Around the start of the new year, I got an email from Jeff Cloud, the owner & operator of Velvet Blue Music.
In the late 90's and early 2000's, while my friends were deep into their 'nu-metal' or 'emo' phases, my life was dominated by the music put out by Velvet Blue. Posters, CD's, cassettes, and 7" vinyl singles littered my bedroom. T-shirts, patches, and stickers were all over my person and belongings. And remember, this is pre-internet. So all of these purchases were done blind; decisions made based on a 2 line description from a single color insert included with an order, and the fact that it was VBM putting out the record.
Of the many bands that Jeff has been a part of, released records for, or otherwise had SOMETHING to do with, the one that my youth and musical tastes were shaped by the most was Starflyer 59; a shoegaze, dream pop, slowcore, beautiful, haunting band from Southern California who sang of heartbreak, longing, and when your life is a mess.
Previously, Jeff had seen one of the music videos I’d created for Guided By Voices, and he reached out and asked for some help on a music video for VBM alum Fine China - another band I’ve loved since high school - as well as an album trailer for newcomers Leem of Earth. But last year, he asked me to make trailers for SF59 - one for the lead single, "This Recliner," and one for the E.P., "Miami," itself. I can’t deny that my inner teenager, the one that sat in bed watching snow fall as Jason Martin of Starflyer whispered of lost love, was giddy.
But this email at the start of this year was...VERY different. Jeff had reached out, asking if I'd have any interest in taking on a really special kind of project - he wanted to put out a sort of half short film, half music video, scored by elements of the bands first single from this new record...a kind of short film version of "The Wall." He sent over the track, “Life In Bed,” and we discussed a little bit about themes from the album, "Vanity," and then he let me sit and stew and daydream. It’s so apparent that Jeff is such a steward of the arts. He values honesty through the artistic vision, truth through expression. Even though I had cobbled together several ideas to pitch him, when we spoke on the phone he told me flatly “Go with your first instinct,” and I rambled off the basic visual elements of what would become the story of the short film - conceived on a smoke break at work, during a rainstorm, after listening to a rough mix of the song for only the second time. I just couldn’t get it out of my head.
The next few months were filled with constant forward momentum. There are a lot of challenges to crafting a story that can be told silently, in a way that can be filmed during a pandemic, working within an indie rock budget, and still carry weight and meaning.
LIFE IN BED shooting script
I wrote a script in mid-January: a script that I knew had production challenges. I can’t help myself. Everyone loves a challenge, and honestly, sometimes when I’m conceptualizing a piece, I get a visual in my head that I can’t let go of. Try as I might, trying to scout locations, trying to find anything reminiscent of what I was seeing in my head, I realized that I was going to have to build a set. In February, after I got the thumbs up from Jeff and Jason on the script, I enlisted the help of my old friend, Mark W.C. Wright, who, along with being an accomplished actor, is a theatre teacher and accomplished builder. I sketched a poorly rendered version of what I had in my head, and he sent me back a beautiful blueprint. Having discussed this with Mark for several weeks, and all of his interest and enthusiasm for the project, it was at this point that I realized that he was the guy to help me bring this story to life; I asked Mark to act in my film.
Mark’s first rendering of the set
In late February, I began gathering props and costumes and set dressing - I had to hand dye The Patients sweat clothes, because apparently brown is just not a color that companies want to make anymore! In early March, we started building in a basement owned by the overly supportive and gracious Leslie and Walt Ford. Part of the trick of this build, and shoot overall, was being COVID-safe. We all wore masks as we built, but also, Mark had his daughter, Lily, and her boyfriend, Robert, helping and I roped in my brother - I was trying to keep pods of people together.
Mark, Harrison and Robert put the frame together.
Filming began Tuesday, March 16th, beginning with all of the isolated scenes in the hospital room. Mark and I worked mostly alone for the bulk of these scenes, with Robert and Lily acting as production assistants when they were available. The fact that we had fake sunlight streaming through the window meant we often had absolutely no concept of the time, and would frequently realize “oh it’s 9pm, we should stop for the day!”
