Austin Filmmaker Jett Garner Talks about his Intervention of Christopher Walken

Jett Garner Talks About His New Short Film "The Intervention Of Christopher Walken"
by Chris Weidner, ShortFilmTexas.Com

Film: The Intervention of Christopher Walken
Cast: Mark Spacek, Michael Conway, Matt Dunn, Hannah Morgan, Jessica Roberston, Amanda Phillips, Richard Nance
Location: Austin, Texas

Q: Tell me about the film.
A: Well, obviously based on the title, The Intervention of Christopher Walken, it's an intervention movie. The family and friends of this one character come together--and actually when the story picks up we get the sense that we're already in the middle of the intervention. Basically, this particular character has assumed the persona of Christopher Walken the actor. He tries to speak like him. Act like him. His family and friends are there saying "You know. You do a great impression but you're not him, you need to stop living as him." He only deals with people as if he's the famous, Oscar winning actor Christopher Walken...but he's not. In real life he's Christopher Walkington.

Q: Where did the idea for the film come from?
A: Well, I knew this guy, the actor who plays Christopher Walkington, his name is Mark Spacek. (He's Sissy Spacek's nephew—yes, I’m name dropping.) Anyway, I met him a few years ago through mutual friends. He lives here in Austin. And I met him out one night, I don't do that very often, but I was having some drinks and he would only talk to me as Christopher Walken and I was blown away because to me it sounds right on.

Q: So this is based on a true story.
A: Right! (laughs) Yeah so basically when he's drinking he does that impression a lot. So then last spring, in 2006, I just got to thinking about him and his talent and I thought is there a way I can use that in a story. Then one night I was watching television and there was this "Intervention" series marathon on A&E and it was pretty dramatic and pretty real so it just kinda grew from that.

Q: And your cast? It’s has a pretty diverse range compared to the typical independent short.
A: Exactly. A lot of people I just new personally and asked if they’d liked to be involved. I thought they would bring a diverse room, as far as age and sex and styles. I brought a whole room full together and just told everyone “You’re the Brother. You’re the Sister. You’re the Dad. You’re the Intervention Host. You’re Ex-Girlfriend #1. You’re Ex-Girlfriend #2.” That sort of thing. It was all improv.

Q: What did you shoot on?
A: We shot on two 24p cameras. And that was a little harder because there were a lot more actors and to just go in and look at all that footage. We had like 8 hours of footage for such a short piece. To go in there and find the story was hard but I’m pretty happy with the results.

Q: So were you one of the camera men?
A: No I had two friends. I didn’t really know how to use a camera then. So directing was my primary role on the film.

Q: Did you have a desire to act in it?
A: Well, we did this twice actually. We did it once in May of 2006 and used one camera and I was in it, I actually played his (Christopher Walkington’s) bodyguard that he hired. But I after that experience I changed half the cast. It was just useless and I didn’t like any of the footage.
So I used that night as a rehearsal. It taught me what I didn’t want and what I wanted. So on the second take I thought I just gotta direct, I can’t be wearing both hats. There are just too many people in the room. I have two cameras running and I gotta see things, just in case the camera’s not catching it, I can make the adjustment and have the camera move and say “Say that again or do that again, actor or actress."

Q: And who were some of the other actors in the film?
A: Michael Conway plays the “Intervention Specialist.” Again, this was all improved and he did fantastic. He didn’t do the first one, he did the second one and was just really amazing. Matt Dunn, from Womb, played the younger brother. Then there was Hannah Morgan. Jessica Robertson, also from Womb. Amanda Phillips. Richard Nance who played the “Dad”, he was actually an actor I met while working on The Alamo. I was Grey #1 and he was Grey #2 so we were together everyday for 4 months. He came in and did a great job. He played such a great kinda typical, Texas “good ole boy” Dad.

Q: What did you take away from this filmmaking experience?
A: I think the idea of this film….the concept, if I were to go pitch the concept, I think it has a lot of potential. I just don’t know if the execution of actually doing the movie or my editing or a combination of both has lived up to its potential yet. So I’m actually thinking of doing it again.

Q: Really? Why exactly?
A: Well, there’s something about it that people have pointed out in watching it, people who would give me their opinion and not just tell me what I want to hear. A couple of people have said that Mark’s impression wasn’t 100 percent the best they’ve ever heard and that’s not really what the movies about. It’s not about the guy with the best Christopher Walken impression ever. It’s about a guy, not about the level of his impression. I mean I could have called it “The Intervention of Denzel Washington” and have Mark play that and he just thinks he’s Denzel Washington. And Mark wore sunglasses the whole time and some people said “Well, Jack Nicholson wears sunglasses.” I think the fact that they are thinking about those small details that are relatively unimportant to the story means that I didn’t do something, somewhere along the way, to totally bringing people into the story enough.

