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"Knuckleball"

  • For the past 2 months, I’ve been working on another project called “Knuckleball”. When I sent out a call for short film scripts online, a writer by the name of Thomas Marchese both sent me a couple of short scripts and added me on Facebook. He saw that I’m located in Toronto, and suggested his friend and producer, Jeff Ridout, add me as well on Facebook.

    As Jeff and I got to chatting, we realized we got along quite well. Jeff asked if I would be interested in directing a demo for a potential feature, and, upon hearing the details, I agreed. About 6 years ago, Thomas and 2 co-writers wrote a feature film script about a struggling, multiracial rock band called Knuckleball. He had been trying to get it funded ever since. This past year, Jeff and Thomas had decided that the only way to entice investors to fund a full feature was to put together an awesome electronic press kit, or EPK. Part of what would really add some “oomph” to the EPK would be a demo reel.

    The demo reel would simply be a few of the scenes from the feature script, cut into a short 1 or 3-minute reel and/or trailer. However, as it would have to be enough to convince investors that the feature had potential, it would involve a lot of work. That’s where I came in. That’s when we REALLY got down to business.

    Locations

    After a few pre-production meetings, we had a good idea of what we wanted to achieve. We all contributed to finding locations — Dhruv Jani (one of the co-writer) found the office location thanks to a kind friend of his, Thomas Marchese (the writer) found the bar and backstage location through one of his connections, I (the director) found the cafe and backyard location, and Jeff volunteered his own apartment for the final two scenes.
    Personally, I think all of the locations were perfect, and the people who hosted us at each of them were very helpful and patient.

    Amar Sheth, who works at the Toronto Carpet Factory Building (trust me, it’s classy despite the name, haha) was present the entire time but non-intrusive. He was basically like one of the cast or crew.

    Gary Ridout, who runs the Comedy Bar, helped us set up the music and lights, and provided water for the parched cast and crew, a drumkit and a microphone. He didn’t mind us being extremely loud and taking more time than we initially imagined!

    Marty Smits, who runs the No One Writes to the Colonel cafe/bar, is really down to earth and easygoing. I’ll definitely be visiting his beautiful place again, and this time as a patron! I’m also going to push for us to have the wrap party there. Marty suggested coffees as props for the shoot, which turned out working really well. An HBO series is shooting there next week, which is exciting! We got there first, yall.

    I spent all Tuesday morning cleaning out my backyard, which was previously taken over by our tennants’ stuff. I managed to turn it into something quite aesthetic, complete with a stone slab for a mini-table prop sort of thing, haha.

    Casting

    Casting was an entirely different story… I put up an ad on Mandy.com for all the required parts except one, which I added later but got zero responses to. First off, I was forced to use my boyfriend Marius Masalar‘s Mandy account, since Mandy charges insane fees to post more than once every month or so. Having already used my allotted advertisement for the month, Marius diligently forwarded me all the applicants. Poor guy was getting about 50-60 emails per day, thinking they were composing clients contacting him back. I do need to thank him for his help.

    After sorting through the applicants, I invited a number of them to audition in the Ryerson library. As a student at Ryerson, I’m able to book rooms, and it worked out well for our purposes. Unfortunately the library is quite difficult to find, so next time I’ll try and find something more direct.

    We had a decent turnout. The first person who showed up was Shobha Hatte, who you will see play Kshama Jagannathan in the demo. She had already read for the part at a Wild Sound function, and Thomas wasn’t convinced with how she had read. I directed her a bit and he actually ended up liking her, so that was a definite confidence boost for me.

    We also managed to find a Phil, played by Andy Wong. At the time the auditions were being held, I was working with Andy on a short film called “Busker Love”, which I’ll release soon as an OutLitt Studios production. Anyways, I was rooting for Andy and he blew away the other applicants for the part. Largely a comedic actor, Andy always made the cast and crew laugh on set. He’s an enthusiastic and optimistic person, and it shows.

    The one girl who came in to read for Guri seemed too mild for the part, so I had the weight of finding our lead actress on my shoulders for weeks after that. I interviewed three more applicants for the part later, and settled on one, but after the table read she dropped out. She couldn’t deal with the racial and cultural undertones of the full script, so couldn’t support being in the demo. Mind you, this was 2 days before shooting. While the writers and producer were freaking out, I contacted 4 applicants who fit the physical description that had applied to another of my projects (haha, too many projects…) and 3 got back to me saying that they could do it. Unable to meet with them in time, I had to go on their resumes and blind faith. I settled on the 16-year-old Arveen Aujla and hoped for the best. Arveen, I’m very relieved to say, worked out great. “Knuckleball” was her first professional film gig, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. Arveen is a sweet, talented young actress and I’m sure she’ll go far. I will never forget how much she helped us out by stepping in so late in the game, and with being so young compared to everyone else. It kind of became a recurring joke on set — when the older cast and crew would bring up sex, alcohol, clubbing, etc. we would say, “SHE’S SIXTEEN!” Arveen took our teasing in stride.

