Saturday, January 17, 2009

A Family Affair

Part 4 of Animus Cross, "Hell Runs This Way" is now in the hands of Troy Gunter, our sound designer. Dad (Dave Steen) is hard at work on the new site. Speaking of dad, episode four will be the premiere of his character.

It's never easy having crew members double as main characters in a story, especially when one of those crew members is the only other guy in your grip\electric\camera department! One of my only regrets during the shooting of Animus was that we didn't have a designated still photographer or behind-the-scenes camera. I would have loved to capture Dad and Jason running stingers, setting lights, building dolly track, moving generators, swapping P2 cards and choreographing the many camera moves, all by themselves for the most part. We were very lucky to have Joe Aimonetti visiting with his camera!

It's a good thing we didn't have an on-set wardrobe person. They would have been pulling their hair out watching dad do all those things in costume, just before stepping in front of the camera! Of course, Jerry was doing the same thing; coodinating stunts and special fx while in full costume. At least his wardrobe was a lot more rugged and held up to all the abuse.

When I speak of wardrobe, I have to give so much credit to my mom, Cindy Steen. She was amazing! She helped me keep track of all the costumes and even found time to sew a shirt, a vest and Sarcous' leather tunic! When it comes to leather clothing, the high prices are definately reflecting all the labor put into each peice. All said and done, I think we spent less than $200 on the materials to make the tunic. The time mom put into it would have jacked that price up considerably!

I don't think you can tell from this post that this production was a family affair, can you? :P Not all the family was blood however. I've been very fortunate in my career to meet folks who have become family through the trials of production. I think we added some more on this show too.

Thanks everyone for a great time. I can't wait to get back on set!

-A.L. Steen

7 comments:

  1. Oh, I think I can guarantee you that you've added some members of the family, my dear... We may be extended family, but Trish and I really were amazed at how welcomed we were into the family fold. It's a great place to be! And like you... can't wait to get back to the family homestead!

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  2. Thanks Harold. By the way, your dream may come somewhat true with Henry in the future. :P

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  3. EEEEEEE!!! You've got me squealing like a schoolgirl :)

    By the way, I hadn't mentioned to you how much I LOVE Pastor Carver's photo - hope we get to see some more of those!

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  4. HI
    I hope my cooking didnt scare anyone off of the set. I would love to do this again

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  5. Pretty sure your food was a HUGE hit! :)

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  6. A series well done. Fantastic work, looks very professional. Your actors are good too, especially Harold Phillips. Hope you continue the series.

    Jose Ortega

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  7. Harold was a wonderful find and I have fun things planned for his character. :P Thanks for the comment, Jose, we're working on finding ways to keep it going! Thanks for watching.

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