Standing Firm : Blog

I’m pleased to report that the edit is moving along nicely.  Bill Ebel (editor of Fireproof, click here to read his story) sent in his second edit for the film yesterday evening.  It was one of the scenes I was worried about the most so I was very relieved to get an email from him.  Thank you Bill!  Kevin Michael (co-writer, producer) came over to take a look at the edit and we worked for an hour or two.  We got quite a bit done honestly, putting together two things we just shot the previous week.  There have been a few parts of the film that had been put off for a long time that we finally got to but I wasn’t sure how they would go together.  It’s funny when your writing, shooting, directing, etc. that you can still find yourself in the edit bay trying to figure out what you were thinking just a few days prior.  I was commentating my own editing as I reviewed takes while Kevin was sitting behind me watching it all go together.  “Ah tell me I have another take of that” or “walk out of the shot…come on tell me I had him walk out in this take please!” or “come on turn your head, turn your head, YES!” came out of my mouth often as I reviewed things trying to find the proper pieces.  It must be funny to watch. :)  Either way we filled in some very critical spaces in the film and I’m relieved.  After Kevin left I worked on the edit for another few hours.  I took chunks of the film that are complete (in terms of shooting) and started transitioning scenes together a little better.

Besides a small piece we are shooting this Wednesday the last 30minutes of the film is doing very well.  Aside from that, the first 20 minutes or so is almost complete with the first 10 minutes in its 3rd cut already.  Things are really coming together and I praise God for that!  It’s been a long time looking at the same edit being unsure how things will work, if they’ll work, what problems might be there and whether or not we can fix them (thankfully we had the rare opportunity to do that with the re-shoots we did), etc.  It’s fantastic to see things now much more complete with only a few small things missing.

Something else I’m hoping for but I’m not sure if it’ll be possible is to get a few establishing shots of some homes we shot in.  I have some of the main characters home but some of the others are a bit bland.  If the the leaves become fuller in the next few weeks that’ll be possible…if not it isn’t a tragedy.  We’ve had a lot of rare opportunity to fix things on this film, something many others wouldn’t have the chance to do.  God has been good to us.

We will begin tackling ADR this Tuesday as Aaron Slack (playing Shawn) will be over the house to shoot a scene alone and then come upstairs to begin the process of Dialog Replacement.  He only has a few lines but it’ll be a good testing period for us.  If we can successfully complete what he needs to do, it’ll give me a good indicator of how long everyone else will take and help me schedule.  Thursday will have Eric Stevenson (playing Steven) over my house in the evening to work on ADR into the night if need be.  We’ll see how we do!  Pray for our shooting as well this week.  Besides Tuesday, we will be at Kevin Michael’s house for a few hours, and on Thursday it will be a longer day at the church to finish things there for Pastor, Maggie, and Katy.  They will be 100% wrapped after that day!

Today was an unexpected delay.  We got rained out of shooting…something that hasn’t happened in a long time.  It really would’ve been ideal to finish what we needed at Dave Gifford’s home since we had all the equipment there, the schedules lined up, etc. but there was simply no daylight.  The room we are shooting in is on the 2nd floor and requires the sun to fill it with the proper ambience.  What we’re shooting needs to also match something previously shot.  What was shot is at the other end of the room but the overall ambience of the room is very clear in that scene and we need to match it.  There was also very little that needed to be done at the door and with it pouring and gloomy outside, it just wasn’t possible.  The day wasn’t a total waste though.  We sat down and did Dave Gifford’s Interview while we were there.  It went good and we got some great footage and comments from him.  We are getting fantastic interviews from everyone.  They are all fun, informative, and heart felt conversations that really couldn’t be gathered from a bulleted list of questions.  I really hope you all enjoy these in the future.  We’ll see when we’re able to shoot at this house again, we have very little time left to do it.  Only a few weeks of time left to squeeze it in.  Here’s hoping.

Today was a good day of shooting.  All the imagery came out beautiful.  The beginning of the day started off in frustration when a wardrobe issue forced us to bag one of the scenes planned for today.  I guess this WONT be the last day with our two leads on camera….*sigh*  That’s ok though, we figured out a way to possibly sneak it into a day we are in another location so no more days should be added to the schedule.  We’ll just shoot there in the morning then pack up and move down the street.

