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LAIR LINES
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The Wraith: Eyes of Judgment director/co-writer Stephen J. Semones (as well as the occasional other member of the cast/crew) will keep everyone up-to-date in a regular journal/blog re-counting his experiences working on directing this exciting new film... August 21 2004 Ok, it's been since July 22 since you guys got a proper new Lair Line from me and I'm about to tell all you Wraithheads why!!! Well, we released a trailer? Have you seen it yet? If not, please check it out. As you may or may not know, it IS a teaser and does its job. Trust me, you'll all get a glimpse of The Wraith in action fairly soon, but don't expect too much too soon now. :) After releasing the trailer, I secured us a deal to premiere this film at the world-famous Cinemall. This is a VERY big deal because this theater is state of the art. George Lucas himself has stamped his approval on this theater and they are not too proud to tell you so. This theater has 65 speakers in each theater, including a giant water-cooled subwoofer. This place is really insane and I can't think of anyplace better to premiere The Wraith. They use custom made projectors that are 100% brighter than a regular screen. Because we're filming this in mini DV, the picture quality will be top notch and accompanied dearly by the 5.1 sound mix being supplied by Voodoo Studios. Check out the Cinemall here: www.cinemall.com and try to come to the premiere. While playing Mr. Bigshot (LOL) and securing those deals, I've also been preparing to shoot with Mandi Leigh September 4th & 5th. We're flying her in that weekend from LA and pulling her from her busy schedule to shoot a scene in the film. During that weekend, I'll also be directing her music video that will be on the DVD and released on the Internet sometime between now and the next couple of months. In fact, right now it's about 2:20am. I have to be at work in less than six hours and after 10 hours of that, I'll be planning Mandi's scene shot by shot on location with Derik Nutter and then rehearsing it with the actors. I then have to be at work at 5am Monday morning and work 10 more hours, thus repeating the cycle of killing myself all the way around. However I'm not complaining one bit. I have a fairly easy job and I'd work even harder to get this film made. I'm basically telling you all that I'm basically working 24 hours a day to get this film made as well as providing for my family. All the hard work is finally paying off with a successful trailor release and a premiere location and after it's shot only will I rest. Hahaha. I turned 27 this past Thursday and I guess I'm trying to do it now while I'm young. I've also been dwelling a lot on my age lately, and I can honestly say that if I would have tried doing this film 6 years ago I would have failed. I've been making films since I was 19 and I'm still learning and this has been the best experience yet!!! Last Sunday I shot some pickup shots of David in his Wraith costume as well as bagged a scene with Stacie Cooper. The pickup shots were basically for a scene we previously worked on that required him to be in the suit, but the first time the lighting wasn't as good as it should have been. We basically knew what we wanted and got it in like 15 minutes from having to do it once before. The Leena scene we also worked on turned out very good too! I've been developing a new camera technique and proved my theory correct in that scene. Also for that scene we used something for the very first time. A neutral density lens filter. We lit her scene up too good and had neon white walls all around her, so on went this new filter and WOW!!!! It sucked all the bad light straight out of there and gave it a wonderful clarity. I'll be using this thing often now. hehehe..... The camera technique is something I kind of invented one day and tried, but realized it needed some refinement. Having forgotten my steadi-cam attachment, I decided to try something. New filmmakers pay attention here because I'm about to teach you something cool. I wanted an overhead shot of Leena as she was sitting down and wanted the camera to go from overhead to pan down in front of her and go down to the floor angling up. Ok, I extended two tripod legs the entire length and left one about halfway. Then I slid two of the legs beside of me at my hips and put the shorter leg firmly against my chest. Angling the view screen on the camera down I could monitor the whole shot and move the tripod with my body, thus steadi-camming the shot!!! It moved fluidly like a steadicam, but I could get a better angle with it. After about 3 tries, I had it down and got a VERY cool shot. Ok, class is dismissed. As filming progresses on The Wraith, you'll probably hear less and less from me as far as Lair Lines go, but I will still do them when I can. I was going to do one last Sunday and forgot. From now until Mandi gets here, we won't be shooting. We're rehearsing everything down to the last detail and camera shot, so expect a BIG Lair Line as well as several new pictures in the following days of that shoot!!!!!! Until Next Time....... Take Care and God Bless!! Stephen August 14 2004 BRISTOL, TN.- Once again Sir Reel Films have outdone themselves, but this time it's a whole new medium. Sir Reel Films would like to proudly announce that they have secured the clearance to have the world premiere of The Wraith: Eyes of Judgment at the world famous Abingdon Cinemall Theater. The Cinemall is one of three George Lucas approved theaters in the entire US. It boasts itself as the only theater on the eastern seaboard to have people from over 42 states and 3 countries to visit for the premiere of Star Wars: Episode 2. Each theater has a 65 speaker digital surround sound system, stadium seating, and they carry custom made projectors with special Zenon bulbs that produce a picture that's over 100% brighter than your average theater. They have been showcased on ABC's 'GOOD MORNING AMERICA SHOW' and designated as the best movie theater in the USA by both news media and local patrons. Please visit the Cinemall website at: www.cinemall.com for more information on the theater. The premiere of the film will be sometime in March or April of 2005 and will have a short run at the Cinemall before going off to festivals and conventions. Expect the entire cast and crew on hand for pictures, autographs, and more as the Cinemall hosts the release party for the media and local patrons. Sir Reel Films are extremely honored to be able to have the public view this film on such a big level and are looking forward to showing for the first time at the Abingdon Cinemall. What better place to show the best Independent Comic Book Film of all time? There isn't a better place. Thank you. August 12 2004 BRISTOL, TN. - Today, long awaited