Friends for Life, Michael Spence Film

Right after completing Animals and erotic horror thriller I worked on Friends for Life, which is PG rated. It’s a family feature with love an angel, wolves and bears. Starring Michael Flynn and Jimmy Chunga. It was quite the contrast of content and general vibe on set. On Animals there seemed to be a lot more pressure in the ranks of command, communication hiccups, every title & job was very defined, and the crew was generally in a less then optimistic mood. On Friends for Life the crew and cast were very mellow, very helpful, and in good spirits. The pressure arose with the Animals on set. The human society was there along with several trainers and at the beginning of the day they told us that there is a chance that you could be eaten. Outside of Heber UT, in the woods, the set had and electrical wire around the perimeter to protect the cast & crew from the beers and wolves. We were not allowed to have any food or drinks other then water on set. Any strong scents were highly discouraged. No sudden movements were allowed either. Which was difficult for me because I’m used to bouncing around grabbing different angles.
First out was Bart the Beer JR. Bart is a famous movie beer. His tricks were similar to tricks for a dog. Stand, sit, growl, & play. The trainers had such good rapport with Bart that it was easy to forget that Bart could take overtake the crew and cause some serious havoc. The wolves came out next. The wolves looked like dogs but their movement and eyes were wild. The way they looked at you made you feel like lunch. The wolves were sketched out when first coming onto set because of the smells of Bart, meat, and the crew. The trainers were a lot more on edge with the wolves. The wolves would get out of the electrical line perimeter a couple of times and no one was allowed to move until the wolves were ceased. The human society lady was on me like white on rice, instilling fear into me because I was the “smallest” and moved the most. She said I would be the likely candidate for lunch. On this particular take the wolves were running from point a to b and the cameraman was in the middle doing a scan within the electrical wire perimeter. I was originally right next to him but the human society lady moved me out. One of the wolves, Shadow, got out and went straight for me sniffing the ground. I stood there and pretended to be a tree. It was scary “I could be eaten” but it also an adrenaline rush. The trainers quickly recovered shadow. It was humbling being around the animals and exciting at the same time.
After reviewing the pictures the first day there were a few shots of the wolves where they looked like they were going to eat me. The next day I was much more still in my movements around the wolves.

It was a great experience working on crew with familiar faces McKay Daines, Ron Hill, Jimmy Chunga, & Michael Flynn. Good times. I had a conversation with the assistant director Bob Conder about the different vibes on the two sets Animals & Friends for Life. He said that what he found in his experience that the content of the script whether its happy or not passes the vibe onto the crew. Which makes perfect sense.

The website for Friends for life is:

http://flynn-daines.com/friends/story.html

I created a photo gallery for cast & crew at:

http://www.cassstudios.com/uploads/Friends%20For%20Life%20/Welcome.html

This is my digital art of me working in the woods. Its me laugh.

Animals The Movie

Plot Summary
Syd Jarrett (Marc Blucas) is an unsuspecting, down-and-out man in a washed-up hick town whose life is turned upside down when the drop-dead gorgeous Nora (Nicki Aycox) walks through the door of the local bar. Jarrett's passion for Nora leads him peripherally into a sub-culture of animals where he encounters Vic (Naveen Andrews), a renegade whose animal instincts are stronger than his human ones. As things begin to get even worse, Jarrett realizes that his best chance for happiness, and survival, lies in his true love for Jane (Eva Amurri).
Summary written by Matthew Temple

This was an interesting project to be apart of. To summarize it was full of Erotic Blood, Sex, Animals, & horror. This was my first experience on a Movie Stage, which was intriguing to watch how they get the shots and dose doe the locations around for shooting. The most memorable was when we were outside of Kennecott shooting nights. For rain scenes they used over 135,000 gallons of water. We got to blow up cars at 5:30 am. We were also at this abandoned cement factory in downtown Salt Lake, which was incredible miserable. It was 110 degrees outside and inside it was at least 115 degrees. Everyone was sweaty, stinky, dirty, grumpy and zapped by the heat.

I learned a lot, met great people and slept for a few weeks after it was over.

There was some controversy in the news about the filming of Animals in Utah. Its not your typical Utah film because of its Erotic Horror thriller blood and steamy sex. It was the first film to be turned down for funding by the Utah Motion Picture Incentive Fund.

Pictures from this adventure need to go through the approval chain of command before I post. So stay tuned.

The Official Website:
http://www.animals-movie.com

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com

Red Canyon the Movie...adventures in the Desert.

The Film was written by Laura Pratt and Giovanni Rodriguez. The producers include Laura Pratt, Nicole Abisinio, Mike Dungan, and Giovanni Rodriquez. The Director of Photography Sonnel Valezquez.

Red Canyon is a psychological horror thriller with actors Christine Lakin (Regina), Norman Reedus (Mac), Noah Fliess (Harley), Justin Hartely ( Tom), Tim Draxi(Devon), Ankhur Bhatt (Samir), Katie Maguire (Terra). The Director of Photography Sonnel Valezquez.

Natalie Cass Utah Movie Photographer goes on adventure in the Southern Utah in the desolate Desert. Natalie did the behind the scenes photography, Behind the scenes video, and Cast interviews for the production.

My account of the Experience: A month in the Desert
“ It was a full crazy experience working on Red Canyon. Being out in the Desert in extreme heat, 12-17 hr days/nights, 6 day weeks, taxing terrain, isolation, intense and vile locations, along with the well written warped script made it challenging on all levels. The landscape is truly breathtakingly beautiful and changes frequently. The natural lighting along with the landscape was the best part. The crew came up with a name for this place The Republic of Caineville. There is a behind the scenes skit about how the Republic of Caineville came to be. The paper plates found on the Pratt Farm near the old school house. In the Republic of Caineville there is no god, no santa clause, no law, no gas station, no traffic, no contact with the outside world, no plumbing(two days without water), no caption over time, no labor day, no food, no safety, no laundry mat, no reason. There is alot of bugs, extreme heat, solitude, alcohol, drugs, one girl (me!) bats at the pool, coyotes, suicidal bunnies, humming birds, moths the size of my hand, the landscape is extremely beautiful and unforgiving resembles life on the Moon. At the end the cast and crew got t-shirts that said The Republic of Caineville.
The crew & cast really bonded being down there together. We were all at the same hotels and spent all day and night together. I got to know almost everyone on the crew, which rarely happens on Films. The crew was extremely talented in every department. These are the people to be stuck in the desert working on a film with. We all made lifetime friendships.
The most vile place I have ever worked in was this house in the middle of nowhere desert that production bought for the bad guys house(MAC). It has been uninhabited for 15-20 years and was rotting. When the art department got there they found a dead goat in one of the bedrooms with rats and miscellaneous animal feces all over the house. The goat and rats were cleared out by the time we were filming there. The dead goat head was left in the kitchen as a prop. We had face masks for breathing and I was still dry heaving. The grounds were weird. There was at least 15 upside down cars & trucks that had been stripped with pieces everywhere. It was an eerie dump yard on the moon lite with. This was the last night of shooting and I was relieved not to have to go to that place again.
Getting back to society was a shift. It was weird being around mass’s of people again and being in the city. I went to the spa two days in a row and slept for 2 weeks.
You may leave the desert but the desert will never leave you. The experience changed my life. Things that used to be crazy are no longer crazy. If I completed that job I can do anything! I am grateful for the experience and for the friendships I made.“

For additional information on Red Canyon please visit the official website http://www.redcanyonthemovie.com