Shooting is done!

Well, I'm sitting at my computer, it's 1:15 in the morning, editing away. This to me is the fun part. For a movie to come out sort of neat, a couple of minutes of film can take days of editing.

There are two parts to this movie. The first is more dynamic. It's fast, zippy-dy-zap, back and forth. The second half is the heaven scene. This part is more didactic, a tiny bit slower, but nonetheless, I have to say, the acting is superb, very well done thanks to Mike and Konrad.

I'm hoping to have this all done in another week or so. Until then, here's a little taste of the heaven scene. This isn't the final look at all, I just put it together quickly for a preview with no blurs, glows, or any other effects. Enjoy.

The amazing stunt team

This was perhaps one of the most fun days of shooting so far, the accident scene, shot in downtown Honolulu. Everyone was fabulous, and even though I don't show everyone but the three stunt guys, I can't forget all who were very helpful: my wife Grace, of course, Mike who's developing into an amazing actor, Laura, Craig, Paul, Josh and Savannah (who shot the behind the scenes footage).

More to come!

Mike Devenny's Blog

Today was a very productive day! It started with a one hour walk, in the hot sun, to break in the bus pass that Tony and Grace found me. Once I got to Tony’s, he and Grace made an awesome lunch! Our first shot of the day was the wedding. Not bad, I’ve been on the island for 2 months, and I’m already getting married! We had a few churches in mind to shoot in front of. Some of the ladies on the set decided to ask for permission to shoot at the church across the street from the apartment, and luckily they agreed. The church had a beautiful courtyard with a fountain. The sun was great, and we got some great shots.


But sadly…I haven’t seen or spoken to my “on screen wife” since that day. I think we’re going to end up “seeing other on screen people”.

Immediately after the rice was thrown and Tony yelled, “That’s a wrap”. Laura & I headed back to the apartment to apply my horrendously abused makeup. Laura did the amazingist job she’s done so far. (That’s right, it was so good I had to make up a word.) The next shot we decided to tackle, was an artistic idea that Tony had. I don’t want to give away any details, but it involved James driving the truck around the block, me laying in the bed with my head hanging over the tailgate, Tony crouching over me with the camera, and Grace sitting on my leg and holding Tony’s shirt. It was scary, nerve-racking, and awesome all at once.

James took Laura home, and the rest of us were pretty exhausted. We thought about calling it a wrap for the day, but we didn’t want to waste time with good makeup. So we shot the hospital bed scene. Grace bandaged up my wounds, like any good nurse would do. But the real pain came from the chopped onions that I rubbed under my eyes to produce some tears. It worked well…a little to well! For a hospital gown, we took the shirt of a set of scrubs and cut it right down the front. I put it on backwards, and it was wide open in the back. Tony put on a full set of scrubs for moral support. It’s a shame he wasn’t on screen with the scrubs on, because he looked awesome! So awesome in fact, he kept the scrubs on to go shot me walking on the pier.

We realized there weren’t any transition shots between the hospital bed and me and James in Waikiki. So we got a few shots of me taking my crutches for a ride on the pier. We got some great shots, and were really exited about the volume of footage we pulled out of the day. So we rewarded ourselves with homemade steaks! Not only can Tony direct…he can cook!

Hey, thanks, Mike, I appreciate it. But you remind me of the latin word for the coyote from the Road Runner cartoon, Coyote: eatubus almost anythingus. So that's not saying much for my cooking...