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| Getting ready to tee off. We snuck onto a golf course to film this short bit. |
A man with a suitcase of cash is sits in a park, waiting to
conduct a shady transaction. While he
waits, a motley crew of inept muggers assault him, stuff him in a trunk, and
bring him out for a crazy day on the town.
Too bad he's unconscious for the whole thing.
Watch "Muggers' Day Out" here!
Director's Notes: The Old Gang Back At It
The purpose of this
movie, more than anything, was to get the old gang back together. Usually, I want to test out a technical
aspect of filming, or storytelling, or what have you. Not this time. Muggers'
Day Out popped into my head out of nowhere while I was developing other
film ideas, and it just sounded fun.
It was a challenge, don't
get me wrong!
Firstly, because of the
confined space of filming inside a car, there was no way for me to be the
cameraman and director, and still be in the car at the same time.... unless I
was one of the actors. I haven't made an
appearance to speak of since Ninja Range,
which was our 7th movie shot back in late 2012.
Muggers' Day Out is the 28th
film I've made. It's not that I'm
against performing, but things go soooo much faster if I'm behind the camera; I
get exactly the shot I want that way.
Secondly, locations. Much like shooting Zombie FPS, this movie required us visiting multiple areas of the
city. In fact, Muggers' Day Out has more locations than any other movie we've
made! And quite often, each location
constituted a meager 5-10 seconds of entire movie. On top of that, thanks to everyone's busy
schedules, we had to hit them all in one day!
It was a 13 hour endeavor.
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| On location, last location, of our 13-hour shoot. |
Despite the chaos, the
fast-paced schedule, and the stress, it was a really fun movie to make. Most of it was candid footage or
improvised. And there were so many
things I checked off my bucket list making this film. Like a Chinese Fire Drill!!! And we didn't do
just one either. There are three
separate sequences, each with at least two camera angles, and possibly a second
take needed. In total, we easily did ten.
And stuffing a guy in a
trunk! Something I never knew I always
wanted to do.
I want to give a shout-out
to my friend Chris for being brave enough to get stuffed inside. And I again - despite my laughter - want to
apologize. The plan was to, in one shot,
stuff him in the trunk, let the muggers get in the car; then get Chris out of
the trunk and let him stand off screen; and then let the muggers drive
off. In editing it would look seamless,
and we'd all believe he was still in the trunk.
Well.... he was still in
the trunk when we drove off. In the heat
of the moment, no one in the cab remembered to let him out. And as he bounced around in the back of the
car, we could hear his grunts, his muffled outrage and indignant shouts of
"Really?!!"
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| Inside the Mafia House. a.k.a. My basement, which has been transformed for multiples movies over the years. |
Special Note: This is the first movie in a very long time that we had someone else write music for us. Zach approached me some time before this movie and said he'd be interested in writing music for a movie once, just to see what the experience would be like. I was mildly aware of his style of music, which unlike Randy's orchestral work, is more along the lines of modern indy band music.
When Muggers' Day Out entered into pre-production, I knew the flavor of music I wanted would be right up Zach's alley. I'd say the collaboration worked out quite well!
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