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Article from 7/30/03  Richmond Register  writen by Bryan Marshal - Register Features Writer

 

First Richmond Register Article

Interview with the DIRECTOR

If this is difficult to read on your monitor you can copy and print it  or buy the 12/31/04 paper from the Richmond Register - phone 623 1669.   Email:  lifestyles@richmondregister.com

Haven't successfully scanned and include the actual article yet.  Moved scanner to new computer but needed to tend to other things, BUT the following is a transcript from which the Article was written.

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Larry:

Below are some questions for the story. Some of them will be review
questions. Thanks. Please respond ASAP.

Bryan
I finally believe I can do it.  2 years and now i finally believe it can be done.  

>>>> Thanks to all the help and encouragement I’ve received from family, friends and many Kentuckians.

What is the movie about?
Bluegrass Who Dun  It – The Movie  is a three act play in which the characters are invited to dinner at  White Hall  and discover they all have been being blackmailed by their host.  He is discovered murdered in the hallway and the audience is left to chose which of the characters shot him.  The movie opens in Danforth Chapel at Berea College with a funeral for the blackmailer, Harry. Rascal.  As the funeral progresses we get flash backs to the events at White Hall.  In the middle of the funeral, another murder occurs while a mysterious hooded figure roams the back halls of both White Hall and Danforth.

After the funeral murder, Greg Stotlemeyer, channel 36 reporter and often heard voice of the EKU Colenels reports the murders from White Hall and tells us the “rumor mill is running” in Madison County.

Act 3 is comprised of scenes around Madison County where everyone, it seems, is deciding  “Who Dun It.  “Gossip” Scenes include men in Hairline Barbershop,    Woody's Restaurant  with several business men and women including Max Smith, as a banker and Bobby Griggs as a salesman.   The camera finds the movie’s deputy and  several guys  in a drinking at the Bar who murder an old drinking song.. Ray Deslover and friends walk through Galaxy Bowling discussing who they think “dun it.”  Meanwhile some teenage bowlers also talk about the professor who is accused of the murders.  Madison County Library-Computers provide a place for other young girls and guys to chat on line about who dun it with the results being one beautiful young lady played by ,      picks up a geek to go to the Buda Belly.   The gossip scenes include Tom Parish, author of the best selling Grouchy Grammarian,  lecturing some “red necks” in Boone Tavern where we find out these guys can and do read.   The gossip about who dun it extends to a  Battlefield reenactment scene near the Herndon House and Richmond Area Theatre’s Rose Barn Playhouse on the Battlefield.  Also, several beautiful ladies “gossip” and play golf at Arlington.
After all the action, funeral and gossip the audience is left to decide but there is a big “hint” hidden in the credits (Well, the credits to be created—but the scene was shot. A long ways from Madison County.  It provides more information on “Who Dun It.”

When did you first come with the idea and how did it come together?

I retired from Eastern Kentucky University July 1, 2002 after 30 years as a TV producer.  Retirement started Friday afternoon.  Monday morning I began teaching Computer Classes for Ecru’s Adult Programs.  After a  couple months I retired again.  For several weeks it was great reading and doing nothing.  Couple cruises to Panama Canal and Alaska, but  I kept thinking how many new films are produce on digital video.  Chatted with a long time editor of major movie trailers who told me he had not touched a piece of film in hears—does it all digitally and then the labs convert it to film.

So I took money I’d saved for an around the world trip and bought a computer editor with the help of former EKU media specialist, Matt Crum.  I’ve been adding big external drives at the rate of 250 gigs every 3 months.

In  the fall of 2002, I talked up the idea of a multimedia play for Richmond Area Theatre after getting the bug doing a couple scenes for the Wizard of Oz play they ‘d performed..

In January of 2003, I invited some friends over and said, “Do you think we can do a movie.”  They said, “Yes”  I thought it was because they believed it a good idea.  A few weeks ago I asked them about their support.  Alice Jones replied, “ Well, you have to support a friends dream.”   What she didn’t add was “even if he is a bit daft.”

We all realize this is not a block buster with a big budget and Hollywood stars, but we hope to make it fun local entertainment.

When did filming begin and when do you expect to have a finalized product?
     Tom and Alice Jones  and I stated writing in February 2003 and had tryouts in May at the Madison County Library.  For 6 weeks we shot four days a week at White Hall with the major characters. 


How difficult has it been to make this movie and did the work exceed
your expectations?

Well, after 30 years of TV production and going from B&W TV to color and then digital multimedia , I thought I knew what I needed to do.  I didn’t.  I’ve had to learn a lot about Digital Audio that I didn’t  even know existed.  Been in an analog world of TV, and before that radio, in Warren, PA and Oil City, but the digital world is a new ball game and very picky.  

Who are some of the local people in the movie and what are some of the
local shooting locations?

 Scenes include  White Hal, Richmond Mayor’s office with Mayor Connie Lawson,  Bob Nayle, Delora and Ted Lucas and others in Hairline Barbershop,

  Woody's Restaurant  diners include Max Smith, as a banker and teacher, Bobby Griggs, as a salesman, Lawyer Sandra Freely and Wayne and Jean Smith.

