SubscribeI am the lead male actor from the indie feature film "After Last Season", which will be released to a few theaters on 6/5 (details at afterlastseason.com).
I've read some wild speculation about the film as I've surfed the web, I thought I'd post a little behind the scenes info about the film for those that would like to hear a little more of the reality behind the film.
By the way, as for the release, they are negotiating for additional theaters, particularly near Boston. If it does well in theaters, additional theaters may be booked in subsequent weeks.
I haven't seen the film (I plan to be in Rochester at the 7:45 & 10pm shows on Friday), so I don't know everything about it, but as the male lead, I was around for most of the shooting.
I've noticed questions about artistic intent, but those questions would be better discussed with the writer/director, Mark Region.
As Mark already explained in an interview, he shot a feature length film. It was shot on 35mm. From all I know, the trailer appears to be an accurate preview of the final product.
As for a little behind-the-scenes info on the production, this was shot in a process that seemed unique to me. I've done 20 shorts & features, as lead and supporting roles. But this was my first on film (35mm), which made things interesting. The shooting method was pretty efficient, both on time, and film stock. On video I'm used to multiple takes, and standard coverage (master and close-ups). That gets expensive on 35mm, and of course it's time-consuming, and this wasn't shot quite that way. To use time, and film stock efficiently, a number of times Mark didn't shoot the scene, but rather just individual lines from various scenes, out-of-sequence, in close-up. He planned to assemble these shots in editing to form the scene. Mark seemed to already have the entire film visually in his head, right down to what shots, angles, masters, and close-ups would be in a scene. Because of this he could shoot only what he knew he needed, and time and budget didn't get expended on extraneous coverage.
This allowed him to do things like have 1 setup, like a close-up on one actor, and he'd have them perform just line 18 from scene 80, then line 12 from scene 20, etc. With a little attention to remaining footage, this approach let him pack dialog lines into every last bit of film before retiring that reel, and without having to move the camera or lights. While I would say I prefer performing full scenes, with a partner, more often, it was a new challenge to tackle work that way and learn how to work with this approach.
Of course, this made for a little extra pressure on the actors. Mark hoped to get most of the shots in just 1 take, which he generally did. And of course you had to complete your lines before the reel ran out. All of this contributed to efficiency in using film stock. It also made for a bit more of a challenge to "keep your place" in the film. Since individual lines of a scene might be shot stand-alone over several days, and out of sequence, the actor's task was to keep getting into the context of where in the scene and the film this shot/line was going to appear.
Like any film, we had our unexpected production challenges as well. In our case, we ran into a problem with the heating, so much of the shoot was unheated. Since this was winter in northern MA it got pretty cold. Our characters wore light clothing, so shooting got pretty interesting. Now you know why you see red noses in the trailer! The troublesome part was when your lips got too stiff to speak well! But every shoot has its unique tales behind the production, and this became one of ours. Actors, and everyone on a film team, need the spirit to cheerfully tackle all challenges, including physical adversity, and we did.
I've also noticed remarks about the sets. From what I saw, I would say that in-person the set design often conveyed a stark, minimalist feel. I don't know yet what the total on-screen effect of them will be.
I hope this peek behind the scenes will be of interest to those looking to learn more about this film. If I have any additional interesting news about the film I will be publishing updates on my public Facebook page that is for fans to find news.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jason-Kulas/81856376634
--Jason Kulas
It seems like this is some sort of viral marketing campaign or spoof. A friend of mine here in Austin says one of the women in the trailer works at Austin Film Studios, which might indicate some sort of connection to Richard Linklater.Until I hear otherwise, my money's on Linklater.
After Last Season is what I imagine an autistic person might see when watching a film: stripped down to its absolute basics, there’s a lot of talking and some special effects, then more talking and some credits, and that’s it.Based on the interview with the director, I wonder if this reviewer is on to something. Mark Region doesn't talk like somebody who has deliberately made an avante-garde exploration of meaning; he talks like somebody who really thinks he's made a traditional narrative film. Perhaps he is a highly functioning autistic (or, at least, somewhere along the autistic spectrum), and watching "After Last Season" is like seeing a traditional narrative film through his eyes.
« Older If you're loathe to invest in an e-Book because yo... | Luke Cole,... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:43 PM on June 7