But don’t get me wrong. I like it. I’m very happy with it. I really look at the concept of this and think it could be a career making idea and I don’t think I’ve accomplished that yet. Like I said, I’m actually thinking of maybe in a year or so doing it again. I just need a more clear idea of what the story is to make it better...if I decide to do it.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FILM

Blood, Sweat and Tears: Adventures in No Budget Movie Making! (Part 2)

The Making of "Red Asphalt": Part 2
by Brian Nelligan

Shooting The Film:
The first day of shooting I had all the actors park at my dad's house and then we carpooled to the location. I didn't want to have like ten cars on the set and my dad's house was pretty close by. I had made a shot list a couple of nights before and this made everything relatively stress free as we rushed through the different setups.

After finishing at the exterior warehouse location we moved to the lonely road (which in the movie plays as just outside the warehouse as well). I shot in order of character's screen time, from least to greatest, so the actors didn't have to wait around to shoot a few parts. The main actor was in pretty much every shot so it didn't seem like he had lower priority.

The truck stunt was taking a long time and we were losing daylight so I had to scrap a few shots but at the end of the day I had what I needed and no one got hurt and we weren't arrested.

Still, we had to shoot one more scene but I had yet to locate an interior warehouse location. Sounds simple enough right?

I tried to shoot in one of the studios at UT but after a big misunderstanding it turned out that I couldn't use the location because I wasn't in the right class yet. In the end I actually used the bottom floor of the building where the studio was and since was late at night and no one was around and it ended up looking convincing.

The thing was I was so rushed just trying to find that last location I didn't have time to make a shot list. (I did however go in the night before and kind of block how the scene would go.) I was worried because at the last second I decided I wanted to have someone in the scene get killed, but I had never tried inserting a fake muzzle flash in post before.

I decided to risk it and just go for it because I thought the payoff would be worth it. Luckily, I later found out the process was pretty easy and there are plenty of tutorials online.

The shoot was a little hectic because I was coming up with setups as we went, but we weren't on such a strict time limit so that helped ease the tension. We finished out the night and even though I was completely drained we had finished shooting the movie!

Good Advice or Things I Learned the Hard Way:

1.) It's important to let your actors know WHEN the audition will be well ahead of time. You'll have a better turn out if they have time to arrange to get off of work or out of class.

2.) Make sure you always have at least TWO fully charged batteries before the shoot. At that location where we were outside in the middle of nowhere I was real lucky because I had only one battery and no spare. I ended up only having to use one but if it ran out we would have had to end the day early and endure the nightmare of arranging a time to shoot that avoided schedule conflicts.

3.) Keep all your gear and props in one place before you take it to go shoot. Make a checklist and make sure it's all there. If you just grab stuff as you remember it you will forget something.

4.) Get permission for your locations. It would have been catastrophic to get kicked off of a location half way through shooting, and even more catastrophic to get ticketed for trespassing.

5.) Have food and drinks for your cast and crew. Working on a movie is very exhausting work. It's not enough to feed them after the shoot, you need to feed them during (unless you're just shooting a couple of hours.)

6.) Make and USE a shot list! This will save your life when you have 100 other things to think about on set.

7.) Have a continuity supervisor. This is a very important job. What good is that beautiful shot if you can't use it because it won't cut together?

8.) Always provide very detailed directions for the cast and crew. You don't want to have them lost and late for your shoot.

9.) Read Judith Weston's "Directing Actors" You don't know how detrimental your direction was until you read this book!

10.) Have FUN. Remember why you're doing this. It will also result in more creative choices and a better film.

That's all for me. Hope you guys enjoy Red Asphalt.

-Brian Nelligan

CLICK HERE TO WATCH RED ASPHALT

Blood, Sweat and Tears: Adventures in No Budget Movie Making!

The Making of "Red Asphalt"
by Brian Nelligan

The Story:
Red Asphalt is a short action film that I made to submit to the new reality show on Fox called "The Lot." I also made this movie to experiment with my visual style and develop the story for a possible feature film.

