Lynne McAuley joins the ranks of our 'production assistants'

With her generous contribution to our production campaign Lynne has joined the ranks of "production assistants" on "The Shadow Sea". In addition to her name in the end credits  under that title she'll also receive digital versions of both the finished film and promo poster, a Shadow Sea t-shirt and a hand-written letter of thanks from myself.

Thank you Lynne!

A Special Thanks to our latest contributor

All of us on the Shadow Sea production team want to give a special thank you to "anonymous" who joined the ranks of our contributors earlier today. Thank you "anonymous".

Please consider joining those who've contributed so far by visiting our production campaign page over at indiegogo and contributing whatever you can. Every penny will go directly into production and help us bring The Shadow Sea to big-screen life.

campaign page: http://igg.me/p/386656

Thanks!

A very Special Thanks to our latest contributor

The month of May is off on the right foot as a Special Thanks goes out to an anonymous 'patron of the arts' who has just contributed to the indiegogo production campaign.

This person will receive a digital download of the completed film, a digital version of the official movie poster and, if he chooses, he can have his name listed under "Special thanks to" during the film's end credits.

Once again, a very special thank you for your help in moving the project forward.

You can join this generous individual by contributing to "The Shadow Sea"s production campaign here: http://igg.me/p/386656

New contribution incentive

"Dancer" - Richard Chambers - 2012

The first person to contribute more than $500 to the production campaign will receive the original painting of mine you see here (in addition to all the other perks).

The painting is approximately 21 x 25 inches, is called "Dancer" and was finished about 6 months ago. Here's your chance to help us with the film and receive a beautiful piece of art in return. This is not a print. This is the original painting and there's only one.

Claim it by contributing on the indiegogo campaign page here: http://igg.me/p/386656

Stripped down final trailer for The Shadow Sea

After taking a long look at the trailer I decided to strip it down and tweak it a bit. I'm really happy with the result which gives a much better idea of the intended feel of the story, and so this will be the official proof of concept trailer going forward. Here is is.

Thank you Dain Turner!

Dain Turner has become the first contributor to "The Shadow Sea" fund raising effort on indiegogo (http://igg.me/p/386656). Dain officially becomes my hero! THANK YOU DAIN!

Funding campaign is underway for 'The Shadow Sea'

It's been a long road to this point and now we're heading into uncharted territory as we launch the fund raising campaign at indiegogo. Here's the link to the campaign page:

http://igg.me/p/386656

Please take a few minutes to visit the page and make a contribution. Check out the nifty perks that are available at the different contribution levels and remember any contribution no matter how big or small makes a difference and gets the project closer to the big screen where it belongs. When you're done if you could share the link to our campaign page we'd be forever in your debt. Thanks - Richard

The Shadow Sea on twitter

We're now on twitter at:  www.twitter.com/shadowsea_movie

Follow us as we navigate financing, final casting decisions, principal photography and everything else on the road to the big screen.

Map of shooting locations for the PoC trailer

Bangkok is a huge city and we went from end to end to find locations to film for the PoC trailer. The map below has a red 'x' for every location where footage was shot that wound up making the cut. While we still have location scouting to do for the film there's no doubt we're going to return to some of these locations once principal photography begins.

Full trailer for "The Shadow Sea"

The full length Proof of Concept trailer is finished at last. Made solely with volunteers and whatever equipment we could get our hands on at the time the trailer is an example of what can be done with a bit of determination by a dedicated group of creative individuals. Lots of people contributed time, effort, equipment and moral support to this phase of the project. Besides our lead actor Louis Ortiz - who has been involved since day 1 - I'd like to take a moment to list them and their contributions:

Mark Daniels - equipment, time, expertise, actor
Mark Gabrielli - equipment, time, actor
Paul "Alex" Alexander - motorbike, locations, actor
Threelapond Sittikarn - driver, voice actor
Brandon Richter - actor
Tick - actor
Ploy - actor
Michelle - actor
and others who know who they are but have chosen to remain anonymous

A very special thank you to everyone! And now on with the show.

First teaser trailer for "The Shadow Sea"

I put together this short teaser to fill the update void while I work to put the finishing touches on the full-length PoC trailer (which will be ready to go soon). A couple of shots I used here are a little rough but they work within the piece (and they won't be in the final trailer).

Custom url for facebook page is in place

Thanks to everyone who's "liked" the facebook page I've been able to claim a custom url. The new facebook address is: "www.facebook.com/theshadowsea" as you can see in the screenshot below.

