Scotch_Hill

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Joined: 10-JUL-06

Last Online: JAN 07 2008 12:07PM


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Teaser Video Nov 27, 2006 10:02AM
Just wanted to let folks know we have posted the first five minutes of "Scotch Hill" as a teaser online. Hope you enjoy the view!

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Mention in MovieMaker Magazine Sep 16, 2006 07:28AM
We want to thank Jay Rose (again) for his continued hook-ups. We are excited to announce that we have a mention in this months special edition of MovieMaker Magazine. Beyond the cool exposure, we are particularly excited because we have always loved this magazine and read it cover to cover the second it shows up in our mailbox. These special editions have been particularly strong and usually stay in the collection as reference material. So thanks Jay! Pick yours up today! Check it out here!
First Film Fest Acceptance Sep 08, 2006 10:14AM
We are excited to announce our first film fest for 'Scotch Hill'. We are screening at 9 PM on Saturday night, Oct 7th at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA as part of the New England Film Festival. We are pretty excited that our first one is a local one in that we can maximize on the friends and family thing. If you are in the area, please come check out the event!
Podcast Aug 22, 2006 06:58AM
In one of our many incarnations, we also generate a podcast which may be of interest to some of the folks here. You can check it out at FilmmakersPod We have interviews with different folks who work in the film industry, movie reviews and reports from film festivals. This current episode in fact includes part 1 of an interview with Director Derek Sieg, discussing his feature film debut "Swedish Auto" which had its premiere at the LAFF. You can link to his WOAB Audience page by clicking on his link above. Check it out and let us know what you think.
Final Edit complete Jul 30, 2006 04:21PM
Well, we finally have the final cut of 'Scotch Hill' completed. It turned out great (in my humble opinion!) and we are now getting ready to do the festival shuffle. I know that the 30 minute runtime can be a tough sell for many fests, but since in my opinion entrance into most fests is a gamble, what the hell, right? We have a high quality piece of work. At this point, it is purely subjective, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that we hit the right programmer at just the right time, they are in a good mood and are interested in adding a strong drama to their fests lineup. We will be posting a trailer soon.
DP Notes Jul 30, 2006 04:14PM
Two days before we start shooting, at a pre-pro meeting, Mike and Jen inform me that DP’s hardly ever touch, let alone operate the camera on the set. For most people this would come as a relief, but it gave me a lump in the throat and cold chills. What do I do then? Bark orders on how it’s to look, and then drink my frappaccino, pacing in the background? I could only think in terms of “through the camera”. Scary. Plus this was not a big budget production, so frappaccinos were nowhere to be found. Better that way, I don’t really like them. This was a black coffee and donuts set, the kind of set I like. If it takes you four minutes to prepare a cup of coffee, you’ve officially lost 3.5 minutes of time. Back to the camera operating problem. I remembered seeing a behind the scenes special feature with Steven Soderbergh working a camera handheld for much of his production. Ok. I’m not crazy, other people think like this. Sure he’s a director, not a DP, but he knew what he wanted visually, and that was how I had to go about it. Of course Mike and Jen understood. I loved doing the handheld scenes. It felt more visceral than the static shots, where we watched the action on the monitors. I acquiesced camera control on the static scenes, and it was for the better in the end. Jesse was far more technically savvy than I when it came to that camera, so better he man the switches. Our set was small, a tenement style apartment on the first floor of a two family. This afforded me the opportunity to light things like I knew how. There wouldn’t be too much over the top movement, so I could make things “pretty”, so to speak, and let the actors work within that lighting scheme. - DAMON VRETTOS
SOUND DESIGN IN 'SCOTCH HILL' Jul 30, 2006 04:12PM
When Mike Kuell showed me the script of Scotch Hill, I was intrigued by two sound design challenges. The first scene is a critical exposition of both plot and character, told in voice-over dialog: Peter is walking through town, recalling a phone conversation with his mother. We haven't met him before, and he's not moving his lips, but we have to know it's his voice. And his voice can't sound like normal dialog, because he's remembering it in his head. I don't know about anyone else, but when I hear my voice in my own head it's diffuse and doesn't have a precise source. So I tried spreading Peter through complementary comb filters, making him the full width of the soundstage. I even tried throwing a little of him into the surrounds. But when I played it for friends, it was disorienting: with mom centered through a phone filter, the track kept changing width in a most un-filmlike way. What eventually worked was more conventional: he's centered but with dynamics and eq to make him warm and close, plus a wide reverb. The verb is so subtle that most people don't even hear it under the backgrounds and title music, but it sells the scene. The other challenge was how the film is told as two parallel stories, one present-day and one six months ago. Even though both use the same location and share a character, I wanted them to have different textures. In this case, soundstage and processing provided the solution. The modern story sounds crisp and clean, and even though its dialog is properly centered, its backgrounds are wide stereo. But the flashbacks are narrow and treated like slightly saturated analog tape. Most of the flashback music is source, which also worked with this kind of treatment. Interestingly, the one scoring cue that extended from today into a flashback sounded wrong. It was too clean, and blew the flashback away. I had to morph it with a similar process during the transition... but when I did, the score made sense. By the way, this wouldn't have been possible without Kevin Parker's excellent production recordings. The dialog was clean enough that I could mess with its processing and still have a good track. - JAY ROSE, C.A.S. Boston July 2006
Finishing touches on our latest short film       Jul 10, 2006 08:31AM
Boston based JetPak Productions, LLC has recently completed production on their latest film project, a 30 minute short film entitled “Scotch Hill”. Directed by Michael Kuell and written by both Kuell and David Duncan (who also Executive Produced) “Scotch Hill” is a simple, intelligent drama. Shot on location in Troy, NY over a four day period, the story shows a few days in the life of Peter (played by David Plant) a soft spoken, complicated character who has some major decisions to make. After inheriting the unwanted home he grew up in from his estranged uncle Ray, Peter encounters the eccentric young Lilly, Ray’s caretaker who now has no place to go. With Lilly’s subtle help, Peter is forced to face some of the harder truths about both his past and present situations. Scotch Hill is a quiet character study of individuals at a crossroads. Mike Kuell explains “This is very much a personal film. I don’t mean that the story is true or out of our lives. It is fiction top to bottom but it was personal in that I wanted very much to collaborate with some of my best friends to make it come together, and that is exactly what we did.” After throwing down a challenge to his long time friends David Duncan and their photographer friend Damon Vrettos, the three got to work hammering out a story. Duncan took the lead on scripting while Vrettos embraced a crash course in videography. A seasoned photographer, he had never shot a motion picture before. “I considered this more of a strength than a weakness actually, especially since we had a year to prep. Damon had none of the preconceived notions about what you can and can’t do. And it didn’t hurt that we had Jesse Hubbel as our very experienced camera assistant.” Of course none of it would have come together without the diligence of Kuell’s business partner and wife Jen Cobb who served as the producer, “..and costumer, and prop master and caterer. This was a small production and believe me, if you want to get it done, you wear a lot of hats, and call in a lot of favors.” Kuell added. One of these favors included the addition of the very experienced Kevin Parker to the crew as Sound Recordist. Jen Cobb continues “It has been said before, but honestly, on a limited budget, it is much better to crew up with a smaller, but more experienced and skilled crew than a room full of PA’s and interns. Get the best folks you can and keep the headcount down.” As of this writing, “Scotch Hill” was in the last steps of sound design and mix at Jay Rose’s Digital Playroom. The final film will be entered into film festivals starting this Summer and Fall.

