Type/genre of film: Magic Realism
Director/Writer: Christian Filippella
Premise: Rodian White has received a Best Actor Oscar nomination and all he wants is to be alone. Hollywood has become too much for him and in order to escape its madness, he buys a mansion in Malibu. His wife, however, has different plans and organizes a surprise party, inviting both of their families over. When Rodian realizes that their dreams and desires are nothing more than a projection of his own narcissistic image, he must escape the hypocrisy of a world that he himself has created in the pursuit of stardom.
Length:16 minutes
Budget: $35,000
How did you accomplish your film given the budget constraints?
Christian Filippella-“Shooting 35mm with this budget has been a great challenge. I had written a very difficult script. There were animals, water, stunts, a large cast, huge locations and extremely complicated wide shots; a very elaborate story to tell. The film was SAG and we did everything safely and legally. I found the perfect actors for the movie and that made the rehearsing process much simpler. For me this is the most important step during pre-production. Brad Light, who wonderfully impersonated the eccentric Rodian White, and all the other members of the cast did an amazing job. This allowed me to go much faster on set and time means money.”
“When I had a precise idea of what I wanted to have on the screen, I started sketching a storyboard that we all used as reference on set. This is something I normally do. It makes things simpler for everybody and, in this specific case, gave my 1st AD, Claire Falconer, a precise idea of what I was looking for. With my cinematographer we planned every single shot weeks before shooting. I have a solid background in photography, editing and production design and that helped me in having a precise idea of what I wanted accomplished visually. Since I was the production designer of the film, that allowed me to keep the costs lower.”
“We found this wonderful mansion in Malibu that was exactly what we were looking for and made a good deal with the owner offering executive producer credits. However, the house was totally empty and I had less than $1,000 to decorate it. I decided to use a minimal decor style using as a reference Gianni Versace's house in Miami.”
“We managed to shoot everything in 5 days when we probably needed 8 or 9. We shot using Fuji Film stock. Jonathan Bell, Fuji Executive, awarded our production with a donation of most of the film stock. Steve Restivo at Deluxe also helped us with a very good rate for processing it. A friendship developed with both of them. We shot the film using a Panavision Gold II camera. This camera is definitely heavy compared to what is now on the market and it's not the best to shoot hand held. However, it has a precise grip on the film during exposure and thanks to that we got a great sharpness.”
“I needed constant movement for the story and not having a crane or a steady cam operator made things more difficult. I tried to compensate any possible lack of dynamism with camera angles, constant tracking shots and an alternative use of the zoom. Blocking was also very important and, when we couldn't move the camera, I tried to move the actors as much as possible. Very often we did both or all things together moving around the actors using very slow zooming and curves for the dolly track. However let me clarify, that for me: it's very important to move the camera only when it's conveying a specific meaning to the audience.”
“I had a few producer friends on the set helping us during filming. Claire Falconer and Dina Livingston were fantastic in allowing a smooth, efficient production. You cannot possibly accomplish anything if you don't have a solid production team behind you. It takes all your energy and concentration when you have to deal with problems that are not strictly related to the technical aspect of filmmaking.”