We started in the bedroom upstairs and prayed together.  We didn’t do that as soon as the day started and I wasn’t doing so well.  After we prayed I think everyone felt refreshed and ready to really start the day off right.  We moved on and completed the scene we didn’t get to on Friday because we ran out of time.  I was glad to get that out of the way.  Afterwards we moved downstairs to get a close-up a previous shot done months ago.  My gaffer did a great job matching the light properly and we bagged that shot quickly.  Afterwords we moved onto the major dialog scene of the day.  It came out fantastic and the imagery is superb.

Some people have voiced their attitude about the film and that its been shooting for so long.  Do you want to know why the film has been shooting so long?  There are MANY factors that answer that question but I’ll tell you what one of them is.  We’ve re-shot some scenes (like the dialog scene we shot today) that came out poor and looked like this, so they can come out out wonderful and look like this and this.  Get the point?  We’re making a better film here, and with everyone on board to finish, what are you complaining about?  Just a minor rant that is now over

Overall the day turned out great.  Lord willing we will have 3 days left but O I know how surprises come about  Lets say we have 3 planned days and then we SHOULD be finished.  Unless there is something that alludes us that we’ll find in the next week, we should be done shooting completely very soon.  Keep us in your prayers, we need them.

Today was a tough day of shooting.  We were at Kevin’s house for one of the last days there with Rob doing all his acting alone.  They are scenes that had been put off for a long time (complicated scenes) while we shot other things.  The day went OK, but not as great as I would’ve hoped.  We didn’t get absolutely everything we needed and had to leave the location.  Crew had to leave as well for other things so we ran out of time.  It’s very difficult shooting a film in a working home, I’ll never do it again unless there is more control over things.  Either way I like what we were able to capture, we’ll see how next week goes.  We will be shooting on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.  Monday includes the most stuff, we really need to get that stuff done!  Tuesday I’ll be without my gaffer so I’m debating on whether or not to shoot that stuff alone, it will be difficult.  I’ll have to find a replacement person to boom things as well which will be hard in just a day or so.  We’ll see how things go.

The next 7 Days should be very prosperous for us on the film.  We only have a few days left and have things pretty well lined up.  One of our actors is sick so we hope he is better by next tuesday.  This friday will have us shooting with Rob in Kevin’s house to finish anything that requires him by himself.  It will be some intense stuff, so please pray for Rob that God would give him the ability to pull off a performance beyond what he is humanly capable.  Monday will reunite Eric and Rob for the first time in a long time as they finish the last scenes they have together.  That will also be a tough day, please keep that in prayer.  Sunday will have me shooting a few things I’m unsure about so I need prayers for that as well.  So much to be in prayer for.  We have very little time to get what we need.

We’ll be looking at the edit and getting a rough cut of the film together as we shoot things to make sure we have what we need.  There will be two shooting days (from what I can tell) in May to complete everything.  We hope there wont be an emergency shooting day to grab something we failed to see.  If that happens we will make due but our time will be short.  Our ADR should be setup by Saturday and ready to rock!  A friend of mine will be bringing over a box of goodies to help us properly set things up.

The next few weeks are going to be extremely busy, and time is critical.

“The board is set, the pieces are moving…we come to it at last.”

http://standingfirmmovie.com/newsletter/newsletter_041809.html

New newsletter available!  Read about some other things that are going on around the internet, other news from Praise Pictures, and a personal note to all our supports from Writer/Director of Standing Firm, Kyle Prohaska.

Thanks to everyone to helping us grow our Facebook Group beyond 2000 Members! Keep 
inviting your friends (those of you who haven’t) We can’t do this without YOU. Take 10 
minutes out of your day to invite as many people as you can, it will be a great help to 
us.

Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8464696545

Become a Fan! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Standing-Firm/19748898807?ref=ts

Many more people have heard of our film, much more than I would’ve imagined. Through social networking and advertising using free resources, the people God has brought our way is astonishing. I’m asked on a regular basis “how’s the moving coming?” I figured it was only fair to answer that for all of you and let you know really where we are and what we need you to do.

We only have a few shooting days left (excluding any BTS (behind the scenes) Interviews or other things). We are very close to bagging the film. The edit is moving along nicely, and I can see the film starting to take shape. I’m praying that all our hard work will pay off and that the film flows together well when it is 100% complete. Some scenes need some elbow grease to get them where they need to be. I believe we will get there, God has brought us this far!

