Long Dark Way Shoot Day #10

Only two scenes left to do now. Here is a picture of tonight's work.

Long Dark Way Shooting Day #9

Only three scenes left to shoot. Plan on being done before the end of October. Here are some pictures from tonight's shoot.

Long Dark Way - Back on track

Here is a picture from the reshoot of the shop grate scenes done on Day 5. Great job, Zane.

Sux To Be Me

Friends, if you are actually reading these entries. I just wanted to post something here to let you know , I have not been well. I have been suffering from an intestinal issue that is increasing in severity. Yes, I have gone to the doctors. Tests, so far, are "inconclusive".

To add injury to insult, I damaged my right big toe yesterday, removing large of chunk at bottom of same due to clumsiness. Went to doctor for that and now also have large lumping pain in my right upper arm from the damn tetanus shot. LOL

No one would argue that the title of this entry is correct right now. LOL

Long Dark Way Day #7

Tonight's shoot was short and sweet. Only took two hours total to get all we needed. Thanks to my old employer, we were able to use an office there. It's been four years since I worked there, but everything seemed to be exactly the same. Even the stacks of books in the library haven't been moved in all that timem it seems. Felt like I had never left the place. HaHa

Patricia, Renee, Sonja, Greg R., Brian and Jamestic. Thanks for your talent and efficiency.

It will be some time before the next shoot as there is a holiday coming this weekend and the girls and I are traveling to Austin, Texas to visit family there for a couple of days. We will leave this coming Thursday and return on Saturday. Then I have to get serious about finding the last few locations we need.

Until then, friends, rest well and have a great time.

Long, Dark Way Day 6

This was supposed to be Day 7, but Monday's shooting was cancelled due to sickness (not mine). so that was rescheduled for Friday.

Tonight was a very small scene in a bathroom. Thanks to my chiropractor, Dr. Fred Bogan at Alliance Chiropractic, we were able to get in and done in three hours.

Thanks to Renee, Sonja, Greg, Brian and Jamestic. Good job.

Still needing a location for the dress shop and Rachel's house for the end of the film. Everything else is essentially finished.

From here will be sound effects, pickup shots (that's going back to locations and getting little things to cut to or scenes we missed) and voice over work. The end is in sight.

Long Dark Way Day 5 Pics

Patricia Robinson as Gloria

Richard Green as Security Guard

Zane Berlin as Danny

Lisa Metzger - 2nd Assistant Director

Greg Hisaw - location coordinator, extra, boom operator, grip, cast coordinator, and much much more.

Long Dark Way Day 4 Pics

Still haven't recovered my energy from nine hours of filming on Day 5, so will have to just post pics from the last couple of shoot days. First Day 4.


Renee Weygandt as Rachel and Brian C. Jackson, Sound Engineer - in hurry up and wait mode.

Gregory Raw - Boom Operator. Lighting Director and Editor

Karsyn Weygandt - yes Renee's daughter - as one of Abby's friends.

Brian C. Jackson

Sound check time.

Lyudmilla McCoy, as another friend and Kelli Kickham as Abby.

Makeup Tests

Long Dark Way Day #4

Day 4 is actually reshooting all the Day #1 footage. Unfortunately, neither the lights nor the sound from Day #1 were good enough. However, it did not go to waste as this was a good opportunity to work out the kinks in our operation. Because of this, tonight's shooting was much faster and efficient. Altogether we shaved 2 hours off the total time to shoot the same scenes.

It was brought to my attention that I failed to show the "casualty" picture promised two days ago. So here it is:


This purse, purchased after much consideration by Renee while living in Thailand, was our first casualty. For the sake of art, this purse bravely leapt in front of the wheels of a speeding car to save Renee. LOL

Actually the scene was that the car comes to a screeching halt inches from our heroine. Before she can even react, the villian is beside her leading her across the path. In the process she drops this purse and it is run over (albeit unintentionally) by the above mentioned car as it speeds away.


