Saying Goodbye Movie Blog

High Heels and Hoodoo has a scene that’s a memory and a scene set in the spirit world, and we wanted to make sure those parts looked different.  So Brian bought this snazzy program called "Magic Bullets Suite" to manipulate the images. The software has all kinds of filters and effects, and Brian was like a kid in a candy shop trying out all the options.  In addition to the distinct looks he could add to the different scenes, he also used the software for color correction.  He spent hours making sure the colors were consistent across all the shots, but when he was sure he had it right, he ran into the Goldilocks issue. 

He sent the final version to Jocelyn, and she complained that it was too light – when she watched it on her computer, it almost looked bright enough to be daytime.  When Brian burned a DVD and watched in on his television, it was too dark.  It’s supposed to be midnight in a cemetery, but the viewer has to actually be able to see what’s happening.  And of course when he watched it on his computer where he’d done all the color tweaking, it was juuuuust right.  So which of those three outputs should we believe?

That’s why we’re so glad we have the upcoming sneak peeks.  This is one of the types of issues a work-in-progress screening helps evaluate, so we can discover if we need to make changes.  The film will be playing in two different theaters with different projectors and screens, so we’ll be able to see whether it looks too light, too dark, or just right on the big screen.  

Beaufort is a beautiful, charming area, and we had a fantastic time at the Beaufort International Film Festival (BIFF) this past week.  Brian had to work for the first part of the festival (including the screening of Saying Goodbye), so our sister Joanna agreed to go with me as both paparazza (see her photos from the weekend here) and moral support to keep me from dissolving into a puddle of nerves.

On Wednesday night, BIFF held an opening night reception at the Old Bay Marketplace Rooftop, and luckily the weather was perfect – not too cold, not too hot.  While enjoying the delicious food from local restaurants, we had our first celebrity sightings: Tom Berenger and Powers Boothe.  I was too chicken to talk to either one, but I had Joanna take surreptitious pictures of both of them. 

The screening for Saying Goodbye was on Thursday at 1:40.  Not only was I already nervous that I’d be doing the Q&A without Brian, but I was anxious about the venue, since I’d heard it had about 500 seats.  That would be the biggest venue we’d played in, and how embarrassing would it be when the only people who showed up were Joanna, me, and a few friends.  Luckily that was a silly worry because the most amazing part of the BIFF is the Beaufort Film Society that sponsors it.  The members are passionate supporters of films and filmmakers, and they would show up at the start of each day and watch movies until the end of the day.  So even on a Thursday afternoon, the theater was almost two-thirds full, which was awesome.

Even better, they were a very reactive audience.  We had a lot of laughter and tears during the Saying Goodbye screening, and while I’d love to claim it’s because Saying Goodbye is just that incredible, all the movies that week got the same animated response from the audience.  It’s truly gratifying for a filmmaker to play in front of that type of audience.

After the screening, it was time for the Q&A.  I took Stuffy the Stand-in for support, but I still almost fainted when Ron Tucker (the charming director of BIFF) handed me the microphone.  Somehow microphones make public speaking even more intimidating.  But the audience was so gracious and asked such fun questions that I immediately felt at ease.  The entire screening and Q&A plus the conversations with audience members afterwards were such a wonderful experience and made me so proud of the movie the Saying Goodbye team has made. 

After the screening, we were able to relax and enjoy things more.  On Thursday evening, there was a reception and table read of the screenplay finalists.  Brian arrived on the scene on Friday.  Since we’d never visited Beaufort before, the three Rish siblings tried to balance sight-seeing with watching films.  We probably didn’t do either justice, but we got a nice sample of both.

Then on Saturday evening, BIFF held a glamorous awards ceremony.  We’re a little disappointed our winning streak was broken, but it was a huge honor that Rebecca Koon was nominated and that we were a short film finalist.  Besides, there are some things more important than bringing home a trophy like the enthusiastic support we got all week from new fans and a few opportunities that came up that we’re keeping mum on for now so we don’t jinx them. 

After the ceremony, there was an after-party where we finally worked up the nerve to talk to some of the famous people in attendance.  Kim Delaney was very sweet, and Tom Berenger is not only handsome and charming, but extremely nice.  He and his partner Laura chatted with us for the longest time about dogs and editing and film festivals.  And for this old-school Tom Berenger fan, that pretty much made my night!