We have lots to do in a short period of time. ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement) is going to be very difficult I fear and the next major hurdle for all of us to jump. It will be much more relaxed as there wont be a camera pointed in our actors faces but getting ADR done properly will be a challenge. There isn’t that much to do but when none of us have ever tackled it before, the task becomes a bit unnerving. Please pray for this next step in the process. The edit will continue to be developed but the ADR is the very next step that we need to start very soon. Also one of our lead actors Eric Stevenson will be heading to Korea for a full year to teach so anything that might be needed with him must be completed as soon as possible. This might even include anything that in the end we realize just isn’t adequate that we need to shoot (hopefully not but it is possible and we are thankful to God to have that opportunity as long as actors are willing/available).

This has been a question mark from the very start for all of us. Nobody has acted on camera before, myself and my partner Kevin have never written a screenplay before, I’ve never shot a film before, planned a film, edited a film, done grassroots marketing for a film, recorded ADR for a film, and the list goes on. Every hurdle has approached and been defeated thus far and we don’t plan to stop anytime soon.

Things left on the list to complete the film are of the following (but aren’t limited to):

1) ADR
2) Foley/Sound Recording
3) Sound Mix
4) Finishing & Locking the Edit
5) Color Grading & Correction
etc.

There is much to do! Afterwards when the film is “completed” you then dive into the wonderful world of marketing/distribution. We need to find a company to pick up the film for DVD Distribution so all of you out there in the world can see it. This is a difficult and time consuming process. On top of that we plan on sending the film out to many folks we now know in the entertainment world to gather quotes, reviews, feedback, etc. to help with the marketing of the film. As a side note we do hope to premiere the film locally for people in our community although finances to do so will likely be low/extinct. We have a place in mind to premiere it that is big enough but we need a film in hand before we could approach the place to work with us. Pray for that as well!

When Can You See The Film? - This is the question we are asked the most frequently. When the film is actually complete there is much we need to do before it’ll actually get to your TV Screen (as you read above). Odds are the time frame is many months, so don’t get yourself too worked up just yet. We are all just as excited and anxious to get the film out to all of you. The best thing you can do is calm down and don’t loose that fire for the film! Don’t get yourself too excited then fizzle out when we need you the most! The film will come in God’s timing, and His timing is always perfect.

When Will A New/Better Trailer Be Released? - This is hard to say. We are much more concentrated on actually completing the film than releasing a trailer. The trailer we had in mind from months ago was denied a release because of budget problems. We were grieved about this and apologize to you all, especially those who donated to help with that cause. Your money went to a greater need. We thank all who helped us during that time, God used your donations for his purpose regardless so please know that! We do hope to release a new trailer sometime in the next few months though. We will need it to push the film anyways so plan on seeing one sooner or later. We’ll also have other videos for your viewing pleasure in the future, BTS interviews, etc. They are going to be excellent!

I thank you all for your support, from the deepest core of my heart. All the prayers and zeal for this movies completion is a Blessing beyond anything you all can understand. You have supported us from the very beginning and never faultered, and for that we are eternally grateful.

On a more personal note, creating this film is the hardest thing I’ve ever attempted in my life. It has brought more grief, stress, and heartache then I care to express. But at the same time it has brought me more joy, growth, and strength then anything in my life ever has. I’ll do anything and everything I can to make sure this film is completed. God has given me a burning fire for this project and for film as a whole. I pray that the film touches all of you in a big way and God uses it reach others for him. There is no greater joy then that first phone call/email/text message/etc. that we receive that says “thank you.” God has used this film to do so much in the hearts of those working on it, in the hearts of our church family and surrounding community, and many others on the internet who have diligently kept up with the updates from Day #1. Please pray for protection of all who are and might work on the film in the future. Pray for distribution, that the Lord would give us wisdom in choosing the right company. Pray for the technical hurdles that lie ahead and the financial burdens that may arise. Pray especially that God would continue to have his hand on our project and that we all would keep a humble spirit in offering our film for his use. Above all, pray that all who watch the film are impacted for the Kingdom and that many would come to Christ as a result of this film!

