Best Film and winner of
6 other awards for the NYC Film Race 2009.
"The
Queen Bee of Mushroomtown", by Giant Bull
Pants, was created in
24 hours for the NYC Film Race 2009 based on a theme assignment
(breaking the rules)
and a surprise element (clinking glasses).
Film Racing (FR):
Tell us about your team, Giant Bull Pants.
Giant Bull Pants (GBP): Mike Lavoie, the
lead actor, spearheaded the project. He brought in
Keith Boynton, a feature filmmaker just getting into
shorts; Keith’s cousin Robb, a still photographer
just getting into cinematography; James Creque and
James Fauvell, who didn’t know what they were
getting into; and Arthur Chan, production assistant
extraordinaire. Keith reached out to Brian Testa,
whom he knew from an improv comedy class, to do
sound. Angela Perri, an actress from Keith’s latest
feature, was a last-minute addition to the group. We
called her on Friday afternoon and she showed up at
9:30 that night, ready to work.
Off-site, we had the Bruffee brothers standing by to
do the music,as well as Billy Greenfield,
who agreed to do our titles. Billy is a friend of
Brian’s and the rest of the team had never met him,
so it was as if our title sequence was designed by
some magical Internet-dwelling gnome with whom only
Brian could communicate.
The
name Giant Bull Pants is a blend of three
production-company names: James Creque’s Giant Peach
Productions, Mike Lavoie’s Bull Journey Productions,
and Keith Boynton’s Fancy Dance Pants.
FR: Break down the production schedule of
“The Queen Bee of Mushroomtown”.
GPB: Our strategy was the get the filming
done as quickly as possible, to leave time for
sound-synching, re-recording dialogue, and tweaks of
all kinds. It broke down approximately like this:
10:00 PM – 11:30 PM: brainstorming with the whole
on-site team
11:30 PM – 1:00 AM: Keith writes a draft of the
script
1:00
AM – 1:10 AM: actor read-through and discussion with
the team
1:10
AM – 2:00 AM: Mike and Keith hammer out second draft
2:00
AM – 8:30 AM: shooting
8:30
AM – 10:00 AM: sound synch
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM: rough edit
2:00
PM – 7:00 PM: color correction, looping dialogue,
fine edit
7:00
PM – 8:30 PM: frantic efforts to burn DVD in correct
aspect ratio
8:30
PM – Mike and James get in Keith’s car and high-tail
it to Manhattan, DVD burning on a MacBook on Mike’s
lap
8:50
PM – On the Manhattan Bridge, in the Volvo, Mike and
James screen “Queen Bee” for the first time
10:00 PM – The film in, Keith and Robb meet Mike and
James at the Rogue Bar, drinking of beer
FR: What equipment and hardware/software was
used during the pre-production, production and
post-production of “The Queen Bee of Mushroomtown”?
GPB:
We shot on the Nikon
D90, a digital SLR with an HD video function. The
camera has its drawbacks – no manual controls in
video mode, no external mic jack – but Robb knew how
to trick it into doing what he wanted, and we worked
around the sound issue by recording through a
shotgun mic into an H4 recorder, and synching up the
sound in post. Sound synch took an hour, but it was
worth it for the incredible image quality and
interchangeable lenses.
We edited using Final
Cut Pro on a Mac Book Pro (that’s how “Pro” we
are). We didn’t really do any lighting – except for
car headlights on the first Dock Guy scene.
FR: What was the most difficult part of the
process?
GPB:
The James-on-James
kissing scene. When Keith and Mike were rewriting
the script in Mike’s bedroom, they nailed down the
first two acts but couldn’t figure out how to end
it, other than they thought the Jameses kissing
would make for a hilarious moment. More by
happenstance than by design, they waited until the
first two scenes were in the can before springing
their master plan on the team. This led to a
creative mutiny around six o’clock in the morning.
Everyone was exhausted, cold and wet - it rained
steadily through the Dock Guy scene. There was a
long stalemate about the wisdom of the kiss, what it
would “mean,” why Keith and Mike couldn’t think of
something better, etc., and for about twenty minutes
it looked like the whole project was going to go off
the rails. After a break, during which no other
third act was proposed, everyone agreed that the
two-couple kissing finale was the best way to go.
The rest is cinema history.
FR: Any good behind the scenes stories?
GPB:
Like many Film Race
productions, we had the ever-curious NYPD pay us a
visit. We were afraid they’d gotten a noise
complaint or were going to ask to see our permit,
but it turned out they just wanted to make sure we
weren’t stealing Keith’s car. Keith’s car, which
appears in the film, is a 1988 Volvo with over
230,000 miles on it. Anyone who wants to steal it is
more than welcome.
FR: How did you come up with the title of
the film?
GPB:
We knew the Dock Guy had
to say something bizarre at the end of the movie – a
piece of absurdist faux-wisdom that would sum his
character’s unique worldview. We threw around a
bunch of ideas, and when James Fauvell blurted out,
“You’re the Queen Bee of Mushroomtown,” we knew we
had it. It wasn’t until we were editing that we
realized it had to be the title.
FR: How many takes did you do of the kissing
scene?
GPB: Six. Mike and Angela had no
complaints, but neither of the Jameses had ever
kissed a man before, and the first few takes were a
touch awkward. Eventually, Keith pointed out that
the more convincingly they kissed, the sooner it
would be over. That seemed to help. We just posted
outtakes from the make-out scene at
12films12weeks.com (see below). They are both
hilarious and uncomfortable.
FR: What were some of your favorite films
from this year’s New York City Film Race?
GPB:
“Always Follow
Instructions” was great – clever, neatly executed,
cool special effects. “Kindness” was weirdly
fascinating and had one of the best sound schemes of
the festival. And both “Lights, Camera, Cartwheel”
and “Birchwood” still had us cracking up after
repeated viewings.
FR: What advice would you give to someone
that wants to get involved in the New York City
independent filmmaking scene?
GPB:
Make your own scene.
Create your own team. The line between
“professional” and “amateur” is blurring more and
more, so get your friends together, start filming,
and see where it goes.
FR: Do you have any ongoing or upcoming
projects you would like to share?
GPB: Actually, making “Queen Bee” was a
major turning point for us. We realized the immense
creative power of time constraints, and that
inspired us to conceive of our own filmmaking
challenge for the summer of 2009: 12in12 –
twelve short films in twelve weeks. We figured if we
could do one film in 24 hours, we could surely do a
film in a week! Our first film will be posted online
June 5th and we’ll continue every Friday
thereafter. We’re blogging daily about the
experience. Those who are curious as to what we
create can follow our progress at
12films12weeks.com.
FR: Will you be back to defend your title in
2010?
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