WELCOME TO THE LAND

 

WHAT – THE STORY

At a remote East Texas farm, a young professional is entrapped by an estranged friend and wanted fugitive.  Under the desperate threat of deadly force, does he side with the blood-thirsty media and refuse quarter to the accused killer or abide in their friendship, trusting that the encroaching sheriff has yet again resorted to prosecutorial misconduct in the despotic pursuit of political gain?

In this suspense drama, an unplanned reunion pits a life of fortune against one of unwanted fame.  When Landon’s success and knowledge of events that transpired give him power over Ron and his life of crime, animal instincts of survival create uncertainty as to how far a criminal will go to protect his interests, even with his own childhood friend.

WHEN – TIMELINE

The film negative has been cut to match the 16mm work print and the sound team of myself, Joe Mendoza, and Isaac Pena have finish up the main round of composing,  A final sound sweetening/mixing phase has yet to be performed.  The marketing team has recently completed our first Indiegogo campaign which raised $4,400 that was used to pay for our Film to Digital scan at Fotokem in Burbank.  The funds also covered the costs of a professional colorist who completed the final look for our 2k, 10 bit, DCI-P3 Master.  We were in the process of testing a new workflow for digital dust-busting when COVID-19 hit. We were able to finalize the testing with excellent results but the film lab was able to finish scanning only one of our four picture reels. 

The most recent update received from Burbank (August 2020) shared the good news that, while operating on a skeleton crew, the staff of Fotokem will likely be able to finish our scanning in the coming month.  Once we get it, we just need to complete, dust-busting, sound sweetening, record and mix a voice-over.  The finished film will then be test screened for momentum and any final editing decisions will be made before submitting the film to the festival circuit.  Hopefully we’ll get good news that festivals will reopen soon, as this will impact our release date.  In the mean time, Blake is writing more material that can be filmed after our current release.

*For specifics on progress visit our “Project Updates” link at the top.

WHY – THE IMPACT

Study of mythology shows that we understand our world through story.  It’s a part human DNA and movies are how we tell stories in the modern era.  I found myself in film school at age 20 where students are trained to develop our unique voice which is the core of story.  Unfortunately developments in the world of movie distribution have created new obstacles to getting a distribution deal.  The path into an indie film career has obscured by heavy competition ad deep pockets.  Backing indie artists directly by simply following those artists that you identify with means that you support a unique, home grown voice and you have a say in the media that gets produced throughout the world.

HOW – THE METHOD

These days most films are shot in new digital cinema formats.  While digital has developed to the point that it is very cinematic, the new workflows have changed the craft.  Producing on traditional celluloid carries with it an artistic demand which requires a increasingly rare discipline for the filmmaker and his team. This affects the final work.  Presented in rare form, The Land, shot on 16mm film, in Cinemascope widescreen has a unique look and feel.  The 20th century optical engineering lends an extra element of authenticity to the story’s modern era problem.  The 16mm negative is transferred to an inter-positive as were all major motion pictures in the 20th century.  Then we scan it to a 2K Digital Intermediate where the rest of the work is completed.  When finished, we’ll output to a DCI Master Print, the same standard used currently in first run theaters around the world.

WHO – THE TEAM

CAST

Marcus Lomas Name Card_IGG

Taylor Hayden Name Card_IGG

KEY PERSONELL

Blake Nlaleid Name Card_IGG

Sarah Mayer Name Card_IGG

Caron Reaves Name Card2_IGG

Cindy Chavez Name Card_IGG

Rain Chavez Name Card_IGG

Debbie Smith Name Card_IGG

Aaron Marshall Name Card_IGG

Kim Naleid NameCard_IGG

Isaac Pena Name Card_IGG

Rachel Tsangari Name Card_IGG

George Koran Name Card__IGG

PROJECT UPDATES

BEHIND THE SCENES

 

This cabin in the Piney Woods was the setting for the story of the short film entitled, The Land
You may recognize this production still as one of the key images for the marketing of The Land. I loved this shot so much I used it at the end of the film with the sun setting in the background.

 

Two crew members of the short film, The Land, stand by on the movie set
Here’s Marcus and Aaron hanging out while we work on a new setup. In the background you can see a 4×8 sheet of insulation that I bought at Home depot as a make-shift reflector frame. We shot so many exteriors, we needed lots of reflector fill in the shade. There was no lighting done on the exteriors except for the fill. This made it a challenge, even on a bright day because of the cinemascope glass which took out about a stop of light. Shooting with 250 ASA film means we were limited and had to be absolutely sure about the exposure before starting production. With celluloid, you can’t bump up the ASA without changing film stocks, so you have to plan well.

 

Marcus Lomas and Carson Reaves get ready to film a steadicam shot on the set of The Land
Here’s a shot of Carson our DP working the “steady-cam” rig just before a take. The story here is that we didn’t have money for a real Steadi-Cam, so we rented this Hollywood Lite from Kevin Triplett at Mopac Media. Kevin was a true supporter of the indie film arts. He beefed up the rig with custom engineered parts specifically for this production since our Arri SR with Cinemascope gear overloaded this rig that was designed for small video cameras. Even after the modifications, the camera rig was still about five pounds too heavy. Carson is holding up the extra weight with his free hand while operating camera at the same time!

