Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted January 12, 2016 Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 So I was brought on to direct this sweet little boy's wish to star with his family in a ninja superhero movie where he stops evil yak-men from floating bombs with their minds... Easy peasy. I dare you to watch it and try not to smile :)
Premium Member Tyler Purcell Posted January 12, 2016 Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 Nice, came out great! :) So all of those people didn't get paid a dime? WOW what a HUGE crew for a short film! I've seen less crew on a special-effects based feature film! EEK! Ohh and what was it shot with?
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted January 12, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 Thanks Tyler. If anyone was paid, I didn't know about it. But we kept track of our hours and were able to write them off. It was a very ambitious shoot. I asked for a full night and a half for that "L" train fight sequence and I was given 7 hours. 8 locations in 4 days. Not to mention no one in the movie is a real actor except David Eigenberg who played the police officer. We moved really fast. We shot on the Red with multiple cameras under the "L" train. It was a challenge, but I had a lot of fun. And I had time to plan it all out so we were as efficient as possible. Here's a short behind the scenes...
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted January 12, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 And part of the reason the credits are so long is because a lot of crew members only worked one or two days, so we would have a different group one day than we did the day before. It added up.
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted January 12, 2016 Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 Turned out well, nice work! Makes me miss Chicago, I did a pilot there about six years ago.
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted January 12, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 I remember. We met up for coffee ;) But, I can't believe it's been six years. That's two kids ago for me.
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted January 12, 2016 Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 Must... Maintain... Flinty... Expression... Nnnngh.
Premium Member Bill DiPietra Posted January 12, 2016 Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 Nice work, Justin. Besides it being for a good cause, the project had very high production values.
Guest Posted January 12, 2016 Posted January 12, 2016 Very nicely done Justin I enjoyed that. I think you got some very good value out of this project as a director since you got to use a location off the top that ordinarily would be off limits unless you had a large budget. A nice piece for your reel in that section. BTW, who owns the rights to the "yak-men?" I want to turn them into a full length feature. :) R,
Premium Member Tyler Purcell Posted January 12, 2016 Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 And part of the reason the credits are so long is because a lot of crew members only worked one or two days, so we would have a different group one day than we did the day before. It added up. Ahh, that would make a lot more sense! Did equipment companies donate to the cause?
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted January 12, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 Well, thanks fellas. Very nice of you to say. BTW, who owns the rights to the "yak-men?" I want to turn them into a full length feature. It was Donovan's, but I'm sure he doesn't own it :lol: The funny thing is, after I agreed to do this, I was given a laundry list of things Donovan wanted in the movie. Of course there were the yak-men, and they could float bombs with their minds (and he specifically wanted the bombs to look like the bombs from the 1960's Batman show), but it was never said what they would do with the bombs once they began to float them. He wanted to be a ninja, that could scream so loud he could knock things over and try to break their concentration, and he wanted his family to be the actors. The hardest thing for me to crack was the fact these yak-men can float anything with their mind. That pretty much makes them invincible. Why wouldn't they just throw everybody miles into the air? I had to think on that, and I didn't really solve it. This is what I committed to :) Did equipment companies donate to the cause? Yes, but you would be surprised how much production is going on in this city. It was hard to put together a camera package, because there are loads of television shows shooting here lately. And of course we could only use what wasn't already rented out.
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted January 12, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 Another kind of funny thing about this whole process is how some people react to this little movie completely different than they've ever reacted to any other movie I've made. For instance, some of my family was mesmerized by this. Not even grandkids could break their attention. But most of my little personal projects aren't of much interest, ... Just a point of reference :lol: 1
Premium Member Bill DiPietra Posted January 12, 2016 Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 Well, it's special in the sense of being one of those projects that cuts through just about every issue that most films usually deal with. Illness and other people's attempts to rectify it (in one way or another) is something that humans have been dealing with from the beginning of the time, so I think everyone can appreciate what a gift this was to the kid.
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted January 12, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 For sure... thanks Bill.
Premium Member Jay Young Posted January 12, 2016 Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 Cool. I think its a neat film, and enjoyed the story - regardless of circumstance.
Premium Member Justin Hayward Posted January 12, 2016 Author Premium Member Posted January 12, 2016 Right on, thanks Jay. It was a lot of fun. They actually made a DCP file and screened it in a theater which was also a ton of fun.
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