Here's a still from Saturday night's shoot

On Saturday night we went out to shoot additional footage for the upcoming Proof of Concept trailer. Here's a still from that shoot.

Check us out on facebook

The facebook page for "The Shadow Sea" is up an running. If you have a few minutes and check it out by clicking the facebook icon below. (And don't forget to "like" us.) Thanks!

The joys and perils of guerrilla film making

As I explained in my last post the PoC trailer for "The Shadow Sea" is being shot guerrilla style. We set up, wet get the shot, we get out. Sometimes we talk our way in, set up, shoot and get out. That's what happened on a recent night when I needed to get some footage in a hotel kitchen. It was late but the manager was still on duty. We tracked him down and he kindly agreed to allow us to do a few minutes of shooting in the kitchen. The shot below shows actor Louis Ortiz (Reeshar) on the left looking on amused as I attempt an incredibly hi-tech special effect composed of a napkin, some masking tape and a little ketchup. On the right the gentleman in charge of the kitchen wasn't sure what the hell we were doing but he took it all in stride.

The next photo is an outtake from a recent PoC trailer shoot and is a pretty good example of one of the major perils of guerrilla film making. Since we have no control over the location we have to just set up and shoot and hope that those not directly involved will simply ignore us. As you can see in the photo it often doesn't work that way.

Louis Ortiz to play Reeshar in "The Shadow Sea"

Louis Ortiz is an actor with years of experience in both television and feature films. In "The Shadow Sea" Louis will be playing the lead role of "Reeshar". As you can see in the demo posted below Louis is a talented and versatile actor who loves his work and leaves it all on the screen. I'm incredibly happy that he's agreed to take on the role of Reeshar and I look forward to working with him in the upcoming months.

A couple of stills from a recent trailer shoot

As we get closer to the launch of the financing campaign for "The Shadow Sea" we also get closer to the premier of the Proof of Concept (PoC) trailer. Here are a couple of stills from a recent night's shooting for the trailer, which should run about 2:30 when it's all put together. In the best noir tradition the film will be in glorious black and white as indicated by these frames. Enjoy.

"The Shadow Sea" - Louis Ortiz as "Reeshar" ascends an escalator to trouble in this shot

"The Shadow Sea" - Louis Ortiz as "Reeshar" gets his menace on in this shot

What is a 'Proof of Concept' (PoC) trailer?

A Proof of Concept (PoC) piece - whether it be a trailer or short - is essential with a totally independent production like "The Shadow Sea". Its goal is to give everyone interested and/or involved in the project (especially potential donors) a realistic idea of what the look and feel of the finished film will be. Some folks raise money to do a PoC. Often this route results in a short film or a few scenes from the film being produced. We've decided to save the fund raising effort for the big production push and create a PoC "trailer" composed of short, strategic parts of various scenes shot specifically for this purpose. By creating a trailer instead of a something that would require extended scenes we can work guerrilla-style - set up the camera, compose the shot, shoot a few quick 20-second takes and get out before the authorities begin sniffing around - with volunteers who are willing to donate a few hours over the course of a night or two's work just for the experience. It's an exciting way to work but it's no way to make an entire feature length film that will hold it's own in the marketplace.

"Can't you shoot whole scenes guerrilla-style?" Good question and if your movie is set in the great outdoors, sure. But "The Shadow Sea" takes place in crowded urban environments; environments that require lots more organization and time, co-ordination with local authorities, location and crew management and a slew of other things which invariably cost money, which we haven't begun to raise yet. So for us, at this stage, it's guerrilla film making.

"Will there be a huge disconnect between what's in the trailer and what's in the final film?" Happily the answer is "no". While we're working guerrilla-style to shoot the PoC trailer footage we're nonetheless working directly from the finished script in many of the same locations that we'll be shooting the finished film on and we're shooting with our film's leading man - Louis Ortiz - who has generously agreed to participate in this phase of the project so that there can be continuity between the PoC and the finished product.

Others who've participated in the PoC shoots will not make it into the final film and I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I appreciate to no end the participation of all those who've volunteered to help with its creation. The project literally could not move forward without them and they will all be included in the credits of the finished film.

One more thing. Once the fund-raising effort has ended and principal photography commences another trailer, gleaned from this new footage, will be created and take the place of the PoC trailer. The new trailer will be the one that is used to promote the film to festivals, distributors and the like.

