My review of Spade on the River
7/31/05: Finished the movie, praise the Lord! It runs a grand total of 71 minutes. I sent it to the Angelus Awards Student Film Festival the other day, hoping for the best. Will send it to more festivals soon. There are a couple parts still a little rough that I will touch up on, but overall it's done. We recorded three original songs for the movie to go along with Kepano Green and my moms stuff. We might record some more soon, I'm thinking of coming out with an album! But yeah, a year after I got inspired with the idea, the movie is complete. I'm also on page 57 of my new movie, so hopefully I'll have that all done in a month or so. I'm way farther ahead on the new movie than I was on this one.
7/7/05: (or somewhere around there) Started on the soundtrack yesterday, with a rough cut of a song to be used in the film. Tentatively (and I mean tentative, as in, this is very optimistic), these are the songs to be used in the film:
Songs by Chris Cowgill (the mom!)
Our Dear Father
Far Beyond the Moment
Way Things Ought To Be
One Small Step
Others under consideration, will update
Songs by Kyle Cowgill (me!)
Flight
Shine
Song of the Martyrs
Find Me
Reluctant Giveaway
Songs by Kepano Green
Riverside
Emmanuel
Firepaper Gold
Her Name is Wisom
Don't Let Me Go
Miracle
Any others, they're all good
Original Musical Score by Chris Cowgill (the mom!!!)
Production is complete!
Praise the Lord! In a flurry of filming we managed to complete production on 'Spade on the River.' Wow, man, we shot a lot. Every day it seemed. Sami Haj said, upon completing filming, "It's really done? I mean, I can't imagine it. You don't need me any more? As in we're really done? I can't believe it." Poor Haj had to film quite a bit.
I am on a high right now about the movie. I really think I like what we shot in the last mad cap two weeks, but I haven't come down from the high to really be able to retrospect. But I think it came out well. Pretty hilarious actually.
Now onto post production!!!
Spade on the River
Day 11 journal
Day 10 journal
Day 9 journal
Day 8 journal
Day 7 journal
Day 6 journal
Day 5 journal
Day 4 journal
Day 3 journal
Day 2 journal
Day 1 journal
GENERAL UPDATE
As far as 5/20/05, there is only 15 pages left to shoot, plus a montage I gotta reshoot and some extra filler footage. The shooting schedule has flown off the handle, and now we're just shooting scenes whenever we can. Basically, we have to shoot the majority of the part of Kelly. We've only shot five of her scenes, and since she's a major character, well, that's not a whole lot. But once we get all that done, BAM! Post production.
This movie is really turning out to be more of a comedy than anything else. It's a dramedy I suppose, or a commadramma or however the heck you wanna say it. I was surprised to see how comedic it's turned out, but it's a pleasant surprise. Heck, even the dramatic moments have comedy thrown in! Look at the bottom of the page for the new scale.
BIG CHANGES!!!
1. Brandon Carmody might be in jeopardy of being the movie, due to transportational issues. I'll keep you posted.
2. A minor shift in the roles of the classmates and possibly professor.
3. Cailee Moberg has been replaced by Heather Shwalm in the role of Kelly. This is unfortunate for Cailee, because it is due to events outside of her control. Christians, please pray for the safety and well being of her family. It is not because of anything acting-related, Cailee is great. But it just isn't going to work. Heather Shwalm is great, you might remember her from Springtime Love. Actually, you won't remember her from that, because I HAVEN'T FRICKIN RELEASED IT YET! But once it IS released (AFTER Spade on the River btw) you will remember her from Springtime Love retroactively. That doesn't make sense, but Heather has a lot going for her.
Spade on the River set pics!!!
A few storyboards from 'Spade on the River"
1/23/05: I can't believe I haven't updated this page in a month! So much has happened. First of all, the shooting schedule for the movie is up. And now, for the (nearly) complete cast list:
Keith Coleangelo: Sami Haj
Kelly Coleangelo: Heather Shwalm
Michael: Nathan Boggs
Mickey: Brett Valenti
Kathy: Dre ???
Jessie: Jordan Flug
Professor Farnsworth: Brett Valenti
Classmate 1: Peter Coehler
Classmate 2: Courtney Sargent
Classmate 3: Eric Custudio
Behind the scenes I have a few guys who are just as important as the stars. They are:
Nathan Archer
Tim Gobble
Also, I'm in talks with Kepano Green to let me use some of their songs for the soundtrack. They are my favorite band and absolutely rock. Also, my wonderful mother, Chris Cowgill, will once again be doing the original score and will have a few of her songs put to use in the film as well. And Nate Archer is trying to line up a few bands as well.
