A MAN RECEIVES UNBELIEVABLE NEWS ON A PHONE CALL FROM HIS FAMILY

AND HE STRUGGLES TO STAY CONNECTED

*REMINDER: THIS IS A PRIVATE SCREENING. SHARING THE LINK TO THIS VIDEO AND/OR THIS WEBSITE IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED

CLICK THE PLAY ICON IN THE IMAGE BELOW TO WATCH THE FILM

BELOW YOU WILL FIND A "BEHIND THE SCENES" VIDEO AS WELL AS PHOTOS THAT SHOWCASE ALL OF THE HARD WORK WE PUT INTO THE PROJECT.

THE VIDEO & PHOTOS CONTAIN SPOILERS SO BE SURE TO WATCH THE FILM FIRST.

THE BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO WAS FILMED BY RICH FONT & KAYLEIGH FONT

THESE STILLS WERE PHOTOGRAPHED BY CAROLINA STAMEY ON SET IN WARRENTON, NC. THE LOCATION WAS GRACIOUSLY PROVIDED BY KRISTEN & ZAYNE TABER AND WAS AN ACTIVE CONSTRUCTION ZONE WHILE THEY WERE PREPPING TO TURN IT INTO "BRAGGING ROOSTER BEER AND MEAD"

NOW THAT YOU HAVE SEEN THE FILM, HERE ARE SOME FUN FACTS AND INSIGHT ON THE CREATION OF THE FILM:

The film was written by Zach Stamey and it was based on an actual dream that he had one night. He woke up and wrote the idea down and knew that it would be a great idea for a film. One day, a short film contest was announced online by a lighting company called "Aputure" and it was that contest that sparked Zach to turn the idea into a screenplay, his first.

Unfamiliar with the process of writing a screenplay, he researched extensively and worked to put everything together. With the help of a 3D filmmaking software called "Cine Tracer", he set out to model the location in his computer and place all of the elements, actors, and lighting to plan for pre-production.

Time was limited so this pre-visualization process was a key element for production. Screenshots from this software were used to create the shot list for the film and used on set to help create the scenes, set up lights, and place actors.

The three main rules of the film contest were that it had to be: filmed entirely in one geographical location, had to showcase creative lighting, and it had to be less than 5 minutes.

The filming location was perfect because they were able to drive a vehicle into the basement via a ramp and they found a section of the wall upstairs that was green and suited perfectly to be dressed as a hospital room. The location did provide some challenges as there were a lot of windows in the front of the building and they had to all be blocked out so that production could take place during the day and there was only one working outlet at the time of filming so they had to run drop cords all throughout the building to power the lights.

Another unforeseen challenge was the heat. The day of filming was very hot and since the building was closed and an active construction zone, there was no central air. Over the span of the 8 hour filming day, the crew had to turn on a huge fan in between every take just to keep everyone from suffering the heat.

Given the short timeline to get the film submitted by the deadline, none of the actors had time to rehearse together in person. Instead, they rehearsed over the phone via video calls, which turned out to be very fitting as that's how they communicated in the film as well.

The actors never spoke directly to one another during the filming, rather the forward-facing camera on the cell phone would film them as they spoke to themselves, then the footage was airdropped from one iPhone to another to have the actor hold and play those scenes. So the actor only always saw themselves as they were delivering their lines, adding another challenge to their role as an actor.

The glitch effect that happens in the phone as Alicia tries to tell Kyle that he was in an accident was created on location. After Alicia performed her line and it was recorded into the phone, the video file was airdropped to a Macbook and Zach added the glitch effect to the video and then sent the video to Kyle's phone so that it could be played. Aputure had another rule that the word "Accent" must be spoken in the film and that's the reason the glitch moment was created so that as Alicia tells Kyle he was in an accident, he misunderstands her to say something about his accent.

The "brain scanner" device was actually a pair of cheap headphones that were disassembled and an LED strip was installed inside the band. The strip was remotely controlled to turn on and off as well as change colors and pulsate.

Rich Font, the videographer who filmed the "Behind the Scenes" video, was also cast as the doctor in the film. His daughter, Kayleigh Font, also helped with production on set as well as helping Rich film behind the scenes content.

The film did not make it into Aputure's contest as it was limited to only one film from North America, but the film has since been submitted for consideration into film festivals, thus this private screening. Film festivals enjoy and sometimes require the exclusivity of showcasing films that aren't available anywhere else, thus providing value to their ticket sales for their festivals.

HERE ARE THE "STORYBOARD" IMAGES CREATED FROM THE CINE TRACER SOFTWARE

The hospital scene had to be reversed on set due to a large crack in the left side of the wall that wasn't noticed until setting up the scene the day of filming.

Thank you for taking the time to watch the film and for looking through everything that went into the making of it. It was a labor of love and financed soley by Zach and Carolina Stamey. Perhaps this film will one day become a feature length film and explore the subject further.