Indie Comic Review: ‘Angel Punk’ #0 and Relium Media Interview

Our short film The Tell is showing Saturday, January 29, 2011 at the OpenLens Short Film Festival in Eugene. It got us thinking about all that went into the production of the film, so we wanted to share a behind the scenes peek at how it came together.

But if you haven’t seen the film yet, don’t read ahead! Stop, go watch it on YouTube and then come back in six minutes. Even if you have seen it, watch again to refresh your memory. You’ll be glad you did.
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OK, back?

First off, we were thrilled to receive this great review of the film in Eugene Weekly in their preview of the festival:

“Perhaps the finest entry of the series, The Tell, puts a new twist on the dramatic device of the high-stakes poker game. Directed by Devon Lyon, this nearly perfect short film is creepy, bloody, hilarious and, in the end, completely shocking — like a musical conceived by Scorsese, scored by Sondheim and directed by Guillermo del Toro.” Rick Levin, Eugene Weekly

Here are some tidbits from the production of the film:

In The Beginning It Was, Well, Normal

The original script was written straight-up, as just a normal, spoken word script. We had been kicking around ideas for a short that took place in one location, in order to minimize the time it took to shoot it. Devon came in one day with an image in his head (our stories often start this way): Two guys playing poker in a dingy warehouse with a woman chained to the wall. Kevin wrote the script from there, and it went through several drafts. The most significant changes, initially, came in the motivation of the female character. We toyed with some complex motivations (she was an assassin hired to off these guys; she was a demon hunter), but in the end did the right thing and made it SIMPLE.
We Had Always Wanted To Do A Musical

We enjoy musicals, but in particular we love off-beat musicals. Think Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog or the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

When DVXFest announced it’s Fall 2009 short film competition would be a “MonsterFest”, we dusted off The Tell. At the time, it was still in it’s original condition as a normal film. We began pre-production, casting etc. under this premise. A month before shooting, however, we came to the realization that as a normal film it was just OK. We needed to do something to make it stand out from the crowd. Since we had always wanted to do a musical, and we’re always trying to push ourselves, we decided to convert it.
Paper, Pencil, Guitar, iPhone

Kevin converted the dialogue to lyrics, which was a challenge. Dialogue had to be pared back, it had to be more punchy, and it had to rhyme! He then wrote a simple melody for it and recorded the whole song by playing his guitar into the audio recording app on his iPhone.

We sent this file along with detailed script notes to Portland singer-songwriter Jake Oken-Berg. In the script notes, we provided specific direction on the feel of the music, how long certain sections had to last, etc. Jake did an AWESOME job take the basic tune and lyrics and creating a 6 minute piece of music that weaves, bobs and hit all the right notes. He also recorded a temp track, and recruited a female artist to sing the female parts.

Our Lead Actress Can’t Sing

Seriously, and she’s OK with us saying that. We had already cast Jillian Rabe for the damsel in distress before deciding to turn it into a musical. Her immediate reaction was “I can’t sing”. So we recruited Ellie Simnitt to be Jillian’s singing voice. We weren’t sure how well it would match Jillian’s speaking voice, but we went for it. When Ellie was recording her vocals, and she came to the spoken line “We’re screwed”, her delivery was spot-on like Jillian’s voice. And she’d never heard Jillian speak. At that point, we knew it would work.

Jillian did the rest by listening repeatedly to Ellie’s performance and practicing her lip syncing. And, in our opinion, she just nailed it.
One Night, In Order, Lip-Syncing

We recorded the actor’s singing parts several days before we shot. We particularly enjoyed Todd Robinson and his “blue-eyed soul” take on his lines as the demon who is seduced by the beautiful captive.

We then shot it, in order, from 6P on a Friday night until 6A Saturday morning. The actors lip synced to their parts.

For a little peek behind the scenes on the set, check out this short video Jillian shot and edited.
Choreography At 3AM

The dance-fight sequence is an homage to West Side Story. We had always intended for it to be campy, but we didn’t choreograph it until 3AM. Kevin somehow convinced his wife, a ballet instructor and choreographer,  to get up and come to set to help out. It wasn’t until a couple days before that he broke the news to her that he needed her there at 3AM!

As we’ve submitted The Tell to film festivals, and been accepted to many, we’ve found that people either “get” the film or they don’t. And that’s OK by us. Other positive reviews of the film have said:

- “Outside of the box thinking.” and “Unique creativity.” (DVX MonsterFest)
-  “A bold gamble.” and “Most unique.” (HorrorMovieADay.com)

We hope you enjoy our take on the horror genre!