I first came up with the concept for Red Asphalt in late January 2006 while on vacation from school and was excited about doing something so different from any of my previous films. Up until that point, everything that I had produced was comedy (8 movies in all) so making something based solely on visuals and with very little dialogue became an appealing idea. I would compare it to somebody being a writer their whole life and then one day just taking a wild stab at painting. I wanted to make a good impression on "The Lot" so trying something new seemed kind of risky, but at that point I felt like every indie film was either comedy or drama, just a lot of talking heads, so I just said screw it.

So here I was, a college student with no money or previous genre experience, diving head first into one of the most expensive genres to film for a national television show and the chance at a one million dollar development deal with Steven Fucking Spielberg. Did I mention it was only a little over two weeks until the deadline? How was I going to pull this off?

The Stunts:
I wrote the first draft in about two days and a final the day after. The climactic scene of the film involved the protagonist, Danny, getting tied to a truck with chain and being dragged behind it. Before I held auditions I wanted to be able to tell the actors that the stunt was already tested and completely safe so I started to experiment. (Now keep in mind that I'm a Junior at U.T. at Austin with a 4.0 GPA, magna cum laude, and the dean's honor list.)

So I throw on a few old shirts, an extra pair of pants, some old shoes, grab some rope and tie it to the back of my car. I lie down, hold onto the other end of the rope, and then have my girlfriend drive and drag me down the street. (A task I'm sure that many a girlfriend would cherish!)

Well we stop after about ten feet and my back kinda burns. But no worries, I'm a guy, I can handle it. We do two more test runs of about ten feet before I figure we have enough footage and a good idea of how well this method is working.

I head back inside to change into my normal clothes and then I notice the first shirt is completely shredded on the back, the second has some big holes in it, but the last shirt is still in one peace. After I take off my last shirt my girlfriend gasps and tells me to look at my back in the mirror.

Yup, I'm bleeding. My whole back is red and my shoulder blades are all scratched up.

Time for plan B. The scooter.

It took us the better part of a day to build the scooter. Basically it was just plank of wood about three feet long, one foot wide, and one inch thick with four small wheels attached. We had to make very precise measurements to ensure it wouldn't be visible from above when someone was lying on it. What we ended up with was a kind of bottle shape apparatus so the actor could have a headrest.

That night I had some friends come over and I convinced one of them to try it out. So we head outside and I have him lie on the scooter and hold onto the chain.

The first test run goes well, my friend was freaking out a little but no problems.

We're about to do another run when a car pulls up to the house directly next to where my friend is seemingly chained to my running car. Well a guy and his little daughter climb out of their car watching us and at this point my friend starts screaming to them, "Help! Help me!"

What else can I do but drive away?

As far as I know no one called the police on us. And so a successful test run came only at the expense of a little girl's shattered innocence.

Locations and Casting:
I had never done real location scouting. Before, it was always just a matter of who's house or apartment we could shoot at...but for this movie I needed an interior and exterior of a warehouse and a lonely highway.

My girlfriend and I drove around south Austin for a couple of hours making a list of possible locations and found several exterior warehouses but I was beginning to think that a lonely highway was a thing of the past.

Finally, toward the end of the drive, we found a place that could work.

We were very, very lucky that a strip of road about two or three hundred feet long that connected the north and south bound lanes was coned off by a construction crew. However, we were very, very unlucky that it was covered in loose asphalt that hadnít been tarred to the ground. (Just to skip ahead for a second, I ended up going to the road the day before the shoot armed with a shop broom and swept away about half the length of the road. Let me tell you, sweeping gravel with a shop broom over great distances is not an easy task.)

Location scouting also included trying to find a place to hold auditions. I just needed a quiet place with a small enclosed room. I tried to get a place on the University of Texas campus but they wanted a hundred bucks! Where the hell is my tuition going anyway?

So without a place to audition I went ahead and put up "casting call" flyers all over campus. I got a few replies, but not alot. Without my even knowing my girlfriend printed 120 flyers and stood and handed them out to people she thought would be good for the parts. She also got a few replies, but not alot.

By this time there was just over a week until the deadline and with no place to hold auditions I was starting to panic.

That's when my girlfriend came to the rescue and saved my ass yet again.

She waited outside a study room in her dorm building for two hours to get a room and then waited there until I got out of class. I frantically called and emailed all the actors and asked them to come to the audition later that same day. (I can't imagine how much they must have hated me at that point.)

At the end of the day we had three people audition. A couple of people emailed me saying they couldn't make it so I held another audition the next day but only one of them actually showed up. At least it wasn't hard to cast each part!