Where do things stand as of this writing?

As of today March 8, 2013 pre-production on "The Shadow Sea" is at the point where...

1) The "giveaways" list is being finalized for donors to the soon-to-be-launched fund raising effort. These giveaways will include everything from digital downloads of the finished film and t-shirts to your name in the film's credits and red-carpet access.

2) The official production blog (you're looking at it) and facebook page are moving forward. This blog went live a few days ago as did the facebook page. I anticipate that the fund raising effort will go live sometime toward the end of March or early April.

3) The script is being finessed, casting ideas are being bandied about and things like shot lists and budgets are being finalized.

4) We're busy getting the word out so that the fund raising effort is as successful as it can be. Everyone is committed to making the best film possible and the more successful the fund raising the better the final product. 100% of funds raised will go directly into the production of "The Shadow Sea".

5) Over the course of the next week or so we'll be shooting the final bits of footage for what will become the proof-of-concept (PoC) trailer which will premiere here and on the facebook page later this month (the banner at the top of this blog is composed of stills from footage already shot).

So that's where we stand as of today. In coming posts I'll talk about the people involved in the project and give updates on all aspects of the project as it moves forward.

Just what is the story morning glory?

I've given you some background on myself, my work and how the story came to be. But exactly what is the story? That's a good question. So here's the official synopsis.

Reeshar, a Las Vegas hitman with a dark and complex background flees when a price is put on his head by one of his former employers. He winds up in the Thai capital Bangkok where he assumes a low key life, content to be out of "the business". The tranquility he's found is disrupted when he meets the stunning Deh (pronounced "day") - a prostitute with her own troubled past - and is shattered completely when she disappears under mysterious circumstances. For a year he wanders the city hoping to run into her or some trace of her to no avail. Then one evening someone slips a note into his pocket on a crowded subway train instructing him to be at a certain place at a certain time if he wants to see Deh again. Suspicious but desperate he goes and by going unleashes a series of events that will rock the lives of everyone involved.

I'm reluctant to say more than that about the story at this point. The title should be a pretty good indication that, while the synopsis hits the major story beats, the devil will be found lurking in the details. For instance; no one in his adopted hometown knows who Reeshar really is or what he's doing there. For that matter no one even knows if Reeshar is his real name. He on the other hand knows little of the personal lives of the Thais he interacts with. It's his quest to discover the truth about what happened to Deh that pries open the Pandora's box of secrets. And it's the spilling of those secrets that drives the narrative and consumes the players.

Many of the characters in the story are based on real people. Of course their experiences and some of their characteristics have been altered to fit the fictional narrative (for the record I don't know any hitmen) but there are real people at the core of all the major and many of the minor characters.

Big things have small beginnings

I was alone and bored in a hotel in Vientiene Laos in April of 2009. I hadn't gone there with the intention of drawing or painting so when I had the impulse to scribble down an image that kept recurring in my head I had to settle for drawing in a notebook I'd intended to use as a journal with a marker I found clunking around in the bottom of my bag from some earlier trip. The recurring image  became this scribble...

Not much to be sure and not very good but I continued to scribble for the next couple of hours anyway. When I was done for the night I had several pages of crappy drawings but I also had something more: the crappy images had fused with some vague narrative snippets that had also been taking up space in my brain and become an idea for a story.

Over the following months I continued to scribble in that notebook whenever I had ideas. I also began to write out the story separately on the computer. The scribbles, informed by the growing narrative, began to develop into more refined drawings. By early 2010 I had a completed story along with a couple of notebooks worth of graphic ideas and decided to take a crack at creating pages for what was now planned to be a graphic novel called "Labyrinth".

Cover for the planned graphic novel

The first iteration went nowhere. I had zero experience creating for this medium and it showed. I also realized that the story needed more work and set out on the first rewrite. It was during this time that the story's name changed from "Labyrinth" to "The Shadow Sea". By late 2010 I was ready to try drawing again and this time the results were far more satisfying. But once more after drawing and inking for several months I realized the story needed more work though I wasn't sure exactly what it needed. So I set the whole project on the back burner to simmer and returned to my painting.

Over the course of the next year I returned to the story several times in an effort to resolve the narrative problems and it was early in 2012 while working one night on yet another complete rewrite that the thought came to me that this story really wanted to be a film. As I said in my first post this revelation carried with it the sense of absolute truth and so I transitioned from writing a graphic novel to writing a screenplay. Incredibly, once I set out on the screenplay path the long sought after narrative solution presented itself to me as if to confirm the decision to turn the project into a film.

