Kickstarter

Today’s update comes from Kieran Thompson the Director of Broken Leg:

After our last update our editor Misty and I aggressively attacked the goal of having picture lock by the time Sam's cast was removed. Two weeks ago Sam's foot was liberated from its fiberglass prison but my list of notes told me Broken Leg wasn't finished yet. Last Thursday Misty and I joyfully crossed the final note off of that list.

Our producer Case has provided insightful feedback throughout this process. I called him and said we could have picture lock this weekend if he could get to Phoenix. Yesterday he drove 400 miles from Los Angeles, dodging Coachella traffic along the way. We watched the latest cut and compiled a short list of final notes.

I was anxious this morning. Picture lock means final. By the time Case and Misty walked in the door I felt confident. We went through each note, starting with the most challenging. We discussed removing scenes and changing takes for stronger performances. Many of our notes involved trimming less than a second from a shot. It sounds silly but it makes a difference. We agreed on some edits immediately and others required a bit of healthy debate. Three friends entered the editing room this morning and we left with a better movie.

I'm thrilled to report we have picture lock on Broken Leg!

I know in my gut that the edit has reached its full potential. It's odd to look at my calendar, now devoid of editing sessions with Misty. It's been a privilege to collaborate with her. I'm excited to work with new members of our team as we move on to sound editing and color correction. I'm grateful for your encouragement as we ready Broken Leg to be delivered to the world!

Today’s update comes from Kieran Thompson the Director of Broken Leg:

Last week I traveled to Los Angeles to attend an Oscar party thrown by my good friend and Broken Leg Executive Producer, Shailen Majithia. It was a wonderful night with friends which somehow ended at movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's party.

While in LA I viewed the latest cut of Broken Leg with Case and we compiled notes. Our runtime is 20 minutes shorter since you last heard from us and is now under 100 minutes. We’re at a place where we are weighing important story notes. These decisions shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s about choosing what’s best for the story and it's hard since the material is good. That aside, it was a fun and productive trip but it kept me away from the edit room for 5 days, my longest break since Christmas!

Upon my return to Phoenix I went right back to work with Misty. After a few hours of cutting, my girlfriend Sam called. She stepped on a dog toy, her foot swelled up, and she was in an incredible amount of pain. I rushed home and took her to urgent care. The diagnosis?

Yes, a broken foot. Being the sweetheart that she is, Sam chose a pink cast as a sign of solidarity for the Broken Leg team. Luckily we still have Theo's wheelchair and crutches so I was well prepared to help care for her. I can now relate to Karla on a whole new level. 

“When will it be done?” 
 
It's a question I hear more each day. With every cut the film becomes funnier and more focused. For a while my pages of notes seemed exponential but the tides have turned and they're shrinking. We’re making the bigger story decisions now and our creative engines rev with ferocity.
 
It's a personal goal of mine to have picture lock before Sam's cast comes off in three weeks. From there we'll move to sound design and color correction which are complex and fun processes in their own right. When we reach picture lock we'll be one gigantic step towards sharing the film with you!

Today’s update comes from Case Barden the Producer of Broken Leg

Calibrate movie palette: watch Days of Heaven, watch Tombstone. Remember what greatness is. Ease thoughts: go for a drive and listen to music. Remember it’s a comedy. It should be funny. Return home. 12:51am: export as QuickTime Reference file. Wait ten minutes. I haven’t seen the film yet so it’ll be totally fresh. I can be objective. Last check: look around to make sure the world has gone to sleep. I remember that I tried my hardest.

Play.

…less than two hours later I could see the scope of what I had helped to create. It’s not a true director’s cut but Kieran and I agreed we should take advantage of my time in Arizona. The cut can be tightened and another ten minutes can be shaved off the run time. Some scenes don’t work at all. But I laughed. It’s funny. It makes me feel, too. It has heart. We hit the beats (an emotional note in a story) we set out to hit. I can see the potential. It’s not there yet, but I can see the good. I’m proud.

The next day Kieran and I sat down and watched the movie together. I talked frankly about how I felt about each scene as it played; what was working and what wasn’t. After we finished, for the most part, we agreed on what we could cut out and what we should rework. Working with edits is about elevating the existing material. More often than not, less is more. Pull back, remove shots, remove scenes, and the good will rise. I’m pleased to announce we don’t need any reshoots. We have all the footage we need to tell our story right.

I’m passing my notes along to Kieran who’ll help enact them with Misty.

Sometimes when working so closely on a project it’s important to step back and ask the bigger question of “Why do people watch movies?” And the answer is simple; people watch movies to fall in love. It’s true with all the arts whether it’s music, painting, or even driving a sports car. Love is true. It’s visceral. It’s real. It can’t be faked and those are the stakes as artists. Film is a powerful medium and each decision we make is in the attempt to craft a movie that the audience will fall in love with. Broken Leg, we hope, will engage life for all that is funny and all that is true. These are the decisions we’ll be focusing on over the next few weeks to deliver the best possible film we can.

Now Broken Leg is off to Sundance. No, we didn’t get in… we were shooting during the final deadline. But we’re going to humble ourselves before the Saints of Independent Film. Join us by following our Tweets along the way. Yee-haa!