We WILL NOT fail…we WILL FINISH.

Blessings & Happy Resurrection Day!

Kyle Prohaska
Writer/Director

Today was an interesting day.  Eric was coming to my house to shoot his interview and give the ADR a shot.  It was to see how the whole process would go and to see what I might need to fix/change before we REALLY give it a go.  We shot the interview first and thankfully sound issues were at a minimum.  At one point the lawncare guys at my neighbors house turned on their blowers for a few minutes and we waited but beyond that the audio came in nice and clear.  Eric did a good job.  This was actually the second time we did his interview because last time we rushed and barely got any footage to use and missed talking about a lot of valuable things.  I was glad to have another shot at it, and it’s always fun to remember things from the shoot.  Even bad things can be brought up but now laughed about because they are long gone.  I think you will all enjoy what Eric has to say.

We went upstairs and I walked him through how the process would go for the ADR.  Just to at least have him give it a shot we tried some very simple lines and he found out quickly that it’s much more difficult than it seems.  Placing your lines perfectly in sync is one thing, matching and delivering performance is another altogether.  It will be a challenge for everyone I suspect that has ADR.  God will bring us through though.  He has so far

I must say it was nice to wake up and work on the film while still being at my own home.  It will be nice to stay at home and work on this thing.  I’ve done it all along with the edit but in terms of actually having lots to do, I’ll be able to do it at my house.  Today when Eric arrived I was unashamed greeting him in a t-shirt and pajama pants.  It was the most relaxing shooting time ever!

The amount of ADR to do is minimal considering how much could’ve been done.  I think God really had his hand on us since the scenes we’ve been reshooting have been some of our problem scenes in the audio arena.  We still have one or two that will be a very big challenge for us (and are outside so reshooting is impossible), but with some time and elbow grease you’ll never even know there was changes.  Sound rarely gets the attention it should in films, I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure the audio is the best it possibly can be.

Later on I rushed to the church to quickly try and grab some inserts I need for the film.  There is a scene that takes place in the sanctuary and a conversation that happens in the back of the sanctuary while a play practice is going on.  This means I need the play practice environment recorded and the inserts to sync with the audio track I lay under everything.  Even the conversation needs the environment track laid under it and mixed so the practice going on is still in motion while the talk takes place.  I don’t have lav mics, so doing things wirelessly wasn’t possible.  Also, Maggie wasn’t there (something I didn’t know) so I was only able to get the shots that didn’t include her.  I’ll have to grab those on a random Sunday when she and I have time.  I hooked up a Hyper-cardioid mic to the other Canon XHA1 we have at our disposal to record the audio of the room.  The Rode NT3 was used for all of our indoor recording and has a very rich studio sound to it.  It also picks up more signature of the room (unlike a shotgun) and that came in handy in some instances (like this one).  I was running around with the other Canon XHA1 (without an adapter so I could move quickly and run all over the place) and grabbing my shots quickly.  How I will sync the shots is I pointed Cam B (the one I was running around with) at someone I know before everyone began, ran both cameras, and had him clap 3 times in a row so I could sync the audio later.  Crude but it works!  Welcome to low-budget filmmaking folks!  Everyone who was there besides Katy (playing Maggies mom) had no idea they were going to end up in the film.  Up until about an hour before I didn’t even think things were going to work out!  I’m glad I was able to get my shots no matter how crazy and nutty things really were.

That’s all for now.  Everyone have a Happy Easter!  Never forget our Savior and what He did!

Even though we are still in Pickups, since the very first day of shooting our edit has been in motion.  Sounds like a long time to edit a film doesn’t it?  Little by little the film has been pieced together with our edit sitting somewhere around 85 minutes with a few things missing.  Our goal was to hit 90 minutes so we’ll see exactly where we end up.  Bill Ebel as some of you have heard is working on the edit currently making tweaks to the cuts of scenes I’ve put together as time has gone on.  Each scene is in a stage of either 2nd or 3rd cut.  Some have gone all the way up to 9 cuts by now (the ending and beginning have had the most surgery).