When the screenplay was completed in mid-2012 I began to show it around to people whose opinions I trusted and got encouraging feedback and offers to help. My friend Mark Daniels has been an invaluable sounding board, advisor and proponent of the project who also donated equipment that was used to create the first round of footage for the proof-of-concept trailer. Many others have donated their time, energy, talents and ideas to the project as it has moved through the early stages of pre-production, where it currently stands and which I'll write about in the upcoming posts.

Some more background on myself and my work

My painting: "Next Move" - oil on canvas

As I mentioned in my first post I've been a painter since the age of 12. Almost from the beginning my paintings utilized baroque compositions and dramatic, single point lighting effects. I mention this because some folks who've come to know about "The Shadow Sea" and seen some of the very early test footage have asked me why I've decided to make such a dark/noirish film. My answer is that it's in my bones. It's who I am. I find inspiration, energy, mystery, truth, emotion and purpose in the dark. Something about the revelatory qualities of light piercing darkness, the way it carves life out of the shadows has always had a hold on me.

That said it shouldn't be any surprise that early on my favorite painters - those artists that made me want to paint - were Carravaggio and Rembrandt. Vermeer and his lonely twilight dramas also exerted a strong hold on my imagination. As I got older and was able to travel I spent hundreds of hours in museums staring at the original works of those and other artists like Georges de la Tour and modernists with their own take on the business of the night like Max Beckmann. I absorbed all that I could and took their lessons to heart; which you can probably tell from my 2006 painting "Next Move" (left).

Maya Deren - "Meshes of the Afternoon" 1943

As for film it would not be an overstatement to say that something changed inside me the first time I saw Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner"; an underappreciated film in its day but one that has come to be rightly regarded as one of the great films of the past 40 years. I had not considered film making before that but afterward I began to devour the noir classics like "The Maltese Falcon" and Carol Reed's disturbing masterpiece "The Third Man". In art school I became aware of film makers like Maya Deren whose "Meshes of the Afternoon" left an indelible mark on my soul and influenced the look and feel of both my paintings and the super-8 films I was making at the time.

So why am I making this noir mystery of a film? Because I can't imagine making any other kind. Because there's life in the dark. Because the truth comes out at night. Because all of my work is, in a sense, noir and to pay homage to the incredible artists who've inspired me.

In my next post I'll talk about the evolution of the story itself.

My painting "Ladies in Waiting" - oil on canvas

What is "The Shadow Sea"?

My name is Richard Chambers and "The Shadow Sea" is my baby. It's a feature length noir/mystery film currently in pre-production that began its life as some very hasty and very poor-quality scribbles I made in a notebook in 2009. I had no idea exactly what those scribbles were about or where I was going with it or, for that matter, if it was going anywhere at all. Over time however those scribbles gave birth to other ideas which led to others and, well, such is the nature of inspiration: you never know when it will strike or where it will go but you follow it.

By early 2010 I had a story. At this time I envisioned a graphic novel and began drawing it out (more on that in later posts). Late in 2010 after subjecting the narrative to the first rewrite and taking two cracks at the visual style I began to feel again that the story needed more work. Unsure where to take it however I put the project on hold to think it over. I took intermittent cracks at resolving the story throughout 2011 without any success. Early in 2012 however, when I was in the midst of the 6th or 7th rewrite a simple thought crossed my mind: "This story really wants to be a movie." It was one of those moments that had the ring of absolute truth about it and from that moment on I became committed to seeing The Shadow Sea find a home on the big screen.

Ceiling mural Venetian Palace, Las Vegas

Over the past year as The Shadow Sea morphed from a book to a film project I've been joined by many great people who've come to believe in the project. Actors, camera people, other film makers and just friends and acquaintances eager to lend a hand. They've donated a lot of time and sweat and expertise and ideas to help get the project to its current state, which I'll get into in greater detail in upcoming posts.

A little background on myself: I've been a painter since the age of 12, have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and over the years have studied with some amazing artists, including Eric Fischl. I've done Super-8 films in the past as well as experimental video and programs for the Boston Neighborhood Network. I've sold hundreds of original oil paintings and was part of the team of artists that painted the world famous mural cycle on the ceiling of the Venetian Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas (left).

While "The Shadow Sea" is my first foray into feature films I'm confident it'll have what it takes to hold its own in the creative marketplace.