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Justin Evan’s No-Budget Odyssey
Portland moviemaker Justin Evans no-budget odyssey making A Day in the Life is a study in perseverance
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| Left: Evans behind the camera; top: Portland actor, Marc Mahoney; bottom: Evans's high school drama teacher Rick Crouse in a starring role. |
My knuckles should have been bleeding, because I'd just punched a glass coffee table. Hard. My fist expressed frustration through a glass surface because of some rather bad news regarding my first feature film. It was stolen. I had spent all my savings on the film. Dropped out of NYU for the film. Quit my job at a photo lab three weeks prior for the film. Now I had nothing to show my interested distributor and therefore nothing to sell. A diamond ring sparkled on my fiance's finger that required 12 more monthly payments. All my plans and dreams had been destroyed. And Christmas was only two weeks away.
As I gathered the shards of glass, A Day In The Life was born. It wasn't an epiphany and was far from focused. Simply, I knew that my first feature was forever gone and that left me no other choice but to begin again. And I needed to make sure the tragedies of the first film would not be repeated.
Learning from one's mistakes is not an easy task. One is capable of learning from mistakes in both positive and negative directions. I almost learned not to trust anyone. Instead, I studied up on contract law, acquired copies of some standard studio contracts, and decided to surround myself with a better caliber of people. Contracts don't guarantee honesty. Honest people don't nullify the need for contracts. I almost learned the only way to make a film is to lie. Lie to insurance agencies, casting agents, equipment companies, cast and crew about budget, number of shooting days, script content, and anything else that might result in a negative answer. Although many independent filmmakers consider lying "Standard Operating Procedure" I could not accept this. From a moral standpoint I believe the ends never justify the means. If I could not make a film honestly then it's not worth making. The first film's foundation of industry-standard white lies caused its downfall. I was certain an attempt to make a film honestly could fair no worse.
The final concept I almost learned, a concept the entire industry accepts as a mighty galactic law, is that a film made for 10 grand is incapable of looking more expensive than 10 grand. On the surface this appears logical, mathematical, self-evident. However, X-number of dollars is not the only factor in calculating production value. The appropriate equation is X-number of dollars plus Y-number of productive hours equals Z--production value. Inexpensive digital technology increases Y exponentially. Storyboarding, rehearsals and lighting diagrams all increase the productivity of hours spent, as well. Time, in the right amounts, can look like enormous amounts of money.
These lessons became my mantra. I began working on A Day In The Life the next day. Of all the new people involved with the production, my co-director, James Walker, proved to be my strongest asset. Despite the monolithic set-back, James raised $2,000.00 for the initial February shoot. He quit his job in Ashland and slept on my couch for six weeks while we phoned companies, held casting sessions, scouted and secured locations, and locked down enormous amounts of equipment.
We decided to shoot one third of the film with our initial money. I began writing letters of intent to companies and putting together small proposals of stills, schedules, and script pages. James met with the companies we sent these to and established our needs. We targeted companies that had helped us with the first film. Most of the companies agreed to help again. The small amount invested in letters and proposals netted us a helicopter, 30,000 watts of light, a 1-ton grip truck, an Arri-SRII with all the trimmings, and 5,000 feet of donated stock from Kodak.
Our next task was crew selection. James placed ads at the local film school and several colleges for crew positions. We received about 40 resumes for crew positions. After a series of interviews 16 people were selected. I deliberately favored Portland actors because it would save us money and allow me to have extensive rehearsals.
James then used our proposal and accumulated information to secure a location. Our proposal, dedication, and insurance convinced Waddles, a famous 40-year-old Portland diner, to let us shoot for six (two weekends) nights in their restaurant. We signed simple but clear contracts with the location in order to establish what each party expected.
Our final job was to rehearse both cast and crew. Actors were required to be off book when they walked in the door for the first rehearsal. Our goal was to hone the performances to perfection before we began shooting. All the actors had stage backgrounds and found this quite comfortable. I also met with certain crew members and made sure they knew their duties. Free crews lack experience, and therefore will function slowly. I spent time helping them hone their skills so magazines would load quickly and lights would move swiftly into place.
We also spent time planning every shot and lighting set-up before we began shooting. We spent a total of eight nights sitting in the booths of Waddle's drawing out the lighting diagrams and deciding each camera set-up with precision.
With the equipment secured, contracts signed, cast and crew rehearsed, and every shot and lighting set-up prepared we began shooting A Day In The Life on January 26, 1996 at 7:00 P.M. Despite all our plans, complications arose. It snowed during the first weekend's shoot, which rarely happens in Portland. This slowed travel time considerably. James laughed that the weather could get no worse.
As we began preparing for our second weekend, the snow melted and refroze as an inch of black ice. Travel time grew from 20 minutes to an hour and a half. The crew arrived two hours early to beat impending road closures. But despite all the weather set-backs, shooting went smoothly. Our work impressed an actor's parents so greatly they invested $1,000.00 toward our next shoot. James laughed at how the weather could get no worse. So the ice melted into the worst flood to hit Portland since the 1950s. Mud slides wiped out homes and closed highways for months. President Clinton declared Portland a disaster zone. James never discussed the weather again.
In March we shot another third of the film. The process we had mastered for the first six-day shoot was simply repeated. Our work convinced our new investors to give us enough money to shoot the final 30 minutes of the movie and transfer all the film to BetacamSP. And our video transfer impressed the owner of a post-production facility so much he agreed to defer all post-production costs until the film was picked up by a distributor.
On January 1, 1997 A Day In The Life will be answer-printed. The film boasts an arial montage at sunrise, seven major locations, over 800 camera set-ups, a 40-minute original score, impeccable sound design, a theatrical quality poster, digital press kits, and a company website. We've spent only $17,000.00. Thank God. I've still got a coffee table to replace. MM
Justin Evans can be reached through his email
address, jevans@portlandpictures.com
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Bart Johnson on 8/02/10 at 8:54 am
All our international transaction occurs in USD & not in INR. This occurs no matter whom we trade with. For example we buy crude oil from Saudi Arabia, yet we pay them in $ & not in Rial or INR. Why should we use $ in payment, why not INR or some other country be the trading currency. This not the case with India, all over the world they do this. Other dominant currency is euro. But why should international monetory be controled by rich nations, why not it be poor nation. Why should a fate of one country be decided by other country ?
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This story was published in the February 1997 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
That's Life / Portland moviemaker Justin Evans no-budget odyssey making A Day in the Life is a study in perseverance
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