Tuesday 2 July 2013

The Weatherman Says...

Want to start this off with a huge thank you to everyone for the incredible response to our first full trailer for William's Lullaby. We are thrilled with the initial reaction and it has made us even more excited to pull the curtain back on our five-year work-in-progress. For those of you who have not yet seen the trailer, take a look at the link on the bottom of this post. We encourage everyone to continue to share via social media, show your friends, spread the word -- if you want to eventually see the film, word of mouth is truly the best way to make that happen! If you liked what you saw, we encourage you to give it a thumbs up, comment on Youtube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter -- we genuinely want to hear from you!

What to say about the trailer? It is a lot more revealing than the initial teaser released in January, I'll say that much. However, there is still quite a bit we're not showing you and a bit of clever editing to divert your expectations. Don't read too much into it just yet. But know that every single shot in the trailer is chosen for a reason and we are definitely giving you more pieces of the puzzle to keep you guessing until you see the film.

Quite a bit of response for the trailer was geared towards the song we used, which also happens to be featured in the film itself, "The Weatherman (Pt. 2)" by Canadian rock band, Alert The Medic. I had first heard this song when driving home from the set of William's Lullaby in August, 2011. Mike Whissell, who was doing some location sound with Stephen Lee at the time, was with me and played me the tune from his iPod, saying he couldn't stop thinking about William's Lullaby when he heard it. Specifically the lyrics: "It's a long way down ... It ain't easy..." seemed to line up nicely with the overall mood of the film. We would go on to listen to the song frequently over the remaining shooting days, travelling to and from set and it quickly rose to the top of my playlist, becoming a bit of a motivator as we pushed through production. It became an even bigger motivator in the editing room and served as a sort of theme song for William's Lullaby and the story of Thomas Splinter's inner-demons.

I find it interesting that the original music video for the song takes on a very powerful interpretation of the lyrics (especially in today's day and age) - that's quite different from how it is used in Lullaby. Anyone in the armed forces or with relatives in the armed forces can certainly feel the power from these images. See the Official Music Video from Alert The Medic here:


However you choose to interpret the lyrics, there is no denying their power and that is the sign of a hit song. I am honoured to feature this tune in William's Lullaby and to include Alert The Medic as part of our team. The song is a powerful fit to the emotionally-charged images and performances in our film and using it in our first full trailer seemed like a very appropriate way to introduce you to our cast, the band and their song.



You can download, "The Weatherman (Pt. 2)" by Alert The Medic from their album, "We, The Weapon" off of iTunes.


That's all for now folks! More to come soon.

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N.

Monday 27 May 2013

Two Years Later... An Open Letter to the William's Lullaby Cast and Crew

My friends,

       I remember sitting with Stephen Lee in a Jack Astor's in downtown Toronto two and a half years ago, where I told him I planned on making a feature film using whatever resources I could scrounge up over the course of six months. The script I would shoot was one I had written back in the 12th grade called "Ducklings and Swans" about a paranoid father's vivid and prophetic dreams as he raises his five-year-old son alone. I remember Stephen being unconvinced. "You really think its possible for us to make a feature film?" His doubt wasn't uncalled for. At that point it was, quite literally, just the two of us. And the idea of taking on a feature film is daunting for any size crew, let alone two people with no money. Still I was firm. "We give ourselves say, two years -- two years to come up with a product we're proud of. If, in the end, we look at the result and feel it hasn't turned out, then it was just practice. But the chance of it being something special is too great to pass up. I'm making this either way. Are you in or not?"

He was. And from that point, we set out to make this impossible dream a reality. Slowly but surely, others became involved and the methodical planning, rewrites and and hard-work evolved. Soon, "Ducklings and Swans" became "William's Lullaby" and although the last ten pages have always been the same, the beginning and core of the script was strengthened over numerous rewrites and the critiques of some valued readers. A lengthy casting session helped us discover a pool of incredible talent that would bring the characters of Lullaby to life -- many of you would go on to become great friends and allies. And with the incredible support system of Kingston, Ontario, "William's Lullaby" was shot for 16 straight days in the summer of 2011.

Let me remind you. What we did is no small feat.

