Day 2 of shooting, waiting to hear the schedule: Steven Smith (crew), Jennifer Worth (PA), Jason Osborne (Producer, Actor (Schumer)), Richard Onley (Ted), Nathan Gadberry (exra), Wayne Ballotti (PA), Dale Everett (Jarrod), Damion Gadberry (extra), Tegan Ballotti (extra), Kurt Hildebrandt (audio), Matt Ballotti (PA). (Photo: Mike Barskey)
[This interview is the first in what we hope will be a nice, long series.]
Roberto Warren (Eli)
Tell us a bit about what you’ve done so far on the Chartarum project.
I played the part of Eli in the film.
What was the thing that you found most interesting? (Or, what was your favorite thing?)
Well, one of my favorite scenes was the scene in the meadow talking with Julie (Frances). Also, the opportunity to work with John. He is a brilliant film maker, and an outstanding artist.
Roberto Warren (Eli) & Julie Hurford (Frances) discuss the nature of things. (Production Still.)
What’s the weirdest or most adventurous thing you’ve ever eaten?
Juniper berry straight off a tree in Arizona.
Continue reading
We’re trying to connect to some of the cast the webgoddess doesn’t have contact info. for. If you’ve participated in the movie and aren’t shown on the cast & crew page, you might see your picture on our Trying to Connect page.
Julie (front), with her aunt, Jeanne Mosher (center) and friends Nancy Mettlach (left) and Fran Trovillion-Harris (left) (Photo: Julie's camera)
So, the woman who doesn’t camp or rough it (except at a motel), semi-camped and roughed it. The woman who can’t act her way out of a paper bag did ACT, with some creative direction from a very talented director. I had a ton of fun, reduced sleep, and learned a lot from a group of very intelligent and creative people who banded together to help a nice guy name John Shaw (our director) realize his vision.
First of all, I was astounded to be asked to help achieve anyone’s vision. I haven’t acted one little bit – barring trying to scam my way out of a day at grade school. So, I when I asked to read for John and his wife/my friend Melissa, I was convinced that they would go off and find someone more talented. When they told me I had the job, I had to say yes. When would such an opportunity arise again? Probably never. I was in.
Julie and Roberto Warren (Eli) running lines in the doorway of the barn that was home for several days in September, 2009. (Photo: Dave Heid)
Continue reading
Technically, I have the credit for costuming, but for most of the scenes – as is the case with many indie films, I imagine – we gave general guidelines to the cast of Chartarum and asked them to come up with their own wardrobe for the scene. My own garb was not planned for the first big shoot (all the “up north” scenes), because I was not meant to play Sam. I got more involved when it came time to shoot the opening (pre-credit) scene; young Oshyn (Sally) was instructed to wear jeans, and I took care of the rest.
Oshyn Gibson (Sally), chilling with Trixie the Hutt
Here’s a sneak peek of Oshyn’s outfit and some of the jewelry she and her mom, Melanie, who played Sally’s mom, Julie, wore.
Oshyn’s costume consisted of jeans, a “Cthulhu, Jr.” t-shirt, and a bunch of bracelets I made specifically for the shoot.
Prior to the shoot, I got a list of her favorite colors. Out of the director-approved colors on the list (red was stricken because it doesn’t always film well), the store only had pink, so I used another one of her colors to make the monster applique. (Cthulhu, Jr. was designed by John Shaw (director, etc.) as part of a set of Junior monsters I used as appliques on Giftmas tees.)
I made three identical shirts, just in case. After shooting was completed, Oshyn got to keep the one she wore for most of the shooting. One is probably not salvageable (stuff happens), although I’ve not given up on it yet, and a third remains never-worn and is in storage.
Below: close-ups of the bracelets worn during scene 1. The first two were worn by Oshyn, and the third was worn by Melanie. Sally, Oshyn’s character, is exactly the kind of little girl who wears monster t-shirts and skull bracelets.
Bracelets made for the opening scene of Chartarum.
Kurt Hildebrandt (audio, actor (peep))
Photo: Mike Barskey
Sometimes, we’re just going to share cool images we like a lot. This is one of them.
Kurt H brought extra audio equipment for the shoot and helped with the audio, as well as helping out as an extra during some early shooting. Mike B, who snapped this great image of Kurt in the fog, was like a human dynamo on the set, and yet managed to get several images that we’ll be using in coming weeks.
Jennifer W running the fog machine on the set of Chartarum
(Photo: Mike Barskey)
I loaded up the van and came up to Luther, ready for anything, and it was just incredibly exciting to be involved in making a movie. I loved the crane, the bullhorn and the smoke machine. It was interesting to see how many layers of makeup it actually takes to get that effect. And syrup for blood?? Who knew?
The anticipation of seeing the final result gets worse every time I watch the trailer. I cannot contain my laughter, even when watching the scary moments, because of knowing how it was done. I am ready to see that black mold baby!
[Note from webgoddess (Mel): from time to time, some of the folks involved with Chartarum will be guest-blogging. Jennifer Worth is an old friend who packed up and spent the long Labor Day weekend with us during the first shoot in September, 2009. Jennifer acted as production assistant during that shoot, running the fog machine, carrying and lifting and doing whatever needed doing. The next month, she came to help out on a shoot in Defiance, OH and was convinced to get into makeup and be an extra, which is another story altogether!]
Just a quick update: the Cast & Crew page has been completely overhauled!
A quick look at some of our sponsors:
Mel (Sam) prepping some knitting for an upcoming scene, using circular needles from HiyaHiya North America.
This image is not from a scene, but from the first night in my makeup for a character I did not end up playing (that’s another post, for another time); I needed to have a couple of inches of knitting done before the scene in question was shot (so you could tell what I was doing). Several folks working on the movie knit or crochet, or are with someone who does, so (as far as we know), they all took home some needles or a crochet hook. I have a couple of pairs myself and use them all the time!
Julie Hurford (Frances) checks out pizza supplied by sponsor Marco's Pizza
This image was taken soon after the pizza arrived (Dale (Jarrod) drove a couple of hours to pick it up – yay, Dale!). Leftovers went into the fridge and we found out later how good grilled pizza can be. Nowadays, John & I live in the boondocks and count ourselves lucky that one of the few pizza places that delivers out here is a Marco’s.
Oberon beer, from Bell's Brewery.
