When I wrote this article about Open Plan Films last May, Alyson Shelton, Jen Prince, Cody Shelton, Elizabeth Santoro and Rebecca Lowman were driving from LA to Kathy, Texas. That is, in that order, the writer/director, producer, sound technician, director of photography and lead actress of the film that they were heading out to shoot. One year later, and the product of that trip, the film Eve of Understanding has been screened a number of festivals and is screening next week at the Female Eye Festival, where it has been nominated Best Feature. Rebecca’s performance as Donna was also nominated for a Best Actress award at MethodFest in April. The film even has its own website, design by our own Rachel Queen!
The details of how they got from shooting their first piece of footage at a rest stop on the drive down last May to their world premier in Sedona at the end of February are all there in the film blog – openplanproductions.blogspot.com, which they managed to update regularly despite working six days a week on the movie. It is a good read - a story of dedication and working hard for what you believe in, and how good doing what you love can really be, even when you're not getting paid for it. The Eve team were constantly having new challenges thrown at them and rose to the ocassion magnificently again and again. There seemed to be nothing they couldn’t turn their hand to. Most difficulties seemed to be caused by technology at the post-production stage, difficulties caused by time-codes and different hardware and software refusing to take to each other. However, this didn’t slow them down, as they quickly searched and found the solution and Jen probably learnt more than she ever wanted to know about timecodes and different film formats. When they lost 40+ hours of digitized footage, due to a drive breaking down, the team spent extra hours in the 'editing suite' in Alyson and Cody’s spare room doing the work again. As a result, they only lost four days work instead of the weeks it would have taken to get the drive repaired.
The blog is a great resource for anyone thinking, even vaguely, about making a film. They go through what is involved at each step of production and there are a number of guest entries from people involved in the different aspects of the process, for example the sound editor, score composer and director of photography. There are lots of links to useful websites and other resources available to first time filmmakers and they let you know all the potential pitfalls you might fall into.
It also stands as a pretty good blueprint for how to do it right. Open Plan Films seem like really great people to work with and despite the hard work, they still manage to have fun together too. There is a lot of thanks and admiration in the blog for the people that they worked with. There is a lot of talk, especially during the filming in Texas and Arizona, about being inspired everyday by the team, and the sense of privilege they feel to be working with these people. It sounds like a great environment to work in; one where everybody pitches in and does whatever they can to help with production and make life easier for the people they are working with. It seems that very few people left the set or became involved in the production left without feeling like they had been part of something special, and feeling it strongly enough to write a letter or e-mail to the group to thank them for that.
It seems to have been what I think every creative endeavour should be; a real collaboration where the end result would be different if you took even one person out of the mix - a group that is greater than the sum of it’s parts.
In one blog entry Alyson talks about the difference between control and direct. She says she is happy to be a director and lead the whole thing in the right direction, but she doesn’t want to control it. It’s a small but important destination; nobody likes to be controlled.
Right now, Eve of Understanding has screened at a couple of festivals in the US. It has also been entered into around 30 other film festivals around the world, so who know where it will be screened next. All the details of future screenings will be up on the Eve website as soon as they are announced. Also on the website, there is the film trailer and a behind the scenes featurette, so you can get a small glimpse into what Open Plan Films have been done in the last year.
Now, they have moved on to their next film. They have already had a couple of production meetings for Bright Side, another script that Alyson has written. The script has gone out to a number of actors and Alyson has been back to Sedona again to start fundraising and location for this new project. These are not people who stay still for long, or it seems, at all! The only thing that is holding them back is a lack of funding, though I don’t think that will be a problem for long. If you would like to help them along, you can donate through the blog or buying some very exclusive Eve of Understanding merchandise.
You should also keep your fingers crossed and hope that Eve will screen somewhere near you soon. I know I will!