Production News
24 Jan 2008 - Caustic Waters
There have been some rumors going around concerning the production of "Zebulon Pike," a new film currently in preproduction at Guerilla Pictures. I'd like to address those rumors, and perhaps shed a little light on the background of this property.
Sometime ago, Jared Waters, a very gifted writer who's stories are often dark and claustrophobic, wrote a short script with the unlikely name of "Zebulon Pike's Night of Wretching." When I read the script, I absolutely loved it, and wanted to shoot it right then and there. Of course, I had a couple of criticisms which I shared with Jared, and he was already aware of the problems, so he volunteered to rewrite it a bit. At that time, the script was about twenty pages in length, which would classify it as a short film. By the time Jared had gone through a series of rewrites, however, the script had grown to feature length. He also came up with a new title for the film, "The Rutherford County Mafia," which better encompassed the full scope of the story. This new feature-length edition retained almost all of the scenes from the original short, but changed the atmosphere of the story in a fundamental way. I had very few complaints about that, because the new script was at least as entertaining as the original, even though in many ways it seemed like a different film.
When Jared was finally satisfied with his work and had issued a final draft of the script, we went ahead with production. Early on, it was decided that Jared would direct, star in, and produce the film through his own company, Caustic Waters. The film was promoted through Guerilla Pictures, a company founded by Mark Duncan and myself. I was to play one of the main roles in the film, and Mark was to be the director of photography. Then, problems began to surface from beneath the Caustic Waters.
It is not my intention to give a detailed account of the behind-the-scenes troubles of the shoot, or point fingers. Anyone who's been involved with independent films very long knows that these things happen. Usually, we try to forge ahead regardless of any setbacks in the interest of the common good. There is far too much time and effort invested by far too many people in a production to simply let it dry up, for any reason. The show must go on. This production, unfortunately, was a tragic exception, and for a number of complicated reasons which could not be resolved, it came to an early end.
A year has passed since Caustic Waters ceased production of "The Rutherford County Mafia," and in that time, Guerilla Pictures has moved on to other projects, some of which are still in postproduction. I've remained in contact with Caustic most of that time, and have been looking for some way to reopen the project. We finally struck a deal wherein Guerilla Pictures would produce a short film based on Jared's original script, with the agreement that I would direct, and absolutely not act. There is a clause in the agreement that absolutely forbids me to appear in front of the camera.
Now that the details are worked out, I'm very excited to see this script back in production, even in its short form. As several people have commented, it is a fantastic script, and ought to be produced. I'm pleased to say that it will at long last, and I'm looking forward to being a part of the production (behind the camera where I belong).
-Bill Harrelson
23 Jan 2008 - Things are picking up again at GP so an update is in order.
The Flight of the Shiners is progressing on schedule. The robot is 95% completely modeled and rigged. Now we move to texturing and movement which will take at least another 2 months.
What's next? In March, plans are underway to shoot the remaining green screen sequences with Ken Buddha.
CASTING CALL - As you may have noticed, we are in the midst of a casting call for a new HD short in the style of an episode of the 'Twilight Zone'. If you are an actor looking for a great group of people to work with, check us out and submit your headshots and resumes via the casting page.
200718 August 2007 - More production stills.
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(These production stills courtesy Marc Stowe.)
12 August 2007 - Here are some still frames from the shoot last weekend. These are not processed in anyway other than to convert to jpg and to add the watermark. Click the pictures to view full resolution.
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5 August 2007 - The first day of shooting for "Flight of the Shiners" went well and everybody survived the 95 degree heat. We will post other stuff from the shooting day later but for now, enjoy these production stills. Click the pictures to view full resolution.
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(These production stills are courtesy Kent Harrelson.)
10 July 2007 - Bill has been furiously working with Cinema 4D, a software package for creating digital animation, to complete test modeling in preparation for the coming test shoot. We plan to shoot final test footage 28 July.
If all goes well, on 4 August, we will shoot scene three from a script that Bill has quietly been working on these past 3 years. We can't reveal too much but let's say that no animals will be harmed during production of this scene. All bets are off for Buddha and giant robots, however.
The cast and crew are all ready to go. This is our first HD feature (first HD anything) so our enthusiasm is high and we are ready for the challenges ahead. The DP has been getting to know the Canon XHA1 intimately while shooting a few outdoor events and test footage over the last few weeks.
Check in later and we'll let you know how it went. We'll also have some pictures or footage available for you to watch.