    We found a Mark, played by Ryan John Patterson, and a Liz, played by Carter Reid. Carter got a feature film gig right after we had cast her, but I managed to find a night she was free. A few weeks later, she was accepted into ACTRA, and the possibility of having her act in the demo looked bleak. Jeff, the producer, let me know about the formal acceptance dates to ACTRA, however… which meant she could still work for us before that date. We managed to confirm a date for shooting with her finally, which was great after a couple intense obstacles. She’s a brilliant actress and perfect for the part, so I’m ecstatic to have her involved.

    Thomas knew of two actors for the parts of Paul and Avi, played by Rob Renda and Samara Stern respectively. They turned out wonderfully and I completely agreed with his suggestions. Rob Renda is a particularly gifted actor, excellent with the overblown physical comedy that the part of Paul demanded. I’m always amazed by his performances. Samara actually came to set thinking she had no lines, but we had decided to shoot the expanded demo script so she had the largest number of them, as it turned out. Sam sat down with the other 2 actors 15 minutes before shooting and got all the lines and pacing downpat. Man, that girl… dedicated, punctual and talented, not to mention a lot of fun on set. I would definitely hire her again.

    When I posted the Mandy ad, I actually forgot to include the part of Michelle Tsang, the record company agent. Although I edited the ad to include her later, no one applied. I sifted through my other projects to see if any applicants fit the physical description, and luckily, one Connie Wang stood out. I auditioned her via Skype and was impressed. She had already been up all night at a Katy Perry concert, and sang to me (whilst pointing happily at her Katy Perry shirt) before and after auditioning What a crazy girl. She played the part perfectly.

    Crew

    On-Location Audio and Sound Editing — Daniel Scarcelli

    I’ve worked with Daniel on a few projects before, and he is always on time, prepared, and professional. Thanks to his suggestions and advice, we were able to book the right audio equipment. He even took time off his internship to be on set with us for the 4 days. He got to know the actors and was involved on set. If I actually make it in the industry, I will bring Daniel on board for everything I do. It’s easy to trust someone who is so focused and easygoing. I’m disappointed he graduated from our university program already.

    Lighting — Vik Moudgill

    We found Vik through the co-writer, Dhruv. I had never met him before, but was impressed by how helpful, patient, and knowledgeable he is. Vik was always on time on set, and dragged all his heavy lighting equipment wherever it was needed. He even helped me with the settings on my DSLR, which I’m still not too familiar with Vik made lighting and camerawork look easy, and when he wasn’t working on those two areas, he was chatting with us about the industry. I actually ended up learning a lot from him!

    Makeup — Chantal Hazineh

    Chantal, Chantal, Chantal… I had worked with Chantal once before, but very briefly. I got to know her a lot better on this project. A jack of all trades, Chantal isn’t afraid to try her skilled hand at everything. She is an excellent makeup artist who is able to pull off virtually any desired look. I had no idea before the shoot, but she also happens to be an intense metalhead! Who knew? She provided excellent suggestions to the actors while on set when we were shooting the concert and backstage scenes. I really look forward to working with her again!

    Most of the camerawork was done by me with my DSLR, while Jeff worked another camera on Sunday for the office scene.

    Unfortunately he wasn’t able to be on set for the concert, backstage, cafe, or backyard scenes to be cinematographer, so I did my best without. His part really comes after we wrap shooting — he will be co-editing with me, and shopping the EPK around to potential investors. He’s basically supposed to find the $ needed to fund the full feature. *fingers crossed*

    Dhruv Jani was only able to be on set for the office scene on Sunday because he works his day job, but he did manage to take some beautiful still photographs. He really is a talented “fly on the wall” sort of photographer! Besides that, he’s also a fun and intelligent guy.

    Thomas Marchese wrote a wonderful script and is the social butterfly of the group, always updating the rest of us on recent events in Toronto or news in the headbanger world He was key in briefing me about the characters, and helping cast. And, of course, for bringing us all today at first!

    In the Future

    We still have an evening worth of shooting ahead of us tonight, but I’m sure it will go smoothly as with everything else. It’s actually my first semi-nude scene as a director, but I’m going to try my best to handle it with class. I’ve put together a shot list to make the awkward scene as easy as possible for both the actors and the crew. More updates to come!

    Addendum

    Wow, so I just finished shooting the entire demo tonight. We shot two rather contrasting scenes between Liz, played by the intense and talented Carter Reid, and Paul, played by the entirely absorbing Rob Renda. The two of them had to do a love scene, and then a fight scene — essentially the highest and lowest parts of a relationship, all within the same 6 hours. I cannot applaud those two enough, since they really pulled off the scene.
    I did it. I directed a demo reel, something I’ve never done before. I quadrupled the initial demo script (so they have plenty more footage to work with), I arranged 3 of 6 locations, I was on set everyday all day, I wrapped shooting half a month before they needed it done, and I got a cast and crew that everyone is eager to work with again. I would say I definitely feel like I accomplished what I set out to do.

    The only thing I would change is my responsibility on set. There were so many times when I felt like I had too much on my plate which didn’t let me focus on directing. The other thing is that while I know what shots look good, I’m terrible with settings on my DSLR so I felt like a complete idiot whenever anyone asked me about the iris, ISO, aperture, etc. As a director, my job is to find excellent actors, which I did, and to have a vision for the film. The only times I drew a blank were when asked about technical aspects of the camera, or to provide advice on lighting. I wish I were better at the technical side of filmmaking, but my passion and forte is the overall vision.