We are official! Sandwich on the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema website!

Now you can go to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema website and purchase your tickets!

http://www.drafthouse.com/westlakes/frames.asp

Filmmaker Journal Part 3

11/20/05 (Sun) Shot Johnny and Sonny at Northwest Vista, and then returned to my house to shoot the last scene in the movie...the unfinished house. We went across the street from my neighborhood and went guerilla style at a new neighborhood under construction. I was the dp today. I don't think I screwed things up too bad.

The footage was really good, two cameras rolling...but...my camera was NOT in 24p! Looks like home video.

I tell you what...there IS a HUGE difference in the quality of regular video, digital or otherwise, and 24 frames per second. 24P seems to be the closest thing to a film look you can get on digital video next to High Def.

39 set-ups. Not bad for less time than we have had so far!

11/22/05 (Wed) Shot some great stuff with Anne at the Alzheimer's Association...can't use it though. I forgot to clean the lens and there was a smudge. That really sucks. We shot great footage for the “furson scene”. 30 set-ups in one house in 3 hours! We are getting better. Okay...so maybe I did screw up! Remember not to try and do everything yourself! Too many hats and you are DOOMED!

12/3/05 (Sat) Johnny and Anne's restaurant scene. I cried at several takes. Even though the actors weren't feeling it, I was. I have to be the truest audience I can. I am trusting in GOD and my instincts as I feel my way through this process. Another long day. They all seem to be this way. I am tired.

More stuff at the Freedom House Assisted-Living facility. It feels so authentic to be there. I think everyone understands the weight of what we are doing. I know I do.

Tonight we captured some great stuff with Anne and John. Very funny!

51 camera set-ups.

12/4/05 (Sun) John finished last night. We'll miss him. I will work with John and Sonny on anything! 16 set-ups for about 6 hours.

12/10/05 (Sat) I met Don Frame, our Mr. Shyloh. He was PERFECT!!!!!!!!!! Terrific personality, excellent actor, very compassionate personality. He and Martha were lovely together. 29 set-ups. 4 hours. I think we are officially efficient.

12/11/05 (Sun) Very emotional scenes were shot...the front door open was especially powerful. We shot quite a bit focusing on Molly, but the best stuff was with Martha reacting to what was happening. Anne and Martha should receive some awards for their performances. Pierce was great as Steve “Normal Guy”. He should get a stunt cred just for falling down and exposing his tib/fib for the world to see! 45 set-ups!!!!

12/15/05 (Thurs) Terry informed me that about fifteen minutes of our footage from 12/11/05 was erased...Ouch! We still have Martha's powerful stuff though. This makes me happy! Guess we'll fix it in post! Ha, ha. I have to buy a hard drive that costs $200. Right before Christmas!

12/16/05 (Fri) Javier and I went to Corpus Christi, TX. to scout locations for the beach scenes. Found two places that look suitable. It was cold and windy, but perfect for Molly's mood. Jav and I looked at daillies for about seven hours and started the EDL, edit decision list. Slating every take is VERY important! We slated about 98% of ours on this film, but from now on we will slate EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!!!!

12/17/05 (Sat) Anne, Rodolfo, Miriam, their kids Diego and Eddie, Anne, Terry, Javi, and I froze our butts off getting shots at both locations. But, it looked beautiful!!! Anne looks lovely and powerful. I feel very good about this film so far, even before the post process.

I think people will notice me as a filmmaker, and also notice the work EVERYONE did on this film. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful cast and crew. I am so blessed to have such an understanding wife. Susie is my ROCK!!

Every little ache or sense of being tired I have is completely negated when I think about her and my family. I am doing this to honor GOD and start a new life for my family. I also want to entertain, move, and educate audiences.

I don't know how many set-ups we got today, but was probably somewhere around 25.

12/18/05 (Sun) Long day again...we finally shot the scenes with Laurie and my two young actresses, Clarissa Wilkins and Gabi Walker. They act like sisters, which is great because they are playing Molly and Grace as young girls.

It's been said that casting is everything...we shall see. The girls were awesome together!

Good news from Javi tonight after I got home...We can use his friend Josh's 24p camera Mon. and Tues.

55 set-ups on one of the last days of shooting, AND we had three locations with twenty minutes drive time in between. THIS is how film crews should move!!!!

We can shoot alot of stuff that still needs to be done, or redone. We might even have Manny's 24p camera on Wed. Wow...three cameras toward the end of the shoot???? I will take it though. Thank you GOD.

I am very tired. Of course, I will continue working all this week, but I will work as hard as it takes to finish this movie and get it out to public.

Like my youngest son, Elijah says..”Never give up...”!

Oh, a note about the main set for our film. It is MY house. Now, the logistics of shooting a film for 8-14 hours a day on subsequent weekends when you have a wife, preteen, and two small children are incredible. What I mean is...DO NOT EVER ATTEMPT TO DO THIS IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMON SENSE!!!!!!!