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    7 Comments about Scotch_Hill

    Burnley
    Mar 01, 2007 06:32PM

    Watched your trailer.......loved it! Well shot and acted. Good luck with your film!

    Best,

    Burnley
    www.donttalksodumb.com

    LonelyPond
    Oct 06, 2006 10:59AM

    hope the screening goes well...

    Scotch_Hill
    Sep 13, 2006 07:58AM

    Lonely Pond - Not sure. They just set up a schedule. Not sure if there are other screenings then or what other side events may be around the fest. I will post if there is more info.

    LonelyPond
    Sep 11, 2006 11:31PM

    Any other screenings that weekend?

    beyond_blue
    Aug 29, 2006 08:31PM

    Just checked out your page. Good luck with your film and please post info about upcoming film festivals.

    LonelyPond
    Aug 22, 2006 10:11AM

    Podcast sounds great; sadly my computer crashes when I try to access it. Real need for IPOD...Responded to your comment on my page...could also bring samples when visiting my sister in Boston.

    LonelyPond
    Aug 21, 2006 09:57AM

    I like your philsophies. Best of luck with the film festival hunt; we're running into that problem ourselves. My DP had the same problem with the camera being taken out of her hands on our second short, but I wanted to run with two cameras and I thought it would be better if she had an overview. Not a popular suggestion.

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