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On a casual Sunday meetup with @huntbeaty and @wingowesley, we asked Hunt, “What are you thinking about for #5?” He told us about our friend @eji206’s brother, who was an amateur bodybuilder; people would hit him up on instagram for his used workout boxers. Hunt said, “what do you think about making a movie about some of these modern online fetishes?” We shot our first day in a Peerspace without any air conditioning on one of the hottest days of summer. Wes would offer up his sage advice: “put a bag of ice on the back of your neck; it’ll help.” He was right. The first time we met @robyouells (we cast him based on Eugene’s short), we shot the “stiletto on Blane’s face” sequence. Our actors have gone above and beyond for these weird little films, and we are forever grateful. It was a privilege to bring back @frankie_thegirl and @hbno2. Day 2 was an overnight at our good friend @reedadler’s Dad’s gym in NJ; this was going to be the only time that they’d be closed for more than 10 hours. After a mad dash to shoot out the planned shotlist, we had to do some prioritizing at the end as customers began to trickle in at 5AM. Our last shoot day would take us to Times Square with a 250mm lens. We ended up shooting the whole film on the 11lb Angenieux 25-250 HR just because of this one shot. After a lot of looks from bystanders and some questions from the cops, we finished principal photography. After the first cut, Wes said, “the opening is strong; you should just edit it all like that - like a music video.” My response was, “we don’t have the footage, man.” We decided to shoot more on my iPhone, introduce some stock, and build the world out more with these screenlife sections. After an outline, 7 drafts of a script, 2.5 principal shoot days, 2 pickup shoots on my phone, and 10 very different edits of the film later, we had PAY PIG. This week concludes our online release of the film with features on @shortoftheweek, @nobudge, @filmshortage, and @directorsnotes. Check out the latest write-up on @closeupculture for the scoop. As always, we are nothing without our friends and collaborators that make this all possible.

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Fresh off of @sxsw with our 3rd film "Sundays" (pics or it didn't happen incoming), it's time to throw back to #bts of our 5th, "Pay Pig" We @huntbeaty @jacardona just received the honor of a re-release of the film and an interview plumbing the depths on this short with @nobudge as well as a writeup with @directorsnotes so you should definitely check those out! Link in bio! Thanks to both these awesome teams! This film in my mind was the classic case of variations in the film you write vs the film you shoot vs the film you edit. It saw so many variations and was several different films across every step of the production process and Beaty, Cardona and I were knee deep every step along the way. As usual, we couldn't have done it (and this film wouldn't have ended the way it did) without each other. It goes without saying that it wouldnt even exist in the first place without out or small, multi-talented, endlessly hardworking cast & crew. These folks are our friends and collaborators and they've given us everything on these projects: wearing ice bags around a sweaty apartment with no AC in July heat, roaming around Times Square at the least good time on no sleep, and proving they can pump more iron at 4AM in an amazing New Jersey gym ( @reedadler ) Also had my first cameo in my dream role: wearing a leash on my own kitchen floor begging for my credit cards to be used and abused, filmed by the clearly comfortable @ancientsquid Thanks to our team and these wonderful platforms writing us up and putting out our content, for making this year possible, for sharing our voices, and to you guys for watching. Credits slowly populating in comments. 📸 @jacardona #film #filmmaking #supportindie #supportindiefilm #cinema #shotonred #filmproduction #r3d #cinematography #shotonred #movies #makemovies #shortfilm #paypig #bodygoals #sounddesign

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Well here it comes: the obligatory #BTS post for our new short F*ck Bunny that I directed with @jacardona & @huntbeaty on production as well as camera/sound. This was my first time directing a script that I didn't personally originate or concept. No joke. @willscourtney suggested the idea offhand over a beer. At that point, we'd been through at least 4 iterations of my own take on a possible script to do for this rotation, but each wasn't working within scope or within time or in its own special hellish way. This was short, it was contained... it was producible. Will banged out the first draft. Casting was a breeze and we were incredibly fortunate to find the immensely talented @frannyfoo (who we immediately knew we wanted to work with) & to continue to be able to lean on @hbno2 You know an actor is down for the cause when you describe the script for THIS project to him & tell him on top of it you won't see his face in the film. Above all, what I enjoyed and learned the most in the process of this short was about adopting someone else's script as your own in the process of pre-pro and production: finding that kernel of the story that's most interesting to you, and having the freedom to run with it and reshape. The script changed quite a bit two days before the shoot, thanks to @ancientsquid on that one fix that brought it altogether. I am continually #blessed😇 to be able to work with Hunt and Andres as partners in crime on these projects. As Andres' has said, each one of these shorts is truly all of ours, and that's probably the best way to describe what they did on this project. @leftofframe joined us in the Catskills, and was indispensable as always in multiple roles, forcing me to cut shotlists while pulling focus and rigging G+E. He deserves photo cred above as well for all the images that are any good to look at. If you haven't seen F*ck Bunny yet, or the first three films from the collective, link is in bio! I laughed so much on this shoot I ruined takes. Thanks everyone. #film #indiefilm #supportindiefilm #filmmaking #setlife #makemovies #filmproduction #r3d #shotonred #cinematography #cinema #allthefeels #whoiswoofblitzer? #anamorphic