footage for the upcoming comic book film THE WRAITH: EYES OF JUDGMENT was released. The first look is a teaser trailor that runs around 1 minute in length and hints at this mysterious avenger of the underworld's origin. This highly anticipated film is well under way and should be available Spring of 2005 for conventions and film festivals the world over. On June 1, 2005, Sir Reel Films will unveil the adaptation on DVD for everyone to see. There are two versions (low and high bandwidth) for you to choose from on www.sir-reelfilms.com. The low is in Windows Media Format while the high is in MPEG format. A Quicktime version is also on the way shortly, but for now you'll whet your appetite at this awesome trailor. Already gaining an international buzz and anticipation, The Wraith will offer something for not just fans of the comic. The story follows the novel and comic series faithfully, but expands The Wraith's universe into a three-dimensional experience. A dramatically paced film, it will showcase a superior story by Frank Dirscherl (Founder- Trinity Comics & Editor/Publisher of The Wraith) and the screenplay adaptation by Stephen J. Semones, who will also direct. The stellar cast and crew are aiming not to make a film, but a Sir Reel Experience. You can find out more about Sir Reel Films, view the trailor, and watch other films at: www.sir-reelfilms.com And while you're at it, stop by the THE OFFICIAL WRAITH: EYES OF JUDGMENT moviesite at: www.the-wraith.com/movie Please click here to access the teaser/trailer, and click here to access some new stills July 22 2004 Well, this won't be your traditionally long and winded Lair Line that I usually deliver. Ok, maybe not, but I'll try. I've had a long day, working 10 hours at my "real" job and then basically driving across town to the set to film for close to 5 more. After a brief detour to my house to pick up all the cameras, lights, and Wraith costume; I realized that on the way to the set, an overwhelming string of phonecalls concluded that my crew couldn't make it for this or that reason. Screw 'em. I'm making a movie here, with or without a crew. So I arrive at the set, which is actually the star of the film's house, David Cooper. Dave and I unpack it all, and I mean all of it. Where's the crew he asked. I'm the crew I replied. After about 20 minutes of unchained laughter from Dave, I convinced him I was serious and would be shooting it myself. The very first film I made had 2 people that made it. David and I. That's it and the memories were coming back, and seeing how far we progressed, we decided to do this one right. From Trippin' Nuts! The Movie to The Wraith, we had come so far and no crew might mean a good thing. There was one dliema. David can't play two parts at the same time. Someone needed to play The Wraith, and that someone apparently had to be me. The scene called for The Wraith to visit Michael Reeve at his apartment. I won't spoil you and go into details, but anytime the shot called for both characters to be onscreen at once, we had to improvise. Now doing this all the time can really bring down the quality of the film, but sometimes it's more intimate and personal. I had to direct, run the camera, and wear the gauntlets for the same scene. Believe it or not, you would think we had a full crew working in this scene. The whole scene wasn't filmed this way of course, but for most of the end of the scene, it is. We watched the footage on the spot to basically see if we could pull this off and make it look good, and guess what..... WE DID. Anyone watching the film and hasn't read this Lair Line, WILL NOT be able to tell the difference at all. Coop and I have such a long friendship and work history, we know what the other is thinking and it makes all the difference when you're in a bind like we were. As dedicated as we were to the film, we felt we owed it to ourselves to attempt the nearly impossible and see what the outcome would be. Worst case scenario: we have to reshoot and call it a day. We took probably close to an hour worth of footage and I got some great shots to work with later in post. As hard as tonights shoot went, it was worth it overall. Not everyone will realize the hard work that went into making this film and that's why I talk about it here. No one ever said making one was easy, but most of the time it's not like tonight. We got down to our filmmaking basics and it paid off. Put us in our place and made us realize more than we did that we all have to help ourselves and sometimes two men in a war trench is better than six. Well, enough about the trials of filmmaking. Needless to say, we did what we set out to do, and it took us a while longer, but who cares? We got what we needed and it's good. This is actually a crucial scene in the film, so I'll have some pictures circling around soon. I hope everyone likes what they've seen from us in the last month or so, and I hope everyone checks out the newest documentary we released. The first trailor was delayed a bit, but should be ready in around a month. I started editing on it yesterday, so look for it soon!!!!! Until Next Time........ Stephen July 18 2004 Well, I got up knowing that today would be a very long day. Knowing this, I decided to clean house the day before and straighten up because I knew what the day would hold for us at Sir Reel Films. Lance and Jeremy from Xtreme Design FX drove four hours from South Carolina to hand deliver to us The Wraith costume. Before I get into all the costume stuff, let me just say that these guys have XTREME talent and when I finally got to meet them in person, I understood more of what went into making one of these costumes and what Hell we put them through to do the suit for us. Jeremy called me about 9:45pm and told me where he was and asked how to find where I lived. Well, after figuring out they were on the wrong side of town, I hopped in the car with Producer Ty Kelsey and rushed to their location. Once there Jeremey got out of the car, followed by Lance, and introduced himself. After a brief introduction, we left the ghetto and drove five minutes to my place. No, I don't live in the ghetto, but close. :) Well, once they brought the costume in, we proceeded to get the actor and Wraith himself into the costume. You'll get to see some of this stuff on our next web documentary by the way. Anyways, when you wear a suit like this naturally you'll get hot and sweaty, so we had to powder up David's legs before he could even get into the legging. The suit is basically one main piece and he puts it on starting at his legs, then sticks his arms in bringing it onto his body, then we zip him up in the back. It takes 2 to 3 people besides himself, just to get him into this suit. After he's wearing the main piece, then we slide on the boots, gloves/gauntlets, apply the belt, and then the cowl. David walks back downstairs to where everyone