at the wrap party.

So.  48 hours.  With a crew of 38, 30 extras, and 24 hours of non-stop shooting we created a musical.  The creative collaboration was high.  Local band, Holy Ghost Tent Revival spent 2 days in Driveway’s analog recording studio playing music composed by Matty Sheets.  Dalton of 223 post put together an amazing editing team (Morgan, Darryl, Brett, Corey, Phil Powell) who made the kind of creative leaps with the material only great editors can do.  German Valle (Director of Photography), a classmate of mine from the North Carolina School of the Arts brought his team of indefatigable electricians and grips, who quite frankly may be either superhuman or part android.  I’ve wanted to work with German for a long time and I think the result is telling.  Our production design team (Emily Suleki, Heather Moore, AB, Ashby Pettigrew) worked tirelessly to fill the frame … creating a textured image reinforcing the elements of story we were all pushing for (take a look at the torn up cake that looks like a piece of meat in the foreground in the dining room scene.  Emily’s idea.)  Adam Braun (inspired property master) and Barry Staples spent a good deal of the day working out the mechanics of a practical effect which they pulled off spectacularly.  There were monkeywhalers scrambling all over town, picking up properties, running paperwork, grabbing extra batteries, sending food to locations.  Thank you Joe!

Having learned from the lessons of previous 48 hour films, the writing process went smoothly and quickly … Patrick Phillips, Mike Lowe and I banged out a lovely script by midnight and Mike spent 4 hours drafting our storyboards.  Mike, I think you might be a genius.

For some time I’ve been experimenting with mixing still photography with video to create a textured composition and I think it finally came together on this project.  Thank you Alex and Carolyn.

My mother, Rosemary McGee, a fantastic makeup artist did some lovely work practically solo and my stepfather, Owen McGee ran around, held a 12′ by 12′ green screen in the middle of a creek for 2 hours and generally offered support wherever it was needed all day.  A great preamble to Father’s Day.  Thank you for your ceaseless support, Owen.

Hopefully next year my brother can join us.  You were missed.  And Travis, if you’re reading this …   next time, drop everything and be my 1st AD.

Zach Hadgraft who never sleeps.  Having never script super’d before he stepped into the role with gusto.  He also pitched in with the edit and the camera department.  Come back to Greensboro and make films with us.  Wilmington can’t handle a talent like yours.

Oh, Matty Sheets … great job stepping up to the plate on set … really.  Composer of note, Matty Sheets.  Hire him.  You won’t regret it.

Driveway.  Driveway.  You’ll hear the magical ear of Driveway in our production sound.  First time on set for the 48 hour film festival.  Magical.

Vijay.  We’ve been friends for almost 20 years.  Many years ago we both waited tables at a family style Italian Restaurant named Sal’s.  On a busy night I’d be sweating profusely as the tables turned and I was juggling 5 or 6 tables feeling pretty good about my ability to manage such high volume … meanwhile Vijay had picked up his 10th table and was also helping the kitchen get out the food, cool as a cucumber.  He’s a born producer with a terrific sense of humor.  Together with Carolyn (my better half, whom I love dearly) they managed the biggest, most intense project we’ve ever put together, almost flawlessly.  As Vijay would say … there’s always room for improvement.

And now.  The actors.  Mike Tourek has been in all of our 48 hour films.  Since the beginning.  He’s tireless, imaginative, thoughtful, and brings the kind of ideas to the table that great actors do. I encountered Emily Moore, a first-time actor and unbelievably talented musician, a couple of months ago when I recorded a song from her project with Justin Huey, SeaHorses.  She took direction so well I asked her to drive from Charlotte to be in our 48 hour film.  She’s so natural.  Around the 18th hour of shooting, Emily between scenes, wrote the song that plays under the ending credits.  It was a perfect fit. Did I mention that audio recording was done onset by Driveway?