 

Blake Barham Naleid works with his actors on the set of the short film The Land
Here, I’m rehearsing the trail scene with Taylor and Marcus. This scene was difficult to shoot because we had to get about two thirds of it in just two long shots. The long shot can be a lifesaver because it cuts down on the production schedule. It can be a nightmare because the actors really have to hit everything perfect, lines, beat changes, blocking marks…pretty much everything that would normally be broken up into ten or twenty short pieces. They did a great job on both shots. Carson and I had to trade off camera operation duties because the operator had to walk backwards, uphill with an unbalanced steadi-cam to get the shot. After the second take on the second shot, he was worn out, understandably. I compare the shots now and see that Carson did a better job than me, but hey, we got it done!

 

The cinematographer Carson Reaves with the Arriflex Cinemascope Rig
This is the Arri SR with the cinemascope rig. You can see the silver colored baseplate rods and the cinemascope anamorphic lens bracket mounted on the rods. I had this support system custom built by Dan Morris at Unique Designs. Dan was an engineer who designed and built robotic cranes in his back yard only a block away from the UT campus. One of the projects he worked on was optics for a close up of the moon for a Terrence Malick film. Shooting The Land in Cinemascope was a huge risk but it turns out that the anamorphics were the most reliable part of the entire production! What’s the lesson here? TAKE A RISK!

 

Rain Chavez, Aaron Marshall and Marcus Lomas on the set of The Land
Left to Right, Rain, Aaron, and Marcus talk about the technical challenges for the day. You can see one of our many tarps in the background. These were used to cover up exterior lights so that we could keep them set while waiting out the rain storms. As soon as the rain stopped, we fired up the lights and got to shooting. In the case of light drizzle, we shot while it rained.

 

Blake Naleid directing with actor Marcus Lomas on the set of The Land
This is one of the first shots over at “the old houses on the other side of the land”. Here we’re setting up to shoot inside an antique shed that, in the movie, has more than a couple secrets for Landon (Marcus’ character) to discover. We had no power in this location so, it was shot with all natural light. Behind me you can see on of our reflectors used to brighten things up under the shade of several large trees.

 

Blake Barham Naleid discusses the shot with actor Marcus Lomas on the set of The Land
Often times, working with actors is a collaboration, especially when you don’t have enough time or money to do full rehearsals. Things are figured out when you shoot. Even if you plan everything meticulously and block the action in advance, you’ll inevitably run into situations where the plans have to change to meet the conditions found on the day. So we talk through the plan, rehearse the action and then when it’s mostly good, we shoot it. Behind me, here you can see our utility, Matt, holding up our focus chart for the camera op. Normally, you measure focus with a tape, but since we shot in cinemascope, with no focus scale. All focusing on this film had to be done by eye, through the lens!

 

Blake Barham Naleid goes over the scene with actors Marcus Lomas and Taylor Hayden.
This is our rehearsal just before shooting the “Trail Scene”. Carson, our camera op had to walk backwards, uphill with an overweight steadi-cam rig for two long shots that run over a minute each!. Quick 10 minute lunch break…Ok back to work. We’re losing daylight here!

 

Actors Marcus Lomas and Taylor Hayden rehearse a confrontation on the set of The Land
This is the middle of the Trail scene, bookended by two long steadi-cam shots. Here the audience is introduced to our characters’ shared history when Landon jumps to conclusions about Ron’s suspected involvement in unwholesome activities, uncovered by the local Sheriff. The kind of behavior that Landon left behind when he went off to college seven years before.

 

Director Blake Barham Naleid and cinematographer Carson Reaves block a scene on the set of The Land
Blake and Carson go over the storyboard. before shooting the last scene. Only 20% of the script was planned as interior scenes. That, combined with the excessive amount of unpredicted rain caused the production schedule to run twice as long as expected. Note to self: Write more interiors.

 

A production still of actor Taylor Hayden on the set of The Land
This is a production still from the final scene leading up to the climax. This shows the conflict between the two old friends after the truth comes out.

 

A production still of actor Marus Lomas on the set of The Land
A production still from the opposite angle. Landon is no pushover in the face of Ron’s manipulative tactics but when coercion proves ineffective, Ron uses his last resort to get Landon to go along with his plans….But, will it work?

 

This production still of a cows skull and empty beer bottle give the sense of trouble in middle class American paradise
This is Fred, our mascot. He’s creepy looking and it adds just the right amount of a threatening vibe to the story. In screenwriting this is called context. The image works symbolically to create certain expectations in the minds of viewers. Sergei Eisenstein did this famously in his films Battleship Potempkin and October when he used images of lion and peacock statues to make insinuations about characters in the film. Here, the technique is more subtle. Fred is in the background for the film but as you’ll notice, his image is featured more prominently in the marketing and this works to achieve the same goal.

 

 

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