was waiting. Upon seeing him everyone was silent for a moment taking in this awesome site. He looked so real and natural as The Wraith, at that moment everything we had hoped for this film in the last 10 months fell into place. We tested out his movement and realized that he'll basically have NO limitations in the suit, although it is extremely hot and weighs roughly around 15 pounds. Having never met David before, even to do a body cast for the suit's mold, Xtreme Design got the suit almost completely perfect based on pictures they had seen and his measurements alone. The cape was the perfect length, his suit fit perfectly, and the cowl fit him like a glove. No worries here Lance, this thing is perfect. Great job!! The only adjustment that they made to the suit was trimming the neck of the costume. The neck piece was just a little too tall for David's face, but it still fit him when he first put it on. He could tell that after wearing the suit for a while, that piece may scrape his neck, so the next thing I know, Jeremy and Lance have the suit in the floor cutting it down to size. How cool is that???? They fixed the only problem (and it wasn't really a problem!!) right there on the spot. Jeremy and Lance brought their wives with them, and we should talk about them briefly. You can tell that these two guys are happy with what they do for a living because their significant others came and showed their support for the venture. Come to find out, one of them even works on the "weathering" process of costume making. They all pour their heart into their works and it shows by how dedicated they were in making sure that this costume was of the highest possible duribility and appearance. Because they don't normally make superhero costumes just for a movie, they had to make alterations to the normal costuming process, which is why it took a while to get done. It's just the four of them doing the whole process and most feature films have an endless supply of people at their disposal. They had to modify the costume to take the pressure of being the only costume in the film, which most feature films have an endless supply of them too, and still making it look like the comic and not cheesey for the film version. Well, they succeeded beyond what I expected and everyone who sees the film will not realize the hard work, dedication, and talent that went into sculpting and creating this costume. These guys deserve more than what they got on this costume, so the least I can do is tell them how great a job they did on the suit and let them know that this is the beginning of a wonderful relationship between Sir Reel and Xtreme. The costume, simply put, is an artistic masterpiece. I asked Jermey about how many hours it took to do the costume. He laughed and then said countless. He then told me that the hardest part of the whole thing was probably getting the chestpiece right. I saw just a small portion of what they did and I have the most respect for costume designers as I possibly can. They poured so much creative thinking into the suit, just to get it exactly the way it had to be for the film and how it looks in the comic. Well, after talking to them, taking pictures and footage of their visit, we had to say goodbye. They had decided to stay at a local hotel for the evening and drive back the next day. Their next project was a Flash costume. I can't wait to see that. Overall, the costume will work perfectly for bringing the Dread Avenger of the Underworld to life and delivering the best comic adaptation ever!!!!!!! Well, except for Spider-Man, but I don't exactly have a $100 million dollar budget do I???? Until
Next Time.................... We've also added new photos to the site and a great new documentary, featuring some scenes from the film thus far shot. Use the above menu to check it all out. Frank July 12 2004 Today went well and I had a lot of fun. I got to play a drunken bum in the film and have a crucial part in part of the storyarc. I got to give the undercover officer Reeve The Wraith mask that was found in an alley. As a director it's hard to act as well, and I'm no actor, so I'm appologizing to everyone now before you see the film. Hopefully with the magic of editing and a musical score, we can beef up my performance. It was extremely hot today, so as a bum, I had quite a bit of clothing on. My teeth were blacked out, I had dirt all over my face as well as almost a week without shaving. I had about 2 layers of clothes on and to top it off, I had a crushed\half-burned cigarette hanging out of my mouth and a liquor bottle in my hand. I was quite the bum. No seriously. I think I really pulled off the look well. Today started with meeting up with Derik Nutter about 1:00 and from there we had to make one last call before the shoot. We couldn't decide on one location to shoot the scene. We had two places scouted and had to make a last minute call. It was a better choice in the end, well except for giant air cooling units turning on every 20 minutes giving us a small shooting window in intervals. At one point a leafblower nearby started up and people were shouting and interfered with a take, so after 15 minutes filming, 20 minutes waiting to start back, 15 more minutes of filming, etc... we decided it was going to be a long and very hot day. Derik and I met David Cooper at the park so he could follow us to the set. Ty Kelsey (producer) and Zek Hensely (Storyboard Artist) showed up to accompany us. Rolling in last was Best Friends Photos to do the stills for the day. We made it to the set about 15 minutes after 2. Cooper and I rehearsed some more for our Oscar Winning Scene while Derik, Ty, and Zek set up the cameras. Then it was time to do a walkthrough before we rolled cameras. When we walk through a scene before filming, we use storyboards if we have them and a script and do several dry runs to get the flow of the scene down. This helps the actors in the scene know where the cameras will be as well as their marks. We shot for about three hours and called it a day. We had enough footage to take to the editing bay. It was very easy working with Cooper in this scene. I can tell that he's matured as an actor and the ideas he had to help make the scene even better were outstanding. David came up with so many good ideas that most will be incorporated in the final film. For instance, David played off the fact that I was a bum and probably smelled, so in one take he stepped back from me and waved the odor from his face. Sheer brilliance on his part!!!!! It's the little things like that one that helps make the film better. It shows you how much the actors get into their roles and want to make the film better. When we wrapped I felt as if I had lost several pounds in the hot sun with the clothing on. Oh well, I could stand to loose a few pounds, and it doesn't bother me one bit because it was all for The Wraith. Until