JOY!

Joy to the world...Christmas is almost upon us. I don't know about you, but I am SHOCKED when I see colored lights, hear Christmas music or some clerk in a store asks me "have you got all your shopping done"? What?!!!? No!!!!! Is it Christmas? All of your life goes to ratsh*t when you're working on a film. There just NEVER seems to be enough hours in a day! Joy to the world - WE need a weekend off!

Joy to our Film...We are a breath away from being finished!!!! We spent the last two weeks traveling back and forth to Vancouver where we were doing color grading and sound mixing. I cannot describe the joy we felt upon seeing our first few frames of high rez, color corrected FILM on a big screen or the massive JOY at hearing the generator noise gone and the music soar! The folks at Digital Film Central have given us a whole NEW and beautiful look for our film...and Peter Elliuk at dbc Sound in Vancouver is a Sound God! We are soooo excited with our new and improved film. Throw out the old - here is the new, up-rezed, color graded and sound mixed TORA. Exciting, Exhilerating, Down right Joyous!

Joy in Directing. This from director Allan Moyle, (Pump Up the Volume, Weirdsville, New Waterford Girl, Empire Records) who is a good friend and brilliant director. "A director's best tool is not money or time or wisdom or cunning...it is Joy". Tho' anger and frustration does sometimes take over, it's true....it IS JOY that you feel as you write a good script and it's joy that lifts financiers, cast, crew, collaborators, investors, filmmakers, and audience to another level. It is JOY that drives us and how lucky we are to be doing what we do. Joy in development, on the set and in post is your tool. Use it. Laugh. Be Joyous! I've got to remember this...

Check out our new photos on our website in honour of JOY! We also have just posted our NEW trailer on the website and other fun additions--Check it all out! http://www.torathemovie.com

Tora The Title

Yup, we've changed the name of the film several times (you have no idea how many wine fueled discussions over the darned title have been had)! And yup, we've come full circle back to TORA. The very first draft of the script was titled Tora! Tora! Tora! It was a placeholder and (of course) the title of the epic film about the bombing of Pearl Harbour. It was never meant to stick. As we went into production we still hadn't found an appropriate title and even the clapperboard read TORA. It was sticking to us and growing on us. After many title changes - (the film became "Heir To It All" for a long time) ...we've come back proudly to TORA.

The 1970 film title, Tora! Tora! Tora! is made up of the code-words that were used by the Japanese to indicate that complete surprise at Pearl Harbour was achieved and is translated as "虎" or "tiger", hence making the code for achieved surprise "Tiger, tiger, tiger". There's not a tiger to be seen in our film but the bombing of Pearl Harbour was what precipitated the internment of Japanese citizens of Canada and other countries around the world and therefore, our story.

The shortened title is also an homage to that film. Tora! Tora! Tora! was an American/ Japanese co-production and was actually directed by two directors, one American and one Japanese. An astounding collaboration of two cultures broken apart by that world changing event. The film attempted to show both the Japanese and the American sides of the bombing and by interweaving the two stories, made a brave attempt at truth and forgiveness.

Our epic short film TORA also weaves two stories and cultures with themes of loss, hope and forgiveness. TORA remembers what happened post Pearl Harbour with hopes that "History won't fade as easily as it's lessons" in today's post 9-11 world.

What's a Story Without a Soundtrack?

To me the music in a film is one of the most important decisions a director has to make. It can make a half decent scene better, it can make a great scene incredible and occasionally it can save your ass. Wendy and I joke about the fact that Tora’s the most EPIC short film ever made. The “Gladiator” of shorts. The music had to match. Powerful and big, iconic, painful, hopeful and bittersweet. No easy task. Banjoes and kazoos were out.

I came across Rick Horrock’s website. Right from the start we felt he was the guy to do the music for the film, which is a little weird since we’ve never met him, never even spoken to him except by email. You see Rick lives in England and the whole score for the film was conceived of, described, written, adjusted and finally tweaked over the internet. Wendy thought I was nuts to consider having the film scored over the net but that happens a lot around here. (Wendy thinking I’m nuts). We sent him our winter sampler and a whole bunch of notes on what we thought we wanted. Within a couple of weeks he sent the music back for our trailer. It was stunning. If I remember right there wasn’t a single thing we asked him to tweak on the trailer music. It was perfect.