12/18/04: Script is now complete, and a whopping 109 pages (on Microsoft Word that is, on Movie Magic Screenwriter it's only 96!). I am feeling more than satisfied with it, though I'm going to tune some things up. I'm still not absolutely sure I love the chemistry between some of the characters, and I'm trying to improve the overall balance. Balance, what the heck? Yeah, I don't know either, but someparts feel unbalanced to me for some odd reason. I'll probably fine tune the script all up until the very last shooting day, and then I'll edit the heck out of the script in post production. But as of now, I think it is the best thing I have ever written. I'm extremely excited to start shooting. SHOOTING STARTS ON FEBRUARY 19TH, that's a Saturday. Casting is also going very well, as I nearly have everybody casted. There are a few parts that are still shaky, but for the most part we're ready to roll. This is going to be big. My goal is for this to be the best full-length feature film a college student has EVER made. Ever, in the history of the world. Well, best full-length feature film for a film of my budget, time and resources. I actually have no way to guage (spelling?) what the best college film ever made is, so I'll just rest assured that whatever I do is probably the best. Just kidding folks, for those of you without a sense of humor!
The script is long, but extremely doable. It flows nicely, and nothing requires a whole lot of props. There is a lot of talk (talk is cheap), but a lot of action to compliment the talk. I'm coming up with a theory (that probably a billion people have come up with before me) that dialogue needs to be complimented with action. Actually, come to think of it, I know exactly who came up with this theory! The amazing Bill Waterson, author of Calvin and Hobbes, the best comic strip ever made. Waterson may be the most brilliant artist in American history. Anyway, he used to draw out the conversation comic strips illustrating them with a lot of action. Calvin and Hobbes would discuss philosophy while they careened down a hill. This is generally how I worked the screenplay. There are a few scenes where there is some serious discussion going on, but it's going on around a game of basketball, around a poker table, while jumping around in the woods. It's cheap and fun.
I wrote this one above my level. The characters all have quirks, I feel none of them are one-demensional. I do fell, however, that at parts I wrote it a little too cute and poetic. Characters dance with dialogue like they wouldn't in real life. I'll tone this down during the shoot.
I strongly believe in shooting scenes several different ways. To speak the dialogue in different ways, to block it in different ways, just to see how the chemistry goes and how the actors react. Fun stuff. This movie will be so dependent on the actors. Any movie, but especially an indy-low budget movie, falls flat on its face if the actors suck. Luckily, from what I've seen so far, all my actors and actresses rock.
Speaking of which, I have a guy from OSU named Sami Haj playing Keith, a girl named Cailee playing Kelly (Cailee sounds like a mixture of the names Kelly and my sisters name Caila, oddly enough), a guy named Grant Alan (who some may mistake for Matt Damon) playing the sinister and carefree villain Michael, and a slew of other multi-talented players (Sasha, Camille, Elizabeth, Chelsea, Peter, Ryan and George) to fill in the other parts.
Official cast list will be up soon. Official schedule will also be up soon.
All that's known about the schedule as of now!!! We will begin filming on 2/19/05. Shooting will start at 12:00 noon and finish at 7:00pm. After finishing each day I will buy dinner for everybody. There will be 13 shooting days at the minimum, and if there needs to be more there are a few more before the end of the school year. They will be every Saturday (minus a couple here and there), and they will always start at noon and finish at 7:00pm. I will be able to provide transportation for three people comfortably, and if need be up to six (hard to explain). More to come soon!
11/27/04: Wow, had a good weekend as far as writing goes. I'm on page 70 but it still feels like I have a long way to go! I imagine I'll have another 30-40 pages before the script is finished! But after I finish the first draft I'll do a couple rewrites and trim it down a bit. The finished movie probably won't exceed an hour and a half, but if it has to it will. Right now the script looks like a lot of dialogue and not a lot of stage directions, but that's because I have the stage directions in my head. I'll put'em on paper as well though. Like anybody cares. Wow though, the script is really coming along! This is my most complex work to date (also my only complex work to date). It's nice knowing that every day I break a new record for myself because I've never done this before. My goal is for this movie to be the undisputable best movie of all time. And if that doesn't work, my goal is for this movie to be good. But caution! If you e-mail me asking me what the movie is about I'll write an essay, because I'm so thrilled with the characters and their problems. Some real stuff going on here. I'm ridiculously excited about all this.