Major shoot coming tomorrow. Will post after that is done.

Long Dark Way Day 3 Photos

Renee Weygandt & Kelli Kickham
Brian C. Jackson
Gregory Raw
Marc Hall
Zane Berlin

Long Dark Way Day #3

Well, I must say that was fun. We shot the club scenes and the scene where our heroine has an encounter with a car. More on that later. but first I want to say thanks to all the great people.

First and foremost on my list tonight are Greg Raw, on lighting for making everyone look so good on camera and Brian C. Jackson on sound for making sure the actors can be heard clearly.

Second to none are Greg Hisaw, extras wrangler extraordinaire among about 100 jobs, including location scouting, he does on this film and Sonja Jones who not only takes exceptional notes of the scenes, and runs the slate (you know: "Scene 3, Take 7") but also provides locations, totes stuff for the decrepid director (that's me) and provides wonderful food for all and most importantly keeps said director from getting too stressed.

Then there is Erick Wolfe, who came to coordinate stunts and stayed to bring laughter to us all. Eddie "Monster" Evans, the ever present and calming influence, always ready to lend a hand any way he can.

A special thanks to Club 209 in the Brady District of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma and to Amber for opening up just so we could shoot these scenes. You can't know how much I appreciate it.

I saved the best for last: my cast

Renee Weygandt - our heroine, who sacrifices her time, petrol to travel fro Bartlesville (for those of you who don't know that is 30 - 45 minutes away) every shooting day, and tonight an even greater sacrifice (see photo at the end).

Zane Berlin - as our villian, Danny. He shows how a good looking young man can be creepy and villianous. Now that is good acting. Can't wait to get to the psycho scenes and see what he comes up with. ;)

Kelli Kickham - the daughter, Abby. Always bright and cheerful. And now a little happier because she got to run the slate. ;)

Marc Hall - the club bouncer - excellent job ferreting out those minors and not letting them in. ;)

and to all the extras who showed up at the last minute tonight to make our club look like a popular hangout:

Sam Harvey - Thanks for being the guy who almost ran down our heroine and did run down her purse. Good job!

James Stander and Trish Hutton - our underage clubbers. Great adlib lines.

Seton, Jillian, Ashley, Fernando, Jeffrey, Amber and Renee thanks for being our club crowd.

Next post will be pictures including a photo of the sad remains of the first casualty of the film.

This is our stunt coordinator, Erick Wolfe, showing our stars how to be safe in a rough scene.

This is the image promised in the last post. Read the sign on the door. ;)

That is all for now. Shooting a club scene on Monday night. Hope lots of extras show up. More after that.

Long Dark Way Day #2

What a great night! More crew showed up to help - thanks a million to Greg Hisaw with too many titles to list here, Greg Raw, lighting guru and editor, and to Erick Wolfe, stunt coordinator and "staggering drunk". A special thanks to Jeff Lamberton, our cinematographer. You all added so much to the experience tonight.

Renee and Zane. I must say we were able to experience the darker side of Zane's character tonight. Very creepy. Renee seemed to especially enjoy the scene where she escapes from his clutches. ;) As usual, awesome performances, true professionals.

Funny incident: At one point a man came by the set, walking down the street. We heard him yell out to one of the crew. "Hey, you got a cigarette? I just got out of jail." This was what lead to the addition of the staggering drunk that gets the crap scared out of him, just for asking Zane for a smoke. Performed to perfection by Erick Wolfe. Erick, dude, did you have some experience to draw from there? LOL

Erick and Greg H. spent a great deal of time warding off passersby or asking cars not to drive down the alley where we were filming. On one such occasion, Greg H. went sprinting down to the far end of the alley to wave off a car. He came back to report that he had encountered a couple in the early throes of a passionate embrace. I will leave the details to your imagination, dear reader. But needless to say it was embarrassing and hilarious.

Anyway, the filming went smoothly and we were done for the night in a mere five hours. Next scheduled night will be Monday. So rest up all and enjoy a peaceful and Happy Father's Day.

