Shooting at the Farm
Virtual Crew…We’re back!!!
Today we returned to the restored share croppers cabin.
But lemme say, the family break was dang cool. A FREE trip to Maui.
What???
Yep. My wife (Sandi) earned the trip with Young Living, the essential oils company she’s been involved with for 9 years.
In fact, Sandi’s hard work with Young Living is what allowed me to pursue filmmaking like this!
Not kidding.
Before Young Living, I had a full time job with all my film stuff happening nights and weekends, and zero budget for gear. Not ideal.
This is the sad story of so many people in Hollywood trying to make it in the industry. So…THANK YOU Sandi!!!
Today we shot in the cabin and a scene in the barn.
Goats, chickens, dust and straw.
Something extremely important in RECKONING happens in the barn, with a goat named Buster.
Why is a goat important?
It’s the “pet the dog” scene. Others call it “save the cat.”
These are industry terms for something filmmakers do early on in a film.
I personally call them Empathy Intentions.
WARNING: We’re about to nerd out again.
But that’s why you read these updates, right?
A crucial job of every filmmaker is to ensure the audience sides with the hero. Right away, at the beginning of the movie.
Why?
Because if we don’t care about the hero, we won’t care about the story.
Writers strategically use empathy intentions to make this happen.
Shouldn’t it be easy?
You’d think, but here’s the thing: Every hero has a flaw. It doesn’t matter if it’s Batman or Lightning McQueen. And sometimes the flaw is pretty bad.
Take Lightning McQueen in CARS.
If you remember, Lightning was extremely arrogant.
His entire pit crew quit at the beginning because he was so mean. And Lightning ridiculed them as they left!
So we’re supposed to like this guy?
Yes, and we already did because Pixar used empathy intentions to hook us before the flaw was introduced.
One empathy intention often used is to have the hero do something nice to an animal. This is called “Petting the Dog.”
Why does it work?
Because when an audience sees someone care about an innocent animal, we’re sold.
Take Gladiator for example — They used two animals with Russel Crowe in the first three minutes of the movie.
There’s more to say, but I’ll hold off before your eyes glass over.
I cover this in granular detail in my online film school that launches this summer. More on that later!
Journey did good today. She really got into her roll, which was super cool for me to see!
See the small lamp in the foreground? Sandi purchased it from an antique store on the day Journey told us she wanted to put her faith in Jesus.
Production design always has meaning!
Okay, I’ve gotta start logging footage.
Good to be back…more soon.
Kyler Boudreau
P.S. Dane Walker (our composer) finished the music for the teaser! I’ll show it to you first before release.
P.S.S. So I can’t just mention a film school and not say more. It’s called Write & Direct, and it’s designed to hit the fast forward button on those who want to become filmmakers. I promise to share more soon!