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Two weeks before we were on set for F*ck Bunny, we were going to shoot a completely different script. The production logistics ultimately seemed too complicated and antithetical to our sort of mission statement for these shorts. Plan B. Our good friend @willscourtney had written a short script after a night of riffing with @huntbeaty that we all liked. Almost as a joke, Wes asked, “What if we just made that one? It’d be so much cheaper and easier to produce.” And just like that, we started workshopping the script, adding layers, introducing new ideas, and getting more drafts from Will and Wes. The script would continue to change until the day before we shot. I must have cold called and cold e-mailed over a dozen motels before we found one near NYC that would house our production at cost. Hunt and I scouted and did little realty-style walkthrough vids for Wes to see. The costumes came from a little shop in NJ. Fun fact: it was originally supposed to be two bunnies until we saw what incredible options this place had. Hunt would put on the heads and I would text photos to Wes to see which costumes we wanted to land on. We were lucky enough to find @frannyfoo the week before, and @hbno2 has just been a staple of the collective. We always try to sneak him in. We had Will on set handling props, lunch, etc. Dave and Wes would help me with lighting and camera, while Dave also acted as AD. Hunt was back behind the headphones again, hiding lavs in animal costumes as a career-first. We were all about to be very unavailable for a month or two, so I started syncing and cutting right away. I’d e-mail the project file to Wes, he’d make his changes and then send it back. So we actually were able to picture-lock this one in about two weeks. @tarcisiolongobardi started dialogue edits and @ted00000000 brought it home with some very creative sound design as per usual. @corychoy did the final mix, and at the 11th hour we actually decided to add that Radio DJ voice; our friend @jasonk84 was kind enough to lend his talents. As always, @alanlouisgordon and @blanknull made everything look so much better. Excited to finally have this one out there!

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We released “Sundays” a month ago today, and I’m finally getting around to our obligatory #bts post. The short has been featured on @shortoftheweek @nobudge @filmshortage and is continuing to rack up views, which is all we are ever really after - for folks to watch our shorts. Can’t thank our friends that contributed enough. First and foremost, my partners in crime and main collaborators on these shorts @wingowesley @huntbeaty — It’s been a hell of a ride so far, looking forward to pushing the rest of our shorts out. @actingleo I’m so happy that we found you. I know we put you in some situations that were out of your comfort zone, but you really delivered; you should be proud of your performance. Rob, thanks for hangin’ in; your vulnerability in that first scene sets up the entire film. @taterchipmc you’re awesome - can’t thank you enough for coming out and delivering the way you always do. Kerrys, Eden, London, and Liana, you brought a sense of realism to the entire thing. Jerry, Rodwin, and Parvati, you filled out the movie and made it complete. @leftofframe @willscourtney @brennanmcvicar @mcdoyle26 Thank you for showing up and making the production actually happen. @jacoblamendola @bmcauley629 Thank you for all the notes; you made the film better. @hazyl.ak You’re the best - always a great attitude and the production audio sounds great. @ted00000000 I wish I could have been there for your six hour hang-out-in-a-car-and-eat-mcdonalds-while-recording-yourself session; your creativity knows no bounds and you elevate all of these films with your unique sound design. @tarcisiolongobardi @corychoy I’m always amazed at how much the dialogue editing and final sound mix elevate the quality of the film; you made it feel like a movie. @alanlouisgordon You constantly remind me that you really know what you’re doing; your talents and technical prowess bleed into every frame. @blanknull You truly are a master of your craft and elevate each shot that you work on. @sonyatvmusicpub @erasureinfo It still astounds me that you were willing to let us use your beautiful music for this small little movie; it’s the framework of the entire film.