Oh yes...one more thing. Gossip column style: What good looking actor and creepy villian was seen fixing his hair in the ladies room at Club 209? Pictures to come later. LOL

The Long Dark Way Day #1

Well just got home from first day of shooting on The Long, Dark Way. First of all I want to thank all the people who participated and did a great job for the long, six hour schedule.

Zane Berlin, who is the villian of the film did a fantastic job coordinating the lighting for the scenes and keeping us all revved up between scenes. What a dynamo!

Renee Weygandt, our wonderful heroine. Steadfast, consistant and infinitely patient.

Kelli Kickham, our Abby, always cheerful and involved.

Lyudmilla McCoy, drove 2+ hours one way just to help make this film.

Special thanks to Shannon Miles, who let us use her apartment for the filming and then at the last minute stepped in to fill a vacant role as one of Abby's friends.

Brian C. Jackson, our local "mad scientist of all things electronic" who did our sound recording and provided the lighting equipment. You rock, man!

Sonja Jones, a real trooper. She came to be Assistant Director and jumped in to run a camera, doing a great job of it too.

And to my special girls, Jamestic & Sondra Stallings. My wards and the keepers of my heart. They toted and fetched, were there to assist in any way they could, working the slate and crawling behind appliances to unplug them. You two are the best kids in the world.

Now I go to sleep and prepare for shooting tomorrow night's scenes. More later.

Long Gone

My apologies (assuming anyone noticed) for the long absence. I am getting ready to film The Long Dark Way this month, beginning on June 13th with God's blessing. Still getting permissions for locations is a headache. But determined to get this done, and right, this month. I will return shortly after that and let you all know what happened. Maybe even post pictures. My love to you all until then.

More Poetry

If I Could

If I could touch your face,
And kiss your lips.
If your heart was a place,
Into which I could slip.

If I could hear your voice,
Just whisper my name.
If you said, “you’re my choice”,
I would feel no shame.

If you were with me,
Life would be sublime.
If I could just be free,
And turn back time.

Charming

The thrill of seeing you every day
The sight of your beautiful eyes
The sound of your resonant voice
I cannot live without

Your smile bewitches me
Your dimple charms
Your sense of humor suits me
Your intelligence disarms

I wish to know you better
To hold you while you sleep
I wish to touch your face
And comfort when you weep

-March, 2008

To My Friends

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
So love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the one's who don't.

Believe everything happens for a reason..
If you get a second chance,
grab it with both hands.
If it changes your life, let it.
Nobody said life would be easy,
they just promised it would be worth it.

Friends are like balloons;
once you let them go,
you can't get them back.
So I'm gonna tie you to my heart
so I never lose you.

A Little Something

Slave

I’m a captive of your lips,
A slave to your eyes.
I cannot escape,
No matter how I try.

In warmth and safety,
Your arms surround me
You keep me here,
As your love enfolds me.

You have detained me
With your gentle ways.
I’m a prisoner of the heart
I don’t wish to escape.

Written March 17, 2008
-Susan L. Sybenga

First Article

Collaborative Filmmaking in the Digital Age: Or How to tell your story with no budget.

Do you have a story to tell, but no video camera with which to film? Do you have a video camera, but no story to tell? Do you have the time and money to attend a filmmaking school? NO?

Well, not to worry, there is an answer.

Thanks to sites like www.youtube.com and www.current.com and so many other websites for uploading user content, there is now a venue anyone can use to tell their story. Thanks to free and low-fee film festivals in almost every country in the world, there is now an audience for every story, long or short, funny or sad, romantic or tragic.

This is not just for people with expensive film cameras, lights, sound equipment, and lots of professionals with tons of money. This is not just for big time producers, directors, famous actors and award winning cinematographers. This is the world of truly independent filmmaking. Not those “big budget, produced and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Matt Damon” kind of independent films. But simple stories told in imaginative ways by hidden talents all over the world. All that is needed is an idea, some friends, a computer and a camera. You know this is you, don’t you? Come on admit it?