We are also going to be starting ADR (Automatic Dialog Replacement) soon.  I’ll do a post on that in a bit.  This is all new territory for everyone, so we’ll see where we land.  I was talking to a friend today about what it’s been like making this film over such a long period of time.  I know everyone has their own angle but for me, making this film has been like trying not to trip, except most of the time (almost 10 months now) you have a queezy feeling your in “mid trip,” but your unsure.  One heck of a way to mess yourself up over a long period.  God has been faithful though and He shows me more and more each day how his hand is on this project.  He has slowly but surely been crafting the film from the start.

I’ve been putting together 3 minute promotional videos for each crew members interviews as we shoot them.  They are coming out fantastic, much better than I would’ve hoped.  All of the people involved really have some great things to say and it makes for good promo pieces.  I’m very excited to get everyone’s interviews shot so I can get to work on the BTS Documentary eventually.  Hopefully I can figure out a good point at which to release one of the spots to get everyone’s tongues wet but I suspect I will wait for a while.  I can’t afford to run out of advertising firepower, especially not knowing a release date.  I’m sure you understand!

I’m also happy to report the ending of the film is in the final stages of the edit.  This makes me feel very good as I’ve been looking at it for months waiting to drop the final pieces in to see if it works.  The beginning of the film has been complete for sometime now so seeing now how it will begin, and end and seeing it actually work is a great feeling.  Now I can work my way in (editing) and craft the story inward where it really counts the most.  Thank you all for being along for the ride, there is much to be thankful for.

Today was a solo show.  I didn’t have my Gaffer available so it was a pretty nutty pickup day.  I didn’t have much to shoot but it’s hard doing so much yourself.  Luckily a friend (thanks Ben) was able to come and help me unpack, pack up, hold the boom for me (little audio today), etc.  I held off on one thing planned for the day because after setting up camera and lights I just really wasn’t confident in what it looked like.  I really needed more time to get it right and it wasn’t worth wasting the time.  Luckily we have an opportunity to grab it again in a different location.  The specifics of todays shoot story wise I can’t really tell you as it will ruin the film, regardless it went well.  It was awkward for the two actors to do what they needed, but they pulled it off well.  I also did some handheld today, something I haven’t done more than twice in the film, gave what we were shooting a more “in the moment” feeling.  We also did the interview for Aaron Slack today who plays Shawn in the film.  It went well and we got some great footage of him.  Getting really close to wrapping, only a few days left.

Today was a very short day.  We were at a local cafe (Ashkers in Youngstown, NY) shooting a scene I can’t really explain or I’ll blow the surprise lol.  What pictures I have posted are simply for a tease.  Either way the time went by quickly and we had to shoot fast.  By the time we setup I only had 30 minutes to complete our shots and get whatever angles I thought I might need.  It was run and gun style.  Luckily the footage looked great from any angle so I could move around quickly without changing lighting.  Either way we pulled it off and got out of there quickly.  I was glad to be shooting in a totally fresh location, it was a breath of fresh air.  I really loved the cafe.  It had all sorts of knick knacks, pictures, wooden finish on everything…it was great.  Really added lots of color to the shots.  Thursday we will be shooting another piece of the film that I can’t tell you about or show you pictures of…lol.  It seems like some of these days are just plain top secret.  I don’t want to ruin parts of the story for all of you!  A lot of them involve the ending so after Thursday our ending should be completed.  I’ve been looking at the last 15 minutes of the film for months with everything there but a few small things.  I’m glad that we’ve started getting that completed.  Enough talk before I blurt out the ending of the film! lol.

Woo!  What a day of shooting!  I started at about 8am and didn’t finish until around 6pm.  We had lots of stuff to do today and ended up shooting about 160 minutes of footage.  We also completed a sequence today that was more complex than anything we have attempted before.  It was added to the script in the San Antonio airport months back in January.  We had 4 characters all with 2 positions so we needed lots of angles, lots of coverage, it took a long time.  I also went “indie” style and grabbed a naked Canon A1 without an adapter to get a few shots outside.  They are quick enough that nobody can tell (whooops…cats out of the bag…lol).

It was great, and we had a new actor start today, he did fantastic.  The conversations he had to do I wrote for him because ironically I had the same conversation with him at one point.  I wont tell you the details of the conversation because it’ll ruin the film but he did great.  Very few takes to get what we needed.  Probably some of the most natural acting we’ve captured.  I was moving quickly today as well, really moving along.  We had so much to do I never stopped really the whole day.  Even if I sat for a small moment to break, my brain never takes a break.  It’s almost pumping a million miles an hour when I’m on set, I go into my own little world and it doesn’t let up until I’m done.  Then I crash, like a freight train, lol.

