I AM - The Film.com

Day 17, 18

Film/Video studio

We showed up on Saturday morning expecting to start shooting and the set was still under construction, not really even close to ready – lots of details and pieces that needed to come together- but because of the importance of this scene and the set, we scrambled together to come up with a workable Plan B.  So the with a couple of quick phone calls and a pow-wow between director, EP, line producer and AD, we came up with the plan to give the crew the day off, hand out crew shirts and give Maxwell and his team time to finish this crucial set for the final scene of the film.  Another emotional rollercoaster scene, we’re actually shooting one of three ending that we have for the film, none of which we’ll share with you here!  (Go see the movie next fall!)  Suffice to say that any one of which will have you completely captivated.  (Did I mention you should go see the movie next fall?!!!) Adjourn to Sunday morning and ta-da! Maxwell pulled off another great set mimicking an inner city rooftop where Marvin surprises Marina with a romantic dinner to celebrate her life.  Hang onto your hats!  We’re off to editing!!!  Stay tuned for more highlights from our post production adventures!  Thanks for all of your prayers and support as we continue to move forward in our vision of impacting the entertainment industry with powerful, faith based stories.  

From a tech standpoint, we were stuffed into a small space in the back of the hospital where they gave us one of the ICU rooms to work in.  Our team worked out of a storage room and on a handicap ramp while making our daylight look like night. Doesn’t sound like much but our guys work hard everyday to accomplish tons on behalf of the story!   

The Douglas County School District gave us the opportunity to shoot in the new Castle View High School auditorium in the Meadows.  We shot all of our tight shots first, waiting for school to let out when our “extras,” the students, came onto the set to fill the audience and then double as stage angels.  Our production designer, Maxwell, as usual built this incredible background set for the scene where Marvin is hanging on the cross in his play until everyone leaves the theater.  

One of the most complicated shots of the film because Marvin’s run is literally from the political party in the Grand Ballroom on the second floor of the Brown Palace to the exit on the first floor.  Blocked as a single shot using a Steadicam rig, of which the operator was also our Executive Producer, this proved to be an exciting scene for both cast and crew because honestly, how often do you see an Executive Producer sweating and working so hard schelping 80 pounds of camera gear around for a solid six hours?!   After we knocked those shots out, we move to the lobby to pull of an even more complicated shot where the bell staff is being prepped for Marvin’s arrival by the hotel manager.  Blocked again as a single shot that weaves throughout the entire lobby, we keep picking up more and more people, final landing at the front door where Marvin and Marina have arrived with their entourage to be welcomed for their evening in the hotel. 

Day 12

Castle Pines – Private Home

We took over the suburban family backyard of some of friends and made it into an energetic, frenetic party scene of the wildly successful Hip hop producer Chaos.  Marvin arrives in his signature style, black SUVs and full entourage of body guards while onlookers gawk at his very presence.  During the height of the party, Rock and Roll hall of famer and rapper grand master Melly Mell introduces Marvin with the announcement of Marvin’s political career in a rap.  Marvin takes the stage and provides his own wild rap about life as the crowd goes wild.  A key scene for the development of the story, this scene is the crux of the film.  The logistics of making this scene happen were a tad overwhelming due to lots of factors, mostly high winds and the size of the party space that had to be dressed by Maxwell our production designer.  So with 50 of our closest friends as party guests/extras, we plugged through the night to shoot everything we needed.  Thanks to our hosts for putting up with a film crew!!!!

Today was a day for our visual effects team, Matt’s specialty.  We were shooting in the Chapel at Cherry Hills Community Church, a beautiful traditional, old style church with classic lines, hand cut stone walls, wooden pews and incredible stained glass windows.  We had lots of extras and had to shoot a bunch of plates that we’ll end up merging in post to make the chapel look like it was packed with angels.  Basically when you see the chapel, take out the walls and imagine the rest of the building sitting in the clouds.  We then moved to the recording studio to shoot some scenes of Marvin making a new record with his buddy and hip hop producer Chaos.  

Day 10

Prairie Canyon Ranch and CHCC

As opposed to the last time we were here, the weather was a classic, beautiful, sunny Colorado day.  Perfect for baptisms!  We rolled into Prairie Canyon around 11am ready for the day.  Pastor Walt and a bunch of baptism “extras” actually prayed with us to start the shoot.  What a powerful day it would be for Marina’s dedicating her life to the Lord in the film.  From a technical standpoint, we had lots of waders on hand, or on legs, so that everyone in the scene and crew could stay dry-ish.  The pond where we were shooting this scene is kind of a prehistoric hotbed filled with strange primordial soup creatures.  Those without waders kept feeling Alien like things passing by them in the murky water.  And the more we stirred up the water, the more it emitted an odor worthy of the dinosaur era.  Everyone lived through it and then we packed up the whole thing and moved back to the edit suite at Cherry Hills Community Church to shoot the psycho scene with our Craig character, who really has is out for Marvin.  Wrap at 8am with a pre-load into the Chapel for tomorrow’s shoot.