Now here I sit two years later, with a finished film, wondering to myself how it is I got here so soon. The last two weeks have been gruelling on this end. And I suppose it was only fitting that, after Mike and Devin wrapped up their post work on the film in early May, it returned to just being one man and a story for the last leg of the "race." It was just me and a film for the final two weeks -- reminiscent of a time, two and a half years ago, when it was just me and a script, words on a page that had not yet fully left my head. This was my final time alone with the film before people would start to see the results of our hard work. When you spend two years of your life working on a project, and truly (with no exaggeration here) nearly every day of those two years working on that project in some fashion, you become obsessive. It becomes all consuming and and you lose yourself a little bit in that process. I think every artist, when they produce a work, leaves a piece of them within that work and for me that certainly occurred within the last two weeks. So much so, that it is hard for me to detach myself from the film, or even accept that fact that the creative work of bringing it together is over. I suppose I could continue working on it for another two, three, four years ... indefinitely really. The perfectionist's curse. Of course, you can ruin a piece of art that way too, can't you... True artistry is knowing when to take the paintbrush away from the work and put it on display. I won't lie and say I probably won't make minor adjustments here and there, especially as screenings begin to happen and we see how it plays on the big screen. There is, of course, room for that. I argue that until the film is released in some tangible fashion (DVD, BluRay etc...), it continues to beg for experimentation of even the smallest amounts. That said, from here on out the film begins to take on a life of its own and sooner than later it's out in the world for people to see. We cannot control the afterlife of our work.

Words cannot express how incredibly proud I am of everyone involved in this film. Some of you were involved in the early stages, some throughout the entire process, others just at the very end. But all of you were influential in this project coming together. I have to thank you for your bravery. This was not an easy story and for it to be told with the grace, humility and raw realism that it has been told with is a testament to all of your talents, your creativity, your generosity as actors, filmmakers and storytellers. You are brave. To the parents of William's Lullaby I thank you too for your bravery and trust in a project that, amidst its taboo subjects, is an important story worth telling and discussing. Richard, Toby, Ila and Bob. The four of you are the pillars of this story and you carry your roles with responsible dignity. It has been an honour to continue to shape your performances with you over these two years in the editing room. Be proud of what you have accomplished and I hope, and truly believe, that your performances will receive the recognition they deserve.

Beautiful, disturbing, haunting, tragic -- whatever way you choose to see it, William's Lullaby is a story told with love and passion and that shines off the screen. Be proud of your work. Be proud of where this has taken you over the last two years and be so very proud and excited for what lies ahead.


Your Director,
Nicholas Arnold






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Monday 22 April 2013

Listen Carefully...

"When you hear what we've done, Nick... Just you wait--"

That was Devin's voice on the phone to me last week as I went to visit him and Mike on one of their final sound editing sessions before our mix. He was referring to the last few minutes of the film -- the ending. An ending that, in order to be pulled off right, requires the perfect combination of performances, music and sound design. I had been waiting two years to hear the last few minutes of the film the way I did last week and all I can say at this stage is... Mike and Devin were right. It packs a seriously powerful punch. I am so proud of the work and bravery every one has put forth to make this ending (and the entirety of the film) such an intricate and layered piece, and I hope it will churn many discussions amongst audience members as the end credits roll, set to a song I am so proud and honoured to be including in this film (more on that... later!)


I am so incredibly impressed with the work these two gentlemen have done. The care and thought they have put into every sound and every edit is incredible and truly shows as the intensity and rate or your heart rises over the course of William's Lullaby. Sound Design has always been an important factor for me with this film, along with music. It is the missing layer -- the layer of story that brings it all together and truly makes it click for an audience. Mike and Devin have gone above and beyond what is written in the script and have added a layer of subtext and subliminal foreshadowing into the film that will take multiple viewings to unravel. That's Sound Design with purpose and I love it. One of my early talks with Mike discussed how Sound Design was done on The Sixth Sense, a film I have mentioned on here in the past. For those of you that do not know (and I hope this isn't giving anything away), The Sixth Sense follows a young boy who has the ability to speak to the dead. What the sound designers did on that film was brilliant. If you strip the dialogue, strip the foley, strip the music and leave only the ambience -- crank it up, what you are hearing; that hum, that buzz, is the sound of hundreds of people breathing. Of course, this would be next to impossible to figure it out if it weren't for the filmmakers saying it in interviews, but it is chilling to know that even in scenes where Bruce Willis or Haley Joel Osment are alone, you are hearing multiple breaths along with theirs -- there is an added presence. And it adds a layer of sophistication to that movie. Similar to how Hans Zimmer used a switch-blade dragging across the strings of a Cello to compose his theme for the Joker in The Dark Knight. Using this as inspiration, Mike and Devin have added original and unique, subtle details to their sound design. I can't tell you more without giving away crucial plot points. But when the time comes and you are sitting in a theatre, viewing our film -- listen carefully!



