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In the summer of 2008, I had a dream. Vague statement, I know, but it fits the vagueness of the dream. In fact, I only really remembered about 3 things from this dream, two of them being a series of images and the other being a feeling. For the most part, I have some images of Horse and Zeph, sitting in a car, one in the backseat and another in the front passenger seat. Beyond that, I had an image of a completely smooth, slow approach to this car as it was revealed that they were sitting in this car in a field out in the countryside.

Paired with these very brief images, I got a feeling of complete despair and isolation from this dream. Their facial expressions in the dream told the same story. From that point, I knew that if I placed Horse and Zeph in a car, which is parked in some field, that coupled with a spontaneous (and subsequently 2 day) shoot, that something would have to happen.

Thus, I gathered Zeph and Horse, locked them in a car and yelled action.

Scrivello was the result.

- James

Cast

Headband – Stephen Sargent

Beer Keg – Zeffrey Wuchina

Unidentified Driver #143 – James Curtis

Directed and Edited by James Curtis

‘Writing’ Credits – Stepan ‘Horse’ Sargent, Xerf VVuchina, Jam Curts

Everything else you can think of – Zeph Wuchina, James Curtis and Stephen Sargent

Beer provided by the Wuchina’s Fridge

Editor’s Notes:

Editor’s Notes:

This was one of our “We have an idea, let’s grab a camera and shoot,” projects. We shot it on two hot days in July, and for the most part I just let Horse and Zeph make it all up as the camera rolled, while occasionally injecting some of my ideas into what they were doing.

These kinds of projects are usually simple. We shoot them quick, edit them even quicker and get them out the door. Scrivello was not the case. I ended up using it as an experiment to work on more polished aspects of the post production process. I color graded and re-color graded what feels like hundreds of times. I did a lot of audio work, as well as re-cut it a number of times. Of course, I feel like if I could have gone back with the experience with it, and started from scratch, it’d be a much better finished product than it is now, because, frankly, I got pretty lazy at times because I was just so worn out on fixing all my mistakes and oversights, which were layered on top of each other.

Also, this kind of project never gets this kind of editing treatment. It kind of is what it is when it is shot, which is a bit of a bummer, because there were times in editing it that I really wanted to somehow re-shoot a bunch of stuff, or do some new stuff or  entirely, but that was out of the question anyway. I think that because of these aspects, it may suffer from being kind of split. I guess you could say there is supposed to be a comical quality in the total dementia and paranoia that the characters trapped in the car are undergoing, but at the same time, semi-presented in a slower, more brooding fashion. I don’t think I could have helped it though. My dream was slightly haunting and really slow, yet it was Horse and Zeph locked in a car, so of course they’re going to bust out the Mighty Ducks Quack Attack when referencing… geese.

An extra note or two: I don’t think that Beer Keg’s (Zeph’s) Hallucination sequence outside the car is supposed to really make that much sense.. well, I could pose a few ways I can make sense out of it, but you’ll probably think I’m stretching it, jaja. It was bred out of something that Horse and Zeph saw, which was funny, but I’d never seen it. Plus, while we were piecing it out in our heads, I got really confused and lost anyway. So if you’re confused, it is because we all are, eh?

Also, I had an actual intro shot for this, because there is a very distorted and muffled conversation that goes with the setup of the whole thing, but visually, the intro I shot didn’t work like I wanted, so I cut it, and put very brief sound clips of that audio in its place, but for the most part, that intro is completely absent. Oh well. I’ve rambled enough, but these are just some general insights to what went ‘behind the scenes’ of this small project, and also part of why it took my so long to finish.

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