It has been hard. Susie has cooked for the cast every weekend and my kids have grown comfortable around lots of different people. But, it is a major distraction to a child's schedule. Next time, I will do whatever it takes to secure a major location where my family doesn't sleep.

12/19/05 (Mon) We reshot stuff from the Alzheimer's Association (I think). It was great! Helen Flores was an extra. I asked her to say exactly what she would to anyone who walked into her office. She was very natural. Future actress?? 27 set-ups. Can't remeber exactly.

Sandwich Screening!

I am distributing flyers for the screening, but just in case you didn't know, "Sandwich" will screen on November 12th at the Alamo Draft House, 1255 SW Loop 410 (Westlakes Shopping Center) here in San Antonio.

There will be two shows: 3pm and 7pm, with a Q & A session immediately following each screening.

After the Q & A, Rodolfo Fernandez and Alexis Anthony of the band "Elle" will perform an original song written for the film.

Please tell your friends and family! If the shows sell out, tell the personnel at the Alamo Draft House that they should play the film for another week or two!!!

WE NEED EVERYONE'S HELP IN SPREADING THE WORD! THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS!

Photos

Click on the photos to view a larger image!

Rodolfo: Sound Warrior

Terry, our DP, shooting Anne for the beach scene.

Filmmaker Journal Part 2

11/12/05 (Sat.) Day One is history!! Yeah! We made our day, although we went a little long at Morgan's house. Terry's footage looks great! She is very talented. Oh...like Daniel Millican from IndieSlate magazine's filmmaker journal series said, “I walk around in a perpetual state of...”. I know what he means. I am forgetting what I'm forgetting.

This morning I thought I had everything covered until my DP, Tery asked me for mini-DV tapes! Guess what? No tapes...no film! My mother-in-law DiAnne (a wonderful woman!) went out and bought several. One more thing I owe her, but when this film makes it big I can pay her back in spades!

We got 68 set-ups today!! I think that is great, fast, and of course, could be more efficient.
11/13/05 (Sun.) We shot the art classroom scene. Slight snafuu about the set-up, but we worked it out. Sandra Garcia was wonderful as usual. I wish I had gotten more coverage, but I was pushing it because of the ENEMY...TIME.

11/19/05 (Sat.) The art gallery scene was great, but the day was super long! It was at Northwest Vista College. We started late due to artists not arriving on time to place their work, and that put us an hour behind schedule. What people don't realize is that a few MINUTES late will push your production several hours back.

I do not like to be late!!! I do not like people to be late!!! There...I said it.
Had to vent for a second!!

The performances at the art gallery were amazing and big props to Jasmine and Diane for the 11th hour performances. They blew me away and were so FUNNY!

We finished the gallery scene at 1am, and shot another scene in the parking lot which took us to 2am...then Sonny Kelly, Johnny Cowboy (Caballero), Javier, and myself went to Joe's Volcano to shoot the bar scene. I got home at 3am!

The footage doesn't look too bad. Hope we can use it!

43 set-ups! Probably more if you count the fact that David shot a lot of footage that was NOT slated at my request. By the way, David Burns did a fantastic job shooting the art gallery scenes!! Very talented guy! I would love to work with him again in the future.

Sandwich Synopsis

Sandwich is the story of 30-year old MOLLY DENGLER, an aspiring artist and single mother, who tries to take care of her mother Evelyn who has Alzheimer’s Disease. As Evelyn’s condition worsens, Molly is forced to decide whether or not to place her mother in a long-term care facility so she can pursue her own dreams of painting professionally.
________________________________________________________________________
MOLLY DENGLER used to have a life... As a single mom trying to raise her six-year old daughter, her plate is already full.

Enter... ...EVELYN, her mother. An Old-World German woman with firm ideas about how young ladies should conduct themselves and their lives. Typical mom/daughter stuff until you factor in Evelyn’s Alzheimer’s.

When Molly’s older sister Grace passes the buck, Molly is forced to care for Evelyn as her condition deteriorates. Molly’s only comfort is her painting, and the promise of a relationship with an Assisted-Living administrator named CLARK.

Molly’s art teacher introduces her to a gallery owner who is thrilled with her painting and wants to showcase her work in New York City.

When this happens, she is faced with a pivotal question:

“What do you do if you’re stuck in the middle”?

This is one woman’s story about life, love, and just a little piece of sanity.
________________________________________________________________________

Anne Gerber getting into character for the beach scene in Corpus Christi, TX. 12/17/05

Producer Javier Cerda with Anne discussing the beach scene.

Directing Anne Gerber as Molly in the Beach scene

12/17/05 Corpus Christi, TX. Javier Cerda, Rodolfo Fernandez, Theresa Coronado, Anne Gerber, Kevin L. Williams

Getting the word out.

The time is almost here. We are racing to finish the film! Rodolfo is busy with creating music and I am working on the press kit and networking like crazy.

