How did “Beneath the Frostline” come about?
When Scott and I were kids, we had heard about this “Bog Man” legend from my grandfather. It was around when he was a kid too, and probably when his dad was a kid. Basically, it’s the story of a tortured soul who is left to the elements because of a disfiguration, and it survived. Around here, whenever there is a hunting accident out there at the bog, people talk…not loudly, but they talk. It’s still around. So we took this story from our childhood and turned it into our own vision. We placed the story in the 1970s and tried to give it our best 1970s film look. When all was said and done, we both felt that it took on a life of it’s own, it was a great feeling.
Have you had any run-ins with the Bog Man?
Hahaha – he parties with us all the time.
Were there any problems in getting these films made?
Of course. It would be no fun if we didn’t have our share of setbacks to talk about. Firstly, we were going to film (“Beneath”) in the fall, and it was going to be called “Monster in the Woods.” When our FX person had an illness, we had to slow pre-production, eventually hiring another FX person a few weeks later. Of course, our new FX person, Jeremy O’Nieal, would need a few weeks to come up with what we needed. So the big delay set us back until December. December in Maine isn’t brutal, but climbing mountains on foot with 20 people and major gear, glidecams, huge lenses, etc, add some slippery snow to it, and if you were there you could have seen me slide down a mountain riding a tripod case. We were really lucky in that it only took us two 8-hour days to film, since we had some rough climate to deal with, we rehearsed and rehearsed, we pre-planned everything, including the pre-planning. Other problems came in post-production. Scott and I spent many long weekends editing the film. Every wide shot we took was too dark. We’ve fixed everything now, but the first showing we did with “Beneath,” it ran at about 20%. There we were watching with hundreds of people, and 80% of our picture wasn’t there. The music and sound was great, but the picture was gone. So we’ve had our share of problems to fix, but really I think we enjoyed it all. “Beneath” was a very enjoyable experience.
Has it been difficult getting them screened?
We’re just starting that process now. We’ve had good feedback, and no feedback.
Any upcoming projects?
We’re both working on a few scripts. I just finished one, and have two others going. Right now, we’re really focusing our attention to getting “Beneath” and “The Dark” out there. We’re going to need a few more dollars than last time for our next venture, so raising the money could take some time, remember, we’re out in Maine…with a Bog Man.
Check out “The Dark” and “Beneath the Frostline” at the Emptyhouse Film website.
