There are always interesting, behind-the-scenes info whenever you make a short film…
The Camera
The Polaroid camera used in the film was owned by director Terry D. Coates’ father. It was very dirty, but still functional after years of disuse. The “old army coat” also belonged to Terry’s Dad.
Socks in Bed
In the film, Jack Netl’s character, David, wears socks to bed. Jack himself, apparently does not, as pointed out by one of his family members during the initial screening. Jack said he left his socks on because he hadn’t trimmed his toenails and didn’t want to frighten anyone. Fair enough.
18 hand-made, fake photos
Every Polaroid picture in the film was actually a fake, green-screen blank. Terry made 18 dummy photos in the exact dimensions of a Polaroid picture. The photos seen in the film were taken on an IPhone, made to look slightly faded and then later subbed in during post-production. The picture of Andrea taken in the kitchen (which she points to on the counter) is real. It was developing when that scene was shot. But even that picture was not used in subsequent scenes because its color didn’t match the others. And in that scene, the smudge had to be added in post-production.
Lightning-fast Shooting
Principle photography for the 27-page script was completed in 20 hours of on-set time, primarily by a crew of two. The average is to shoot about 5 pages per day and we averaged double that.
Due to the short filming time, many scenes were done in one take. Laura Dinn, who played The Fixer, was only available for one day of shooting.
Because of last-minute work demands, Dave Poole completed parts of the soundtrack on an airplane to Reno, Nevada and in a hotel room there.
Shaking Gun
When Andrea (Amanda Bauer) held the gun she was supposed to shake because she was nervous. The gun weighed over two pounds, so most of the shaking was natural.
Have camera, will travel. But not far.
Aside from the office scenes, the entire film was shot at the Bauer residence, the street in front of the house and two parks less than a quarter mile away.
Cheek to Cheek
The first take of the running embrace near the end almost ended in disaster. Jack went left when he was supposed to go right and he hit his jaw on Amanda’s forehead. The moment can be seen in the version of the film that includes outtakes.
Cheek to Air
The shorts Jack wore in the unboxing scene had split open during the shoot, unbeknownst to Jack or anyone present at the shoot. We only had one shot for that part of the scene and it clearly showed Jack’s underwear. So we had to “fix it in post” and as a result you can’t tell. Not that you should be looking there…
Micro-budget, Indeed
The single largest expense on the budget was Saturday’s pizza order for lunch.
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