At Woody’s Bar  Aaron Finch and Deputy John Coffee murder an old drinking song.. Ray Deslover and friends walk through Galaxy Bowling

 Bowlers include Rebecca Houck,  Chris Mc Mullin,  Ryan Whallen -Amy Aldridge and
Mathew Fraiser,

 Madison County Library-Computers  on line chatters  are Daniel Roberts, Ashley Hensly as 2sexy4U and     Ryan Whallen as  Swartzeneger9

Boone Tavern lecturer is Tom Parish, author of the best selling Grouchy Grammarian, whose audience includes Shawn Curtsinger, Rebecca Palmer, Cynthia Ondrias, Louise Schwendeman, and  Bob Cooke

 Click on CAST to see the list on this web site.

 How does it feel to see the light at the end of the tunnel after all of
your work?

December 23 at 6:45 when I check the first successfully burned Rough Cut I couldn’t believe how great I felt .   It was like being a teenager again with no problems except hygiene and ….well, you get the picture.  Of course, two hours later one of the scenes came up with a “green screen.”  What causes the screen to turn green where it should have a visual effect—well, as the lady says in the Barbershop scene, “Hell if I know.”

So it has been 4 days of re doing that series of scenes.   What a wonderful invention the computer.  It can give you surprises when you least expect them and it always means lost time and energy.   Do you think the devil invented them just to confuse us?  I know they generate a lot of expletives not deleted.

I know you recently e-mailed me about a sort of test screening you had
while on vacation, can you tell me about that?
 

While traveling by tour bus in Utah, one stint of the trip returned us through canyons and territory that we’d seen on our way to beautiful Bryce Canyon.  One passenger suggested we played a DVD of our first 86 minutes which includes the Funeral and the White Hall murders.   The audience viewed it on little TVs on the bus, but gave me good reviews.   No one danced or kissed me saying “it was the most wonderful thing they’d ever seen,” but the verbal and written reviews were very positive.  One person said “the kids scenes should go.”  Another said, “The kids were the best part.”

A month earlier--After our last shoot of a kitchen scene, the principal cast and crew saw the same scenes and made suggestions which were incorporated in what the travelers saw

How many people have seen the rough cut, and what has been their
reaction?
NO one has seen the “rough cut” because it needs significant “fixing.” 


How long will the movie likely be?
The rough cut is 96 minutes without the opening Titles and closing credits.

I’m guessing after we clean it up and add the animated Titles it will be about 94 minutes long.

What are the release plans for the movie?

We plan to release the movie with an “On Demand Publisher.”  We’re in process of negotiations with 3 national publishers.   “On Demand”  is much easier for the producer to fund.  The individual copies are higher but one need not fill the basement with 5,000 copies as I did with my book.  On the other hand, I only have about 200 copies of  Don’t Talk!  Communicate!  Left.

 We plan a Movie Premiere on campus in February if a theatre is available.  The premiere will be followed by a two week run in the Planetarium Theater.  We’ve contacts with the Kentucky Theatre in Lexington and a new theatre in Corbin but that is not scheduled yet.

We’ve also contacted people in selected other cities.   We hope to make it available to some community service groups to use as a fund raising activity, but talks just started there because I was not absolutely sure I could pull this off until I burned the rough cut.

What steps are left before all of the work is finally complete?
The Rough Cut has to have the audio stripped and “sweetened.”   Music must be added to the last half of the movie and the volume reduced in prior scenes.   The animated opening titles must be created and matched to an audio bed.   The credits need to be checked and then created for attachment to the end.

 The DVD cover needs to be finalized.   The DVD interface (part where people click) must be finished (I have yet to learn all I need in this area and the programming in Encore). 

 Things I’d like to do include but are not limited to  1. making a director’s comment track for the movie,  2 create a “cast” comment track,  3. select and include an “outtakes reel.” disk . 4. Create either a “video” type game or Card Game. 5.  Hopefully, we can create a card game that can be included on the disk that kids can just print—cut out and play.

Are there still plans for a tie-in game?
        A card game has been designed but the artwork and organization are to be completed.  It too may be published with  an On Demand publisher. 

What has been the most difficult thing about getting the movie  completed?

The most difficult and often frustrating task has been having the technology work correctly.   I thought I bought a very good computer set up.  Well, video has great demands.  I continue to buy new external drives for storage of partially finished scenes because I must clean out the computer and re import “pieces” in order to re-edit anything.

I also miss all the support I had at EKU where someone somewhere could usually come up with an answer to a tech problem.  Now I pay Adobe for the privilege of calling them, but at 3AM or Christmas morning they are not there.  Sometimes I find solutions while on “hold.” 

 Two things if I knew 2 years ago how little I knew I would never have been brave enough to try this.  The learn curve has been tough, but now – when the technology is working I just love it.  Editing on digital equipment provides me the opportunity to do things I never could try in the analogue world of studios,  editing machines, engineers, and remote rooms.  At EKU we had a $10,000 piece of equipment I had others use to do text on the screen—I click a button and (when working) I just type what I want and it is there.

 I can color correct scenes that were shot wrong or in late evening light.  To get Greg Stotlemeyer I used my car head lights on him and the gate and superimposed White Hall in the background.  Kewl as the kids say.

 Am so excited about the technology that I’m already working on two new projects.  Video taped Ron Boyd doing his Ron Dori Aikido series that I will produce on DVD after the Movie Premiere.