Just shot the majority of my new prison movie, THE TANK. A once in a lifetime opportunity for hobbyist filmmakers like me, we were able to shoot in the jail cells of an abandoned police station in metro Detroit. They are tearing it down this week, but a detective on the force (also the screenwriter) got us permission to shoot for one day. Smelled like death in there...and for good reason, as the detective later gave us a tour of all the places where people actually DID die in there!
All of the actors were amateurs, but they were all fantastic. The two major players were ex-cons. Since we only had the one day to shoot, and we wouldn't have access to it until the day of the shoot, and the actors had never done any acting before, I decided to make it documentary style, like the original "Scared Straight" movies. We found some rehearsal space and taped out what we thought were the dimensions of the main holding cell. Then we rehearsed the script like you would rehearse a play, two nights a week for two months. I've never done anything like that before...it seems like an absurdly long rehearsal process for a short movie, but it paid off when we got inside to shoot. I only needed two or three takes of each scene. The actors had their lines down cold and their positions blocked out for continuity and they stuck to it. The added pressure and excitement of finally getting inside this old, creepy jail only made their stakes rise. They behaved like pros the whole time.
Setups were a major problem...we had no idea what kind of lights would be inside (very few still working and all too dim) so we borrowed a couple of Arri kits from MSU and just lit the hell out of it. Had a boom mic and a lav and were able to keep the echo down to a believable minimum. The decision to do it documentary style also let the DP have a bit of an easier time with his setups. Basically "shoot what you see unfold, then shoot it again for coverage." So I pretty much have two master shots of each scene, from one angle and then the opposite, and inserts to edit from. That will take awhile...
At one point I was watching a scene unfold on the monitor with headphones on and it felt like I was watching an episode of "Locked Up - San Quentin" until I realized...I was MAKING an episode of "Locked Up - San Quentin."
Can't wait to finish and show off the finished product, but since the actors were all fantastic and kept asking "when can we see it? when can we see it?" like four-year-olds playing with Dad's camcorder, I cobbled together a short teaser-trailer this morning which you can see at http://vimeo.com/5162232
All of the actors were amateurs, but they were all fantastic. The two major players were ex-cons. Since we only had the one day to shoot, and we wouldn't have access to it until the day of the shoot, and the actors had never done any acting before, I decided to make it documentary style, like the original "Scared Straight" movies. We found some rehearsal space and taped out what we thought were the dimensions of the main holding cell. Then we rehearsed the script like you would rehearse a play, two nights a week for two months. I've never done anything like that before...it seems like an absurdly long rehearsal process for a short movie, but it paid off when we got inside to shoot. I only needed two or three takes of each scene. The actors had their lines down cold and their positions blocked out for continuity and they stuck to it. The added pressure and excitement of finally getting inside this old, creepy jail only made their stakes rise. They behaved like pros the whole time.
Setups were a major problem...we had no idea what kind of lights would be inside (very few still working and all too dim) so we borrowed a couple of Arri kits from MSU and just lit the hell out of it. Had a boom mic and a lav and were able to keep the echo down to a believable minimum. The decision to do it documentary style also let the DP have a bit of an easier time with his setups. Basically "shoot what you see unfold, then shoot it again for coverage." So I pretty much have two master shots of each scene, from one angle and then the opposite, and inserts to edit from. That will take awhile...
At one point I was watching a scene unfold on the monitor with headphones on and it felt like I was watching an episode of "Locked Up - San Quentin" until I realized...I was MAKING an episode of "Locked Up - San Quentin."
Can't wait to finish and show off the finished product, but since the actors were all fantastic and kept asking "when can we see it? when can we see it?" like four-year-olds playing with Dad's camcorder, I cobbled together a short teaser-trailer this morning which you can see at http://vimeo.com/5162232
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