Next Time......... Stephen July 10 2004 A new blog will be added after this weekend's shooting, but in the meantime, please check out the new costume photos here. Frank June 26 2004 New crew listings have been added to the Cast & Crew section, and new costume photos can be seen by clicking here. Frank June 22 2004 No filming over the weekend, so no new blog unfortunately, but the site has been updated with some great new onset photos and your first look at one of the cowls (the film will be using two in various alternating scenes) that The Wraith will be wearing. Please click here to take a look at all these. Frank June 15 2004 Well, today was a strange one to say the least. We're not even through with the film and we've went back to do pick up shots. Well, let me explain.... I purchased a new camera and received it a little over a week ago. It's a higher-end model than what we were using, so knowing that we weren't too far into filming and we're still waiting on The Wraith costume, I decided to re-shoot a scene that we've already bagged. The reason is to get the same quality that we achieved last week. I decided to change the angles on this scene once more and come up with some new techniques for the scene. We scheduled a 7pm start time with David (The Wraith) and Stacie (Leena) Cooper. They arrived and for about 30 minutes I went over their new contracts with them. For the next hour we rehearsed and walked through this scene and how we planned on shooting it with the actors. Around 8 pm, my mother Janet showed up to do the still photography. Jim Taylor and Marc Kimball both had requested some special pictures to be taken, so after filming we shot those as we had promised them. It was a stressful night for several reasons. Once we got rolling we got a lot of good takes, but getting rolling was the hard part. David and Stacie had basically forgotten this scene and moved on to the rest of the script and going back was a headache. They had already shot this scene on two seperate occasions in the past, so I was thinking third time's a charm. I had gotten to the set an hour before the cast to set everything up and once we were ready to shoot, I realized we needed to adjust the lights. 30 minutes later I was still trying to get the lighting right as everyone started to grow hungry and impatient. Once the lights were situated we walked through the scene several times so David and Stacie would know their marks. The new way we were shooting this scene was breaking it down into three seperate cuts. First a wide shot establishing the setting and cast, then cutting to a close up side angle getting the bulk of the dialogue, and going back to a wide shot to finish the scene. Sound easy? Think again. We had to shoot the beginning, ending, and middle in that order and it made it more difficult to get the lines and marks right. I guess it was my fault for being so damn insistent on shooting this way, thus making it hard on everyone in the process. Don't get me wrong, the takes were good but very trying on the cast and crew. After several takes we took a break and gathered our thoughts. After the break the shoot went so smoothly and fast. We ended up wrapping for the day around 11pm, so not too bad a shoot as far as time goes. I have to hand it to David and Stacie for trusting in me to get this scene shot right because I know they were getting aggrivated doing this a third time. They are doing so well and I know it has to be irritating to go back and do something over that was right the first two times. Well, the second time at least. The first time we shot this scene it was so cut up with takes it would literally have 13 cuts or shots when the scene was edited. The second time we did it in one whole cut, and tonight we got it in three cuts. I think this new version of the scene is the best overall and will work the best once we go into editing. Right now I'd just like to thank everyone involved with this film both cast and crew who believe in The Wraith, the script, and me as the director. It means so much to have such a dedicated group of people working together on this and I know it will be worth it once it's completed. In fact, I guess it's my job to decide what needs to be re-shot, but I know sometimes I let the creative side get the best of me. Thanks guys for working with me so hard on this film!! You deserve more than you know for your efforts. Thanks also goes to the people who sit by and anticipate this film and look forward to seeing it completed. Next week is Father's Day, so the cast and crew have the day off, but I'll be working on editing so expect a new Lair Line the following weekend. Until then, have a happy Father's Day everyone!!!!!!!!! Stephen June 13 2004 Should have mentioned this last week, but Stephen was recently interviewed on radio station Electric 94.9 about The Wraith, and it went really well. Click here to listen to this great interview. His love for, and commitment to, the character and film shines through here. Frank
Dirscherl June 6 2004 Today was one of the longest days of my life. I finished up day 2 at the Adventure Con about 2 hours away from me and then came back to film with Rick McVey (Robert Latham) and David Semones (Charlie Grieco). Last Sunday Derik Nutter and I set up the scene and walked through it several times planning out our camera shots and basically got everything ready for todays shoot. The scene we shot was the first scene that we see Latham and Grieco in the film and it originally called for the setting to be in Latham's office. Well after much consideration, we changed it slightly. Later on in the film The Cobra visits Latham in his office, so we wanted to show more of Latham's character, so we changed the setting from his office to his dinner table at home. We planned a shoot from 6pm to 9pm and started filming around 6:30. We had a small contract signing session with Rick and David and then went right into filming. While they signed the contracts, Derik and I set up the cameras and lights. After they were finished with the contracts, Derik and I were still setting up, so Rick and David decided to walk through the scene several times and get into character. Then it was time to film. When we worked on our last film, A Good Place to Live, we would literally do like 10 takes and out of those we would probably be able to use only 1 or 2. Tonight Rick and David were so prepared and into character that they nailed the scene on the very first take. As the director, I knew that only one take would be a stupid move to make, so I kept taking more. Every 2 or 3 takes I would change the camera placement slightly. We ended up with about twenty or more takes and there were only 4 that I had to call "cut" on. These guys took their parts so serious and got into their characters so well that I sat there thinking that we are honestly creating history! We are literally