Ezra Crane has won 1st Place Sci-Fi Feature at the Indie Gathering beating out Eric Lim’s exciting Zero Trooper F. The Indie Gathering has been kind to us in the past and we are excited with another opportunity to screen there. Screening date and time will be announced shortly.

A lot has been happening recently. Based on early feedback we trimmed some fat. We also worked out some issues with the ADR and sound mix. The long road of submitting to fests has begun. Updates will follow.

We've completed concept work on an Ezra Crane poster. You can view it below:

On Saturday, May the 3rd, in the year of our Lord 2008 the feature motion picture Ezra Crane was completed. The journey started three years ago with an idea and now we have a finished movie. It has been a long journey and a great experience. We had our up and downs and moments of doubt. We only thought about fleeing the country a few times.

We did create alter egos to bear up under the stress. Justin became Lord Suficious Fumson, the 3rd Earl of Greylocke, a 19th century British super-sleuth, apothecary and alchemist. I assumed the mantle of Sisyphus Crowley, his loyal barber, connection to the criminal underworld and all around comic relief. I just remembered we came up with alter egos while working on Forever Cursed our first feature as well. In that case we were 1920’s baseball players. Justin was “Fancy Pants” Jimbo McCoy, right fielder and sometimes pitcher. I was Looper “Loopy” Redgrave, second baseman/manager. Both for the St. Louis Cardinals of course.

I just reread that paragraph and realized maybe we don’t handle stress very well. Okay, back to Ezra Crane...

Of course, the journey is not over. From here we begin the sending it to fests and trying to get people to watch it. We posted a few previously unreleased stills from the movie on the homepage. And we are unveiling our first poster.

More news to come!

We accomplished a great deal this weekend. We attacked the movie like a lion attacks a gazelle. The music came together and we arranged it. We did a volume equalizing pass. We did a few sips here and there. In fact, we cut out about a minute or more. We are in a constant effort to refine and hone the film. But the most important thing is that it is almost done. All we have left to do is a bit of clean up then we can start making screeners.

Now, for a flashback! Where we were one year ago...

Have Respect for Your Dead Fantastic Elders!

4/28/2007 by Matt Davids

So came the cry as Justin wanted to hear Peter Cushing playing the Sheriff of Nottingham. This of course came long after we were done working. Well, after anyway. Jaxon came out to the newly revamped studio and we recorded more ADR. I’m getting spoiled because now I can lie on the couch and pretend I’m Peter Jackson. I mentioned two men named Peter! Here are pictures of the studio.

And two years ago...

Rewrites and Read Through

4/29/2006 by Matt Davids

This week I went over the whole screenplay and did rewrites on most everything. I smoothed out a lot of areas where I had been lazy. The scenes flow better now and some of the dialogue is less abrupt. I feel the screenplay is really coming together now. Tonight Justin and I read the entire script out loud and made notes about locations, equipment needs and other shooting issues. We figured out how to shoot one complex scene in a very simple and straightforward manner that will make our lives easier during shooting. We also started building a time table of when we need cast, crew and equipment. I'm starting to get really excited about this movie. It's more creative than Forever Cursed and more personal. Hopefully we will be able to produce a motion picture that is poignant and entertaining as well. Keep checking back for more updates.

Okay, we’re really sorry about not updating in a while but we have really good reasons this time. You see I was out of the country and Justin was out of his mind. Now I rarely go out of the country but it seems Justin is always out of his mind. Editing resumed today with tweaks here and there. We’re getting very close to picture lock. We also smoothed out transitions and created a little sequence that helps set the tone at the beginning better. We pulled out some still frames for your enjoyment.

Today we finished the shoot of the last fight sequence at the Junkyard. It was a very busy day, but we managed to finish with at least an hour of sunlight to spare. Things have been crazy around here the last few days, so we haven't had a chance to keep the website up to date. I've managed to post some new photos from the fight sequence tonight, so you can check those out. Our last two big days are coming up tommorow and Sunday. Bye for now!

