The movie is so very, very close to completion.  Just getting a little feedback on the latest cut and then hopefully it will be locked to send to film festivals.

For those that will be in St. Charles or Greenfield for Christmas I can show you the movie, but I’m not going to have copies to give out quite yet.

If you click on the HD Button on the video and go to the site you can choose to see it in HD in all its glory.  It’s a little tough watching it compressed on the internet after seeing it in HD.  You have to have a pretty decent computer to watch it in HD.

You can also view it on YOUTUBE (where you can also watch it in HD if you click below the movie)

ABOUT THIS MOVIE:

It was supposed to be Patrick’s chance for glory. His chance to win the Pig to Whig Little Town Marathon.

With all his free time being devoted to training, his wife can easily hide her double life as an international spy. What she steals is the designs to quirky tech gadgets. This time she seduces a computer nerd to steal the designs to a Video Bubble Helmet: a large and awkward device that one puts over their head to watch TV in crazy 3D.

When Patrick finds his wife in the middle of her plan to seduce the nerd, he gets tangled in a circle of counterfeiting, spy agents, the F.B.I., computer nerds, and an overzealous security guard.

And all he knows is that he’s just a marathon runner.

We have finally finished Marathon.  After spending 4 hours at West Coast Post this afternoon the movie is looking good.  Our original cut had a running time of 19:38 and our most recent cut (what we call the festival cut) stands at 14:56.  Much more acceptable for a short film and something that festivals look at closely.  They don’t want 30 or 40 minute short films.  I’d prefer it to be under 10, but that’s not going to happen with this one.

The audio has already been mixed and the color correction will be finished by Monday.

The actual movie won’t ever be posted online - at least not for a year or so (it will disqualify you from most festivals), but the trailer will be up tonight.  Stay tuned…

As you have probably seen on our website, “Marathon” is our newest and best short film to date.

SHORT SYNOPSIS:

A Marathon runner’s wife gets him tangled up in a bad circle of counterfeiting, spy agents, the F.B.I., computer nerds, and an overzealous security guard.

His wife seduces a computer nerd to steal the designs to nothing more than a quirky gadget. The prize designs that the Asian Counterfeiters are after is a Video Bubble Helmet.

The worst part of being caught in the middle of spies, investigations, and his wife cheating on him with a nerd is that the marathon running has caused him a medical problem: Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

The Marathoner gets caught in the middle of a big stand off. A fart escapes. Guns go off. His wife tries to escape.

He’s just a marathon runner.

STATUS:
We are currently finishing audio mixing for the trailer and are cutting a few more minutes out of the main cut.  Should be ready in less than a week.  Posters are being designed for marketing.  The website is nearly complete.  Festivals are being chosen.

COST:
The final cost of this film (including festival fees and everything) will be around $5,000.  Most of that went to equipment rentals and festival fees.  We had a free camera, we own our own audio equipment, and post-production is free for us (my brother works at a post house).  Honestly, without some connections this would have been a $10,000 movie.

EQUIPMENT:
We shot it in 720p on the HVX-200.  We lit with a couple of Arri kits and some kino flo lights that we had to rent.  We also used some home made work lights with 5500K bulbs.  We used a home made dolly (if you pay for a dolly - you’re an idiot) that was created with Roller Skate Wheels and PVC Pipe for track.  We are editing it on Final Cut Pro.

ACTORS:
We got all the actors/actresses from Craigslist and a casting website called Backstage.  They were all brilliant.  We didn’t actually make them audition but just met with most of them to make sure they were cool - and they were.

GOAL:
There’s obviously no money to be made in short films, so most people say what’s the point?  Well, a very important question you will get asked when you are showing/touring your film is “what’s your next project?”.  We have a few scripts tucked away and one really good script titled “The Whiz Kid” that Chris been trying to get produced for about a year now.  It’s been close.  Talks have been had with a few producers, investors, and even big name actors.  

There’s one small problem…who are we?  Why should we be allowed to direct this film?  We’re nobodies.  So the goal of this film was not only to hone our craft and get more experience, but we would like to be accepted to as many film festivals as possible (the larger the better).  We need a third party to validate our skills.  We need to win more awards.  We need to hopefully meet somebody on the festival circuit that has money and says “I loved your film, do you have anything else?”  That’s when we bust out the feature script and start rolling.

We have other short films on the website (which are pretty funny) but most of them are older and shot with friends and family as the cast.  We needed to really make an effort this time.

Besides all of those important things, we met some really cool actors that would be awesome to work with again in the future.

In the meantime, you can check out tons of Production Stills from the making of Marathon on milkmanmax.com or marathonshortfilm.com, but I will leave you with 3 of my favorite screen grabs from the movie (I haven’t posted these anywhere yet):

Nick Nealon (L) and Matthew Daly (R)

Tommy Rennier (L) (myself) and Freddie Johnson (R)

Derek Lui