So with the actors cast and the stunts prepared we were forced to begin shooting even with one location unsecured. Time was running short and we'd have to be creative.

The fun was about to begin...!

Check back in two days for the conclusion to Brian Nelligan's ON THE SET article on the making of "Red Asphalt."

CLICK HERE TO WATCH RED ASPHALT

Austin Actor/Filmmaker Jett Garner talks about his short film "Womb"

Interview with Actor/Director Jett Garner
by Chris Weidner
ShortFilmTexas.Com

Film: Womb
Cast: Matt Dunn, Jessica Robertson
Writer/Director: Jett Garner
Format: MiniDV
Location: Austin, Texas

Like many actors in Austin, Texas, Jett Garner has had his fair share of brief brushes with success. One such opportunity was landing a small speaking role in the Ron Howard produced version of The Alamo. While this job enabled him to work along side Hollywood A-Listers like Billy Bob Thorton and Dennis Quaid, the film would unfortunately flop at the box office. It was just this sort of win/lose situation that would serve as a catalist to move the actor in bold new “directions”…literally.

Since then, Jett has acted in several shorts and features, including the recently completed film Baghead by the Duplass Brothers, directors of last years indie hit The Puffy Chair. He has also added the credits of Director, Writer and Editor to his ever evolving resume.

I sat down with the Actor turned Filmmaker to talk with him about his career choices and his directorial debut short film, Womb.

Q: How did you become involved in Texas filmmaking?
A: Well, I moved to Austin from Indiana because I wanted to act in movies.

Q: Why Texas over, say California or New York?
A: I’d heard about Texas, specifically Austin, and how it was becoming this beacon for independent filmmaking and I figured, just starting out, I’d have a better chance getting my foot in the door here versus L.A.

Q: And did you find work quickly?
A: I did. I started working right away but found that about 10% of the films I was in were never finished or of such low caliber that I was embarrassed to show them to my friends or family.

Q: Is that why made the decision to try your hand at writing?
A: In a nutshell. I started writing and I’d hand these scripts over to people and I’d be the actor and the writer and they would be the director and basically I got tired of them fucking up my ideas. I decided to give directing a shot last year (Jan. 2006). I wasn’t going to edit any of these films because I didn’t think I knew anything about it. Then one day, about a month after I shot my first film as a Director, which was Womb, I accidentally discovered this real simple editing software on my PC that I didn’t even know was there. I cut Womb together and I thought…hell, I can kinda do it all.

Q: So then let’s talk about your short film Womb…uhm, how did you come up with the idea—actually, tell me what is Womb about?
A: It’s about a guy who has an addiction. He has insomnia. His girlfriend wakes up. She was sleeping peacefully while he’s dealing with his insomnia. They have a bit of argument. He begs and pleads her to let him kinda dive back into this addiction. And uhm, she say’s “You can do it one more night” but she puts conditions on it and he agrees. So they’re in bed resting peacefully and he kinda breaks the rule that she laid down and this wakes her up and…well, I don’t want to give away the ending….

Q: So how did you come up with the idea for Womb?
A: Without giving too much away, it’s basically based on when my wife was pregnant with my son. He got this gift at a bridal shower, he obviously wasn’t born yet, but the gift it…it kinda freaked me out a little bit. And I thought to myself, what if he’s still using this when he’s in his 20’s?

Q: How did the project come together?
A: Very quickly. I had the actors come over one night. I borrowed a GL-1 camera and we shot Womb in about 3 hours. They improved the whole thing.

Q: I noticed that it was shot in black and white. Was that a conscience decision? Or...?
A: Yes.

Q: Why black and white?
A: Well, to be honest, the GL-1 is a cheap camera, as far as digital camera’s go. And considering the fact that we were improving, we had no real plan in place what so ever, I didn’t want to try and make it look like something it wasn’t. So I thought if I put in black and white it might help cover any lighting flaws and possibly come across a bit more artistic. Plus I love the way black and white looks. I really fell in love with black and white when I watched the Coen Brothers film with Billy Bob Thorton, The Man Who Wasn’t There. That’s when I really started to appreciate how great a modern day black and white film can look. But I’ve also always been a big fan of black and white photography as well.

Q: Who are the actors in Womb and how did you end up casting them?
A: Matt Dunn and Jessica Robertson. Uhm, Matt is a just a friend of mine from a long time ago. I was a bit uncertain, actually, if he could pull it off. I’ve known him personally for a long time but he’s just been, like a lot of actors in this town, you know, working in student films and taking parts in a lot of projects that never get completed. So I figured, it’s one night, if it works then great, if not, then I’ll just use that as rehearsal, but it turned out that he was fantastic! He did great.

