Okay guys, here's the final Question and Answer post! Enjoy, and hopefully I answered your questions satisfactorily!
Una Mariah said...
Just a couple:
1: Why wasn't there more of Fish?!!
Ha! I'm now envisioning a version of the film in which Fish walks casually through the background of every scene... unless you meant that seriously? In which case he's already in the film more than the book, and I did try to figure out if we could work him in more, and that was the best we could come up with. But I think you're joking. :)
2: In the scene where Rob and his buddies kidnap Blanche, why wasn't it in a parking lot?
Lemme think... okay so we were trying to figure out where to do this scene, and we needed a place that looked kind of shady, where we wouldn't get kicked out (that happened once). Someone (I think it was Bear) said they knew a cool place down by the river, so we went down into this park and found the wall and rocks you see in the film and it just looked so unique and visually interesting, plus was out of the way of passing traffic, so we were able to film without much interruption (although this guy did yell at us from the other side of the ravine and he seemed to be demon possessed or something, it was creepy).
June 28, 2012 2:47 PM
Anonymous said...
Could you please make a feature commentary online? Maybe a featurette with any extra footage about the filming process instead of making just a Q & A? I would love to get behind the scenes! Please, please, please make a commentary! I remember that you planned to make a youtube video with a cast member back during filming, or right after. Will that happen? Please?! lol!
Sorry, but a written Q&A is the best I can do. Anything else involves equipment, time, money, and all the other stuff that are factors in why we can't even finish the film, much less do special features. Plus there are rights issues involved now as well as other things I can't control. Even the blooper reel is going to take some time and effort on my part that I don't really have to spare.
Una Mariah said...
Sorry, some more questions:
1: Why, in some scenes, did you only dub one of the characters shown in that scene?
When we did the ADR (Additional Dialogue Recording) we were unable to get all of the actors back. I believe the actors we did get were Rose, Blanche, Bear, Fish, Mrs. Brier and Eileen... (maybe Mr. Freet? Not sure. I was not there for the ADR and was actually out of town during the time). We also had limited time (we did all the ADR just two weeks prior to the premiere) and we had to pay for the recording studio and technician. So we were only able to do the most critical scenes with the actors we could actually get. (This is why you don't shoot a movie without a budget. If you're not paying your actors, you can't ask them to give up paying hours at their job to come do ADR for you).
2: What scene was the hardest to shoot?
The Finale in St. Lawrences. We never actually had Mr. Freet and Bear in the church at the same time, due to scheduling conflicts and illness. We shot on three different days and I was only able to make two of them myself. So, as you can imagine, continuity became a huge headache!
3: In the park, why does Fish warn Rose against 'shady guys that pop in out of nowhere, even if they do like music and poetry'? He seems to recognize her as one of the girls Bear likes, but he's never seen her before. Did he follow Bear one night or something and see the Briar girls?
Let me see... Regina and I planned out this scene nearly four years ago... I believe Regina suggested the line, and we'd decided that Fish did know who Blanche and Rose were, but was not going to let on because he was 'undercover.' He recognized them because he'd been doing sleuthing at the school and had noticed them. (He and the girls make eye-contact in the princesses in disguise scene, remember? ;) )
4: Why doesn't Bear have any snow on his shoes at all?
Because... it melted? Lol, no we shot that scene in the middle of the summer. I suppose if someone had thought of it we could have put some water on his shoes to look like melted snow, but we just didn't have enough brains to spare. (We were already shooting a night scene in the daytime, so we were pretty occupied with working that bit out!)
5: Just after he hand the groceries to Mrs. Briar, it looks like he stuffs something in his pocket. If he did, what was it?
Well,
Blanche thinks it was drugs. What do you think it was? (I actually don't know, it's from the book and it's important in Blanche's analysis of should they trust him, but I never asked Regina what it actually was.)
6: What is Fish doing in the school parking lot near the beginning? Is he waiting for Bear?
Nope! He's talking to his underground connections to see if he can pull up some clues on Fr. Raymond's murder.
Scarlet said...
What camera(s) did you use?
We used a couple of different cameras, two or three models, I believe. The first kind (we had two of them) was a... panasonic digital, I want to say, but I don't know the model. The second kind, which I preferred (and which we shot Little Women on previously) was Sony's XL2 which is a pretty awesome camera.
Maria Collins said...
In the movie, what is the song sung at the credits called.....sorry, but I love it! Is it on YouTube???????
That is the Ballad of the White Horse! The lyrics are the G.K. Chesterton poem that Bear, Rose and Blanche often reference. The melody was originally hummed by Regina to me four years ago, then last year I transcribed it into sheet music and passed it on to Mary Kate Lee, who composed and performed the song.
You can listen to and download the finished version of the song here:
http://soundcloud.com/elizabeth-amy-hausladen/the-battle-of-ethandune (the music starts 22 seconds in)
You can learn more about Mary Kate and her band here:
www.seasonsmusic.com and here:
www.facebook.com/Seasonsfamily
Anastasia said...
What about the fan-story posts? I'm trying to get that out as soon as I can, so please wait for that!!!!!
No worries! I'll post those throughout the summer as they come in. :)
And actually, I do have a question....I thought I recognized you in the movie at one point. Were you one of the nuns by any chance?
Yes I was! I played the "Assistant Principal" because we couldn't get Principal Freet back, so I had to step in at the last minute as a nun and give Eileen and Rose some punishment. You can see my official credit in the... you guessed it! The Credits. :)
Anonymous said...
Where did you get Blanche's prom dress? It's so pretty!
Well,
back in 2009 we ran a contest for fans to submit dresses they thought fit the prom dresses for the Brier girls. Maria Teets and her family ended up submitting the best dresses for both Blanche and Rose, and she and her mom and sister are duly credited in the film. Blanche's dress was an existing dress that Hannah added sleeves to. Rose's dress was modified greatly by Maria and her mother to make the awesome gown you see in the film. I'm glad you liked Blanche's dress - I think it's perfect!
