At All Cost - A Christian Rebel Productions Update

It's been awhile since I gave a proper update.

The past few months I have been in production on my latest project - a collaboration with St. Louis actress Vickie Kellerman-Doerr - titled "At All Cost". I can't talk about the plot at this point, but it is a modern day drama - and departs somewhat in style and tone from The Trigger and Resolve. It is written and Produced by Vickie, and Directed by me.

I've been shooting on the Panasonic GH3 - having finally retired my HV30 after its last hurrah on Resolve. The GH3 definitely is a different animal - designed primarily as a stills camera with a lot of robust video features as well.

With the HV30 I really had no control over Depth of Field unless I was zoomed all the way in to allow for a long focal length, given I had no control over the aperture. With the GH3 I have a lot of control over everything: aperture, ISO, shutter speed etc. While it is an interchangable lens camera I've been primarily using the 25mm Leica (50mm in 35mm terms) because we're shooting in enclosed spaces without enough light, and it allows me to open it up to f/1.4 if needed. I try not to shoot that wide open, as the depth of field is so incredibly shallow focus is tricky - but I generally am shooting at at least f/2.0.

The GH3 has required me to buy a rig to support it, as my handheld style creates a lot of jitter with the Leica lens - as neither the GH3 nor the lens have image stabilization.

Shooting has been delayed thanks to the large winter storm that's taken the US and put it under a layer of snow and ice. We are about 70% shot with a rough edit coming together. Given the uncertain shooting schedule no release date has been set.

"At All Cost" stars Vickie Doerr, Clayton Humburg, Nicole Gonnerman, Keith Ruck, Tim Butler, and Luis Perez.

2 Short Films I'm scripting

Currently, in addition to other scripts, my youtube presence, and job hunting I'm working on 2 short - short scripts. (Under 10 pages, hopefully around 5 -6 ) that can be shot in one or two days cheaply so I can be producing content and keeping engaged with film making, actors, and hopefully making connections with crew.

The first of these is currently titled Pretentious and in this stage follows the premiere night of a film maker and her encounters with very pretentious film critics and viewers. It's meant to be a satire of and examination of the way film critics actually are (based a fair bit on my own experience). I've got to figure out some logistics, because the concept potentially could involve a lot of extras. However, I think it's a great concept and I may be able to get a cast and crew interested in working on it.

The second is a horror short - inspired by a script I wrote way back when that was never produced, "Assault of the Mutants" (speaking of pretentious titles...). That said, it's nothing like that script. It follows a girl living in the foothills of the Ozarks as she runs away from her abusive father - but is watched by several mutant - "almost people" (yes I'm aware I'm stealing a Dr. Who episode title) as the lead character calls them. I want to test out some concepts and potentially find some locations for larger projects. In this version of the script it has some overtones of the Blair Witch (overtones, not the style or terrible lack of script), as well as inspiration from the Bloody Cuts UK horror short films series.

I'll leave you with links to the Blair Witch teaser and a Bloody Cuts UK short...for those of you who need some content to watch:

Blair Witch Teaser:

Bloody Cuts Short, Death Scenes:

Why do we fall, sir?

Well, no denying Saturday was a downer day in the film things department, BUT, as Michael Caine famously said as Alfred in Batman, "Why do we fall sir? So we might learn to pick ourselves up." So, being a big batman fan (at least of the Nolan batmans) I'm going to listen to Alfy.

I'm not going to let having a week of losing at video contents and not taking awards at film festivals get me down.

It's back to writing Choke Hold. I've finished Act I and am onto act 2.

Act 2...in true Dr. Who fashion...will have lots of running. Except, not really in Dr. Who fashion, 'cause he doesn't like guns. We leave the urban into the rural and forest for (hopefully) simpler and cheaper shooting...and hopefully story explanations that make reasonable sense. :D

I'm also working on a new youtube channel to see if I can build a following with animal videos. There's the market for it, and I can put out videos consistently no problem, so that's my latest experiment. To check it out go to: youtube.com/briansanimalvideos and be sure to subscribe!

Anyway, have a good night folks. More on Choke Hold and other films coming soon!

Script Drafting: The Way

The Way is an allegorical Christian fantasy story based on Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Back in 2008 I scripted a version of it I was intending to produce, but truth be told, it is not a microbudget type film. I estimate a minimum of $10,000 for extensive makeup and basic prosthetics as well as a fight/stunt choreographer for hand to hand combat that will be in the film. And that would be for a 20-30 minute short version, which would make it an even riskier financial endeavor right now than attempting a feature for that money.

I put together two teaser trailers for the 2008 version of the script.

The Way Trailer from Brian Elliott on Vimeo.

The Way Trailer # 2 from Brian Elliott on Vimeo.

 The challenge with the story, is that I want to ground the characters in our reality, but lead them to walking onto the way. Creating a transition that isn't overly cheesy, or at the least makes sense within the world has been the script's biggest challenge. Recently, in my experimentation with non linear storytelling in Resolve, I've found some new ideas for making it possible.

I'm also contemplating different characters of different ages, as I'm no longer limited to high school friends like I was during the original drafts. I actually know REAL people.

"The Way" is a film that's probably a few years out given all the challenges, but it is in the works and I think will be (hopefully) a unique film and a different sort of twist on stories like Dante's Inferno and Pilgrim's Progress.