Two rainy days of watching Star Trek and baseball ended with a vengeance today. In the morning we shot another scene. This was the pivotal scene where Ezra and Feather meet. The footage looks great again. In the afternoon we moved to a river location in the Eureka studio backyard and shot a scene that is very important to me. I must admit I'm exhausted. Staying up late to watch the World Series probably didn't help but the Cardinals won! I'll take being a bit tired since they won but tonight I need some sleep! Tomorrow is another big day then Monday should be easy. We have a lot of work left but we are getting there. This week is going to be crazy!

Today we shot the end of Ezra Crane at the Jewel Box in Forest Park. The footage looks great and this location will give this critical scene a powerful backdrop. Thanks to the City of Saint Louis Parks Department for their help. Also a big thanks to Stephen Bain for working as our still photographer. Check out the pics for today!

In some not as good news, along with World Series game 4 being cancelled, we have been force to cancel shooting of the first fight sequence tommorow due to poor weather. We are working on rescheduling the shoot to next week. We are going to make use of the time off by begining the editing process on the scenes we have done. The opening of the movie, as well as the end are now pretty much in the can.

First day of shooting complete...I sleep now...

I cannot take Cardinal games like that. I thought for a second Wainwright was going to pull an Izzy on us (and my nerves), but that was an awesome game! Now if we can just make a good movie during the World Series...

Before the game, we had our final rehearsal and meeting tonight. Principal begins on Saturday. I'm still really nervous that I forgot to aquire some critical prop or schedule a location, but oh well. If I did I don't know what it is.

Today after work I also picked up the final pieces of "animal men" costume which are several nice looking deer skins provided by my uncle. Hopefully they will give the animal men a nice look, although we havent' decided who's going to wear them yet. In other news, it cannot rain Thursday!

I also received a call from Lloyd tonight that the first mask is ready to pick up. Keep up the good work Lloyd and Pat over at Robot Monkey Lab!

Only one week until shooting begins. I can't believe it. A year and a half of writing and preproduction has flown by. Today Justin and I shot some plates to be used in a montage sequence. Unfortunately I made a critical error and some of the footage is unusable. I ordered myself to receive 40 lashes but it's hard to find a good Cat-of-Nine-Tails these days. So instead as punishment I will read the camera manual every day until shooting begins. Of course this makes me sound like an idiot but I'd rather be an honest idiot than a pompous windbag who claims he's never made a mistake. I will just make sure it does happen when we have actors on location. Justin and I also did a number of other last minute work. We posted a ton of new pictures of us testing night shooting, and a number of other things. Keep checking back.

This weekend was crazy. First, we went scene plotting. We revisited the junkyard, the graveyard and the lime kiln. I conformed some angles to the locations and conformed the locations to some angles. Whatever that means. I have a good command of how I'm going to shoot those scenes now which I was lacking before we went back. We also tested shooting outside at night again. This time we used a location which will be a key camping scene. The lights worked well and the trees casted great shadows. I think the scene should have a good look to it. We also dressed the dune buggy to look like a post-apocalyptic vehicle suitable for wandering amid forests. We gathered weapons for the animal men as well. Oh, Justin also saved my computer from being a $1,400 paper weight. It seems I let in the Trojans somehow. I'm fairly certain I didn't see a giant wooden horse though I can't be sure. We are less than two weeks away from shooting. I almost can't believe it. It seems like yesterday that we wrapped on Forever Cursed even though it's been a year and a half. I'm very excited about this movie and I can't wait. Remember we will be updating the blog during production so check back often.