11/24/04: Happy Thanksgiving all! I'm nearly done with the script, and will hopefully be done by the end of the break. Everything seems to have fallen into place, and all the little details are almost all hammered into place. Hopefully the rewriting will be good as well. Looking forward to auditions!
11/8/04: So far have had a great creative day. Was able to add in a couple new characters, one who is fantastic, who really add to the story. Right now the story is sort of an incomplete machine. It runs well, but with a few cogs here and there could run great. I changed a few scenes from what they were going to be, and the dialogue is flowing pretty well. I'm excited. The story is almost to the point of writing itself now. I'm on page 38 of a probable 90 page script. I hope to have the entire thing done in a couple weeks. But who knows.
Plot synopsis:: Keith and his twin sister Kelly go off to college. Keith, who is a clean-cut Christian, rooms with Calvin, who is a wild liberatarian. Keith is horrified by Calvin's behaviour, and perhaps more so by the fact that Kelly seems to be falling for him. Keith consults his Pastor who instructs him to witness to Calvin, but low and behold it turns out that Calvin is already a Christian. Meanwhile, Kelly get's kidnapped. The climax deals with how Keith and Calvin react differently. Who takes action, who is selfish, and such like that. The major themes of the movie include grace, freedom, love, and what is at the heart of Christianity. There's also gonna be some funny stuff and a pretty cool ending.
I just want to add one more point: this isn't a Christian propoganda film. The purpose of this film isn't neccessarily to spread the Gospel, but to expound on what the Gospel is about. The main purpose of this film is still to be entertaining, and hopefully it will be. I think that movies are almost solely about entertainment, and any statement a film tries to make should be secondary. In this case I am trying to make a statement, but I hope it's at least relatively subtle. I hope that non-Christians will be able to enjoy this movie as much as Christians. I hope that Christians come away saying, "That was interesting. I can see what he's saying. It's about grace, not works." And I hope that non-Christians come away saying, "that was a fun movie. Hey, Christianity isn't so bad and misguided as I always thought."
Character breakdown:
Keith: College freshman, so I need a guy looking between the ages of 17 and 21. White. Clean cut, decent shape. No visible tattoos or piercings. He's a serious guy, very wholesome, Christian. Not used to the world around him.
Calvin: I'll be playing Calvin, but he's a rather wild liberatarian. He's also a Christian, but he acts much different than Keith.
Kelly: Keith's twin sister, so she's a college freshman, pretty and petite. White. Her character is full of life. Sweet and has a great sense of humor. Doesn't take much of anything too seriously. She's also a Christian. Somewhere in between Keith and Calvin in her Christianity.
Professor Farnsworth: Anywhere between late 20's and late 50's. Race doesn't matter. He's going to be a slightly exagerrated character. He believes strongly in what he believes in, which is pretty much nothing. I will entrust this character almost solely to the actor who plays him, but I would prefer a relatively off-kilter performance. This guy should be kinda funny, but he's been in his office or a classroom his whole life, so he's lost his grasp on reality.
Kathy: early 20's, any race. She's gossipy, nosey, into people's business. Obnoxious, talks all the time, rather selfish but get's her kicks by getting the inside scoops on other people's lives.
Pastor Frank: Anywhere between the ages of late 20's to early 40's. Race doesn't matter. He's knowledgable of the Bible, very understanding and strong. Very humble, no alterior motives.
Michael: A slimy bad guy, preferably white trash looking. 18-24. As low as college age kids get I suppose. He's a gambler and a kidnapper. Probably robs, and is very violent. Still he seems to think it's all a joke.
There are a ton of other parts, but these six are going to have the biggest roles. There are parts that will get the most screen time and lines. But here are other parts I need:
Andrew: The Avery House social. Preppy kinda guy. Young, race doesn't matter.
Mom and Dad: Keith and Kelly's parents. 40's/50's. Strong Christians.
Random poker players: For the various poker scenes.
Michael's friends/bad guys: Any age in the 20's or younger, any race. These guys are all bad.
Various other people to populate the college world, there are plenty of small parts.
AUDITIONS:
Portland: December 4th, 5:00pm at ACTORS IN ACTION STUDIOS
Corvallis: December 3rd, 7:00pm at KBVR-TV STUDIOS IN SNELL HALL
Balance of the movie (updated 5/20/05):
35% drama
45% comedy
20% action
Balance of the movie should be:
50% drama
30% comedy
20% action
This gives a little hint as to what the movie will be like.