been updated for decades with browns, yellows and beige colors popular in the 70’s—though a sanctuary at one time, it’s now tired and depressing. One can’t step foot in the Shellner house without feeling the weight of the world, as if an albatross of despair looms over everything and everyone. Though the story is set in the present, the visuals will have the fragile graininess of aged film from the seventies and the colors desaturated and muted, representing the time which the incident happened. The faces of the Shellners are photographed “unglamorously,” with practicals, giving expressions a raw, real and sallow look drained of all inner/outer beauty. When the accusations of abuse are leveled against the father, the images will retain their yellowish pallor but shot with higher contrast, more areas of darkness to heighten the mystery and confusion. Only when the resolution comes at the end of the film does the image feel contemporary and the faces return to some state of health as if the narrative is able to move out of its trapped past. The camera work will also reflect the emotional burden trauma has had on this family. In the beginning of the story, the action will be kept eye-level, framed in unobtrusive wide shots with little movement, lending a heaviness to the image. The coverage will be minimal and some entire scenes may consist of 1 angle to convey that life has all but come to a halt. Editing will be dictated by the sparce shooting style and will therefore be paced slowly. Many compositions in the house will feature family members framed against enormous windows or the majestic fireplace, giving the image a weight that suggests something unseen is crippling our characters. After the story takes its first dramatic turning point with the son’s accusations of his father’s past, the visuals will become increasingly agitated, unhinged. Similar to movie’s like Roman Polanski’s “Repulsion” which depicts a woman’s mental breakdown inside her modest flat, trauma works its way into the psyches of the family and the sanctuary of home becomes alien, threatening and even dangerous. While the accusing son, Tommy, hunts for the truth escalates and mental state become manic, the camera will mimick his psychology with less steady shots on the tripod, abrupt pans and tilts, erratic zooms, focus-adjustments, and compositions that are busier. Eventually, as Tommy’s siblings begin to have “memory relapses,” the cinema of the Shellner’s becomes “agitated” Camera angles are more assymetrical, exaggerated, closer, and depth of field compresses. Beyond the literal visuals taking place in the house, there’s also the mental “flashes” that Tommy experiences throughout. These are the traumatic “pinches” that give the viewer a sense of his mindset but are also pieces to the underlying past which haunts the family. Because Tommy accuses his father, Nathaniel, of performing government mind control experiments on the children, these flashes should resemble an actual filmed tests. The performances of the family members are equally impacted by trauma. When the story begins, there’s a heaviness to nearly every minute behavior of the characters. Their speech, movements and reactions.are slower than “normal.” Though they don’t realize it, they are paralyzed by their past and not just their present predicament. When one of the children, Tommy, invokes claims of his father’s horrors, the characters undergo a full-fledged identity crisis. With each character experiencing some terrifying recall they don’t understand, they become unhinged, even foreign to themselves, and unpredictable in their minute to minute reactions. The notion that their family history could be a big lie is must be reflected in their behavior. At the same time, there must be a devotional love for their father which complicates their emotions and makes shifting alliances difficult, if not, impossible. Even Tommy struggles with his own premise as it undermines a view of his father as his savior and that must resonate in every nuance of his performance. The patriarch, Nathaniel, will be directed to succeed at saving his children at all costs, no matter what kind of slandering takes place. He rescued and adopted these children from horrible lives and he will not pass until he’s assured they are ok. His frustration with Tommy is tempered with his compassion and he never pulls out daggers to combat what he’s convinced is mental illness. His weapon is his undying dedication even as he struggles with his final hours of life. Movies like Thomas Vinterberg’s searing drama, “The Celebration” and Mike Nichol’s classic, “Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolfe” have inspired me as successful examples of small stories with high emotions told on a large cinematic canvas. Both taking place in one night and in one location with families that undergo seismic conflicts based in trauma, these movies bear mentioning for their wonderful ensemble casts and performances that take us convincingly through some difficult psychological terrain. My approach to directing “The Red Robin” puts the same emphasis on having a cast that can take us to the very edge and back without over-acting and melodrama. Because there are 6 children and 2 parents in a very confined space, the actors must know their parameters and pitch and be careful not to overwhelm each other. As the director, I will make sure that the combustion never becomes theatrical or over-the-top and there’s a realism to the performances and shooting style that keeps us believing. I will encourage my cast to adopt the maxim “Less is more” knowing how easily high emotions in small space can transport us to the stage. Though there’s an abundance of dialogue in the script, I will emphasize silence, restraint and a style of acting that keeps the audience guessing what our characters are thinking and going through.. “The Red Robin” is most engaging at the level of keeping the audience in the dark, taking them out again, then putting them back just when they think they have figured it all out. I would like people to come away from this film not only be entertained by the thrilling plot twists, but moved by the story about a family struggling to cope with a great loss and suffering.

Inside THE RED ROBIN: The Making of the Feature Film