This was our last BIG day of shooting, it’s all downhill from here with VERY LITTLE left.  Everyone is getting very excited.  Thanks for keeping us in your prayers, we are really close to bagging this thing!

I’m really excited to report our Facebook Group for Standing Firm has hit 2000 Members.  I started the group over a year ago and it’s grown steadily since then.  Thanks to all who have helped us spread the word!  If you haven’t done it yet, join the group and invite your friends.  Inviting your friends is without a doubt the EASIEST way to let people know about our film.  You click the “Invite People to Join” under the Groups Image and select your friends.  It will take you 10 minutes to invite your entire friends list.  Facebook only lets you invite 100 at a time, but nothing can stop you from hitting invite again and inviting the next 100! :)  Some of you have large friends lists of friends and family from all over the USA and world.  Use it to your advantage!

Join the Group

Become a Fan

Another way you can spread the word is clicking the Share button under the groups image and post the Group to your Profile.  It’s like putting up a temporary billboard for our Group or Fan Page!

We are shooting again tomorrow.  Should be the majority of the day from about 9am (get there earlier to unpack), and go until dinner time.  We have a lot to shoot and there are some factors still left that I hope work out.  One of them includes a short sequence I came up with a few months ago.  I don’t have every shot 100% planned (yet) and I can’t afford to come back to this house or use Eric (playing Steven) again.  This puts the pressure on to forget absolutely nothing and make sure I have it properly planned.  This whole time we’ve been prepping the week of things or the days before.  Once we started behind in prep, your always in catch up mode and never have enough time to really get ahead of yourself.  Prep might be my least favorite part of the process just because the way we’ve shot this film the prep almost never really helps the day too much.  We’re dealing with factors that might normally be under someone’s control.  We are working with a new actor tomorrow as well and I need him to pull this off, I really need him to work.  If he doesn’t, there really isn’t anyone else to do it.  I also chose him because the lines he has to say he said to me in real life with the kind of fatherly tone that I”m looking for…so I hope God gives him a nudge and helps him pull it off.  I think he can do it, but more often than not on this film, thinking something will work often ends in disaster.  Not always so we’ll see what happens.

I think the hardest part about making this film on top of everything else is making it alone.  Yes I have a few crew members, yes I have actors for every scene and locations to use and everything that I could ask for.  What I don’t have is a second person to help with the meat of the producing.  Or someone to just run things by and get second opinions.  Not that I can really trust of course.  Some people I know online have been the biggest help and really given me a leg up in certain situations but while I’ve been cutting the film for instance…certain things you think are OK aren’t and I need someone to concur with.  To tell me “that sucks, fix it.”  I do have people like that but not here with me.  Especially when it comes to designing scenes and making a shot list.  Someone with fresh ideas really helps get the juices flowing.  I come up with ideas simply by re-explaining my own and boom something hits me and I run with it.  So that has made it difficult.  Just having someone as a bounce board (in person) would be great and I look forward to having that on the next film.  I don’t think I’ll work on another project unless I have another producer or something of the sort.  It’s way too much to do alone lol.

Writer/Director/DP/Producer/Editor/Marketing&PR/etc. ????  What was I thinking! LOL.

We only have a page and a half of dialog but the rest of the day is full of shots (most of them for that sequence I told you about).  Cross your fingers, we don’t have many shooting days after this…we really need to finish this stuff!

Today was a good day.  We shot at a house we hadn’t been in since last July (talk about a blast from the past).  We needed to reshoot one side of a conversation because of some issues so we bagged that first 

during the day.  Then there was just one additional shot we needed to add to better tie up a scene later in the film.  I’m glad we were able to grab this one because it was the period at the end of the sentence you might say.  Either way it went off without a hitch and we sat down and did the interview for Joan Golda who is playing Sarah in the film.  It was another fantastic interview and she did very well.  There was lots of great information for her to share and I think you all will really enjoy listening to her.  We will be shooting on Saturday which should be our last FULL day of shooting.  The rest are just half days and shorter from now until completion.  We are really close to finishing things, I’m very excited.