Today’s update comes from Bret Kalmbach the Director of Photography for Broken Leg

Broken Leg intrigued me because we were all on the same page. Everyone involved had accomplishments in their film careers, in one way or another, but ultimately we all had one goal in mind: to make our first real movie. That’s why I got on board. That’s why everyone got on board.

The time Kieran and I had at the set house before shooting was spent drawing bird’s-eye-view diagrams of every room on an iPad. This is how we planned out the camera setups for each scene. The hand drawn characters looked silly but they came in handy for sure. Half the time, things would change once we rehearsed them, but not by a lot. This process allowed us to imagine edited scenes in our heads prior to post-production, helping us be sure our scenes flowed together visually.

Kieran and I chose some rules to follow visually that would play with the audiences’ subconscious. These small things helped heighten certain scenes, especially later in the film, like playing with eye-lines (the direction an actor looks in a shot) or keeping characters on a certain side of the frame. These motifs are very much under the viewer’s radar but have an effect on them later in the film. I like that about movies.

It was trial and error when it came to shooting. Having our rules and diagrams helped us to not go too far outside of the box and keep the film’s look as consistent as possible. Many of the shots we planned changed in the first few minutes on set due to it just not feeling right, especially in moments where an actor’s movement looked forced. We never wanted to move our actors like chess pieces around just for camera. We wanted it to feel free. We realized that if we followed our rules that the shots, blocking, and even the story would fall into place. That confidence in our process yielded some of our strongest scenes.

Kieran and I have similar tastes in films but different tastes in making films. Some things the Director and DP will just disagree on. It was always for the better; four eyes are better than two eyes on the camera. This was good for me because I want to be as versatile as I possibly can. I have to try to see someone else's vision, not just mine. We met in the middle a lot of the time.

We wanted a very natural look as far as lighting; nothing over the top. Basically, we didn’t want the lighting to be distracting at any point. A lot of the night scenes relied on motivating light from practicals (lights that already exist in a space like lamps or street lights). In a few scenes, we went darker with only one practical light, to go a little more dramatic in a naturalistic way. After all that’s how it is in real life.

Working on a small production often means not working in the most ideal way. It becomes about making the best with what you have and being smarter than the circumstances. Shooting was fast paced and tiring. Having a limited crew didn’t allow me to have a dedicated camera assistant or gaffer (the head of the lighting department). It was usually three guys running around passing off lights. I’m sure it looked like a mini-circus but somehow we did it.

I’m proud to have my first feature under my belt at the age of 25. It was for sure a miracle. Doing this for a living is no walk in the park. It takes a toll but this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. When you cut on the last shot of a film, it’s a feeling that is unexplainable. It’s a wonderful-extremely-exhausting-rewarding experience and I’m anxious to see it.

Bret owns and operates Apairus Company with his brother, Jerrod Saba, in Phoenix, AZ. Discover more of his work by visiting HERE.

Today’s update comes from Erica Mazzella the Production Designer of Broken Leg

For anyone that doesn't know what a production designer is, we are basically in charge of the art department - everything from researching and buying set pieces, dressing sets, building props - all of that kind of stuff.

I met Kieran a few years ago while we were both working on a gig that neither of us enjoyed too much. But hey, that show allowed us the opportunity to work together on something we both believed in. He’d been telling me about Broken Leg for some time and I was always secretly hoping that he would ask me to be his production designer. And he did, Yipee!

Going into Broken Leg, Kieran was the only person I knew. I was worried, it seemed like everyone else on the crew had known each other for some time. I wasn't sure how well I would fit in. Of course all of that worrying was in vain because I fell in love with everyone on our crew. We all looked out for each other and everyone had a real personal connection to the film. Nobody considered it a 'paycheck job.' Everyone genuinely cared about making the film and I think that'll come across on screen.

In terms of actually doing my job, there were definitely difficulties. We rented a house for the month and I couldn't use anything that was already in it; it just didn't fit the characters. So we took everything out - EVERYTHING! The house was a blank slate but I now had to completely dress seven different rooms... on a beyond shoe-string budget. All I can say is thank god for credit cards, return policies, and everyone that let us borrow things from their homes. I also had two other jobs at the time. I often found myself getting off work, going straight to the Broken Leg house, working through the night until it was time to go back to work-work the next morning. In fact, when I was getting everything ready for the baby room, I didn't sleep for a solid three days. I just kept going back and forth - from set to work to set to work. I wanted as much time on set as possible and I was always incredibly annoyed when I had to stop to go to my normal job.

When I started meeting with Kieran, I admittedly had no idea what I was doing. I usually work on fantasy or period pieces and for some reason normal houses have always been a challenge for me. No matter what color scheme or what textures we used, the most important thing was that it felt like a real house that real people would live in. I think my favorite room in the house is the living room - so much time in the movie is spent in there on those couches. I thought that room had to be the most real. And I think it does feel like a real house - which may just be because we all slept there toward the end of the shoot. I hope that authenticity comes across on screen.

There's a unique quality to filmmaking that I don't know is true in other professions. The fact that all of these people come together to make something they all want to see - cast, crew, backers, blog readers - everyone connects through the production of the film. They become a family and this is especially true with something as grassroots as Broken Leg. I'm grateful that I had the chance to work on the film - it reaffirmed how much I love making movies. More than anything, I'm just really proud of all of us for getting this thing done with all of the challenges we had. I'm incredibly excited to see the final product.