October, 2023.
It’d be a few more weeks before the actor’s strike would come to a close, turning for me and fellow producers/DPs/editors a normally busy Fall into a whole lot of spare time. Even with the possibility of a deal looming there were whispers… work wasn’t coming back soon.
So, in the middle of a party for the in-CRED-ible Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, I turned to my friend Courtney, herself a shooter/producer/editor, and asked the question:
“Do you want to make a bunch of horror short films to release in a year?”
Shockingly… her answer was ‘yes.’
THE FISH HAS LEFT THE WATER
We approached a number of other past collaborators, and the enthusiasm was immediate. Most of these folks had been in the ‘real people’ space for awhile and were eager to try those skills against something new.
“I’m a big believer in ambition as an ingredient in good filmmaking” said DP Dan Lance. “I was sold right away, no questions asked.”
DP Dan Lance enjoys a shot that, apparently, horrifies ‘Pry’ lead Kaleb SaleebyJeremy Berger
First, however, we needed scripts. So we sat through and shared every spooky thing we could find, film or no. Courtney was a big fan of Deep Dark Fears on Instagram, Dan loved everything Junji Ito, and I dove headfirst into everything from Stephen King to Tales From The Darkside.
At the time, I was the one with the most writing experience, so write I did. So, every day for 30 days, I sat down and wrote a short film. WE set the rules at no more than five pages, ideally even shorter. We wanted these to be short and easy to access.
Some were winners, some were good, and a lot were not… but out of that initial burn we at least got what we needed to get going on the first. And we started planning our first shoot.
LESSON 1: IT TAKES TWICE AS LONG AS YOU THINK…
It is easy to forget sometimes, just how different the worlds of documentary and narrative filmmaking can get.
Our first production, Pry, was written expressly to take advantage of a location that became available… a creepy attic.
Courtney Collins slating up on “Pry.”Jeremy Berger
The attic was above the NLK Studio in Jersey City, so we were able to use the industrial elevator as well. Courtney was our Lighting Designer and lit up the space with Astera Titan Tubes, emphasizing pockets of light for our talent to move through. On paper, it looked simple. One location, a few setups, and little to no set dressing that wasn’t already there. And if we needed anything? It’s all three floors down. Sounds straightforward!
The shoot took 14 hours, and everyone got their leg day in on the three flights of stairs.
LESSON 2: STORYBOARD, STORYBOARD, STORYBOARD…
Director Courtney Collins’ storyboard for ‘Deda.’Jeremy Berger
Storyboarding is not something you’re used to in documentary. In fact, part of the appeal of shooting a documentary in the first place is the immediacy, the think-on-your-feet aspect of verite filmmaking. Considering how much journalism was in our backgrounds, planning out our shots had us scratching our heads.
So storyboard we did.
LESSON 3: ANYTHING CAN BE SCARY.
Resourcefulness is always top-of-mind when you’re a budget-starved documentary filmmaker. Turns out to be a useful skill to develop when you turn into a budget-starved horror filmmaker as well.
What did we have? What resources were available to us? What is such a natural part of our environment that its presence is second nature to us yet, with a slight change in perspective, could be terrifying?
Attics. Our Children. Polaroid cameras… look around you! Has something in your life given you a stir? Can that be ramped up to Wagnerian proportions?
Director Estelle Park’s “Mona” takes a look at the classic New York tradition of “sidewalk giveaways” and takes it in a decidedly supernatural direction.
“Mona” by Estelle ParksJeremy Berger
The wonderful thing about this approach is the familiarity of it. People can make a connection more easily if there is an anchor to a shared real-world experience.
LESSON 4: WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE, THE WORK IS THE REWARD.
In the end, we released six short films to our website and YouTube. We screened for a local arts tour and are looking into other screening opportunities.
And we’re making more.
You’ve got a tight-knit group of people you work with, right? Of course you do. This business has always been a social one, where a single recommendation is worth a hundred resumes.
From left: Arden Duffield, Jeremy Berger, Estelle Parks, Courtney Collins, Trinity Colvin, and Dylan GoodwinJeremy Berger
So when we got together to try something new, we had a background of experiences. Those experiences are why we named ourselves ‘TLBX’ to begin with… an assortment of multi-tools that can tackle anything you throw at us.
“I’ve known my colleagues for years, working on a plethora of different style projects.” Said Collins. “The idea of collaborating with this group, because of the respect I have for their creative appetites, made it a very easy “Yes!” – Especially with the idea of working in a genre that, though is new to me professionally, I’ve adored since I was a kid watching “Children of the Corn” and “IT” on my parents huge box TV – late nights with my sister.”
And along the way? We found that we didn’t want to stop. We were making something by ourselves and for ourselves in the way we wanted to make it. And when work calls again? We now have a variety of new skills to bring, new experiences to share, and different perspectives to bring to it.
So, what’s outside your comfort zone? What’s keeping you from checking it out?
Author: Jeremy Berger
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