We had a great time at the Beaufort International Film Festival, and we want to thank Ron Tucker, Rebecca Berry and the rest of the Beaufort Film Society for having us.  We highly recommend BIFF to filmmakers out there looking for a top-notch festival experience!

We now know our screening day and time for the Beaufort International Film Festival where our star Rebecca Koon has been nominated for Best Actor.  Saying Goodbye will be shown on Thursday, February 16th at 1:40pm.  It’s kind of an odd time to go see a movie, but we'd love for you to join us if you’ll be in the Beaufort area.  The films are being screened at the University of South Carolina, Beaufort, Center for the Arts 801 Carteret St. Beaufort, SC 29902.  You can see the entire BIFF schedule here and purchase your tickets here.  Hope to see you there!

Season’s Greetings!  Merry Christmas!  Happy Hanukkah!  Happy Kwanzaa!  Happy Solstice!

Stuffy the Stand-in loves the holiday season, and he’s perched himself under the tree convinced all the presents are for him.  We don’t want to disappoint him on Christmas (or lose a finger trying to make him move), so we’ll let him open all of them.  Besides, we got all the presents we needed this year, since 2011 has been especially kind to Death Cat Entertainment.  We had the world premiere of Saying Goodbye, which then screened at several festivals and won a variety of awards.  We also won another grant from the SC Film Commission to film our new short High Heels and Hoodoo, which is currently being scored.  We’re very grateful we’ve had opportunities to bring our stories to life and share them with others. 

We hope that 2011 has treated you well, and that you have an even better 2012!  Happy Holidays!

And since it’s now a tradition, here’s our holiday animation from two years ago:

More terrific news out of the Beaufort International Film Festival!  We just found out that Rebecca Koon, the star of Saying Goodbye, was nominated for Best Actor.  It’s a richly deserved honor.  Not only did Rebecca bring Alma to life in a way likely to bring tears to your eyes, but she was also a great help on set and has been an enthusiastic supporter at several screenings.  We are so thrilled for Rebecca and hope she takes home the award come February.

And while we’re sharing good news about Rebecca, we also wanted to mention that she had a part in Showtime’s fantastic new series Homeland.  If you watched the show, Rebecca played Faisel's assistant in the episode where Virgil and his brother search the suspected terrorist's office.  It was such a surreal experience to be watching the show and see her pop up on screen.  If you haven’t been watching the show, make sure to put it in your Netflix queue – the story is twisty and suspenseful and the acting performances are phenomenal.  We’re excited for Rebecca that she got to be part of such a critically-praised show.

Editing High Heels and Hoodoo was a team effort – Brian did the actual editing in Final Cut, while Jocelyn hovered over him offering her pearls of wisdom.  We were lucky that because we had a fantastic cast and crew, we got so much great footage, but it actually makes it really tough to decide what to use.  Our DP John Reynolds got a variety of interesting angles, so we wanted to use them all.  And then our actresses (Johanna Jowett, Joy Vandervort-Cobb, and Sandra Lafferty) made it even tougher to decide: one would deliver the line in an especially snazzy way, but then one of the others would have a priceless reaction shot – which to choose, which to choose?!?

But we muddled through and got our rough cut put together.  Then it was time to turn it over to our expert advisors.  As part of the Indie Grants program, short film expert Roberta Munroe is helping at all stages of the process.  Brad Jayne, the coordinator of the program, has also been offering his sage advice along the way.  They both had some great suggestions for tightening the cut and using different shots to tell the story.

So we made some changes and delivered a new cut to them.  At that point we also brought in another past Saying Goodbye helper – editing consultant Ann Collins.  Like Roberta, Ann helped so much with the Saying Goodbye edit that we also wanted her practiced eye on High Heels and Hoodoo.  She had really great things to say about High Heels and Hoodoo and suggested some ways to further fine-tune the edit. 

After more tweaking and a few more back-and-forth rounds with our team of experts, we now have picture lock – yay!  Time to pass it off to Fred Story and the Concentrix sound team to truly make the film sing.

In August we mentioned that our aunt and uncle threw a viewing party where the power of networking earned us a waiver to submit to a film festival.  Well, we just found out that Saying Goodbye was accepted into that festival – the Beaufort International Film Festival (BIFF).  The official email actually says we’ve been selected as a “Finalist,” but we’re not really sure what that means or if everyone who was accepted is called a finalist.  Whatever it means, we’re excited!  Click here for the list of films.