Today we continued work on various tasks for Ezra. We worked more on the "animal men" clothes which are just about ready (minus a load of dirt and mud). Later in the day we walked through the locations of various scenes that we are going to shoot here at the What Madness studios backyard in Eureka. This helped me out a lot by determining what work I need to still do in preparing the locations, and helped Matt continue to get a picture in his mind about where the characters would be located in each shot, etc. Principal is coming just around the corner! We capped off the day with a phone call to our VFX expert at Robot Monkey Lab, Lloyd Longsworth. The masks are coming along very good and we are very pleased with what we've seen so far. Matt and I both can't wait for the finished product! Check out the pics of various props, wardrobe and the VFX progress on the "photos" page. There's a pic in there of me dressed up as an animal man for some reason too...

Shortly after Forever Cursed wrapped in May 05, Justin and I embarked on the long and arduous journey to the fabled Cave of Backyard Cinema. There we consulted with Barbaro, the Magic Mule-deer, who of course is the patron minor deity of Wannabe Filmmakers. He told us many things, many secret things. We studied at his hooves many months before we were allowed to ask the question that burned in our very hearts. We asked what we should do now that we had made our first self-produced feature. After a profound pause two words slipped from his hairy muzzle, “Make another.” So began a new journey that would become Ezra Crane, What Madness Production’s latest feature motion picture.

Well, maybe that’s not exactly what happened. The real story is that one day while I was working on the Forever Cursed screenplay a character popped into my head. His name was Ezra Crane and he was a tormented soul. I jotted down this and a few ideas in my writer’s journal. I wasn’t in the position to do any more work on it since Forever Cursed was in full preproduction at the time. A few more ideas came here and there, but no real development. I clearly remember, even before we had shot our first feature, confidently declaring to Justin that Ezra Crane would be our second picture.

This worried Justin but I told him to relax. I’m an artist after all. I’d just wave my art wand over some paper and this weak, sketchy idea would spring into a robust screenplay. Shooting Forever Cursed proved to be a great distraction. I was a working director with another project already waiting in the wings. After shooting was done and my writing time was freed up again I pulled out my notes. And what did I see? I saw a scant character outline with a few images and nothing remotely resembling a story or a scenario. A few days passed and I stared at the notes and no screenplay appeared. Now I was worried.

I buckled down. I wrote an outline. I fleshed out the character. I scribbled down some scenes. I had a lot more material now, so I took a step back and looked at it. What I had was an interesting character talking to other interesting characters which of course would make one uninteresting movie. I cursed art and inspiration and the muse. I renamed my self Simeon. I took to wandering the streets. I shouted incoherent ramblings to the fools that walk blindly in this world believing that art is real.

Alright, what I actually did was sit down look hard at what I had. I noticed right a way that one scene was better than all the rest. Ezra meets a young girl and she proves to be an enigma. She knows more than her years would suggest and has an air of innocence. I was taken with this scene. Suddenly, I remembered a scenario for a short film that I had banged out a number of years ago called Nobody’s Road. I searched through my journals and found it. It consisted of a fairly detailed plot outline but the characters were scarce.

Just at that moment it hit me. I had my characters Ezra Crane and the girl I had started calling Feather. Now I had my plot from Nobody’s Road. The only problem would be to meld them together. This turned out to be no problem at all. The characters fit into the plot like they had been made for it. More and more scenes came. I was a writing banshee.

The only problem that remained was to tell Justin that the movie was now set in a post-apocalyptic world. Of course to a producer this means more money and more time. I casually mentioned it to Justin. He flew into a rage. He demanded to be called Tetsuo. He took to the streets lamenting the ills of working with writer-directors. Okay, all he really said was that he didn’t care what I did as long as we could still shoot it for less than $7,000 and in two weeks. I said yes, of course, not knowing if we could or not.

Well here we are almost to begin principal and I think we are going to make it. The budget crept up a bit, but Justin said the movie deserved it. If any producers happen to be reading, directors and writers love hearing stuff like this. I mean love it! (Of course I’m paying for part of the movie as well so raising the budget hurts me too.) Now if I can only shoot it in two weeks dodging around job and school schedules things will be awesome.

