Isn't this every filmmaker, or even just every creatives ultimate dream? You created art from your brain which wouldn't have existed otherwise, and somebody paid you for it. I had waited years for this day, and things went a lot differently than I expected. Regardless, I still learned a lot in the process.
My best friend, Jordan Wiseley, whom I also work with creatively quite a bit, wrote a feature called The Stalking Fields with Sean Crampton (writer/actor/director). They funded it almost entirely themselves. The film was shot mostly in the woods about 6 hours north of Los Angeles, and some was shot on a soundstage in Downtown LA. This was a huge cast and a very ambitious project being deep in the Sacramento woods with about a 25 man crew on a thriller/action film.
I worked on camera team for all of production, with Jordan and Sean at the helm as the executive producers. We had a team of very experienced indie workers who were used to getting dirty. I remember my time in those woods like we were on a pirate ship for two weeks. Sleeping in close quarters, eating every meal together, it was a type of human bonding that seems lost in most corners of society anymore. I'll never forget those good times had with that crew while making The Stalking Fields, and this is what's really important about making your film, and I'll get to why.
The post production process was quite to most of us, as the producers worked tirelessly with the editors to polish the project they had poured their heart, and souls (and wallets) into. As I have a close relationship with Jordan, I was updated frequently on the progress of the film. Things were shaky at times, and tough decisions had to be made daily. All in all, it was an amazing process to watch the film grow from it's raw stage of being strewn together, to all of the sudden playing with emotion and heart. The post production phase is almost one of the most exciting ones in my opinion because you really start to see what you actually have and what's going to be shown to the world. Creatively; it's pretty incredible, but it's not all roses in post, as I'm sure you already know.
The project became bottlenecked near picture lock and The Production Plug was asked to step back in to handle finalizing the edit and delivery. We took months across multiple departments just really picking apart the film and fine tuning everything as much as possible. Everytime another department got their hands on the film it would come back completely upgraded with color, sound design, or vfx. We were doing it, and with no studio help. THIS WAS THE DREAM.
The entire time I felt us building up to something special, something amazing, even if only to ourselves, this accomplishment of finishing such an ambitious feature film like this is insurmountable usually. We finished the film and there was a moment of relief but it was fleeting. The pressure of where to go with this next was a heavy pressure that was felt throughout production. So I cut a trailer for the film and the producers started making phone calls. Not long after, The Stalking Fields had sold to distribution.
We were ecstatic and that feeling too was fleeting because very soon after, we had to get back to work on the assets and delivery for the distribution. It was like being right back in post production again. After crossing off the scroll list of new requirements we had to fill for the film, all we had to do was sit back and wait for our film to be released on multiple platforms (including Amazon, Apple, and many others) and break out the popcorn and enjoy our flick.
Well we did enjoy it, and a few years have passed while the movie came together to be sold and as you know, things change and people rearrange so we didn't get to gather up and properly celebrate our achievements together as a team. I think that was my biggest takeaway from this entire process on this film that is not mine whatsoever but I felt so emotionally attached to all the way through. You have to really enjoy the process, while it's happening. I believe that whole-heartedly now. The stuff I remember from the woods, that was the payoff to working on this film and that should be the payoff to working on any creative projects. It's all about the experiences, and if you're enjoying the ride, I'm almost certain your audience will enjoy the ride you've created as well.
Anything is possible, especially creatively. Happy shooting out there and remember; HAVE A FUCKING BLAST.
See the trailer for The Stalking Fields below
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