changing the way Independent films will be shot and it was exciting to say the very least. This was the first time that I had worked with Rick and his acting was brilliant. He brought so much to the table as Robert Latham that now I can't see anyone else playing the part. EVER. David, which some of you may or may not know, is my brother. He has done the music for four of our films thus far and this makes his third acting role we have given him. Now I will admit that David wasn't my original choice for the role of Charlie Grieco, but with Derik pulling for him, I caved in and gave him the shot. The reason I wasn't too keen on him playing Grieco was that he hasn't tried anything that deep before, but now I'm glad I listened to Derik. David IS Charlie Grieco now!! He came in and acted so professionally that I couldn't believe my own eyes. He had such good chemistry with Rick that now I can't see anyone else doing these parts. They both had me believing that they hated The Wraith and I sat there completely spellbound by their acting. After we finished filming, I shot a little bit of improv stuff for the upcoming trailor that went extremely well too. I also took some stills of them and we wrapped up shooting on schedule at 9pm. If we were doing a Hollywood production, we would have probably spent 12 hours shooting this scene and we did it in a little less than 3. That's how good these two guys did and I can't wait for everyone to see it now. I'm sending Frank some stills today, so expect the Downloads gallery to be updated very shortly. You'll also get to see a few shots that we did in the upcoming trailer. I bought a brand new 3 chip Mini-Dv camera this week and we used it for the first time tonight. Let me tell you that I can't believe the quality of this scene. It is almost film quality and we used very little lighting in the scene. I attached a wide angle lens because we were shooting in a small room and it literally makes the room look HUGE!!!!!! You now will get to see Latham at home looking over his business reports and having wine with dinner and it looks amazing. This has to be the most fun I've had shooting in a very long time (possibly ever) and it's mainly because of Rick and David. These guys will impress you when you see the film, because their acting is top notch and they are so into their roles that it's totally believable. I can't wait for you all to see this film now. Look for another Lair Line next week! Until Then......... Stephen May 24 2004 No new blog today from director Stephen Semones I'm afraid to say, though one will be coming soon. I'd just like to announce here that we've signed Adam DiTroia to supply the film's music score, incorporating and elaborating the main theme (composed by legend Larry Groupé) into the film. Adam is a very talented musician who has worked in a myriad of mediums thus far (video games, films etc.), and we're extremely fortunate to have a man of his talent and experience onboard to create the kind of music score that we've always dreamed The Wraith: Eyes of Judgment of having. Welcome aboard, Adam :) More news (and Stephen's latest blog) soon! Frank
Dirscherl April 25 2004 I know today isn't our normal day to film, but I had some extra time on my hands and wanted to get some behind the scenes stuff done for The Wraith. As you all may or may not already know, my mother agreed to do a voice over in The Wraith, portraying Leena's mother. My mom's best friend, Lisa Chandler wanted to be involved as well, so I decided to see what we could get accomplished. My whole life my mother (as most do) gave me direction. Today was payback. Haha! Seriously though, Lisa and my mother were open to the fact that as the director of The Wraith, I have obligations to see through. One of which is coming up with voice actors in a few scenes. Around noon, my mother and her friend Lisa showed up with script in hand. They were both ready for the recording session, and to be as close to me as they are, they took my direction very well, and I didn't even have to get upset. We must have taken close to 30 takes with my mom and about 15 with Lisa. Before we recorded, we went over the dialogue, and they both offered suggestions as to how they should act this out. The weird thing is, neither of them have any voice acting experience, and they both did VERY WELL. As many of you know, I have a studio in my house. Well, my wife took my son with her to run some errands and left the three of us here to pound out these recordings. It's all done digitally on my computer with a program called Wave Studio. Basically, I sat them both down and explained to them how to operate the program so they could do it at their own leisure and not feel pressured by me to produce on every take we did. Sitting directly in front of the computer, they both had a reference script tacked up beside the monitor and recorded their parts into the microphone affixed to the top of the monitor. Sound easy? Guess again. To make it sound as if they were on an answering machine (which is what the script called for), I had to take a few measures to get the right sound quality. Number one, sound proofing the room. I closed the door and shoved a shirt underneath to reduce any outside noise. Number two I had to create the illusion of an answering machine message during playback. I turned on a ceiling fan to get a small hum, and mixed with the fan on the computer, it was a very straight forward sound compilation. Some of you might think that this is very cheap and ineffective, but the rest of the sound quality I filtered through the program to get the desired effect. I added a small amount of echo and some white noise and it was done. Being that this was the first time I've attempted such an elaborate task of recording someone's voice, I did prepare my mother and Lisa on what to expect from the scene they were voicing. I showed them both a rough edit and explained to them where their voices would come into play and the nature of what I expected. Both having read the script, they still needed that scene reference and were glad I was able to show them a rough cut of the scene for reference. To tell you how much they got into it, my mom even asked me to get her a prop phone so she could act it out a little better. WOW, I was impressed by their hard work and I'm sure everyone who sees the final cut of the film will be impressed as well. Right now I'd publically like to thank Frank for allowing me to cast my own mother and her best friend to voice these roles. Even though they are small parts, all the small parts add up to the overall picture, and I'm sure when Frank sees the scene, he'll love it. I'd also like to thank my mother and Lisa for taking the time to work with me on the recordings today and I'd like to recognize the hard work that they gave. They both gave 110% and it's this type of support that will make this film a