We will be heading in to our final mix session next week, and as we do, I find myself reflecting back on this process. The end is near -- or is it really the beginning? True, I would probably compare this process more to the birth than anything else. It's just been a really long labour. While work is still being done on colour and minor touch-ups happening here and there, Mike and Devin will be done their work on William's Lullaby by the end of the month. For Mike this is a big deal especially as he has, in a way, been a part of this journey since its conception - back when I emailed him a 140 page script called Ducklings and Swans.



William's Lullaby has always been there. For the last two years, it's been sitting here, waiting for me while I'm at work, stirring in my mind as I sleep. It's always been that 'unfinished symphony.' It's been incredible watching people grow over the course of this adventure, watching friendships strengthen, talents develop, and watching the film itself take shape. We've learned a lot and there is certainly much more to learn in our journey as artists. William's Lullaby is just a stepping stone, for all of us -- but we'd like to think it's a big one.



Patiently, and methodically, we will continue our work over the next few weeks -- perfecting what we have designed and built over the last two years so that it is the best it can possibly be within our ability. And when the time comes for us to sit back and close the book on this chapter, expect an even sappier post from me here. From there, we will breathe life into the film -- a project in and of itself, one that could take another two years to reach its maximum potential. Who knows? That's why I tend to compare filmmaking to having a child (like I could even begin to know what that's like!) but there are similarities. If these next few weeks are the birth, then the next two years are going to be the most crucial as we help the film grow and develop into the piece of cinema it is going to be.

Stay tuned! It's about to get exciting!

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N.

Wednesday 10 April 2013

I'm Ready For My Closeup

Lots being said about our recently released Official Soundtrack Preview. In case you've missed the news, Paul Barton has finished the score and we've been giving you a little peek of what to expect on our FACEBOOK page. If you haven't seen the video yet, take a listen here and let us know what you think!



Things have been busy, resulting in some irregular posting schedules with this blog -- but I'm keeping at it. I am just on my way out the door to visit Mike and Devin on our first sound studio pre-mix screening of the film with the score in place. From there we'll move on to tweaking the dialogue, foley and atmosphere edits and preparing the film for its final mix session which will likely be spanned over two days.

Still I'd like to keep going with the theme of the previous blogs! The next few blogs following will likely be devoted to updating you on the final leg of our journey -- video, pictures etc... Expect it all!

Jada McCullough was Key Makeup Artist on William's Lullaby and hired based on her impressive portfolio. She brought with her a great sense of what the film and, most importantly, the characters needed. She also had an excellent vision for showing the transition in our protagonist over the course of the film as he continues on his downward spiral towards an inner hell. It's always jarring to me to look at some of these make-up tests, especially when I am so used to seeing the finished product on screen for two years. But take a look at some of the sickly and disturbing looks Jada and her Makeup Assistant, Csilla Lasso were able to conjure up with our two leads, Richard and Toby.

Toby Bisson on the set of William's Lullaby

Toby Bisson on the set of William's Lullaby

Richard Roy Sutton on the set of William's Lullaby

Richard Roy Sutton on the set of William's Lullaby

Richard Roy Sutton on the set of William's Lullaby

Thanks for reading/viewing! Catch you next week folks. Share this blog with your friends if you can. If it's your first time here, check out the archive on the right and catch up on what you've missed. 


N.

Wednesday 3 April 2013

Dressing the Cast

Hi again folks!

I had the pleasure of being away in Arizona for two weeks touring with The Best of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and have only just returned. I am looking forward to focusing solely on the finish line for William's Lullaby. It's been a little tough leading a double life as an entertainer, but we're making it work!

Jerry Lewis, actor/filmmaker/entertainer, on the set of "Hardly Working"

We have production meetings in place all month as we put together the separate pieces that everyone has been working on so diligently.

The blogs will get more and more interesting from here on out. I hope they have been somewhat interesting for you thus far. But as we lead into our final production meetings, we hope to provide with well documented updates on the process of bringing William's Lullaby to fruition. And things are going to be a lot more revealing as we pull back more of the curtain -- stories from set, actor and character profiles, scene breakdowns and tid-bits of information that only you, the blog-reader, will be able to read exclusively here are some of the many things to look forward to in the weeks and months ahead as you wait for William's Lullaby to show up in a city near you.