The festival will be held February 15-19 in Beaufort, SC, but we don’t know yet when Saying Goodbye will be screening.  We’ll update Facebook and the website when we find out the specifics, so keep an eye out for further details.  We hope to see you there!
 

When it comes to making low budget films, especially shorts, you end up depending on the kindness of friends and family to get you through.  We already gushed about our amazing family, so it’s time to tip our hats to our friends. 

First up we have Jocelyn’s writing buddy Kathleen Fox.  In our first scene, Tiffany pulls up in a fancy car, but we didn’t think Jocelyn’s fifteen-year-old Saturn or Brian’s Prius would be the type of car our rich party girl would drive.  So we put out a call for help on facebook, and while we had several people offer cars or suggestions about where to look (thank you!), the one that worked out from a timing standpoint was a friend of Kathleen’s.  Emma Souder has a sporty convertible and was willing to let us kidnap it for the entire night.  Emma, you saved our bacon – thank you so much! 

Making the deal even sweeter, Kathleen volunteered to get the car to and from the cemetery, so we didn’t have to worry about it.  And as if that wasn’t enough, Kathleen manned the craft services table on Saturday night to give our parents a break.  She even dragged her poor husband Steve into it, and we are so thankful they were willing to spend the night in a chilly graveyard to keep the coffee and snacks flowing. 

Then there are the friends (both old and new) involved as professionals on the production.  They all agreed to work for below their usual fees, yet still bent over backwards to make this an awesome short.  We've talked about all of them in previous posts, and we are so grateful for everything they have done, although we did want to give our DP John Reynolds an extra shout out.  Not only did he make the graveyard look awesome on camera, but because John has been involved with the camera/lighting for seemingly every project filmed in Charleston, he had the contacts to help us get the equipment and manpower we needed.  The most beneficial of these contacts was High Output, Inc. – not only did they give us great deals on equipment, they also let us film a scene in their warehouse.  The flashback scene needed to be filmed inside, and since High Output was just around the corner from St. Lawrence, it was the perfect place.  It would have been tough to pull this off without the generous help of both John and High Output, so thank you very much! 

And lastly, we want to thank all of you who have been so supportive – asking about our progress and wishing us well.  Your enthusiasm helps keep us energized. 

And now we should probably stop with the thank yous before the music starts to play us off the stage!

During the filming of Saying Goodbye, our family was a huge source of emotional support; but although they stopped by the set one day to see all the excitement, they weren’t really involved in the actual process.  It was a very different story for High Heels and Hoodoo, which turned into a true Rish family production.

We already mentioned how our parents helped with all the food shopping, so we might as well dub them the Official Food People – they helped man the craft services table, and they catered dinner both nights.  Although is it still called dinner when it’s served at midnight?  Our dad Robert prides himself on his homemade bar-b-que, so he grilled a giant hunk of pork for Friday night.  And then for Saturday night it was a different kind of bar-b-que with hamburgers and hot dogs.  Our mom Joyce made all the delicious side dishes for both meals. 

But they didn’t just help with the food.  In the days leading up to the shoot, our mom helped Jocelyn make sure everything was organized.  Between the two of them, the OCD list making was in overdrive.  And once on set, she kept everything shipshape at base camp (the trailer).  Our dad served as handyman on set, keeping the generators running (the hairdryers kept tripping the trailer’s circuit breaker) and taking care of other odd jobs.  We also tasked him with driving the U-haul truck full of TTC equipment, since neither of us felt comfortable with it.  And when we ran out of tiki torch oil, who do you think we sent out on a 2am Walmart run?  Dear old Dad, of course!

Rounding out the Rish family production was our younger sister Joanna.  She has a super fancy camera and loves taking pictures, so we sweet-talked her into being our onset photographer/videographer.  She took some fantastic photos (along with TTC student DiDi Hendley) which you can see here.  But as older siblings, it’s our duty to make life tough on the youngest, so once shooting started, we immediately turned her into the set production assistant, bombarding her with “Go and do…” “Tell so-and-so…” “Bring me…”  And as usual for ungrateful siblings, we fear we forgot to preface most of those requests with “please.”  But Joanna has the patience of a saint, and she wanted to help us succeed, so she did everything we asked (with only a few dirty looks). 

