Barb and Jim is a quiet look at the life of two friends on a roadtrip. It’s a short film made in Portland, Oregon and was released under the LoGoat SNIPPETS Channel.  It was filmed in mid-2019, and released about a week or two later.  This film stars the duo that will appear in Glare, an upcoming and adventurous thriller feature from LoGoat Pictures.

What’s great about making films is that the sky is the limit.  The writer can concoct any story they choose to, but perhaps a certain location is wanting to be utilized.  Perhaps even, a particular actor.  Well then, the writer must abide by these rules.  Once completed, a team can easily be assembled (a small budget being likely the sound, lights, make-up and talent), and within days or weeks after conception, the picture is already shot, and ready to be edited.

This short was shot in four hours at a Historic German Graveyard.  The highway nearby wasn’t so much of an issue for sound, as this aspect was written into the scene.  There was some new equipment being used, such as a nine foot dolly track, which itself was fun to use.  It’s always great to play with toys, but it was especially nice to have a slow glide for the walking profile shots.

Now here’s me speaking seriously.  Nina Tomica is a wonderful person to work with.  If I could, I would cast her in all of my projects.  She gives such great depth through silence, and no one can replicate her atypical essence.  We’ve worked together for the last more than half a decade (does that make sense?), and each time it’s over, I can’t wait to work together once again.  For instance, I cannot wait to work with her on the Glare Series, and I know that she is quite excited to play Dolly.

I’m getting ahead of myself…  This film was a most wonderful exercise, as most of the SNIPPETS are, and it really went quite smoothly.  The sound operator, a Mr. Peter Russell, was exceptional.  When making movies, it is so important to acquire the absolute best sound possible, and as such, our sound was our highest paid member on this shoot.  Besides actors and sound, our only other member for the day was the production assistant (dolly pusher this day, truly).  We did indeed complete the principal photography within four hours.

Of course, as with every film, there were a few hiccups.  One hiccup that immediately comes to mind includes a family the came into the cemetery at break-neck speed, their car at full capacity and the radio music blaring what I can only call, “Non-Scenic Appropriate.”  The driver, a brassy individual, yelled at us from out of her window, “Hey!  Get out of the way!”

We could surmise that they were mad that one of our two vehicles was apparently parked parked in her reckless driving.  I immediately complied, ushering Peter over to move his car, but she only became more agitated, yelling again, “I don’t care!  Get out of the way!”

Now, keep in mind, we were about halfway through our shoot at this point, and no, we didn’t have a permit for this short expenditure, and so were at the mercy of the film-making gods.  Before Peter could ever put his boom pole down, the woman’s car reversed, rocks from the cemetery’s driveway flying, and the music from their vehicle fading down the twenty foot distance.

I watched as her car quickly turned, and peeled their wheels to come up the other end of the roundabout.  They parked a small distance in front of us, and left their car to walk down a ways away, to another section of the graveyard from where we were filming in.  This wouldn’t have been a problem, save for the fact that they left their music at full volume, their windows down.

This was a dialogue heavy film of ours, so we had no choice to make except wait it out.  Put yourself in my situation:  Are you asking five people who are visiting a grave-site… to turn down their music?  I say no, I say wait the up to thirty minutes.  And so we did.

Were they rude?  Maybe, but I’d rather play it cool, rather than risk their potential wrath.

They eventually came back, thirty minutes later, and piled into their vehicle.  Before they left they must have felt some slight semblance of guilt, because the driver reversed her car, and actually apologized for their actions.  We said no problem, or that there-of, and finished the second half of filming.  After all of that, we still finished on time.  That’s film-making.