Keeping along with the thread of "Creating the Look of William's Lullaby" this week, we'll take a look at the wardrobe. This was not too difficult a task for my team in the summer of 2011 as, when one worked off the original script, the wardrobe pretty much presented itself and it was just a matter of locating specific items and organizing them throughout the script breakdown.

I always am thinking of colour when I direct my attention to wardrobe. One of my earlier films, The Vicious Circle, featured a lead protagonist with a wardrobe colour palette that mirrored his downfall to rock bottom (going from light baby blue to dark black). It is arguable that in William's Lullaby, Thomas Splinter has already hit rock bottom by the start of the film, but I indeed resort back to this tactic of a shift in colour with his wardrobe as we get closer and closer to revealing the true thesis of the film. The other thing we tried to focus on with Thomas was the idea of dressing him almost like a teen -- in that, with his present state of mind, he would not be paying much attention to his outward appearance and likely wearing and re-wearing the same clothes. This was likely the smallest wardrobe collection for a lead character in the film.

 Richard Roy Sutton wardrobe test [2011]

Richard Roy Sutton wardrobe test [2011]

This fits with the idea that Thomas carries on through his adult-life with the emotional stability of a child with certain areas of his past not yet confronted, creating within him a wounded inner child.

For William, we had the luxury of choosing from Toby Bisson's own wardrobe to create his character. Where we zeroed in and became specific was in the accessories. As you come to know more about William's Lullaby you'll learn that a pair of glasses become a very powerful, significant and symbolic item recurring throughout the film and creating a general thread that ties the pieces of the mysteries together. We tried a number of different glasses ranging from child sizes to adults, different shapes and frames and eventually settled on this awkwardly fitting, slightly over-sized pair that engulf most of the top portion of Toby's face -- a poor man's band-aid for poor eye-sight and one that Thomas Splinter would likely buy for his son as a temporary way of fixing the problem.

Toby Bisson wardrobe test [2011]

Actors Ila Lawton and Robert Lawton portray the only true sense of grace and stability with their characters in William's Lullaby and both serve as sort of wise mentors for Thomas as he pushes through his grief and mental anguish. Their wardrobe and colour palette both needed to suggest a warm and inviting, paternal and maternal feeling with a strong contrast to Thomas' rough and unkempt appearance.

Ila Lawton wardrobe test [2011]



Robert Lawton wardrobe test [2011]


Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment below. Share the blog, share our FACEBOOK PAGETWITTER PAGE, and don't forget to LIKE and FOLLOW!

N.

Monday 25 March 2013

The Splinters

The Splinter Family, as it existed, is only briefly seen throughout William's Lullaby through glimpses and in the background. This is one of the benefits of tuning into this blog each week. Here you'll get to take a far more in-depth look into the lives of Thomas, Maggie and William Splinter prior to where William's Lullaby begins.

This week, we go down memory lane and take look at the Splinter Photo Album.

Photo credit goes to William's Lullaby Stills Photographer, Emily Arnold










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N.

Monday 18 March 2013

Let's Say Grace

Not long ago, Mike and I were sitting with our foley artist, Devin O'Haire during a spotting session for William's Lullaby and after a particularly tense scene that took place at the family dinner table, Mike said: "You must have issues with family dinners!"

His comment also came from the fact that the previous film we had worked on together, The Vicious Circle, featured a very dramatic scene set at dinner. I've said this before -- I don't feel you necessarily need to have "issues" with anything in order to feature it prominently in your art. But I have always been fascinated with the dynamics of a family dinner. Family dinners are like the board-room meetings of a house-hold and in film and storytelling, they can have the exact same dynamics if you wish. The mood of these scenes, often taking place in late evening/night with warm, ambient light sets a tone to whatever is going on dramatically in the story.

One of my favourite dinner scenes is this one from American Beauty (warning: course language)

"Lose it? I didn't lose it. It's not like 'whoops! Where did my job go?' - I QUIT!"

I thought I would share my very first attempt at a family dinner scene from The Vicious Circle in 2007. This was our first feature film, and as you can see, there is a great deal of work that goes into the writing, choreography, pacing and acting of a scene like this. Tough to pull off.


I write about family dinners in this blog because, rest assured, William's Lullaby features some extremely tense, dramatic, explosive and emotional scenes that take place at the Splinter dinner table. It is an unusual scenario in William's Lullaby, with a middle-aged man sitting across from a five-year-old. The possibilities that dynamic possessed excited me as a writer and director and I think the result will be extremely memorable.


For more behind-the-scenes looks, like us on FACEBOOK, follow us on TWITTER and bookmark our WEBSITE

Bye for now.

