The Real Mystery

Sometimes I wonder how we got done all the things we had to do to shoot our indie feature PRISM over just 16 days spread over consecutive weekends. As every filmmaker knows, something is bound to blow up before nearly every shoot.

On our second weekend we were scheduled to shoot the entire opening sequence, which contained a 60 foot night time exterior dolly/crane shot, and a complicated action scene with special lighting effects, special makeup effects, gunfire, and a child actor. Oh yeah, and we had to shoot a four actor daytime flashback scene.

The scenes all take place in a suburban household and we were lucky enough to gain access to a perfect house being remodeled to go on the market the following weekend. We needed the house to look lived in as well as to be dressed out in such a way as to help us add to the characterization of the Martin family, before the horrible things which would happen to them.

On the Thursday before our Friday shoot not only were there no props, there wasn't even carpet on the floor or paint on the walls. Now for a big Hollywood production this kind of thing may be no problem, but for a small independent film on a tight budget, trust me, it's a BIG problem. How did we do it? To this day I still couldn't tell you.

It had something to do with the incredible perseverance and generosity of our crew, and some kind of higher power. We didn't just get everything shot. We ROCKED! We got some fantastic shots, including a serendipitous and somewhat ominous full moon shot. Just like the line from the famous Shakespeare movie. How does it all work out?

"It's a mystery."

Our film is all about will, and so was the process of making it.

 
 

Interviews

Selected Scene Explorations

  1. Opening Montage
  2. The Intruder
  3. Opposites Attract
  4. The Hospital
  5. The Patients
  6. First Impressons
  7. An Issue of Trust
  8. First Big Clue
  9. A Door is Opened
  10. Confronting the Witness
  11. Testing a theory
  12. Enter Mason
  13. The Conversation
  14. Leanna is Lost
  15. The Entity Forms a Plan
  16. Leanna's Call, Bill's Epiphany
  17. Only one of us can stay
  18. Resolution

Thoughts and Spooky Production Stories:

HInts and Inspirations.