If we could parlay this screening into an extended run at the Alamo Draft House and maybe the Austin Draft House, that would be great! By having a nice run at a theater it increases our chances of playing at other independent theaters in the country and selling the film.

I still would like to negotiate screenings in New York and Chicago focusing on the Alzheimer's Associations in those cities. It will continue to help their cause and provide the film with another platform.

I need to continue to keep the P.U.S.H. Productions moto in mind: "pray until something happens!"

Filmmaker Journal

The following is a journal I kept on the making of Sandwich. I'm not very good at writing personal journal entries, but I tried to document some of what happened. Hope you enjoy it. It is illuminating to go back and read what I wrote several months ago. I will include more entries in future posts.

Forgive my lack of blog etiquette, but I am a first-timer...


Kevin L. Williams
Director's Journal:

Making a “Sandwich”

11/05/05 (Sat)The thought of writing down anything other than fiction or notes to myself is unsettling. But, I felt it was important to at least have SOMETHING on paper documenting my first feature film experience.

The past three years I have been trying to obtain financing for a feature film. A Martial Arts drama. I attached several actors, but of course...I have no $$$$$$$$. But what I DO have is connections to all the players and equipment needed to shoot a feature film. I wrote a dramedy script three years ago that deals with Alzheimer's. It is touching, funny, sad, and hopeful all at the same time. I think it makes a perfect first film.

A month ago I decided to just do it. I entered preproduction with my partner Javier Cerda, we started scouting locations, I began casting actors and BAM! This film has created a life of it's own.

I found a fantastic actress named Anne Gerber. I saw her in several funny short films, and then I cast her in a short film I co-directed about an American Suicide Bomber. She was chilling and eerie. I knew she could successfully straddle that line between humor and pathos.

It is amazing how people can get behind a common cause. Everyone is working for no pay, but maybe a promise of something in the future. I will not let them down. I am stepping out on faith and believing in GOD that this will work! All the pieces are falling into place.

Today are the first major scenes rehearsal with the majority of the cast. Welcome to indie filmmaking! You never quite have everyone at the same time. Schedules just don't
permit. And, when you are not paying anyone...well, then it becomes even more difficult to impose your will (which I wouldn't do anyway!).

Up to this point Javi and I, have compiled a great cast and crew:

Cast:
Molly Dengler Anne Gerber
Clark Stiles John Caballero
Eveyln Dengler Martha Prentiss
Jordan Dengler Morgan Graf
Paula Bettencourt Cassandra Small
Grace Simms Laurie Lucas
John Harris Sonny Kelly
Jayne Harris Jayne King
Young Guy Jason Bernal
Doug Rick Frederick
Young Molly Gabi Walker
Young Grace Clarissa Wilkins
Police Detective Lyndsay Evans

Crew:
Marty Martinez Assoc. Producer/Script Supervisor
Terry Coronado D.P.
Rodolfo Fernandez Sound/Boom
Elise Lopez Production P.A.

11/06/05 (Sun)Well...several things. We lost our 2nd unit camera person Erick Cantu, but we gained a post-production facility!! Our original editor (my good friend and talented actor/director Manny Garcia) dropped out several weeks ago, leaving a gaping hole in our production.

On Saturday, Alejandro Maya, owner of Sprocket Porductions here in San Antonio, Tx. agreed to edit our film. Sprocket is a full service production house that does commercials, small films, and corporate/industrial videos. GOD always blesses the faithful!

My cast is GREAT! They are starting to connect, even after one read-through and rehearsal. Anne is so very talented. I gave the cast several improvisation exercises to act out, and then instructed them to go into the scenes on a predetermined signal.

She went from reading and ACTING the scene to BECOMING Molly. She gave me everything I wanted and envisioned when I wrote the character three years ago. People are really going to be unprepared for how talented she is. She is going to be a player and great actress! I just hope I can still afford her later!

Day ONE of principal photography is this week, Saturday. I feel ready...Just have to nail down locations and releases for crew and scenes next week. I have been waiting for this. House of Keys was a great primer for this film. I still want to work with Mark Dacascos, but I believe this is THE film that will begin my career as a writer/director and also a new chapter for my family.

11/9/05 (Wed.) I still don't have a Mr.Shyloh...the actor I approached hasn't gotten back to me.
But, I am not chasing anyone down. I will find an actor in the 11th hour. Meeting today with an artist so we can have art work for a huge art gallery opening scene we are doing next week. I know it will be fantastic!

11/11/05 (Fri.) Tomorrow is D-Day...we have marshalled our troops and planned for as much as we can! Here goes alot! I feel prepared although I still have to draw up a shot list and some storyboards. And it is 9:36pm. Oh well. Sleep is for wimps...

Reason for this blog

I am writing this blog to give people more information about the making of my film Sandwich, and also about low (or no) budget independent filmmaking in general. I hope to give people a step-by-step guide to the writing, filming/producing, and hopefully selling of the film. We will see. GOD Bless.