N.

Saturday 9 March 2013

The Splinter House

Things are moving along quite nicely. I am happy to say that Paul Barton has completed the William's Lullaby score and it is truly exquisite. He has done an incredible job of incorporating the themes and story of William's Lullaby in his music and the result is a sophisticated and layered score that will keep you thinking long after the film is over.

I'll be spending quite a bit of time in these blogs speaking about creating the look of William's Lullaby in various posts. I've already begun to do that with last week's post on the transition from storyboards to screen. This week we'll take a look at the William's Lullaby set and specifically creating the look of the Splinter home.

I've always been a fan of art direction and set design. I love the idea of bringing a character to life through his or her surroundings in a play or film. I've mentioned my Vancouver Film School short, "The Boy Who Knew" on here before, but I'll take a moment to show it again in a different light. This was a film where I wanted to explore how you could create a character simply through set design and art direction without ever showing that person in the film. Can it be done effectively? You be the judge.




For the record, in reality this bedroom was originally a teenage girl's room, complete with a bunk-bed. My Art Director at the time, Red Albert, did a phenomenal job, in my biased opinion of transforming this into the bedroom of a boy prodigy and it fits well with the mood of the final product:




For William's Lullaby, I assembled a small team of extremely creative filmmakers and artists from Kingston, Ontario. Together we worked hard over five months of pre-production to create some of the very specific details needed for the Splinter home. Our goal was to create a home that was missing two crucial ingredients -- love and family. 


For William's bedroom (as seen above) we decided that a running theme throughout his environment would be a love for medieval knights and mythology, and this can be seen subtly with everything from the frame of the bed, the royal bedsheets, the knight's helmet on his dresser to the hand-drawn images of kings hanging on the wall. At the same time, we wanted William's bedroom to be very stark and bare, cold and unwelcoming -- as though slightly unfinished. The baron white walls leave much to be desired, casting harsh dark shadows which we can only imagine would terrify a young five-year-old in the dark.



For our next image we see the Splinter basement:


The script originally called for a living room environment, describing Thomas as often sleeping on the couch. During our location scout, this house provided us with an unfinished basement that peaked our curiosity and provided a much darker, sombre environment for Thomas. It made perfect sense to us that this man, suffering from depression and perhaps even a fear of raising his own son would create a safe haven from that world, a sanctuary of his own, off limits to his young five-year-old son where lost memories and ghosts abound in photo albums and home video flickers in the night light.

Thomas' bedroom had to have the same stark, bare and cold feeling of William's but on a very different scale -- from the adult perspective. And my art team, made up of the wonderfully talented Amanda Shaw, Kat Rush and Sierra Chaykowski did a wonderful job of adding subtle details, bringing to life Thomas Splinter's past AND present in one single room. Fantastic work, if you ask me. I won't spoon-feed you, rather I'll leave you to explore the clues. Very telling reveals of character in these pictures.







That's it for this week folks! Remember to join in the conversation on FACEBOOKTWITTER and comment below! We love to hear from you.

N.

Sunday 3 March 2013

From the Pen to the Screen

We have been working like crazy these last few weeks and will continue to for the next while as we near the finish line. Mike and Devin are working hard on preparing the film for a pre-mix and I'll be sitting down with Paul Barton in the coming weekend to go over the score in what will possibly be our final spotting session.

Meanwhile, on my end we've been colour balancing the film and preparing it for grading. Amazing progress has been made in regards to licensed music and we have a few surprises for everyone that we will reveal in due time. Biggest lesson here is -- never give up and exhaust all resources. Never assume the answer is 'no.' You will be surprised at what happens when you simply ask.

Gary Carr also began work on the end credits of the film. He is responsible for the ghostly "William's Lullaby" that appears in our teaser, using Leslie Martin's design. So to make a long story short, the end is in sight and the pieces are falling into place. But we are all aware of the fact that it is going to take a great deal of work in the coming months to get there. Game on.


A few posts back, I talked about how I storyboarded the entire film prior to casting as a way of preparing myself mentally for the task of bringing the visual style of the film to life. I thought I'd do a little less talking in this post and show you some examples of how those storyboards influenced the final product. If you take anything away from this post, it's that you don't need to be a great artist to storyboard -- stick figures will do! It's the idea that counts.