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A few months ago - after @wingowesley @generalbreeziness, and I decided to start making these shorts - I set up some prompts for projects that I thought we could execute within our means to maybe inspire a treatment out of one of us. Hunt took to one of these for the short that he’d direct, hoping that our friends at @silversoundnyc might help us out with the location. From there, we all wrote multiple treatments and drafts around the same concept and reconciled a shooting script. We thought shooting everything in one location would simplify things, but the truth of the matter is none of these shoots have been easy. While we tried to pull some favors on this one too, the crew just ended up being the three of us with @allisonbrookebeauty on HMU and Ash Knowlton, Louis Gordon, and @ted00000000 mixing sound. After the shoot was done and we started editing, the movie turned into something very different. We realized that one of our favorite moments was a long take - about 50 seconds - of Stacey’s eyes watching the monitor, which didn’t really fit into the short we had in mind; this shot was supposed to be a quick insert, but her performance here was just too good. We decided to rewrite all of the offscreen dialogue, re-edit, shoot some more footage on an iPhone; then we rewrote and re-edited a couple more times and boxed ourselves into the final film. Getting selecting for #shortoftheweek and then receiving a #vimeostaffpick today is quite an honor and validation for all of the hard work and sleepless nights that went into making this short. Hunt, Wes, and I put a lot of work into this, but it wouldn’t be anything without the performances from @w_stac, @hbno2, @filmkicks, @andrew.erwin, and @yuval_david_. The images were taken to a new level because of the work @blanknull and @alanlouisgordon put into it. And the sound really becomes the cohesion of the piece that makes it all work because of the tireless efforts from @tarcisiolongobardi, @ted00000000, @corychoy and the rest of the @silversoundnyc team. @vimeo @shortoftheweek #shortfilm #setlife #r3d #voiceover #cinematography #anamorphic #thesoundofyourvoice

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It’s really hard to keep making narrative films because it’s so expensive and usually necessitates a minimum amount of crew. @wingowesley @hunt____ and I very much work in the commercial world, and a few months ago we decided to just start making small films regularly and put them out fast. Otherwise, they get too expensive and we get too precious and it takes a year to finish. While we tried calling in some favors, it ended up being a 3-4 person crew on this one at any given time. We all took turns carrying the camera, because we were in the middle of a swamp with a pretty heavy rig and I can be a diva sometimes. While I would never opt for this under any other circumstance, Dave, our Co-producer, would pull focus; and when he had to grab lunch, Wes would direct and pull focus at the same time. Since we were partly cloudy at times and we were going for an overcast look, Hunt would be carrying around 2 C stands, a couple sandbags, and a large scrap of muslin to hang between them. Peter Dodenhoff was kind enough to be our fourth on Day 2, and he was the reason we found this great location in the first place. I can’t thank the people that helped push this through in post enough: @orhesboring @ted00000000 @post_pro_gumbo @alanlouisgordon I thought the shoot was tough, but there’s a reason why passion projects take forever in post or just die. Watch the film, “Into Quiet," link in my bio. Second one’s in the can, and looking forward to pushing forward with these. Nicer photos by @leftofframe #r3d #cinematography #angenieux

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Link to film still in bio, check it out! This one was very different for me as I wrote and produced it with the other two gents who are making this rotating series (we rotate the position of director on the film) and this one was directed by @generalbreeziness (who produced, along with @jacardona , the one I directed last month). It was shot by Andres as well. So all three of us really had on our hands on every aspect of it, which was new for us as a group as well. At this size, everybody ends up doing a lot on every project, so while Hunt was working with @w_stac and @hbno2 on their performance, Andres and I would be swapping lenses, throwing up lights and stapling muslin to the ceiling while we jabbered incessantly with Hunt about whether or not he had the coverage he needed as we cut shots from the shotlist. At times, I'd read against Stacey as one of the bad off screen dudes on her phone while Andres pulled his own focus and Hunt watched monitor and lined the script. All of this inside of a VO booth that's as claustrophobic as it looks. As you can see, all of our gear skirted the edge of every composition on almost every shot. Somehow managed to sneak some real microphones in there with our awesome production sound team. In post, While Andres was editing, I'd be drinking beer and leaving him really nasty voice messages so that he could float them in as temp "Fuck Him!" monologue before we recorded our real off screen actors. All three of us rewrote the entire script (particularly the off screen voices) in the post process, and then recut the movie to fit the new dialogue. We repeated this process several times. This was super interesting as we actually slowly but surely boxed ourselves into the film. Really grateful for the experience, and it's nice to be working with a team who are as versed in every step of the process as I try to be. We really check and balance each other with complementary and contrasting directorial arguments. And that's fucking fun. @ted00000000 @tarcisiolongobardi @silversoundnyc @andrew.erwin @alanlouisgordon @post_pro_gumbo @blanknull #r3d #shortfilm #filmmaking #setlife #voiceover #cinema

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