As we stood around on the concrete floor of the warehouse shortly after arriving, I overheard this muscular guy say, “Not that I have a problem landing on cement—we’ll only have one take that way.”
Later, he said, “I’m like the male Buffy.”
But he looked very believable as an ex-Navy Seal. Dressed in black, he carried a Glock semi-automatic and a wooden stake in holsters on his utility belt. Not to mention a pack of Altoids.
TOOLS OF THE MOVIE TRADE
The Glock was easy to come by, the writer/director/producer being a deputy sheriff.
The stake was a bit more tricky. Apparently, the stakes in Vampire Night were made from the legs of a small table. I know this because a new stake was needed while we were there. A member of the crew walked by, struggling with pliers to remove a screw-like attachment from the thick end of an already-sharpened stake-to-be.
The stake was intended to protrude, point first, from the chest of a female vampire who lay sprawled on the concrete floor. The top she wore was a rather skimpy leather vest with laces up the front. While she squirmed on the floor, the makeup woman crouched over her and attempted to make the stake stand upright by shoving its thick end between the vest’s laces. Unfortunately, it kept tilting and falling over. And the vampire kept complaining about the cold floor. At last, the stake was fixed against her chest with a gob of goo and they shot the scene.
From watching the stake work, I concluded that a well equipped tool box is nearly as essential to film-making as is a camera.
The camera being used in Vampire Night, by the way, was a state-of-the-art digital Panasonic job of the same sort used in making Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. It was being wielded by Dennis Devine, director of photography for this film. Dennis (who had invited us to the shoot) wrote, photographed and directed the Cinematrix film, Vampires of Sorority Row. Also, he wrote and directed, along with Steve Jarvis, the film being made after Vampire Night, called Bloodstream.
Another prominent piece of equipment at the shoot was the fog machine. Nearly every scene required swirling fog, so people were continually fooling with the machine. As it hissed and puffed, crew members fanned its vapors this way and that. Dennis never began shooting a scene until the fog looked right. Seemed like a nuisance. However! They say that every cloud has a silver lining. Well, so does fog. Now and then, they relied on it to hide small problems. “No big deal, the fog’ll cover it.”
A less dramatic but nonetheless fascinating piece of equipment was the Kevlar vest. Meant to stop bullets and likely worn on the job by Jason, it was worn by a stuntman (Jason’s brother) during fights in Vampire Night. To protect him from the concrete floor, more than likely. Fighting with the main vampire (played by Robert Ryan—not the dead Robert Ryan), he was frequently hurled to the floor. Take after take. “We need more of an impact,” he was told at one point. Good thing he was wearing the concrete-resistant vest.
While the stuntman kept being thrown to the floor, the vampire’s job was to leap high above it. He was aided in his leaps by a device that catapulted him into the air. It had to be “armed” before each take. Then, when the fog seemed to be just the right consistency, Robert would go bounding up the ramp, someone would trigger it, and he’d be hurled up, arms out, fangs bared, cape flapping. In true vampire fashion.
ASPIRING FILM-MAKERS PLEASE NOTE
I was fascinated and amused by a lot of this. And also impressed. Here was a small group of film-makers using state-of-the-art equipment...and also throwing stuff together with ingenuity and duct tape. Nearly all of them hold regular jobs outside the movie industry, but get together regularly and frequently to make their films. They take turns as to whose project will be made, and everybody pitches in, performing different duties on different movies. In this way, they have succeeded in making numerous low-budget films.
Films that earn profits for those who make them.
To me, this group seems like a model for small, independent film production.
I asked Jason what advice he might give to aspiring film-makers. He said, “It’s tough, but don’t get discouraged. Do as much work on other projects as you can and make contacts with people that can eventually help you. Plan, plan, plan. It still won’t go as planned, but at least have it all ready. Don’t just use friends and family in your shoots. Go to local drama classes or acting classes and hold auditions for your parts. Your productions will look so much better with a variety of actors in them. Tell everyone upfront that it’s low budget and what you are trying to accomplish. A lot of people will want to help you in front or behind the camera.”
Of course, actually getting a film made is only part of the battle. The other part is distribution.
“Most of our films are made for under 20 thousand,” Jason explained. “Self distribution is a hard thing to do. But Dennis and Steve Jarvis (Cinematrix Releasing founders) were tired of getting ripped off by low budget distribution companies. Going through them, we saw nothing! Even when we’d sell a film to a foreign country, our ‘expenses’ to get the film there outweighed the profits.
“Now that I sell my movies through Cinematrix,” Jason said, “I get actual checks in the mail. Cinematrix markets the films through several Internet sites and also to video stores. Cinematrix also has contacts with cable companies. They are now getting a foreign clientele, but it’s a very slow process. We also sell our films directly through the Cinematrix website at http://unknownproductions.com.”
Jason goes on to say, “For interested film-makers, we can distribute films for you. We don’t make unrealistic guarantees and don’t charge a ton of expenses. You will know exactly how much your boxes cost, your copies cost, and how many tapes were sold and you WILL get your money for the sales.”
For those who might be interested in using the distribution services of Cinematrix, visit the website. Or write for additional information or a catalog at Cinematrix Releasing, 22647 Ventura Boulevard, PMB #352, Woodland Hills, CA 91364.
HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN
We pulled off our return from the shoot without a hitch or a crash or a maiming.
I would eventually go on to write this-here article for The Midnight Hour...an article that would hopefully include photos taken of the shoot by GAK and Kelly.
Experiences from our trip to the shoot are sure to turn up in my fiction as time goes by.
GAK will be doing artwork for some of my future special editions.
I’ll be going back to the Cinematrix website and ordering some films—especially Vampire Night when it’s available.
You might want to check it out, yourself. And Decay. And Vampires of Sorority Row...that sounds like a hot one.
