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Cast

Hans Kohler - Joel Calabrese

Emil Schiller - Wayne Casey

George - Kyle Cox

Capt. Gerhardt Pannenberg - Geoff Clarke

Sophie - Holly Sarchfield

Mary - Maria Young

Maschinist Günther Bauer - Jeff Combs

Grandpa - Conrad Cline

Katie - Katie Clarke

Nathan - Nathan Clarke

Grandma - Judy Lanteigne

Jakob Multmann - Tyler Conley

Friedrich Neibuhr - Peter Atkinson

Otto Kasemann - Connell Smith

Max Frankenfurter - Angie Rogerson

Dancers - Anne Elizabeth Calabrese, Laura Pereira, Jacob Mead, Ben Mead, Katherine White, Lacie Hardy, Meaghan Hardy, Rebecca Sherry and Natasha Sherry

Crew

Director/Writer/Producer - Jeff Combs

Production Manager - Tanya Swinimar

1st Assistant Director - Pierre Huard

3rd Assistant Director - Jason Boies

Director of Photography - Connell Smith

Camera Operator - Brian Chisholm

Gaffer - Wayne Casey

Production Designer - Angie Rogerson

Sound Recordist - Zach Lulloff

Boom Operator - Melony McCarthy

Script Supervisor - Diane Terry

Choreographer - Anne Elizabeth Calabrese

Hair - Laura Pereira

Special Effects- Matthias Lowry

Craft Services - Laura Combs

Diver and Underwater Cinematographer - Tim Martin

Production Assistant - Peter Atkinson

Production Assistant - Katie Clarke

Production Assistant - Kyle Cox

Production Assistant - Maria Young

Editor - Eric Paquet

Score Composer -Kevin M. Walczyk

Latest News:

March 22, 2004

It has been a long time since I have updated the Tanzen website, but there has been a lot of things going on with this film.  It is finished and complete.  An initial version was screened at the Tidal Wave Film Fest this pat November.  Soon after that screening Matt created some new animated scenes and Jeff made some final cuts.

The Attack of the Dancing Nazi's film (the making of Tanzen) is also complete and is included on a DVD version of Tanzen with Director's Commentary, Pictures and a gag reel (bloopers).

October 25, 2003

We are almost ready to change the status of Tanzen from Post Production to Completed.  Editing was quite a challenge.  To date, we have had 3 separate edits of this film.  The first edit was the rough edit that was intended to be temporary.  this edit was completed by Jeff Combs at home on his Dell using Ulead's Media Studio 6.5 LE.  This was a low resolution cut just to give the editor and composer a first glance as what we wanted to accomplish. 

Then it was recreated at the NB Filmmaker's Co-op using Adobe Premier 6 on an IMac.  We were almost finished with that edit when the hard drive became corrupt and we lost the whole edit.  Luckily we were able to save the EDL file, which is a simple little file that says what goes where. 

Then we moved to the big Media 100 studio and recreated it, again.  This was a much better system and even though it took much longer than expected, it looks better than we hoped it would.  Matthias Lowry created 3 animation sequences which are breathtaking.  Once we got the sound from the mini discs on Pro Tools, it moved much quicker.  There is a big difference in the sound by using the mini disc recorder.  The dialog is much louder and clearer.  The hall was empty they sounded like they were in a cave.  But now there is a slight echo, but it sounds great.  We were not able to re-dub the German like we wanted.  The Captain only had a few words and Geoff did a good job.  Wayne also did a great job, but we will probably eventually have Matthias Lowry come in and redo his voice and add more German dialogue.

September 14, 2003

The film is completely shot.  I still need to get a few more things such as special effects from Matt and I hope to get some comic book pictures.  It looks and sounds good.  We shot on the new Panasonic DVX100 on Friday and Saturday.  We used Connell's trusty Canon XL1 for the rest of the submarine shots to stay consistent.  We also used the new HHB minidisc Portadisc MDP 500 sound recorder.  Zach did a fantastic job recording and sharing his knowledge with Kyle.

I am waiting to book time for the edit with Eric.  I also lucked out by having a top notch composer score the film.  Kevin and Elizabeth Walczyk used to go to our church in Texas.  He teaches at Western Oregon University now.  He is a fantastic composer.  Personally, I think that he is the best since Aaron Copeland.

