The Making of The Hitchhiker

Pretty quickly we knew that rear projection was the visual style we wanted to pursue further. One of the controlling ideas for the script played a lot on the artificially constructed world that one of the characters creates within his own mind, therefor it made sense that the film form followed that notion. From the beginning we weren't necessarily setting out to show a seamless diegesis, we wanted the audience to be aware of the artifice of the scene, while in contrast the characters were NOT aware of their own artificial nature. By choosing rear projection, there was also the added benefit that we were more easily able to get the look of the classic cinema era we were referencing, seeing as it is the method that they used. With that decision made, it came down to a lot of technical concerns and problem solving, which meant a fair amount of research about types of projectors and how their image is rendered on camera, especially cameras lacking a global shutter which was most likely the only cameras we were going to have access to for the shoot.

During the development of the narrative and script for Hitchhiker we looked a lot at other materials to inspire us. I did a lot of mining films for visually interesting driving scenes, to check out how they framed things and pulled off different looks, which provided a lot of insight on how we developed our own language for the film.

In the winter for 2014 we began development on The Hitchhiker script and it went through many, many rewrites. I was lucky to be included very early in the project, not only on the visual side of things but in the writing process. JP would write a draft, send it my way for notes and we would discuss ways to keep improving the script. By June 2014 we had a draft we felt was production ready and we locked the script to enter pre-production. We set production for the fall of 2014 and put our producer hats on and figured out all the details: cast, crew, locations, scheduling, budget, EVERYTHING!

We cast the film fairly easily as we knew the principle actors we wanted from other films we had worked on in the past. Getting these two character's right was going to mean everything to the project, so luckily for us they graciously accepted the roles and brought their talent to the screen. Honestly, I could not picture the characters being played by anyone else, which is a great credit to their performances.

Now we had our principle actors, but there was still one very important character in the film that we needed and that was of course, this beautiful classic car. We were able to borrow this 1965 New Yorker equipped with a beautiful old school looking radio that was written into the script, which in it the film becomes a character of sorts, perhaps the only character in the story that tells the truth.

We started by shooting the background plates that we would need in order to project onto the screens that would be setup behind the car to simulate movement while filming the car scenes. We strapped the camera down on a tripod the back of the car, rolled down the windows and cruised around the bumpy back roads around Stirling. We then stabilized, color corrected and edited the footage into an endless loop to run throughout all the driving scenes in the film.

That brings us to our locations. We fortunately got permission from the City of Lethbridge to use the old Fire hall to film in, which is no longer in use. This made for a perfect make-shift studio lot for our production, as it had a nice wide open space with three HUGE bay doors and plenty of space. Besides it's proximity to to a major roadway that could cause sound issues in other scenarios, I think we were all sort of coveting it as a permanent fixture for us indie film nerds. It is access to resources like this that made our production at all possible in little ol' Lethbridge, Alberta.

It was here where we would make ourselves at home over a large part of the production and I must say, we completely took over the space. We had a separate room for costumes and make up, a lunchroom and even the camera department had their own little bunker close to set to store equipment that came complete with a handy work bench. And perhaps my favorite part of all was our video village.

The second half of our production was carried out just outside of Lethbridge close to Stirling, which is where we managed to find a landmark for the film, which called for a picturesque tree that broke up miles of flat Alberta prairie.

There was only about two day scenes in the film, so the majority of the filming happened at night. So most days we would shoot for a bit of daylight, setup equipment and then wait for the night fall. These were probably some of the tougher working conditions we would work in, with long and late hours in the middle of nowhere but our crew was committed and powered through.

We were extremely lucky to get to work with our costume designer, Rae Stephens, who just happened across an open cast and crew call we posted locally. Not only is she way more experienced than our budget would ever allow for, she is quite literally the nicest, most nurturing person you will ever meet. No, really, like forget the nicest person you've ever met... they have nothing on Rae. You can check out Rae's blog about her experience on set here. 

Not only did Rae bring her amazing energy to set but she brought her equally awesome wardrobe assistant Lynne Schaaf, who also lent us her trailer to use for the outdoor shoots. I'd imagine a film set without a "honeywagon" would have been a complete disaster.

Jade Brunes did all our make up and she is the coolest, most metal loving make up artist you could ask for and she always brings SO MUCH preparedness and skill with her to every set she steps onto. We are so lucky she comes to slum it with us indie folks when she can because I know she is going to be heading on to bigger and better things very, very soon in her career. Her drive and passion for her craft inspires me so much to keep working on my own.

Speaking of Jade's awesomeness, my theory is that she got it from her mama, who not only borrowed the production a generator which powered our night shoots but she actually came out and froze with us. She was even down to help push this boat to get the shot. If this picture doesn't embody the indie film spirit, I don't know what does.

I could write a novel about my appreciation for each and every person that came and created this project with us. What a beautiful thing it is for people to come out and work together tirelessly towards one goal without asking for a thing in return.

Tyler Heaton was our Camera Operator and Gaffer (among other probably un-credited roles that tend to blur together on an indie set) and aside from JP, he was probably my closest collaborator throughout the production. I couldn't have managed all the Producer/Assistant Director work on set if not for him being there to back me up with all his technical experience.

Sterling Clavelle our assistant camera dove in head first and helped us out immensely during our shoot, taking up the insane challenge of learning his role pretty much entirely on set as we went.

Our production sound guys, Ethan Lentz and Shaun Bellamy, might have a gear addiction that can rival even mine. The brought everything they could ever need to set to capture our sound in pristine quality. I didn't have to worry about any sound related problems while on set as I knew they were both all over it, setting up mics everywhere imaginable. Their work on set and then subsequent work with Joel Varjassy in post really made Hitchhiker's sound shine in the final film.

Vince Varga our Best Boy Lighting who works on a lot of bigger, unionized sets came out to help with lighting the film. Lighting was arguably one of the biggest challenges on our set, as we set out to achieve a pretty specific visual look, and the lighting was very precise and had to be implemented very quickly to keep the set moving. Any amount of time this guy spends on your set will make the final product better. He's quiet and professional so the only evidence you'll have that he was even there is when you find a perfectly placed hair light that you never asked for but you will totally take credit for.

Guy Croteau acted as our Key Grip who was also down to moonlight as a crash pad at a moments notice. Guy is easily one of the most laid back and supportive people to have on set, which makes him probably one of the first people I'd look to during a challenge.

Brandon Reid our grip with his signature exclamation on set with a loud and clear "ON IT!" was music to my ears when we were in the thick of things. And he was in fact always ON IT, whether it was adjusting flag on a light or carefully timing the projectors out just perfectly for an important take, he did whatever was needed to get the job done, regardless of whether it was in his department or not.

Garrett Bishoff acted as our script supervisor, making sure our we maintained continuity at all times, which I'm sure prevented JP from pulling out more of his hair during editing. Being multi-talented, Garrett can also be seen in the film, playing the role of Peter Smith. Two birds, one stone.

Dan Hymus (Dan the Man) is quite possibly the best production assistant I've ever worked with that had no film experience prior to production. I want to clone him. He was always so positive and ready to go on set. Plus, the guy that goes to get the pizza is automatically the most universally liked person on set, that's just a FACT. We actually had an unexpected guest to set and this champion gave his meal to them, after working a long day on set and getting everyone else's meal sorted out, he was still thinking of others first. They don't make them like that anymore. HEART OF GOLD. (p.s. We made him go eat)