Grundy Backers:

It has been an unforgivably long time since our last update, and for that I owe a big apology. Solomon Grundy and I have been in a battle for many months, and it's taken creative meditation and a lot of smart people to figure out the right moves.

When I first set out to make Solomon Grundy, I had just turned 19.  Being undoubtedly, the biggest project of my young career, it has taken a lot to steer things in the right direction.  I'm now over halfway through 21, and have undergone changes in my creative sensibilities.  But Grundy is a film I made when I was 19. 

That being said, there has been a lot of conflict between myself and Grundy.  Some stylistic choices I would make differently now I committed to during shooting.  For a time (and anyone who is an artist can probably relate) Grundy and I hated each other.  In order to gain perspective on the situation, I brought in a few extremely talented and smart filmmakers and friends to go over my material with me and help get the film back on track, and as absolutely strong as it can possibly be.  In essence, I've had to let go of my sensibilities of today, and trust the instincts I had at 19 and 20.

Solomon Grundy is now picture locked.  The team working on it is now a small handful to push it through its final stages of post-production.  Pick Bickmore, our composer, has been having Skype meetings with me from Chicago and is (literally as I am writing this) working on the score as we finish off the visual effects, sound design, and color work. 

Okay, okay- this is all nice and good, but when will Solomon Grundy be released??  

It's a fair question, and I don't want to give the wrong answer.  In all transparency, I hit a big snag in the production which got me off track. I was unsure of what film I wanted to make, and had a rough cut that was nearly three hours long. It took a lot of work, but the final cut is a sharp, wild, and extremely satisfying, albeit unconventional 65 minutes, and I can say in all truthfulness that the time I took to sort out what Solomon Grundy is has paid off, and it is now absolutely the best film it can possibly be.

I made a promise to all of my backers to deliver a quality work that expanded on a short that you all loved, and do it well.  Solomon Grundy is my top priority, and the objective is to have it released in the Spring of 2012.  Many of you went on to back my short film, Dream Lover, and have recently gotten your rewards.  I will be giving Solomon an equally attentive treatment in its delivery.

The updates from here on out will be less frequent that they were during production, but we are on track, and I want to keep everyone in the loop on our next and final steps.  Below are three images- a production still that I have hanged on my office wall from the film, the film's official poster created by D. Yee, and a quick screenshot from my Skype meeting with Pick 20 minutes ago.

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and love.  Though I will be updating with Kickstarter updates monthly and relevantly between now and the films post-production completion, you can always tune into the Official Facebook Page, where the smaller day-to-day activity will be kept up on.   Thank you,

Mattson.

As we hike our way through post-production, I decided to take a bit of time off to cut together another trailer. Not quite a "theatrical" trailer, it serves more as Teaser pt. 2, featuring quite a bit of footage from the second half of shooting, which took place fall and winter 2010.  

http://itsjustmovies.com/10101

Took a few hours off from cutting to hang out with some good people for some good times. Accidentally ended up shooting much more than I intended, and wound up with about ten songs from three extremely talented artists.  Kevin Olken (whose music you will recognize from the original Grundy short, and the subsequent trailers for the feature) playing to a small army of children at play.

http://vimeo.com/23112274

Grundy update in just a few more hours.

Don't blink!  You might miss a Grundy cameo...

http://vimeo.com/15040802

More Grundy updates at the end of this week...  Some big things happening!

M.

Not directly a Solomon Grundy update, but I thought I'd share withe everyone... The good folks over at Film Courage recently got in touch with me and asked me to contribute an article for the site. Well, after some consideration on what I could possibly say that hasn't been said over and over, I decided to go right back to the basics.

I've recently gotten a lot of compliments on Grundy's "look"- the aesthetic it's taken on with color and light. I realized I have never said too much about how this happened. Therefore, if you have a few minutes, come check out my article (which only uses Grundy examples) on my Silent Partners.

M

Grundy Lovers,

Editing has officially begun. Through production, I would cut little bits here and there- just to make sure I hadn't truly messed anything up from the day and that the footage worked together. But now we're getting into the real meat of it.

Forty minutes into the rough cut. Though it is very rough, it's like clay on a pottery wheel- you start to see the shape flux in and out of the mess- and- dare I say it... It's looking pretty fucking excellent.

Much more to come, editing woes, sound design. Like Iris Cahn, editing teacher and head of the film program always says- your story is in the editing. I'm finding this is particularly true with this film- and so many meanings of what the scenes mean, what the beginning means, what that amazing ending means... It all changes on just the finest of cuts. Exciting place to be.

I'll be updating http://mattsontomlin.blogspot.com/ extremely frequently through the process. Check it out when you can.

M.

It's happened.

That moment everyone has been waiting for.

Solomon Grundy has wrapped production. Makenzie Caine, Christopher Birk and myself shot through the remaining scenes to be shot.

A strange thing happened tonight. The same hour (literally) that we wrapped Solomon Grundy, Dream Lover got 100% funded. This happenstance was not in the slightest worked out before hand. In a weird cycle of life kind of way, everything has managed to come together perfectly.

Grundy Lovers, I thank you for your constant support. This film of mine is now shot through, and I have the first half hour edited. I cannot wait to deliver.

Love,

M.

Grundy Lovers,

The countdowns are on. A week from tomorrow Solomon Grundy will complete principal photography. Day one of shooting was August 6, 2010. We wrapped the first part of production on August 20th, 2010. We resumed shooting on November 19th. Now, on December 20th, 2010, we will bring the filming of Solomon Grundy to a close.