success. My mother and Lisa are both photographers and will be doing a lot of the still photography for The Wraith, and their added involvement is much appreciated by all. It says a lot when your own family believes this much in your work and as a filmmaker it makes you believe that much more in your own project. Until Next Time, Stephen April 21 2004 Well today I woke up around 6:30 and worked my other job from 7 to 5. Quite a long day and then on to the filming. Several weeks ago we shot a couple of scenes, one of which included Michael Reeve and Leena Patterson waking up together before work. Well, I've been playing with that footage since then and have cut it together about 20 different ways and each one I pieced together seemed messy. Well, with David and Stacie Cooper's permission, we went back today and re-shot the entire scene. The scene lasts about 2-2 1/2 minutes and we took about 10 more takes. Now, don't get me wrong, but even though the original shots we filmed for this scene were great, when it was pieced together, it seemed like it had too many cuts. The new version of the scene is done in one single take from beginning to end. No cuts at all. To get the shot of the two waking up together, I positioned a ladder in the corner of the bedroom set and rigged the tripod on. The tripod stuck out a good four feet, so it was dangerous trying to pan as we look down on the two characters the whole time, but fearless me decided to climb the ladder and risk broken parts of my anatomy to bring you all the best possible camera shot for the scene. Being the second full shoot we worked on this one scene, collectively we probably have two hours worth of takes equalling about 20-30 takes (roughly). All I can say is that during today's reshoot, David and Stacie gave it their all and got into character like nothing I've seen before. Either they were tired of shooting the scene over and over, or wanted deep down to make this the shot that we would use in the final cut of the film. Probably a little of both. Both actors poured their hearts into this scene and I believe that this will make a more solid opening for the characters in the film. Oh, did I mention that the first minute and a half of the scene that David Cooper acts as if he's listening to a news broadcast? Well, he had to memorize the newscast and act as if it were playing because we're adding that in during the post-production phase. Well, to make a short story even longer, on the last take I fell off of the ladder and crashed to the floor below landing on my back. As I struck the floor, the camera rig on the ladder dropped down and using my ninja-like reflexes, I caught it before it smashed into a hundred pieces beside my head. I'm fine and thanks for asking, but luckily the camera was off and didn't get my poor imitation of Super Dave Osborne on film. However, I think I will be ridiculed from this day forth for my lack of coordination. It was worth it though and all done for The Wraith and our belief in Frank's comic. Luckily no one else has been injured yet and as things pick up, the safety will now be watched a lot closer. Leave it to the director to ruin all of the fun for the rest of the cast and crew :) Well, after we packed up the equipment, we all sat down together and watched the dailies of the shoot and realized that this will be quite an enjoyable scene as it shows a great sense of chemistry between David and Stacie. It should because they're really married, but it translates very well on camera and I know you all will not be disappointed. Remember to stay tuned to this section of the site for all of the on-set news and mayhem as we bring you the best comic to film translation EVER!!!!!!!! Until
next time....... April 14 2004 A new blog will be added soon. In-the-meantime, we can announce today that actor Rick McVey, a stage actor from the world reknowned Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, has come onboard as Robert Latham, the sinister crime lord who lives to one day bring down The Wraith. More news shortly... March 3 2004 Well, our release party last night went well. We had hoped for a bigger crowd, but we got the place half full at least. We had a blast and plugged the Wraith film several times. When A Good Place to Live was over and the credits started, the room was overwhelmed with applause. I was sure at that very moment that The Wraith will be something truly special. I also realized what I was put on this planet to do: Make films. It was a moment that defined my expectations from here on out. A moment that will stand forever with me as the beginning of it all. We shot worked on three scenes tonight with the character Leena Patterson. We bagged one whole scene and worked on two more. One was a dream sequence which part of will be re-shot. I didn't like how it turned out, so Sunday we're reshooting some of it. The third scene we shot involved the character Michael Reeve. About an hour into filming that scene, our mic went out. Well, we thought it was the mic anyways. We tested the mic on another camera and determined that the sound chip went bad in our camera. We took the camera to be fixed and it has to be sent off. That was our main camera, so yeah, we thought we were screwed. I have a Mini DV camera, but no mic to plug in, so it renders that idea dead. It turns out, we actually know someone who has a better camera than we did to start with and they're letting us use it until we get ours back. It's been bittersweet filming The Wraith so far. Things haven't gone as planned for the most part, but what we've been able to film thus far has been amazing, so I cannot complain one bit. Our shots with Leena are awesome in the scene we actually got completed. The rest of the stuff was good too, we just had some technical problems set us back a couple of days. Our original plan was to wrap all three scenes today, but due to the camera messing up, we'll wrap those up on Sunday. As I see it, this puts us only around 1 week behind actual schedule, but what schedule am I on? We've decided to take as much time as needed to get each shot, each scene, each word spoken completely right! I've also been working on concept designs for the Cobra costume and scepter, so we should see some Cobra pics surface fairly soon. Expect a hit with The Wraith and keep the support strong! Until