Besides taking pictures, her biggest job turned out to be set chauffer.  Since the trailer was parked a good distance from the graves where we were filming, she drove the actresses back and forth.  And after it ended up being so cold, she turned her car into a heated green room for the actresses to stay warm during lighting adjustments, which we know the ladies really appreciated (as did Jocelyn who occasionally snuck a few minutes in the car to thaw out!).

We can’t thank our family enough for all of their help.  Without their support and willingness to do whatever we needed, we’re not sure we would have been able to pull this off.  Thank you so much Joanna, Joyce, and Robert!

During the filming of Saying Goodbye, we were extremely impressed by the Trident Tech (TTC) students who helped us on set (our busy bees).  Therefore we felt pretty good that for High Heels and Hoodoo half the crew would be made up of TTC students.  But we still couldn’t help worrying a little that maybe we just got lucky the first time.  At least for Saying Goodbye we got to review resumes and pick our own students; this time the students were assigned to us by TTC coordinator Brad Jayne, so we had no idea what we were walking into the first night of shooting.

Luckily TTC truly does do an excellent job training their students, so we had no reason to worry at all.  Max Gordon, Alex Boyd, DiDi Hendley, Karson Kern, and Tonika Brown showed up on Friday afternoon and immediately began swarming to and fro, unloading and setting up equipment.  Sometimes it seemed like they were in two places at one time, especially DiDi who also took pictures in her downtime (along with our sister Joanna Rish, which you can see here).  We are so appreciative of all the hustle and hard work the students did for us that weekend, particularly since filming all night in a chilly graveyard didn’t make for ideal working conditions.  We hope they gained a lot from the experience, and we look forward to hearing great things about their future projects.  

Will Bryan was our production designer for Saying Goodbye, and he did such a great job bringing the rooms to life that we wanted his help with High Heels and Hoodoo.  But since it was an outside shoot in a graveyard, we weren’t sure if he’d have enough to do to justify his drive from Columbia to Charleston; so we decided to make him work double duty as first assistant director.  Not much ruffles Will’s feathers, so he’s a calming asset to have on set.  He’s also volunteered to do the poster for High Heels and Hoodoo, and after the awesome one he did for Saying Goodbye, we can’t wait to see what he comes up with for this one.

Next up is our gaffer Bill Allanson.  Our DP John Reynolds recommended Bill to us, and like John, Bill has been a part of most of the projects shot in Charleston, such as Dear John and The Notebook.  In fact, he came to set on Friday evening after having worked a full day on the Army Wives set – we really appreciate Bill being willing to work those crazy hours to help us out.  In addition to his lighting duties, Bill became the Official Fog Wrangler.  You can’t have a ghostly graveyard scene without some fog, but of course it ended up being windy during that scene, so Bill hustled to keep the fog in the shot rather than floating off over the Cooper River.  The end product looks great, so we are glad he was there to tame the wild fog beast.

And then we had Oren Malik as first assistant camera, another crew member highly recommended by John.  Oren actually worked on a few of last year’s indie grant winners as one of the Trident Tech students on the crew, so he was a perfect addition to our set.  Not only did he do a great job as John’s right-hand man, but since he was in the students’ place a year ago, he was able to guide them and offer advice.

We’re glad all three gentlemen were willing to brave the cold and the creepy graveyard to help us with the shoot.  Thanks, guys!

As you may remember, last year Stuffy the Stand-in had a blast trying on various Halloween costumes.  If you didn’t see them then, you should peruse his various ensembles.  And even if you did see them at the time, go back and gawk at his choices for a Halloween giggle. 

This year, Stuffy the Stand-in was too busy helping us with our new movie High Heels and Hoodoo to spend time preening in front of a mirror in his various costumes.  High Heels and Hoodoo is about ghosts and magic, so it’s a perfect fit for Halloween, made even more appropriate since we filmed in a cemetery at night the week before All Hallows Eve. 

Since there were no cats in this movie, we did not need Stuffy’s stand-in abilities, but he was on hand to supervise and horn in on any photo ops.  We’ve included a few of his creepy poses to commemorate the holiday.  Enjoy and have a very Happy Halloween!