In most cases I was able to use stills from my location scout to visually lay out my shots. I would read the script line by line and picture the film, cut together in my head. What did I visually see? I would then do a few rough outlines, then pen the final drawing. Spending a great deal of time on each frame allowed me to really contemplate my reasoning for that shot and as you can see, for the most part, I stuck with that blueprint once I got to set.


As you can see in this scene, Richard and Toby bring a great deal of life to the image that I, unfortunately, can't quite express with my pen. Often, their motivation for blocking and action dictated slightly different camera positions and movements as seen by the slight difference between what is going on in my storyboard vs. the final scene.


Again, we were quite flexible with straying from the drawn image once we got to set but you can see that the essence of it is still there. Toby is a ball of energy and his jumping up onto the bed (as seen in the final scene) is far more dynamic than what's on the page and offers more excited camera movements to match his energy.


I said I wouldn't talk much in this post. I lied. There you have it. An example of just how much storyboarding helped me, and continued to help me in the editing room.

To see more behind-the-scenes stills from the film, make sure to LIKE US ON FACEBOOK
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Haven't seen our teaser yet? You can WATCH IT HERE

Comment below!

N.

Sunday 24 February 2013

Films That Influence Me #2: THE KID

I was having a conversation recently with a friend I hadn't seen in awhile. I was telling him about William's Lullaby and how long of a process it has been and how eager and excited we are to finish. I had mentioned to him how I had started writing the first draft of the script, then called Ducklings and Swans, when I was 17. He was confused by this. "It was different when you wrote it, right?" he asked. I explained to him that the crux of the story, the majority of it and especially the last 10 pages have stayed the same over the last five years. Again this baffled him. "When I was writing scripts at 17 they were about not knowing what to do after high school or the girl I had a crush on," he explained. He couldn't figure out where I would draw the inspiration from to write about parenthood and specifically the woes of being a single parent, especially after I further explained to him that my childhood was hardly Dickensian and I had been raised by two loving parents.

While the inspiration for William's Lullaby came from something far deeper than the simple father/son relationship that is portrayed on the surface the idea to bury the thesis in the framework of a father/son relationship came from many cinematic inspirations over the years.

Going back to 1979, there's Kramer vs. Kramer with Dustin Hoffman 


A very emotional film following the struggles of a recently divorced man fighting for the custody of his son.

Road to Perdition with Tom Hanks showed a father/son relationship under strained and tense circumstances...


But one of the classic father/son imageries of cinema for me comes from Mr. Charlie Chaplin himself in, The Kid...


If you are feeling a little nostalgic when it comes to film after a night with The Oscars, lucky for you, Chaplin's entire masterpiece is available on Youtube:


The father/son relationship has been portrayed in films since the very beginning. And I think it's because there is something quite special in that relationship -- a child's desire to be like his father, a father's passion to give his son a better life than his own. William's Lullaby and the films I have listed above all portray fathers who are thrust into single parenthood, sometimes unwillingly and coping with it under heavy circumstances. Whether I wrote this at 17 or 25, single or married, parent or not, I don't think really matters. In William's Lullaby Thomas is written as a man who, although trying to understand his role as a father, really is lost -- and in some ways child-like himself.

There's something incredible about imagining the potential of a child, not yet tainted by the outside world. At a certain point, a parent can no longer protect their child from being hurt, from hurting others or themselves. It's with this idea that William's Lullaby begins.

N.





What are some of your favourite father/son moments in film? Comment below!

Sunday 17 February 2013

Casting William's Lullaby

Hi folks!

This week, we're taking a look at the casting process of William's Lullaby and what it was like for us to be first introduced to Toby Bisson, Richard Roy Sutton and the rest of our cast.

But first... We have begun colour grading William's Lullaby and it is incredible the difference it makes. I am very excited with how it is turning out and I thought I would share a little "colour test" with you to give you an idea of the subtle differences that alteration in colour can make to a scene.



Rewind the tape to May, 2011 and we look back at William's Lullaby in its infancy. We began a casting call for William's Lullaby in Toronto and Kingston (where we planned on shooting the film) using print media, radio ads and online casting calls. At that point, all other roles had been cast either internally or, in some cases, prior to pre-production even starting. We were specifically looking for our two leads; Thomas and William Splinter. The result were numerous video submissions from actors and non-actors across Ontario.

From videos and online auditions, we moved on to casting in person and saw nearly 50 people for both leads. We were looking for something very specific in both characters. Both had to be likeable and sympathetic to an audience; and furthermore they had to be believable as father and son.

In walks young Toby Bisson.