Matt's computer graphics look real good so far.  We have to get it rendered on a different computer.  It just takes up so much resources.  He has worked very hard on the project so far.  I hope to get Matt and Gunnar in the sound studio to redo their lines.  They could not be there for the filming and we will see if we can have them dub Wayne and Geoff's lines. 

June 21, 2003
As you may have heard, we have started to shoot the film.  We have one day in the can already.  We have filmed all of scene 2, except for a few shots that Matt is working on in the Animation Studio.  We have also shot parts in scenes 4, 5-6, 7, 9 and 11.  We will complete our shooting in August with a full crew.  As it stands now scenes 1 and 13 will be filmed on August 8th.  Scenes 7, 10 and 12 on Saturday August 9th (Scene 10 is the BIG production).  And we will finish our submarine sequences by filming scenes 4, 5-6, 8, 9 and 11 on Sunday August 10th.  Going into our main shoot, we have a lot of footage in the can already.  There is still a LOT of work to be done in lining up costumes and locations before August. 

June 2, 2003
We have our Captain.  Gunnar Gephardt has landed the role of Capt. Gerhardt Pannenberg.  He has serve in the East German military and adds a bit authenticity to the role.  Now all of our principle cast are on board.  We have also signed up Anne Elizabeth Calabrese to serve as our choreographer.  She and her husband, Joel Calabrese are involved in swing dancing and they are already working on the dance hall scene moves.  To push this over the top, I have made contact with a swing band orchestra to play for our dance hall scene.  I will add more information about them when I can obtain confirmation.  We had a great rehearsal on May 31st with the German crew.  Matt was not able to attend the rehearsal, but we did have Gunnar, Joel, and Jeff Combs (who plays the engineer Günther Bauer).

May 16, 2003
We have been making the news again.  We were in 2 newspapers this past week.  You can check that out at our Press section.  We have a lot of cast updates as well.  Joel Calabrese is now playing Hans Kohler.  Matthias is not going anywhere, he is playing Emil Schiller.  Matt is also doing the CGI for our sub.  We are excited to see what Matt is going to come up with for our sub.  Holly Sarchfield is coming on board from Campobello to play Sophie - that girl who gets to dance with the German sailor at the Dance.  We are also going to test our captain very soon, so I hope to have some information about Capt. Gierhart Pannenberg.   Old Sow Film Production took part in a history festival at the Deer Island School.  While we were there we interviewed Dale Barteau about the German ring that was left the night the submariner paid his visit.  We may put the ring in the movie as well.

April 11, 2003
Jeff did a radio interview for CBC Radio New Brunswick.  It will be aired on April 14th.  It is a great opportunity to announce our upcoming film.

March 8, 2003
This is project is continuing to pick up steam and interest.  We have added some new submarine costumes.  Jeff is re-working the script (including adding in more scenes on the sub itself).  We are also adding more people to our crew.  Some crew and cast members are under 18, so I will not add their last names until I get parental permission. 

February 28, 2003
Jeff has completed the script and has sent a proposal for a grant.  Tanya Swinimar (Directed the film The House on Milder Road) is on board as production manager.  Eric Paquet will be our editor.  Diane Terry is our script supervisor.  We are working on lining up our Director of Photography, Sound Recordist and Assistant Director.

We are moving ahead with the project and are looking for a summer shoot for principle photography.  We have scouted locations and have purchased a few prototype costumes.  We have also started to cast this project.  Matthias Lowry (from the Black Forest in Germany) is playing the lead role of Hans Kohler.  We are going to be filming the on the island as a second unit.  Most of the film will be made in Fredericton where we have a larger pool of crew and equipment available.

Original Entry

We are trying to interview people to see what they know about this story.  The validity of this story may be in question, but it makes for a great story.  Jeff has written the script and is pre-planning some shots.  Although it is scheduled to run 10 minutes, there is a lot more work to plan this film than our previous short, the Face in the Mirror.  We are looking at filming in engine rooms for the subs and are trying to come up with passable costumes for the submariners and the people at the dance.  The dance it self will also be difficult to plan.  The music may be our biggest out of pocket expense.  We are going to propose this film to the New Brunswick Film Co-op to get help in producing this project.