The Boy Hero
“After reading that story, I went down this rabbit hole of research. I knew there was a story that needed to be told but wasn't sure of how to tell it just yet. We originally wanted to take that mother’s story and run with it but after writing a draft of that script, I quickly realized that it was such a heavy story and there was no way that we would be able to fully tell the story in a way that it deserves in a short film. That mother’s story is really what lead us to the story that it was today. There is this emotion of loneliness or hopelessness that comes with this type of illness, well maybe not to everyone but a lot. I really wanted to explore that emotion and how we as humans can overcome it. We took a softer approach to this story and found two characters from two different ends of life come together to find hope in one another.”
“I think that with every project there will always be challenges that arise. However, it felt like the odds were against us at times. One of our biggest challenges was finding a location. The entire film took place in a hospital and of course trying to film in a functioning hospital is close to impossible due to privacy laws. We searched every avenue possible but couldn't really find a place that would fit our needs. We found several empty buildings that we could have made look like a hospital but we were challenged on where to get all the hospital equipment without absolutely destroying our budget. After a few weeks of research, we ended up finding this vacant hospital just outside of Pittsburgh. We got really lucky here because the hospital only closed a few years prior and on the last day of operation, the entire staff just left. So everything we needed was already there. It was a bit creepy, to be honest, but the people who oversaw the hospital were absolutely amazing. They were with us on set the entire time and helped us with anything we needed. They painted the walls and moved furniture. They were some of the best people to have with us on set.”
“For this film, we wanted to create an environment of isolation. We wanted our main character to portray a sense of loneliness. I like to think every filmmaker steals from other projects for a lack of words. I guess inspiration is a better word to use here but a film that heavily was used as a reference for us was the film Her. Just the way Spike Jonze was able to capture that very emotion and environment was perfect. I actually sent over screenshots of the film to our DP to help him get an idea of the look we were going for even though we were running on a much smaller budget.
“Our Director of Photography and I went back and forth for a few months deciding what equipment was best to tell this story with. We ultimately landed on using the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6k. I’ve actually used the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 2.5k on a previous short film and I just loved the picture it produced and the flexibility it gave us in post. It had this beautiful cinematic soft look and it was the perfect fit for the project. The amazing dynamic range we were able to achieve was stunning. I knew I wanted this cold look and vibe for the project. I think to have RAW footage and Davinci Resolve gave us the flexibly to push the story forward with the color.”
“Post Production was a team effort between myself and our composer Keith Giosa. I did most of the editing and color grading work and Keith, of course, took over the music and sound mixing. We spent a lot of time watching the film, sharing ideas, and collaborating on edits. We were working the music before we even had a rough cut. I would send over clips and scenes for him to review and a lot of times, we would watch it in my editing suite together and discuss the direction. I've known our composer for years but this is the first big project we worked on together. It's great to have someone who is on the same page as you from a creative aspect.”
“I honestly haven't enjoyed a project this much. However, it had its moments for sure. There was a moments of excitement all during pre-production that was empowering and then I hit the film set and there was this moment where I called my wife and said that I was in way over my head. I was about 5 hours away from home and we were there for a while. It was the first time most of us really worked together so the stress grew quickly. After we all got a good workflow going, everyone was reminded of why we were doing this, and everything worked out. But the film process is exhausting. I came home and slept for 2 days before starting up post-production.”