Finally.  Megan McIver.  Woh.  Megan was on set for 11 hours before she got a chance to perform, and wow.  Megan and I performed together in a theatre documentary about the holocaust a few years ago (which is not a setup for a bad joke) and it was a true pleasure to work with her.  When you see her performance you’ll know what I’m talking about.  Did I mention she does her own stunts?

It takes a community to make a film and boy do we have a talented community.  Greensboro, NC.  Save the Monkeywhale.

CAST:
Mike Tourek as Sam Tuomi
Emily Moore as Delilah Tuomi
Megan McIver as Sophie

EXTRAS:
Allen Martin
Brandon Wall
Doug Klesch
Julie Welch
Katei Cranford
Kristin Reinheimer
Mable Bullard
Jennifer Maven
Rhonda Karg
Shannon “Sam” Moore
Tom Ehlers
Carolyn de Berry
Danielle Wagner
Sam Holcombe
Heather Moore
Ashby Pettigrew
Brandon McKeen
Owen McGee

CREW:
Vijay Java – Producer
Carolyn de Berry – Producer/Still Photographer/Office Manager
Harvey Robinson – Writer/Director
German Valle – Cinematographer
Jordan Haywood – 1st AC
Jim Mahomey-Gaffer
Phil Kimbrough – Grip/Electric
John Holland – Grip/Electric
Alex Maness – Still Photographer
Dalton Cox – Editor
Phillip Powell-Special Effects Editor
Brett Mullen – Assistant Editor
Matty Sheets  – Composer, 1st AD
Patrick Phillips – Writer, 2nd AD
Michael Lowe -Writer/Storyboarding
Zac Hadgraft  – Script Supervisor/Assistant Editor/Grip
David “Driveway” Moore – Audio Engineer/Boom Operator
Barry Staples – Hangman/Grip
Jenny Maness – Office Manager
Donna Smith – Music Production Assistant/Assistant to Caterer/Office Manager
Rosemary McGee – Makeup Artist
Maureen O’Hanlon – Runner/Office Assistant
Heather Moore – Decorator
Adam Braun “AB”  - Prop Master
Sam “Sammertime” Holcombe – Assistant to Prop Master
Emily Sulecki – Designer
Betsy Blake – Production Assistant
Joe Garrigan – Catering
Owen McGee-Runner/Assistant
Julie Welch -Runner/Assistant
Ashby Pettigrew Runner/Assistant
Danielle Wagner    Runner/Assistant
Donald Gaye    Runner/Assistant
Kevin Slate    Runner/Assistant
Wendy Lou Gillespie New Media/ Runner/Assistant
Fred Gillespie  Runner/Assistant

MUSIC CREDITS:
Original Score by Matty Sheets and Holy Ghost Tent Revival
Music Produced by Matty Sheets
Recorded, Engineered and Mixed by David “Driveway” Moore
Steven Murray – Banjo, Vocals, Snaps & Claps, Kazoo
Mike O’Malley – Piano, Organ, Bass, Vocals, Accordion, Snaps & Claps
Hank Widmer – Trombone, Euphonium, Vocals. Snaps & Claps
Matt Martin – Guitar, Vocals, Snaps & Claps
Wayne Reich – Violin
Matty Sheets – Ukulele, Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Snaps & Claps
Emily Moore-Musician
Donna Smith – Music Production Assistant
All Songs Copyright 2009, There is no Creature Music in Association with Monkeywhale Productions
Dresses by Rachel Antonoff Dresses

Special Thanks:
Design Archives
Viewpoint Studios
King’s English
Holy Ghost Tent Revival
There Is No Creature Music
All the folks at 223 Post
K2 Productions
The Painted Plate
The Green Bean
Matthew Mandarano
Wendy Lou and Fred
Baffi Lungi
Twisty “Pops” McBaak

So here’s a poem.  A teaser if you will:

Woman

When lovely woman stoops to folly,

and finds too late that men betray,

what charm can soothe her melancholy?

What art can wash her tears away?

The only art her guilt to cover,

to hide her shame from ev’ry eye,

to give repentence to her lover,

and wring his bosom is — to die.

Oliver Goldsmith