Worldwide web premiere...

People have been asking us when we were going to post our film "Marlena" online.  For those of you who don't know, it is a short film we did back in 2006.  Here it is...enjoy!



We actually shot this film over our wedding anniversary weekend.  We had just bought our Canon XL-2 and were hesitant to spend more money on an anniversary trip.  But then, in a stroke of genius, we decided that if we could turn the trip into a shoot, we could justify going.  We chose Las Vegas and set out to write a film noir (perfect for Vegas) that we could do with just one actor and a one-man crew.

Over the next month, our story began to take shape during nightly brainstorming sessions on walks to the Santa Monica Pier.

"We can't go anywhere for our anniversary this year.  We spent too much on the camera."

"What if we went out of town and made it a shoot?"

"We would have to drive."

"Santa Barbara?  Wait, no.  Vegas!"

"Perfect!"

"So what happens in Vegas?"

"Stays in Vegas."

"Stay on track...stop kidding around."

"How about noir?"

"That works.  And in black and white, too."

"We'd have to shoot it in the hotel room."

"I have my old wedding dress.  And we have a bottle of champagne..."

And from there the seed of a story was planted.  We had been watching a lot of classic film noir and knew it had to be a downer.  But what kind of downer...murder, kidnapping, betrayal?  Things began to fall into place.  Daniel's background as a wedding photographer inspired the use of stills.   We also knew that we couldn't control noise in a hotel, so it would have be told visually,  and remember, one crew member, one actor.

Luckily, we were blessed to have an amazing musician friend, Craig Henry, who in turn, had wonderful musicians in his circle.  The music was an essential element that contributed to the success of our film, and we are eternally grateful for the work that they did.

We built the story around what we had available.  We played to our strengths and interests.  We planned ahead, budgeted, storyboarded and wrote a script.  In the end our film cost us $1398 total.  If you subtract the travel costs, it set us back $849.

Throughout 2007 and 2008 it was accepted into Reno Film Festival, Big Island Film Festival, Crested Butte Reel Fest and Sedona International Film Festival.

Everybody has stories to tell.  A film doesn't have to bankrupt you.  Get creative, plan ahead and you don't have to spend thousands of dollars.  Good luck!

Cheers!

Daniel and Brigitte