I have to say that casting was hassle free. We met Jaxon through the Saint Louis Filmwire and were very impressed with his ability and his resume. During preproduction, he has proved over and over to be a dedicated professional. I had the fortunate opportunity to meet Alysha early in the writing process. Not only is she a talented actress, she is Feather. Each time she reads the part she gets better.

We have had to hire a special effects company to handle some of needs. Robot Monkey Lab is a small yet resourceful company here in St. Louis. Lloyd Longsworth and his team are putting together masks and a few other items for us. They were very gracious in conforming their rates to our budget so we were able to get some quality work without going over.

We have heeded Barbaro's advice and now we are about to give birth to a new movie. The board is set. The pieces are moving. Production is only weeks away and we have traveled far already. We will be posting updates during production so visit often in late October. Yet as we move closer and closer to the end of our quest those two words echo, “Make another...”

A lot has happened this week. We hired a special effects company to handle some of our needs. Lloyd Longsworth and Robot Money Lab will creating masks for the animal men as well as a few weapons. Robot Monkey Lab is a St. Louis based FX check them out at www.robotmonkeylab.com.

We have done a lot more work on the costumes and we put together a tentative shooting schedule. We've gathered some props and hammered out how to shoot some complex scenes. We figured out how to stab someone. I mean fake stab someone. Check out these photos of Justin.

Five weeks until shooting starts and we are getting excited. Everything seems to be coming together. We have a ton of work ahead of but it should be an awesome experience. More news is coming so keep checking back.

The What Madness Studios look more like a shipping/receiving dock this week as we have been getting loads of new equipment in preparation for Ezra Crane. With still more boxes to come, we are sure giving the UPS and DHL guys a workout this week.

• Audio Technica 4073a Shotgun Mic (link)
• Rycote Modular Windshield kit (link)
• Audio Technica 3035 Studio Condenser Mic (link)
• Large quantities of Auralex StudioFoam
• 2 new DVX batteries from dvxuser.com
• M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB audio interface/preamp

As you can see we are mostly spending money on audio equipment this time around. Since our DVX100A was a significant portion of the budget of Forever Cursed, we have a lot more flexiblity in our spending plan on Ezra Crane which is allowing us to greatly improve our field and studio audio equipment while still keeping our "low-budget" plan.

Last night Alysha and I went over some scenes again. I am very pleased with her attitude not to mention her acting ability. The scenes read well so far and I couldn’t be happier. It’s always a little awkward hearing what you’ve written spoken for the first time. However, it’s exciting too.

In the last few days, I’ve rewritten one entire scene due to the fact of a location change. That’s one of the problems of low-budget filmmaking, but it’s also one of the benefits because I believe the scene is better off with the rewrite. Imagination doesn’t cost any money and the best way to solve problems is with creativity.

Yesterday, Justin and I went through the whole screenplay and placed each scene with a location. This was the first vital step in setting up a production schedule. It will be tight, but we can pull it off.

Today, I dragged Alysha around town to a couple of Goodwill stores. We were able to find some clothes that will work well as her costume. I still need a few things like shoes and a backpack, but the main stuff is taken care of. It should be an interesting look.

I’m looking forward to this shoot more and more each day. I really think that this will be special in some way.

It’s hard to stay consistent with posting when so much is going on. Submitting Forever Cursed to fests is taking up lots of time, but it seems to be paying off.

I have to say Ezra is developing well. We have our main cast in place, which is a great relief. I couldn’t be happier with our actors and I can’t wait to see them work. I started working a bit with Alysha on Tuesday night. She is a natural talent. She really embodies her character. Again, I cannot wait to see her on the screen.

The screenplay is not technically finished, but I feel I’m very close. I’ve started doing a breakdown. I’m separating scenes and placing them in locations that we have scouted. I’m figuring out my shots to a degree. With low-budget filmmaking you never have enough time, so I have to have everything planned out as much as possible. We can’t waste time on location coming up with ideas. I need to have them all in place or at least most of them. Sure it’s not the best way to work, but it’s the only way I can work until a studio gives me millions of dollars.

