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Old Sow

Seeds

(2006) 5:20 Old Sow Film Productions is proud to completion of Seeds. This is a 16mm B&W Expressionist silent short film. The story comes from the parable of the sower. The Junior High Youth group were on the film crew (with Co-op members serving in vital key areas). The kids in the 456 youth group served as primary cast. The set, costumes and props were created by the kids themselves. We shot Seeds at Deer Island Community School on June 2-3, 2006. We will be adding in a shooting journal some time soon. Seeds will premiere as part NB Shorts I of the NB Shorts I in Fredericton, New Brunswick on November 10, 2006 as part of the Silver Wave Film Festival. Seeds Crew Director/Writer/Producer - Jeff Combs (Co-op Member) Production Manager - Kyle Cox (Co-op Member) Director of Photography - Wayne Casey (Co-op Member) Camera Assistant - Colton Cline Nathan McNeil Gaffer/Grip - Dennis Poirier (Co-op Member) Corey Casey Best Boys - Ian Conley Brett Pendleton 1^st AD - Dayna Cline Production Designer - Chelsea Martin Props Master – Gavin Mitchell Set Master – Derek Pendleton Costumes – Chelsea Martin Hair & Makeup – Cathy Richardson Kendra Carpenter Script Supervisor - Whitney Richardson Film Score - Joe D'Agostino Seeds Cast Farmer – Alex Cline Weed – Justine Richardson Sun – Kerry Carpenter Bird #1 – Beverly Smith Bird #2 -Dayna Cline Bird #3 -Kendra Carpenter Pecked by Birds Flower– Madeline Smith Melted by Sun Flower– Cody Large Choked by Weed Flower– Jody Leslie Happy Flower#1 – Morgan Richardson Happy Flower #2 – Kaitlyn Pendleton Happy Flower #3 – Alex Carpenter Happy Flower #4 – Vanessa Lord
Day One	It was great to get the team back together again. I have filmed with Kyle and Wayne so many times now it is frightening. The older youth were eager on the first day. We were ready to shoot on time, but Cathy was delayed so we had to wait on our actors in make up. Cathy was worth the wait. Her make up was fantastic. We shot Alex's farmer scenes first. Then we did the bird scene. Madeline was the first flower. She had a black base and white dots. We were worried how it would show on camera. The birds were fantastic. The black around their mask and the costumes on them took out the human features. It was creepy. All we could see of them were eyes, and it was unsettling. Wayne's brother Corey was thee. He was great. I loved shooting the spooky spooky forest scene. We had some Christmas trees for filler, but we had to keep them to the sides. They looked too real and ruined the otherworldly effect of the film. Cathy Carpenter made these meatballs for dinner. Oh Man oh man. She is a great cook and what a great help for craft services.
Day Two	I watched the video footage and I fell in love with what we did. I did ask to change the make up for the flowers, black spots on white base. Cathy said that was easier on the make up and time anyway. Dennis came and helped out on the second day. Jennifer Richardson was there to do craft services. Another great of day of good food and plenty of it. The older kids kind of lost their stamina. I think too much waiting around bothered them. Whitney stayed by my side the whole time and Chelsea was awesome fixing costumes and sets. Gavin and Nathan were very helpful as camera assistants. Our actor was late so we grabbed Chelsea for a body double in the shadow scene of the melting flower. When Cody got there, he was ready to go. He overacted perfectly, loved the crossed eyes. He is a very committed physical actor. I always knew Kerry had to play the sun. We had to use orange base for his face and his hair was in a samurai top pony tale. he looked like an umpa lumpa from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory. It was hard to keep the flowers motivated. They had to wait around forever not touching their face. It was hard work but the shoot went by very fast and we ended up just ahead of schedule.
Editing	We did a rough cut with the video footage first. my main camera died the week before the shoot. I had been saving to buy a new camera for months. I wanted to wait longer, but finally got a 3ccd camera of my own. I got a Panasonic PV-GS300 at Circuit City in Bangor. It does shoot widescreen (squeezed though) and the picture does look great. No 24p features, but a great deal for the price. The video footage looked great when I turned it all black and white.
Lab	We sent the film stock to Cinelab near Boston. I was worried because our 16mm stock for Stern Swift was horrible. I am proud to say that it came back in great shape. The film stock looks amazing. I can not wait to show this film to people.
Final Edit	I got the music back from Joe D'Agostino in Ohio. What a great talent. He understood what we were doing with this film immediately. The music is the final piece to make people believe it was shot 90 years ago.

This page was last updated: Thursday November 09, 2006