Then....... February 29 2004 Ok, for a day that only comes around every four years, my "leap day" was by far strange but fulfilling. I got up today and got all our new equipment together and checked some email. After that, I began my day. We were scheduled to shoot 3 (count them), 3 scenes today! We were going to do 3 Leena Patterson(stacy cooper) scenes, one which involved Michael Reeve(david cooper). About 12:30, David calls me and tells me his wife is extremely ill with the stomach flu. We've all been there, so I totally understood. We were to begin filming around 5 anyway, so I had a few hours to work something up. I asked him if he would mind coming over and standing in front of the greenscreen for a couple of reasons. We wanted some stills of David playing the undercover officer, Michael Reeve. Well, with no one else to shoot with, this was the next logical option. Publicity shots. We shot David in various poses standing in front of our greenscreen. We wanted to see how the screen looked, as this was the first time removing it from the package. We hit a snag. It's freaking huge people. With that much material, it becomes heavy and hard to hang with no rig (something we never thought of- can you believe it?). From being folded up for shipping, the screen is wrinkled. Well, it's going to be a few weeks before we actually need the screen, so we're going to order this wrinkle spray to straighten it out. This also gives us time to build a pvc structure to hold the huge screen. It's 20 feet tall by 11 feet wide, so pvc is the best option. Lightweight and portable. Because we didn't get to film any actual scenes once again, we did plan out our reshoot for this coming wednesday, the day after our local release party for our last film, A Good Place to Live. We'll be resuming filmming this wednesday and again on sunday. We're aiming for knocking out 5 scenes this week, and two next week. It's been a busy time for Team Wraith here in Tennessee, so bear with us. I sent Frank pics from our photoshoot, so he'll post a few of them I'm sure. Another thing we tested today was a camera shot I'm inventing. It's something inspired from all of this bullet time crap we're seeing today. I've simplified the effect to cut around the subject very quickly, showcasing a different frame of action with each cut. In each shot you'll see a piece of the puzzle and as the cuts progress in a circular fashion around one subject. You'll see the whole picture and what's coming at you. It's not a morphing 360 degree Matrix shot or a slow motion shot, but more of a very raw and energetic action sequence. As far as placement for the shot in the film, I can't divulge where it will go, but it will be very cool and unexpected. We worked with David Cooper on the above shot today and will test it again soon. He really got into the character of Michael Reeve and was trying to develop every aspect of his personality, movements, and behavior today. His input on what it must be like to be Reeve was very intuitive and he grasped the idealology of becoming an undercover police officer. Though we don't go into much of the Reeve character in the film (as far as his job goes), it was good to see David covering all the basics today and putting on a show AS Michael Reeve. As we approach our release party Tuesday, and our Wraith re-shoot on Wednesday, excitement fills the ranks of Sir Reel Films. Expect another journal update this week as well. I'll end on something actor David Cooper would like to say to all the Wraith fans and to Frank. Until
Next Time....... The following was written by star David Cooper, who is playing The Wraith/Michael Reeve in the film... "I'm nervous as Hell about doing this film. Who am I? David Cooper. Unknown. The ongoing support for this film is amazing, and I want to express my sincerest thanks to everyone. Frank, this story is compelling and I'm honored to be playing The Wraith. Stephen has had faith in me, and as the director, I guess he knows what the Hell he's talking about. We trust his vision with The Wraith, but can't help but feel excited and nervous to be a part of it all. I'm honored to play The Wraith, and I'm even more honored that this is a comic book film, and we're going to make it for the fans. I'm telling everyone now, this film will kick serious ass!! Stephen has helped me develop as an actor, which is something I never knew I had in me, but he's seen it in me for years. We've come so far and can only go further, and with everyone's support on the comic, we can make The Wraith the next big superhero on the block! We're all tired of seeing overrated and butchered excuses for comic films, so we're making one the way it should be made. By comic fans. I don't know how good the end result will be from my performance, but I'm giving 150% of everything I have to this role. I basically have to play three roles in one film as one person and I'm scared as all Hell to do this, but then I see everyone involved and how wonderful this script is, so I have to do this even if I fail. I want to say that The Wraith novel was totally ass kicking fun, and when I read the script I had to read it again to believe what Stephen had written. The crazy, bald bastard wrote what is probably the best damn comic script ever, and with what I've seen him do this far, I have no doubt he'll pull this off, even if it kills him. He's wanted to do a comic book movie his way ever since I first met him in the ninth grade. I told him then he was crazy, but I see his reality now, and he lives for things like this. With his dedication and passion for filmmaking, he could make The Wraith with puppets and it would still kick ass! Well, enough about Stephen, I'm looking forward to working with Scott Leva and throwing thugs around like it's nothing. I can't believe he's onboard, as with the ton of other high calibur people. I saw some of the storyboards today and want to say: damn! If Stephen and Scott can pull off what I saw today, watch out Hollywood!! Every frame was explained to me for the opening fight sequence and I was speechless. I hope everyone has enjoyed hearing from The Wraith himself :) and I look forward to taking over Stephen's journal again. Thanks to everyone again for believing in this film and I can't wait to put on the suit for you guys. Everyone take care. Peace...Coop out!" February 21 2004 Ok, Frank promised a weekly or close to it journal entry, but I've been VERY busy as of late. I appologize to everyone wanting the latest Wraith film news. So, on to the latest from Sir Reel Films....... About a week ago I recieved our BRAND NEW 11x20ft. green-screen. Chromakey certified for all photographic needs. Well, we needed one, so there you go. The company also sent me two peppermints and an pen for ordering a $200 screen. How nice, huh? The same day, our Cobra contact lens arrived. It still remains in the vial it came in, but it looks like a weird science project. A couple of days later, I went out and purchased an 8 foot lighting rig with two 500 watt halogen bulbs in them. We can adjust the lights to almost any angle we need, and with our previous lighting system, look for The Wraith to have awesome lighting!! The next thing on my list is a steadicam bar for the cameras and a pair of eyeglasses for the character Leena Patterson. I'll be getting these this week for sure. With the added equipment I just mentioned, I'd like to address another matter involving The Wraith.