I must admit I’m getting really excited about this movie even more so than I was with Forever Cursed. I feel I’ve learned so much my doing Forever Cursed. I feel more confident going into Ezra that I can get certain things that I need to make a movie. It will be fun to get behind the camera again. Also, this will be another great learning experience. I will then be able to take what I’ll learn from this movie and apply it to others.

Please keep checking back as the journey of making Ezra Crane will be posted here. If you’re a filmmaker always remember the best advice is: get a camera (any camera), make a movie and show it to people.

Friday the 9th Matt and I met at Barnes & Noble to talk about the movie and go over the candidates to play "Ezra" we have received thus far. I think I did more reading of gun magazines and consuming chocolate cheesecake than actually contributing to the betterment of the movie, but oh well.

Saturday we went out early in the morning to check out the junk yard location in Union, MO. It looks like it will work out great and will be a pretty interesting location to shoot in. Now we just need an abandoned house and a large ominous warehouse in a wasteland... Sorry no pictures with this post, I forgot to take any at the junk yard.

Location scouting commenced today with a trip the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. We think that it will work well in one of the montage sequences. Unfortunately the parks department added bright blue railings to the sides of the bridge which will mean that I have to get very creative with my camera angles, though that could be an advantage. Anything that makes us use our imaginations is good. We also scoped out a water tower in St. Louis that looks like a wizard's tower. Sadly we did not get any pictures of the wizard's tower because Justin left the camera in the car. We did have a little excitement today when we got pulled over by a cop. It seems that Justin was driving the wrong way on a one way street. St. Louis' finest turned out to be a very nice lady. She bought the story that we were location scouting for an independent movie. Of course we are very glad she did since it was the truth. So Justin narrowly escaped getting a ticket. Secretly I was hoping he would get one. If you want to see some pictures click here.

We started the day by looking into the truth behind the Da Vinci Code. Fortunately it only took four minutes to prove it is complete fiction and has no basis in fact whatsoever, therefore, we had plenty of time to work on Ezra Crane. Official location scouting kicked off with a trek to southern MO. Justin and I traveled an hour and a half south of St. Louis to a little known but spectacular geological feature of the state of Missouri. Massive granite boulders lie strewn about the land creating a unique and imposing vista. We battled snakes and lizards. We trudged over terrain that has never known the tread of man. We were lost in a prehistoric world... Okay, some of that is out of hand but we did identify a few places that will be featured prominently in the movie. We hope to be able to show some landscapes that have never been seen on the big screen. Check out our pictures of this incredible location.

This week I went over the whole screenplay and did rewrites on most everything. I smoothed out a lot of areas where I had been lazy. The scenes flow better now and some of the dialogue is less abrupt. I feel the screenplay is really coming together now.

Tonight Justin and I read the entire script out loud and made notes about locations, equipment needs and other shooting issues. We figured out how to shoot one complex scene in a very simple and straightforward manner that will make our lives easier during shooting. We also started building a time table of when we need cast, crew and equipment.

I'm starting to get really excited about this movie. It's more creative than Forever Cursed and more personal. Hopefully we will be able to produce a motion picture that is poignant and entertaining as well. Keep checking back for more updates.

I'm still doing drafts of the screenplay. I think I'm about to the point where I have all my scenes. I just need to go over them some more times making them smoother and such. This screenplay is complex and it is making me grow as a writer.

I've also been studying a lot movies trying to learn as much as possible. The major disadvantage of not going to film school is that you don't get to watch like eight rare movies a week. So I'm doing the best I can with Blockbuster Online. I've been watching some Japanese films mostly Takeshi Kitano and some Kurosawa classics. I went back and rewatched some old post-apocalyptic films. I identified some cliches that I'm going to avoid like the plague. Hopefully more news will be coming soon.