Toby will correct me on this (because the difference IS a big deal) but I believe he was six at the time of auditioning for us. He had caught our eye earlier when a video was sent in to us of him dancing to the entirety of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" (air guitar and all) with a closing line of: "I'm Toby Bisson and I want you to pick me for your movie." In truth, he had won our hearts from that point on. And that feeling was further reinforced when we met him in person. He is the William on the page and demonstrated both a youth and maturity beyond his six years that would be required to take on a project of this scope.

This was Toby's first movie role and for those of you that have been following us on FACEBOOK or TWITTER, you know that he has been doing extremely well ever since.

Later that same day, Richard Roy Sutton owned the room and who knew at the time that these two would soon be playing father and son. Well, we did. Very quickly too.


Richard brought with him credentials, experience and tools as an actor with many credits to his resume, a full reel and a previous video audition in which he had already read scenes from the script.


Richard's read was without a doubt the best we had heard. I recall Alex McLean, our co-producer (who read opposite Richard in his audition) commenting after he left the room: "He stared into my soul!"

Two days later and after many hours of auditions and discussion, we made the calls and Toby Bisson and Richard Roy Sutton joined the William's Lullaby team. They became a part of the pre-existing cast that included Kingston's Partners in Crime duo, Ila Lawton and Robert Lawton in the roles of Collette and Peter, respectively. Amy Healey (who also sat in on casting) as the gracious and motherly kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Gibson. Peter Nielsen. Sandie Cond. Marc Veno. Gabe Meacher. Calvin Rea. Braedon Da Silva and many others.

Upon completion of the script, we had thought the roles would be impossible to cast and indeed they were our biggest challenge in the process (a five-year-old involved in intense scenes and carrying a feature-length film is not easy to find). But we had found our Thomas and William in Richard and Toby. And if we were excited with them then, our reaction after shooting the film in August 2011 was one of absolute glee and confidence.

N.

Sunday 10 February 2013

Expressing The Inexpressible

It seems appropriate that this week we take a focus and look at music in film, and specifically, film scoring. I had a great session with William's Lullaby composer, Paul Barton this weekend. He has laid out a score from beginning to end and it is now about fine-tuning what is there and adjusting some of the works, but he is definitely rounding home on what is a monumental achievement for a young musician -- a complete, feature length film score!

And it really is beautiful. I can't wait to share some of it with you. Paul has perfectly captured the tension, mystery, beauty and tragedy that is William's Lullaby. How do you express grief through music? How do you describe the innocence of a child and contrast that with the jaded reality of an adult through musical phrases? Paul's done it. I feel confident in saying that I think it's really going to blow a lot of people away and I hope this turns out to be a big opportunity for Paul in the future. He has certainly put forward the effort.

As I write this, however, I find it hard to describe the working relationship between a Director and a Composer. In all honesty, it is quite a difficult process to come up with the score for a film. It's very difficult and rather strange to describe music that simply does not exist yet, and to try and have working discussions with another collaborator based on that. A lot of it comes down to expressing feelings and emotions, but that can be dangerous too. You can be too on the nose with a score and that is something we tried very hard to avoid with William's Lullaby.

I love music in film. I think it can make or break a film. Music can save a film that is headed for disaster. It can elevate to a level beyond what it was originally capable of. It can also ruin a potentially good movie. Wrong cues, over-scoring, under-scoring. It's quite a delicate process. It's no wonder so many young filmmakers gravitate to copyright music for their film projects -- only to be discouraged when they find out they can't use it. The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" adds just that perfect amount of spark, cheeky sarcasm and intensity to a scene about slimy Wall Street business dealers. Although Glee seems to be a little trigger happy with their iPod now, that opening scene in the pilot set to Earth, Wind and Fire's "Shining Star" had just the right kind of attitude to introduce you to a new set of characters. Or how about the brilliant use of Crystal Blue Persuasion in the latest episode of BREAKING BAD?

Or this unbelievable use of The Rolling Stone's "Thru and Thru" in The Sopranos:




I think Scorsese is brilliant with his use of licensed music, from the very beginning with Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore: 




To his incredible choices of music cues in Goodfellas. Note this scene where with one music cue, one perfectly paced push-in and the brilliance of De Niro's silent acting, we quickly realize everything going through this character's head:



But using pre-existing music is all well and good. And there will be a touch of that in Lullaby. Those songs evoke feelings of their own and using them in a scene is a great way of making your audience feel a certain way based on that song. There has to be a reason you paid thousands of dollars for it, right?

