After a warm night at the end of summer, with Autumn biting on the heels of August, and a group of cannibals in the woods (don’t ask…), an idea tapped me on the shoulder, and when I turned around, it punched me in the face. I never got an apology, but I decided to hear what it had to say anyway. I would spend the next day at work writing visual ideas as they came to me, like banshees in the night, until I could escape their seething clutches, or at least break their wrists and tell them “No (more) Soliciting.” Then I would go home and experiment with a script for a short film, written in a stream-of-consciousness method, without editing it (which was like telling a feline not to scratch off its fleas), and without stopping to think about the flow or the meaning of different scenes (which was much easier than telling a feline not to scratch off its fleas). And in a few days, I would round up my best door-to-door skills, put on my girl scout demeanor and begin asking my acting friends to join me in a spiraling descent of confusion and illusion. To my bewilderment and gratitude, they agreed. We began filming The Examination just a few nerve-splitting days later.
With the help of a very faithful crew, some pizza (my beloved), and a small score of local antique shops, the 11½ minute short film was shot in just over two sleep-speckled weeks. With several different camera operators, grips and even a couple gremlins, crew members were in and out, helping when they could. Each crew member did fantastic work, for no compensation, and for that, they can have my head on a plate. Or at least my whelming gratitude, 6 feet deep. Throughout filming and to proceed for a month after, I was to tame the fire breathing Chimaera of sound, and lull the flesh-hungry Cerberus of editing, before one or the other turned into a gray hair on my head. Luckily, they’re both sleeping, and calmly snoring in my closet, presently.
The Examination’s sound was recorded entirely in post-production, save for one scene. This meant “easy” filming, but tedious post production. Somewhere around one hundred audio tracks have been in use on the film. But lo, the method caught the feeling that I wanted, which was having each character feel like they’re trapped within their own head. Shortly when sound and editing was completed, with the flurried leaves of October ready to devour a tired September, I submitted The Examination as an entry to Bellingham’s local horror film festival: Bleedingham.
While I’m not necessarily fond of speaking about meanings or themes behind my stories, for fear of manifesting an interpretation that viewers wouldn’t acquire on their own, I will say that, with The Examination, as well as with most of the ideas for projects that like to gnarl their way into my brain, I didn’t want to follow most conventional film themes. This short doesn’t follow a beginning/middle/end structure, it doesn’t have a protagonist or antagonist. I meant it to be a sort of experience. An observation on human idiosyncrasies.
If you would like to stay updated on how to find The Examination, please tenderly love and follow it on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/TheExamination2013
With gratitude,
Emilio Cerrillo
With the help of a very faithful crew, some pizza (my beloved), and a small score of local antique shops, the 11½ minute short film was shot in just over two sleep-speckled weeks. With several different camera operators, grips and even a couple gremlins, crew members were in and out, helping when they could. Each crew member did fantastic work, for no compensation, and for that, they can have my head on a plate. Or at least my whelming gratitude, 6 feet deep. Throughout filming and to proceed for a month after, I was to tame the fire breathing Chimaera of sound, and lull the flesh-hungry Cerberus of editing, before one or the other turned into a gray hair on my head. Luckily, they’re both sleeping, and calmly snoring in my closet, presently.
The Examination’s sound was recorded entirely in post-production, save for one scene. This meant “easy” filming, but tedious post production. Somewhere around one hundred audio tracks have been in use on the film. But lo, the method caught the feeling that I wanted, which was having each character feel like they’re trapped within their own head. Shortly when sound and editing was completed, with the flurried leaves of October ready to devour a tired September, I submitted The Examination as an entry to Bellingham’s local horror film festival: Bleedingham.
While I’m not necessarily fond of speaking about meanings or themes behind my stories, for fear of manifesting an interpretation that viewers wouldn’t acquire on their own, I will say that, with The Examination, as well as with most of the ideas for projects that like to gnarl their way into my brain, I didn’t want to follow most conventional film themes. This short doesn’t follow a beginning/middle/end structure, it doesn’t have a protagonist or antagonist. I meant it to be a sort of experience. An observation on human idiosyncrasies.
If you would like to stay updated on how to find The Examination, please tenderly love and follow it on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/TheExamination2013
With gratitude,
Emilio Cerrillo
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