"The Dead of Winter" by Chris Barcellos- DVC15
 

Hi all:

We were about to post to wall of shame, when David Lawlor pushed things forward. Dave had come up with the general concept and I wrote the script adding a bit of twist to it. We originally were going to use my 82 year old father in law as the discharged mob employee, but as he had just gotten out of hospital two weeks earlier, I decided I didn't want to risk his health. His dog played the part of Bugsey.

Our regular sound guru Chris Swanberg couldn't join us, so I was left with double duty. So take care on comments, there, cause, I'll send one of the boys after you :)

For interior car shots, I devised a contraption to extend over Drivers, or passengers shoulder with my HV20 on the end, using a wide adapter on some shots. We lit faces with a tiny light Chris Swanberg had leant us.

All other shots were done with the FX1. We lit, when needed, with simple day light flos from home depot.


Shot both cameras in 24p mode-- yeap, the FX1's dreaded Cineframe24. I removed pull down with Cineform's Neo HDV.

Johnny Murillo, and our veteren Dave played well off each other. I'm sure you'll agree that Johnny hit his role right on nose.


We shot this, including travel time from Sacramento Valley to snow, in about 8 hours. I completed the edit that night, and we essentially shot it and finished it within 24 hours.

Here are links:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy6NXlA6T18

Vimeo: http://www.vimeo.com/2685836

Please watch in HD mode if at all possible.

Chris,

I look forward to seeing it!!! Must be nice to have aquaintences to work with!!!!

All in 24 hours, amazing.

Can't wait

I edited first post to include link, now.

Well done piece Chris. I think you did better than just ok in my absence on this one (grin). I liked the "almost invisible" lighting using the little SIMA LED light for fill in the car interior scenes.

I wasn't sure who/what was colder... our revenge-seeker Marty's heart, or the weather.

(ps, you should have included a post script in the credits that no sweet little dogs were harmed in the making of this movie.)

Hi Chris!
 

You got me good, bro! It started out like a “feel good” movie and didn’t end up that way! I was expecting more of a surprise, comical climax. Man, this is one dark movie. The acting is wonderful. I got the impression the “mark” knew this was coming. Excellent use of close ups and exposure. The music, however, distracted me just a bit. You know, you showed a rare glimpse of that part of a mob hit the public rarely gets to see, particularly, the chit chat just prior to the “clip”. This reminded me somewhat of a situation in that Mafia hitman expose “I Hear You Paint Houses”. This is a different and quite original movie. I am glad you took the time to show how ugly death can be. Nice interplay between the mobsters.

Well I can't say I like the dog thing, but you weren't graphic about it so it isn't too bad.

I thought for a minute the guy would turn out dead, being carried off to heaven/hell by Marty. The lack of surprise was actually a nice surprise.

I was a bit confused by the ending--spoilers ahead, you lookie-loos be careful--in that if the motivation for offing this guy was a lie, why did he expect it? Gordon seems to understand why Marty has shown up, but it turns out Marty's got his own agenda, which Gordon is apparently learning for the first time; what did Gordon do that he expected would get him removed from this organization? I'm not bothered by it, it's genuinely interesting, I'd love to find out.

As you mentioned, the audio may have benefitted from an extra pair of hands, but your visuals were wonderful. Pin sharp, nice light, very well done.

Really pretty cinematography for a really ugly side of humanity. Your first scene was just "wow."

Funny thing about people like me: If "bad guys" want to kill each other I guess that's one thing, but be nice to the animals!

Wow Chris:

A different forum, a different man. UWOL this was not, and I am amazed at your versatility and fabulous take on the theme. This was excellent on so many dimensions... shooting, acting, script and I personally like the music selection. You had me from the start, and yes I admit, the animal lover that I am I had to close my eyes at the shooting of that adorable pooch.

You are a man of many talents, Chris. Well done!

Your UWOL friend, Cat

Chris, what can I say! Knowing you from the uwol side this was a stunning, visual and technical amazing quality of film making, which I'm light years away from being able to do myself!

As I said technical perfect; the lightning, sound, camera movements.... You had a great story. The actors performed very well.

Very well done, looking forward to your next dvc/uwol entry...

Very dramatic (maybe a tad overdramatic for me, but I guess it can happen in real life) and a very good film, though the music at the beginning was a bit distracting, but for a 24h film it's great! Main actor has a very good film voice.

I think, taking in mind Light Rider, you should shoot a gangster film with Bonnie and Clyde as the main actors! :) I'd love to see it.

Some weird camera height at the beginning, when reading the book and walking to the door, shot from the height of a small child. Did you have a particular reason for choosing that height?

Chris: As you know, the SIMA LED helped us keep some degree of detail in the backgrounds in the car shots by pumping up dark interior. It was a great little light.

Hugh: Thank you for your kind comments. In choice of music, we were trying to get something toward the feel of “The Godfather” music.

Robert: Went back and forth on dog. Point was we were trying to show how consumed with revenge the killer was. Story of why Gordon thought he was due to be dispatched is left untold, he just, maybe as part of that way of life, accepted that it could come for any reason, any time. Maybe he knew too much.

Lorinda: I debated on dog involvement after drafting the script. David Lawlor, after reading it, said, it was “twisted”, but compelling. Ultimately, I wanted to develop sympathy for Gordon, so he love for the dog developed that quickly, and also made him vulnerable.

Cat: Thank you for your nice words. The dog, seemingly on cue, jumped out of frame at the right moment. My father-in-law, who is an 82 year rough and tumble cowboy, just loves that dog like a child, and he whinced first time he saw it on film.

Per: Thank you. We take great pride in hearing such praise from a master !

Andris: We tried to lighten with opening music, and have it turn ominous as the hit man arrives. There is talk Bonnie and Clyde, and Light Rider will return in the future. Not sure what camera heights we are talking about. Shot of book reading was kind of an inside joke. Johnny Murillo was one of authors in the self help book he was reading, so we cut it in there. I was curious if anyone would catch the title. As to dog coming to door, shot at low angle. Dog's presences in film diminished a bit on the cutting room floor, but intention was to see things from his angle of view, too.

Thanks, I see, you wanted to show the book title in the first case and the dog in the second.
The second shot height about which I was curious about was @ 0:48. Sorry, didn't pay attention to the book title. :)
Waiting for LR-2, maybe next DVC. :)

You get an order to produce a movie about "the cold" and come up with a gangster piece.
That's really thinking outside the box. Absolutely stunning, and truly disturbing. I wonder how many of the cars that pass by when I'm out in the woods are headed for something like this!
I hate this piece, and love it,too. Isn't that what English teachers say makes for a classic?

Hi Chris,

This was really different from what I have seen from you before. Now I know you can make both UWOL and DVC videos! Well done.

Nice job, Chris! I was wondering how you got that shot of the passenger side in the car. After reading your post and watching your video, it is evident that you put a lot of time into getting your shots, and it shows!

Also, I gotta mention what a nice job your actors have done. They just got a good vibe together. Cheers to them as well!