What about an original score? That's tricky. We're now talking about music people have not heard yet; music that audiences will not have a pre-exisiting connection with; music that should not over-state or under-state a scene. I found this brilliant round-table discussion with the 2012 Oscar nominated film composers. If you have the time to watch it, or are able to play it in the background while you do your laundry, cook or read this and other articles, I recommend it:


These are the big guys! The masters. They usually stand before an orchestra of 100-200 musicians, in front of a gigantic screen projecting the picture-locked film which they play along to. An example of an orchestral film scoring session can be seen here:



Paul doesn't have the luxury of an orchestra like that. Our scoring sessions, and his work-flow is similar to the scoring of the Oscar-nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild. It's quite incredible what technology can do now. Take a look:


Lots of surprises to come with the music of William's Lullaby. We are working hard to make it a very powerful and visceral experience for you, the viewer.

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Saturday 2 February 2013

Did You Hear The News? We're Making A Movie!

Two things in this week's blog.

First a little update. Mike Whissell and I met with Toronto foley artist, Devin O'Haire last Monday and had a good in-depth discussion about what the film needs and how we can give it the finished polish we're looking for. Things are looking up. And it's game on. Together, the three of us laid out the ground-work for a solid timeline to finish the film completely -- picture, sound, everything. I won't tell you exactly what that timeline is, because anything can change and we won't compromise the finish of the film if it means taking more time. However, we have what we believe is a solid time-line to complete William's Lullaby with certain milestones to hit along the way. 

Foley will begin in about a week. For those of you reading this who are unaware about the process of Foley in film, I found this interesting video from my alma mater Vancouver Film School explaining it all. It's quite fascinating the amount of work that goes into sound design and creating everything that you hear in a film. Even a drama. We'll be venturing into this soon. Take a look. Or a "listen":



Second thing I wanted to do in this blog was provide access to some of the amazing write-ups that have been done about us in the last couple of weeks. Buzz is slowly but surely starting to build and people are beginning to hear about William's Lullaby from different sources of information. And there's plenty more to come. This is just the beginning.

FROM "THE TORONTO FILM SCENE"

"Toronto filmmaker Nicholas Arnold's latest endeavour 'William's Lullaby' has entered the sound-design stage of production and to get your anticipation up, they’ve just released a teaser trailer. Shot in Kingston, Ontario this past August, the film features a cast and crew of Kingston and Toronto-area artists and  is aiming for completion in time for the 2013/2014 festival circuit... READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

FROM "(RE)SEARCH MY TRASH"


"Your upcoming movie William's Lullaby - in a few words, what is it about?

Well, what can I say without giving anything away? In a nutshell, William's Lullaby tells the story of Thomas Splinter, a newly single father struggling to raise his five-year-old son. Thomas fears his abilities as a parent but makes a strong effort to build on his relationship and get his life back on track... READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

FROM CKWSFM.COM


"Nick’s latest independent film “William’s Lullaby” was made right here in Kingston in the summer of 2011, and will soon be able to be seen on the film festival circuit starting later this year. The movie stars two gifted Kingston actors, Richard Roy Sutton (“SICK”, and Lifetime’s “A Nanny’s Revenge”), and seven year old Toby Bisson (CTV’s “Saving Hope”, “Mikka”, and “Cracked”). The entire cast and crew are from the Kingston/Toronto area... READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

FROM KINGSTON THIS WEEK

"William's Lullaby, an independent feature film shot here in Kingston, has launched an online teaser campaign that has piqued the curiosity of many indie film lovers. A one-minute trailer has been released on major social networking sites, and is already creating a buzz. In one version of the dialogue-free video, viewers are shown snippets of a man...READ FULL ARTICLE HERE Pgs. 18, 40


Many thanks to Lindsay, Mike, Dave and Tricia for those great write-ups. Also thanks to all those who have retweeted us, mentioned us and plugged our teaser on Twitter. There's more to come so do check back on our social media sites as we begin to reveal more about the film. 

WANT TO HELP PROMOTE?

If you would like to write about William's Lullaby and would like to request an interview with any of the cast or crew or would like access to promo materials for your blog, website, media outlet, please don't hesitate to contact us at williamslullaby@gmail.com

Lots of stuff happening with our cast and crew, as well as the film itself. To keep track of everything that's going on, make sure you're "plugged in" online!

Many thanks to everyone for helping bring our TEASER past 600 views on YouTube. Are you excited yet?

Don't forget to comment below! I'd love to hear from ya'

Bye for now.

N.