That is a strange thing to say. In one month, it will have been a year since the kickstarter for Solomon Grundy was originally launched. A year ago this weekend, the original proof of concept short was being shot. Now, all of a sudden, all things production wise are coming to a close. There are months of work to do on Grundy before we release, but the hustle and bustle of getting the movie shot will finally wind down.

Our other count down, Dream Lover now has one week until we close out. We're only $2,551 away from the finish line, and have until Sunday, December 19th at 6:51 before we finish! Anyone who has been considering becoming a Dream Lover backer, help us finish out now! Even if you can only put out $1, you'll be part of the kickstarter updates, get a copy of the film online, and be part of something really great.

Additionally, I've been doing a Top 10 Dream Films list that I would love for everyone to check out!

This is the week my friends!

Love,

M.

Filipp Kotsishevskiy helped out on set this week and was kind enough to take some fantastic photos amidst the work.

Here are a few teasers of what's been going on set....

Grundy Lovers,

There has been some pretty positive reaction to the past few posts I've done on the Solomon Grundy Facebook Page. Up until now, it hasn't actually been shot of the day, more like shot of the week. However, with the kind of response it's getting, there will now officially be "shot of the day" every day on the page. If you haven't already, go check it out!

We had a fantastic night of shooting last night, and are halfway through the second half of production (also known as 3/4ths of the way done) Wish us luck, two weeks from tomorrow we will be WRAPPED!

Love,

M.

Another day of shooting down! Yesterday had a much different feel than any other day of photography that we've had so far. The crew was down to the bare minimum. Costume, makeup, sound, and camera. In some ways, today felt like the old days of shooting The Projectionist.

It's in times like these that the do it yourself sensibilities of my generation of filmmakers really comes in to help. It's always a fine line- some preach that the filmmakers of today can wear as many hats as they want in production. I've found that limiting my roles and allowing others to input as fully as possible has added scope, depth and value to my films. That being said, having the background of knowing how to do everything that's being done on set certainly helps.

Solomon Grundy has been such a wonderfully mixed production in terms of the kinds of scenes we shoot. Some days are all about the effects, getting the shot right, fixing up that lighting, and dazzling the camera. The technicalities are so much fun and easy to get sucked into when you're on a role. Yesterday however, was entirely about performances. No special lighting. No crazy makeup. No imaginary friends. Just two people on opposite ends of an opinion trying as hard as they fucking can to convince the other that they are right.

The scope of this film has forced me, as a director, to really think about the many different ways to tell a story. What kind of message does it send if this character says this. Dialogue voicing approval can turn into condescension at the twist of a downtone, and completely change the meaning of a scene and the relationship between the characters. What does it mean, showing these characters in the same frame, versus showing them always separate, even when they're touching?

For me, I've gotten such a sense of my own visual style. While my films of the past have always been very experimental and fluid with the style- I'm thick enough into Solomon Grundy that I've realized that when people look at my films ten years from now--- Grundy will be the first one that people can clearly identify- "ah yes. That's a Mattson Tomlin film."

Finally- as Grundy winds down, Dream Lover, my next film is ramping up. We've crossed a huge benchmark, and are now 54% of the way funded, with 16 and a half days to go! All of you have been beyond supportive of my work on Solomon Grundy. If you've been considering donating to Dream Lover, now is the time! Just under three weeks to go! Donating just $1 to Dream Lover will get a copy to join your copies of Solomon Grundy in the months to come.

Another huge shooting day tomorrow with the entire cast. Wish us luck.

M

Grundy Lovers,

We're quite down to the wire now! With 2.9k pledged to Dream Lover, we have $5,522 to make in the next 23 days! Help us get there! If you haven't already checked it out, please come to the Dream Lover Kickstarter and consider backing us one more time. Thank you!

In some Grundy news, I'm so pleased to say that this Thanksgiving was spent cutting Grundy together, and now the first 30 minutes of the film has a rough cut. It's great to finally see the footage fitting together and rolling like a real film. Will have a post on cutting and sound design in the next week or two! In the meantime, push for Dream Lover!

Happy Black Friday, and the opening of the Holiday Season.

Love,

M.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm so extremely excited to announce that we're back. We wrapped up a fantastic day (some call it Day 1 Part 2, others refer to it as Day 11- I'm somewhere in between) of fighting, love, torture and truth with Neville Archambault, Christopher Birk, and Brian Schneider.

The gap between August and November seems nonexistent. It was, to say the least, an extremely scary thing, leaving production to come back months later. Now back in the swing of it, I'm so happy to have had the several weeks out of shooting to reflect on what has already been shot, and prepare for what is to come. It's given an extra energy that already is exploding on the screen.

While we were doing some work, Christopher recorded a bit of behind the scenes footage with his new iPhone... You can watch it Here.

Below are three new stills from Saturday's shoot. I'm having a really difficult time trying to decide what to show and what not to show- but there's a world of excitement to share for everyone. It feels great to be back to shooting, the cast and crew are all firing on all cylinders, and we're on our way to wrapping.

Three weeks from now, Grundy will be wrapped. As I go into post-production, I turn right around and go into production on my next film, "Dream Lover" which is currently live on kickstarter. You have all been so supportive of Solomon Grundy- if you have the time and the incentive, come visit Dream Lover. We have 27 days to go!

Have a Grundy Monday, ladies and gentlemen.

M.