The “pandemic pod” concept blurred over to casting as well. Mark's wife, Heather, and his friend, Jonathan, played doctors. These scenes were shot on March 18th. Between then and March 26th, we filmed some of the visual effect elements against a green screen, as well as some practical effects. The spinning clock, for instance, was shot in two passes - one with Mark in bed and the light shifting in the room, and once with Mark cranking the hands of the clock with an electric screwdriver - these were then carefully combined in post production. Another fun practical shot was The Shape smacking the tray. We used fishing line to rig up the doors to the closet, and ran a line from the tray through the wall of the set, and had to coordinate the door opening with the tray flying with the camera panning. It took 20+ takes, and I had to digitally remove the fishing line from the tray frame-by-frame, but the final result of the tray really smashing against the wall like that made it all worth it. When we got it and watched the playback, we were all smiling ear to ear, and that completed our work in the hospital set.
Doctors and the Patient
And then the production size increased. I was introduced to another local filmmaker, Mats, who was kind enough to shoot the drone footage on April 6th, with me pacing behind Mats in downtown Fredericksburg while on speakerphone with Mark and Lily, trying to coordinate driving and flying speed. We only had one emergency landing. Around this time, I had also reached out to a former high school friend, Casey, whose son I’d worked with in one of my Guided By Voices music videos. As these two characters are the closest in contact - in a car together, embracing, etc - I felt the safest way to approach this would be to cast a real life mother / daughter duo, and I knew that Casey and her daughter, Evie, would be GREAT. I was ecstatic that they agreed! We shot the driving elements on April 9th and 16th in my driveway; you have to find ways to keep that budget down!
Casey and Evie in the car
The biggest shoot day was Saturday, April 17th, though most of the footage shot this day would not make the final cut. We started by filming the alley sequence, and then moved to a local park to film the playground elements; the girl and her ball, other park occupants, as well as the chase out of the park. Thursday, April 22nd, the park-goers, Evie and her ball, and Casey sitting and reading were refilmed. I’m so lucky everyone came back!
By this point, editing and visual effects work had already begun. Jason Martin had sent me stems of the song (sub mixes or individual tracks) for the purposes of crafting the films score, and I began creating musical motifs to edit the film to. Jeff and I had discussed running time, and he mentioned a short somewhere in the 8-12 minute range. My first cut was over 18 minutes. However, by cutting another scene between The Patient and The Shape, restructuring things a little, and really giving my ‘trim clip’ tool a workout, I was able to get the run time down to just over 15 minutes.
But I finally had to admit to myself that the way I had shot the alley scene just wasn’t working; it took too long to get to the point where The Patient comes face to face with The Shape. Trying to alter the edit only made for confusing visual storytelling. I humbly had to contact all of the actors and beg them to do a reshoot. They were gracious enough to lend me their time again, and luckily Mark’s beard had grown back in - he’d shaved after he thought we were done in mid-April - and we all met again Thursday, May 6th at Market Square in Fredericksburg, VA. Shooting on Life In Bed wrapped that night, just around 7:30 pm. The reshoot had cut out another 2 minutes off the run time, and was more urgent and frantic on screen; it was win / win.
Final day of filming - reshooting the alley
The next few weeks were intense. I was working my full time job half of the week, and pulling 12-15 hour days editing, effecting, etc. The shoot itself was not without its issues - a production assistant had his fingernail ripped off while assembling the hospital bed, a hard drive failed during a shoot and everything had to be re-filmed, an actor passed out on set and his character had to be cut while he was taken for medical treatment, the cameras’ frame rate got switched while being hoisted up on the crane and all of the park scenes had to be redone, and an entire location bailed on us. Post production would also prove to have its share of difficulties - mainly that working with such a large quantity of huge files (about 5TB of footage) would wreak havoc on the speed at which I could work, and for weeks I had to plan my meal and sleep schedule around rendering out effects. But all of that said, I wouldn’t trade one second.
I learned so much working on this film. I learned that I need to wear less hats. I learned that I still need to get better at planning. I learned that so many people are passionate about being a part of something creative, that they will be SO gracious with their time. I learned that reshoots suck, but almost always makes for a better scene. I’m so grateful to Jeff and Jason. I’m indebted to everyone who lent me their time or space or self or patience. And I’m so proud of the work we all came together to create.
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