Q: And Jessica?
A: Jessica was someone I’d know for a couple of years and I just really like her as a person—basically I just really like these actors as people and I thought, well if they show up and have any kind of connection and let their balls hang out, so to speak, we’ll see what we get and they performed way beyond my expectations.

Q: So it sounds like you don’t like to rehearse. Do you prefer to just wing it?
A: On the three films I’ve directed so far, yes. But those are all short films. As an actor I don’t like to rehearse. I hate it. As a Director I just haven’t done it yet. I think with the next movie I direct, whether it’s a short film or feature, I’ll probably try to incorporate some rehearsal and see if I get some different results.

Q: What filmmaking lessons did you take away from making Womb? Any advice?
A: Well, number one you don’t need money to make an interesting film. When it comes to storytelling, even the simplest things can be dramatic and interesting and funny. I didn’t have money. I didn’t have a lot of planning. I borrowed a friend’s camera. I mean, I’ve submitted Womb to some of the major film festivals and it hasn’t got in yet, but I honestly believe I can show that movie to just about anyone, anywhere, and they’ll have some level of appreciation on an artistic level for it. We just showed up one night and did it. You can’t win if you don’t play, right? Personally, I also learned that there are certain ways that I like to cut that are very non-traditional. The way I do everything is just non-traditional. When I first sit down I find myself worrying about if this is going to be a good movie. Then I shoot the movie and by the time I’m editing, I forget about all that other stuff and I’m not really thinking about any other end result beyond…will I like it?

Q: In the end, did Womb come out the way you envisioned it?
A: No. It was completely different. I mean, the story arc, the plot from beginning to end, the actors were very good in their improv to make sure we stayed kind of close to that, but as far as the whole thing, watching it as a finished project, I would never have been able to envision that in the planning stages.

Womb is currently the “Showcased Short” on ShortFilmTexas.Com

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SHORT FILM "WOMB"

First Report Coming Soon...Honest!

Well, it's now...March 7th and we have yet to post our first "Field Report." But have no fear, the first one is coming in a matter of days. Promise.

We've just been so busy juggling the many different aspects of ShortFilmTexas.Com it's been difficult managing our time.

So keep sending those Field Report requests in and we will have them up in no time!

In the meantime check out the Filmmaker Forum and thanks for your patience.

Prepare. Produce. Project.

Calling All Texas Filmmakers - Promote Your Film

Welcome to the first “official” post on the ShortFilmTexas.Com – Field Report Blog. In the coming days we will begin to present to you “behind-the-scenes” and “on-set” reports involving short films, music videos and other film related media currently in production across this great film making state of Texas.

Along with Field Reports posted by the ShortFilmTexas.Com staff, we are now accepting and looking for “Field Report” SUBMISSIONS by Texas filmmakers.

No project is too big or too small. The only qualifications being that you are a Texan and that the material you are submitting is your own.

Articles will be posted to the blog by the ShortFilmTexas.Com staff, along with any photos or videos made available. Please be sure to include any links to sites you are looking to promote (be it personal, myspace, etc) and your personal contact information and email as you will retain full credit and we want to post accordingly.

To submit a “Field Report” or request a member of the ShortFilmTexas.Com staff to call or visit your set, please email us at: News@ShortFilmTexas.Com

We’re excited to get this blog moving so contact us about your film making project today!

Prepare. Produce. Project.

Welcome to ShortFilmTexas.Com...the Blog!

What is ShortFilmTexas.Com?

Whether you’ve shot one film or a one hundred films, ShortFilmTexas.Com is a FREE online community that welcomes ALL Texas filmmakers. We’re just getting off the ground and, along with this field report blog, will be growing the website every day. As a member of the TexasShortFilm.Com community you will have the ability to post your film making creations, be it short films, trailers, music videos or commercial endeavors, and project yourself amongst your local peers.

ShortFilmTexas.Com will act as an open arena for Texas filmmakers to network and learn. This is the place to showcase your talent, asks questions, make friends, review films and products, share opinions, find work and give advice. Need an actor, gaffer or gaff tape? You’ll find it here.

Why do we do this? Because we’re filmmakers too.

Films aren’t made by themselves. From start to finish, they are a team effort. Make ShortFilmTexas.Com part of YOUR team.

Prepare. Produce. Project.