I remember sitting on a curb during a break from shooting a web series we were working on several years ago, hearing then-sound man Steven DeGennaro talk passionately about getting his first film off the ground. He had come up with a killer idea that he felt was worth writing, directing, and basically committing years of his life to. It had something to do with found footage and a meta angle. But when you work in the film industry, lots of ideas and dreams get kicked around in conversations just like this and… most all of them go nowhere. Steven made it happen.
So when production was underway on Found Footage 3D this past June, I made sure to accept an offer to visit the set and see what Steven and Associate Producer Scott Weinberg were up to.
The trek down to Gonzalez, TX was a quick and beautiful drive from Austin. Arriving at the property where the film largely takes place immediately brought me into the right mindset. A long, straight, densely wooded gravel road leads you farther and farther into seclusion and then gives way as you approach a cabin seemingly built specifically for horror movies. DeGennaro found not only an ideal cabin from an aesthetic point of view, but said cabin also sits on 300 acres of oil property kitted out with sleeping and eating quarters for oil workers which were taken over by the Found Footage 3D crew for their 15 day shoot.
When I arrived for my set visit, the crew only had 3 planned days of shooting left to go, and of course by “days” I mean “nights”. Shooting for the night was just getting underway and the scene I was going to have a chance to see captured involved some old school wire rigging in which all kinds of furniture was going to be lifted off of the ground… and there was even going to be some blood flow going on! A bunch of discussion was going on in order to properly set up the shot. “How will we attach the rigging to this chair so the camera won’t pick it up?”, etc.
While that meeting continued on, I got to wander around, meet some of the cast and crew, and ask whatever questions came to my mind. When talking with cinematographer Drew Daniels, he showed me the cameras they are shooting the film on, which were just impossibly small. I didn’t write down the make or model of the camera*, but regardless, the fact that a 3D feature can be shot on such remarkably compact cameras stood out to me. [And I had to laugh when I found out that even the bonus features for the movie were being shot in 3D… a nice little comedic touch]. And if I’m not mistaken, the cameras themselves will actually be featured on screen, as Found Footage 3D has a majorly meta element to it in which our characters are filming a 3D found footage horror movie and end up being in one themselves.
I take a picture of technology I can’t possibly understand with another piece of technology I can’t possibly understand.
I’m not going to spoil the killer sequence I was able to watch in the editing bay, but I will say that it involved a wonderfully creepy and practically executed effect in the cabin’s kitchen that just made me smile. Of the two sequences I saw filmed and the scenes I saw which were already fully edited, every special effect was practically shot.
Getting back to those scenes that I was able to see shot live, one involved actor Tom Saporito absolutely losing his cool and spouting off some pretentious sounding comedy, being that his character is the one who is trying to recapture the glory of The Blair Witch Project with their little indie found footage film. It was a fun freak out to witness. But the real meat and potatoes of the evening was the aforementioned floating furniture sequence. I watched on via the video village monitors as the enormously complex shot was captured. Several cast members are involved in the shot, including film critic and associate producer Scott Weinberg, who plays himself. The floating furniture is only half of the complexity as the shot also includes the camera being dropped in a specific way in order to show blood pooling under a door. You can imagine the challenge of “getting” a shot like this, including multiple actors, effects, and camera movements. I look forward to seeing it in a movie theater someday rather than on standard definition monitors… but I certainly felt the ambition of all involved in pulling it off.
Pictured: Ambition. And some dudes named Scott Weinberg and Steven DeGennaro
I had a good time spending a night with the crew and cast, and they seemed to be having a great time shooting their film. The cabin itself was perhaps the most impressive visual I observed, and was so impressed with the location Steven was able to find and use to his advantage for his film. This is a truly indie feature, but even on a film this small, dozens of crew are involved, and the whole thing feels like a bustling, complex operation; an achievement in and of itself that can’t be ignored. DeGennaro is a peer in the Texas film industry and a buddy of mine, to be totally transparent. But that gives me an even greater appreciation for the difference between sitting on a curb and talking about a dream project and completing production on a feature film!
Many people’s eyes instinctively roll when they hear the title Found Footage 3D (I’m getting fairly tired of both storytelling devices myself), but I’m certain DeGennaro and crew are keenly aware of what they are doing. Whether they will succeed in pulling off a film that is equal parts pointed comedy directed at the found footage medium as well as a genuinely frightening horror film will be determined by the audience when the film is completed and released.
The team is currently in the midst of an IndieGoGo crowd funding campaign to help them complete a complex digital effect to accompany all those old school practical effects I witnessed. And again… I’ve noted that I do know Steven personally… but that doesn’t make his crowd funding video any less incredible. If you want a sense of Steven’s deadpan sense of humor, extensive knowledge of horror which informs him as a writer/director, or how hard he is willing to work to get it right, look no further than this crowd funding video.
Please note that no one from the production asked me to share the above video, I simply decided now would be the best time to share my set visit to maximize the impact for Steven’s team. The film’s theatrical release plan and distribution model will obviously depend greatly on how this IndieGoGo campaign works out, so if you feel inclined to donate to help complete his vision, please do. Regardless, I have no doubt that Steven will fight for his movie until the last possible moment, and that we’ll all get a chance to see how successful he was at pulling off his ambitious vision in the not too distant future.
And I’m Out.
* It would probably be the professional thing to do to let you know the following, from Steven: “The camera we shot on is a Panasonic z10000. The one in the picture is the behind-the-scenes camera, which is a JVC HMZ1U.”