As mentioned earlier, I've been really busy. I've just finished the final print of A Good Place to Live and you can view it on my website. If you want to get a good idea for the lighting, camera style, and direction; check out this film!!!! The Wraith will be shot in similar fashion and style, but with more of a comic book\gothic-industrial feel to it. I'm very proud of A Good Place to Live and encourage everyone to see it. Until Next Time...... Be Cool, Be Loyal, Be There. Stephen February 1 2004 I woke up today around 11 o'clock. Seem late? Not for a filmmaker. I was up late last night talking to Frank and working on my latest film, A Good Place to Live. I knew today would be a busy day, so I had to work out some last minute cuts before I went to bed. After I got up, I took my wife to work and came back home. I had to be at Derik's (producer) house at 1:30, so I had about an hour to kill. What did I do? I spent the hour with my son, who would end up spending the whole day with us. Derik and I were supposed to take some interior footage and basic "set-up" shots at his house, which is doubling for Leena's kitchen/bedroom and Latham's private study. We took pictures there while my son raised hell with Derik's little parrot looking bird. From there, Derik, my son, and I left and went downtown. Our city is very old, so a lot of the downtown district will fit the run-down areas of Metro City. We have a lot of great alleys and old buildings. We'll CGI tall skyscrapers and such into the actual film, but we took pictures of the "ground-level" buildings. This took a long while to shoot because of traffic and having to get out and unpack the equipment. We got more "establishing" shots and moved on from there. Ryan, the actor playing The Cobra, was supposed to come along with another actor. The other guy was supposed to audition for the role of Latham, but due to a prior obligation to a local play, neither actor could make it. This dented our schedule, mainly because we had to do a small shoot around 5 o'clock with Dietrich Adetayo (actor) for a pick-up shot on A Good Place to Live. I got myself a pizza and my son a Happy Meal and the three of us went back to my house to regroup. Derik and I planned out the next couple of weeks while I ate. We planned things out more and came up with details on our next shoot. Our next shoot will be solo scenes with Leena (Stacy Cooper). I can't really say much on the content of these scenes, however, pics will be available soon from the mentioned locations. With 5 approaching, Dietrich made his presence known and came over to work on his pick-up shots. Last Tuesday was our original pick-up date, but because of snow, we had to delay it and sort of end one film and start another in the same day. This was very exhausting. We drove all over town catching footage for tie-in shots and scenery shots. We will be filming with actors very soon. Before the end of February, we plan on having around 3 scenes shot and completed. The first week of March will be a great week for us, and we hope to get around 6 done that week. As we finished filming for A Good Place to Live, Dietrich came back to the studio and signed his contract for The Wraith. We're not sure where Dietrich will fall into The Wraith, but he'll be involved to some extent. Probably supplying us with the guns. I threw the footage we just shot into the mixer and gave them a rough cut of the film within minutes. After watching the cut, I kicked Dietrich's ass at a game of Halo for the Xbox. Both guys left and I went back to the editor. Right now we're polishing off the film and getting it ready for viewing. As I toyed at the editor, I worked on more Wraith storyboards involving some of the footage we took. Then I remembered the Superbowl was on. I then remembered that I don't watch football, so I went back to work. We're trying to achieve a certain look with the film, so today's shoot gave us the locations we need to get things rolling in the coming weeks. Next comes the lighting. I'll run by Derik ideas on the lighting and go over storyboards leading into the scenes with Leena. I hope everyone enjoyed a recap of my day. It may sound like we didn't get much accomplished, but we're even more ready now to get this thing done for everyone. It takes a lot of time to make a film right, and we've always starting filming the locations first. It gives us a solid foundation to enter the characters into. I try to make all of my films atmospheric and "Sir Reel" to pull you into the characters. The way I see it, you gotta show your actors the world they'll be living in, so why not start there. I'll have a demo reel of locations to show them so they can get a feel for the shots to come. Until next time...... Stephen J. Semones |
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Scott Leva (pictured left). How
cool is it to have this guy on board I ask? Very cool indeed.
I loved X-Men, and to have Scott on board with The Wraith is
spectacular. We decided to use some basic wire-work to spice
up the action some, so expect top-notch delivery on this film
all the way around the board!!!! I've been doing some storyboarding
for Scott so we can kick everyone's ass with the fight scenes.
They'll be simple in concept, but with Scott's knowhow, we can
take The Wraith to new levels professionally.