Short Film | Burning Crow Pictures

This set was created in my dining room in 20 minutes.

WITCH BOTTLE was my first entry into the DVXfest contest which is an online film festival held three times per year. Each one has a theme with rules that the filmmakers must follow. The most strict rule is it can’t be a second over 6 minutes. You then create a poster and a post into the forums to show you are officially entering into the contest. At the end of 4 months they send you an upload link. This current theme is BETRAYAL which depending how things go in the next week BCP will be making another entry.

Official Forum Entry Page for Witch Bottle

DVXfest is a great way to explore new ideas in filmmaking and get the most valuable thing any filmmaker can have, feedback from an audience. You get a chance to see what works and what doesn’t. It is a great way to just let loose and try new things. I think of it as a filmmakers playground. So here is the production notes along with some behind the scenes photographs of WITCH BOTTLE.

Karen doing some final touches before shooting.

PRODUCTION

Budget
1 Utilitech fluorescent work light 65k- $30
5 fluorescent bulbs 100w equivalent 65k – $10
1 fluorescent blue party light $5
1 fluorescent red party light $5
1 box of gelatin $5
1 undead make-up wheel $6
2 plastic knifes 2x $3 = $6
1 bag of paper mache $7
1 package of Amaco WireForm $6
2 sets of ghoul teeth – 2 x $2 = $4

Total on screen = $84

Food
1st day of shooting – Pizza dinner $25
2nd day of shooting – BBQ and drinks $50
3rd day of shooting – Mexican $20 and Beer $25

Total off screen = $120

Total on and off screen = $204

Witch Bottle was made out of paper mache

Midori in the $0.68 poster board greenscreen set.

Principal – 09/20/2009
Deadline – 10/15/2009

Production Log

09/07/2009 – Screenplay finished
09/08/2009 – Witch Bottle prop was started
09/10/2009 – Witch Bottle prop cured, painted, and finished
09/12/2009 – Photography session for poster completed (Remi Demeere modeled for the shot)
09/13/2009 – Poster completed
09/14/2009 – Location secured
09/14/2009 – Lighting equipment secured and tested
09/14/2009 – Special Effects Makeup acquired
09/15/2009 – Cast secured
09/15/2009 – Special Effects Makeup prosthetics started
09/17/2009 – Bought some lighting and grip materials for the shoot
09/18/2009 – Finished up some storyboarding and SFX planning
09/19/2009 – Rehearsal with all the actors
09/20/2009 – Principal, had a 6 hour window for the location which was not enough time
09/21/2009 – Rough cut okay considering the time frame I had. Made notes of shots to reshoot and missing shots.
09/23/2009 – Caught the Flu had to push back second day of principal to October 4th
09/30/2009 – Over Flu so I can get back to work verified Sunday Oct 4th still good
10/03/2009 – Night shot test with lights and smoke machine
10/04/2009 – 2nd day of principal – RAIN! Still got some shots in
10/05/2009 – Got a Yamaha keyboard to do soundtracks with. Only have it for 3 days must finish all music within that time. Created a song.
10/05/2009 – Rewrote the ending.
10/06/2009 – I created 3 more songs today.
10/06/2009 – Had to reschedule the opening scene. Running out of time quick… must get that shot this week.
10/07/2009 – Worked on score.
10/07/2009 – Shoot went perfect. Weather was in my favor and the cast was in great spirit. Brought beer this time so they could have fun while I set up lights.
10/08/2009 – Worked on rough edit.
10/09/2009 – Captured some audio clips from actors for dubbing and worked on editing.
10/10/2009 – Editing video.
10/11/2009 – Editing and captured some Foley.
10/12/2009 – Shot some video of one of the actresses who also is my fiance. I set a time for her outside the main shoot since it is only her in the shots. Did another greenscreen shot along with some other effects shots.
10/13/2009 – Worked on Foley. Finished rough edit. Sound design and editing has been the game of the day. Did another missing shot of an open grave site in the RAIN!
10/14/2009 – Foley, sound design, and sound editing for the day. I did the audio for the possessed today. My throat is raspy now.
10/15/2009 – Editing sound most of the day. At around 7pm Bow Morton called and asked about the intro. I explained that I wasn’t going to be able to do it because of time and I won’t have time to edit in since I’m already at 6 minutes. He said “It must be in, I’m coming over and helping to do it.” So he showed up with a prop and some dry ice. I searched in a storage room for more props. We laid them out and I lit it in about 20 minutes. All together it was shot in about 45 minutes and it looks great. It does complete the film. Unfortunately it will not be in the dvxuser version but it is in the complete version. That’s a wrap!
10/16/2009 – Recorded the narration for the intro shot last night and finished editing the intro. Completed the sound editing, titling, and credits. I completed the film at around 7pm and went out with Bow to celebrate. After 5 days of editing til 4am (last night 5am) I am going to rest this weekend.

This shot took an hour to set up at 2am.

The audio quality is bad in the film but I think it gives a certain character to it. I do have an H4n ZOOM but I do not have a mic so all the audio was recorded with the GH1 camera mic. It is NOT recommended to use the GH1 mic because it was VERY difficult to clean up the audio. After days of working on the audio that was about as good as you get out of the GH1 mic. So it is important to keep that in mind if you have the GH1. Some day I will have a proper mic (cough donations cough) but until then I will just have to get more creative on the sound in the next upcoming projects. Aotearoa had only one line of dialogue which didn’t sound too bad but it still isn’t something I like.

Another note about Witch Bottle’s music. When I did the music I borrowed a keyboard from my family and only had two days to use it. I used those two days to do nothing but the score. The big problem with the keyboard was it had a horrible connection. There was all kinds of his and crackle sounds. I had to do my best to clean that up too. So I think some of the bad sound quality in Witch Bottle is actually coming from the score instead of the dialogue. If I could do it again I would go to extreme lengths to get my hands on a mic because I believe that half of what you watch on a film is the sound. With the time and budget I had I worked the best I could and I am satisfied with that in mind.

Seconds before I turned myself into a WITCH!