All right, now that we have that settled, you are asking me “How can I afford to make a film? How can I do it without experience? I don’t know the first thing about writing a script or directing or anything else for that matter.” So what, neither did I when I started.

Here is what you do. Talk to your friends. Tell them what you want to do. You may be surprised to find that they have always wanted to try their hand at filmmaking. One of them may even have a digital camera. Find a group or make a group online, for instance at http://groups.yahoo.com/start ; advertise at your school or college. Talk to everyone about it. Make yourself a t-shirt that says you are making a film. People will crawl out of the woodwork to be involved. There is a celebrity wannabe in almost every one of us. I promise, you will have more than enough people to work with in no time at all.

Once you have a group, you need a story to tell. Go to your local bookstore or library and find books on script writing and filmmaking. If they don’t have what you want, try online. Many books are available through online sellers such as www.amazon.com. You can even buy them used for very little money and individuals like myself will ship your book to any part of the world. Here are a few recommendations for the beginning filmmaker: $30 Film School by Michael W. Dean; The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trottier; or Chris Gore’s Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide. There is even free software on the Internet that you can use to write your script. It will make sure you are in the correct format. That way if you write the next great epic, you can submit it to those big time folks and they will take you seriously.

Here is just one link to free writing software: www.celtx.com . Personally, I spent a little money on this one and use Movie Magic Screenwriter. IMPORTANT ADVICE: Please, whatever you write, get a copyright and register your work.

Okay, you now have your group and your story. Time to make a film.

What? Still don’t have a camera? Not a problem. If you can’t afford to buy a digital film camera even from www.ebay.com, like I did, then look around. You will see cell phones with film camera features, or laptop computers with web cams.

Hey, I know what you are thinking. “This won’t work! What about quality?” Well I am here to tell you some of the best short films I’ve seen were made with a laptop web cam. Don’t believe me? Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFamousStacie . Every piece she’s made was done on an Apple laptop with a built in web cam and look at the number of viewers she has. She has even been on the local news for it.

So here we are. You now have cast and crew, camera, and story. You’ve gone out and shot your film. You need to edit it now. Add credits, music, and special effects if required. Where do you get the editing software? For this you will need to research on the Internet yourself. There are many free trial downloads out there. But here I would recommend spending a little money. This is a definite case of getting what you pay for. Some suggestions, from cheap to expensive, would be Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premier, Cyberlink Power Director, and Vegas Movie Studios. These also range widely is ease of use. IMPORTANT ADVICE: Whatever you choose to use, remember to save your work early and often.

Now you are ready to send your baby out into the world. No, don’t be scared. You gave everything you had to make sure it was ready. So, you can start out by showing it to friends and family. Encourage them to make comments, critical and positive and LISTEN to them. You may have to go back to editing, or even do some pick up shots, but believe me it will be worth it.

Once you have a film you can be truly proud of, you can start submitting it online or to film festivals. Spend some time searching festivals online and you will find that you can get your film shown in almost every country in the world. In some cases, you will need to subtitle your piece, as most festivals will only accept films in English or with English subtitles. Please read the small print before sending anything to them. Make sure your film is in the genre and time length they are looking for. Don’t think you piece is too short if it is under 10 minutes long. They love to show very short films. They can fit them into slots where a bigger film won’t work.

So now for the cost of a little postage, you send your baby out into the world and wait. STOP holding your breath! It won’t help.

LAST PIECE OF IMPORTANT ADVICE: Not every film festival will accept and show your work. Don’t lose heart. I sent my first film to over 20 festivals, but it only showed in two. One was a local festival where it was nominated for two awards and the other was in Weimar, Germany. You never know, so just keep sending it out and while you are waiting….GET BACK TO WORK! You have more stories to tell and no time to waste.

Best of Luck and see you at the movies. - Susan