We shot the rest of the film in late June. Within about a month we had a rough cut put together. At this point it’s a bit of a chicken or the egg scenario. You want to be cutting the film to music but the composer can’t really begin to score the film properly until it’s cut. So we laid in temp music. Music from other films, music we liked, music that sorta worked for each scene. Then we sent it to Rick.

Along with the rough cut, Rick got reams of notes which I’m sure made his eyes roll into the back of his skull when he saw them. They were filled with all sorts of very non-musical descriptions like “we want a kind of creepy sound here but not too creepy”. Add some more do do do’s. This is a bit too poofy. Can you write something that sounds like Alien meets Old Yeller?

A few days later we got the first piece of music back. The theme that plays over the opening majestic helicopter shots of Kimiko and Lucy on the mountaintop. It was far different than we’d imagined but we loved it. As the scoring of the film progressed we started to realize that no matter how many suggestions or notes or comments we gave him, he was always going to come up with something better on his own… and he did.

Rick took our pictures, our words and our intentions and translated them into music. His ideas made our ideas better and that’s what every filmmaker needs. The score for TORA will blow your mind, and we’re looking forward to the day we finally get to meet the artist who contributed so much to our film in person.

Part of the Job

Just got back from Vancouver where we were invited to VIFF to see Force Of Nature the feature documentary on David Suzuki's life that I had the privilege to work on. It's a beautiful film and I encourage all to go see it when it opens this Friday in Vancouver (it opened already in TO). He talks in the movie about his time as a young boy in an internment camp. Very moving and made us proud that OUR film speaks to this issue and is personal for him. It was great fun standing on the sidewalk with David in front of the theatre waiting for the film to open. The crowd was lined up around the block! Being the star of the film and the star that he is...everyone wanted to talk or shake hands with David...I must say it was a bit disconcerting and I felt kind of protective of him. But he was so gracious and took the time to say hello to all who approached. When I asked him if it was difficult to have so many people admiring him, wanting to be near him, touch him, he shrugged it off..."part of the job" he said. We are honoured to have David in our film and look forward to standing beside him and the rest of our stars, (cast and crew) on our opening night. When and where is still TBA but it'll come...and it'll be fun!

Good News Bad News

Seems like there's always a bit of both...The bad news is that Heir To It All did not get into the Vancouver Film Festival...same reason-We just weren't ready. These are always crushing blows to the filmmakers and we know that Vancouver would have been fab for our cast and crew too...Who doesn't want to put on a sparkly dress? (or see Glen in one?)...But we persevere and believe that the film needed this time to finish it properly. The good news is that the film continues to grow and get better, amaze and enchant. We are now working on Music and FX, and really looking forward to seeing it in it's full rez version - the 35mm film is being scanned and reassembled as we speak. And...we look forward to seeing you all soon when the film is finished and we can screen it for you! PARTY!

Sweet Reminders of Why We Do It

We wanted to share with you a letter from one of our crew-angels, a member

of the local Japanese Canadian community, Addie Maehara, who worked hard

to cast all our fabulous Japanese Interns. We love you Addie and big thanks

to all of the Japanese Canadians who took part in the dream of telling the story!

Dear Wendy and Glen and Sweet Lucy,

Thank you for tackling the subject of the internment of the Japanese and for writing a script that not only entertains but informs and most of all reminds us all that there is hope, forgiveness and healing. All who have attempted to acknowledge injustices, to bring this part of our history to the public's attention as a reminder - be it writers , government, journalists, historians - and filmmakers have honorably fulfilled your role. THANK YOU.

I like to think, ideally, that because of people like you, we are freed to move ahead with a deeper understanding and appreciation as we look forward! We humans have so much to learn. Let's not give up on ourselves.

Thank you for your vision, artistry and hard work and for being who you are!

We are the benefactors.

With gratitude,

Addie Maehara

Finishing Touches

The film is really looking like a film now! Adding credits and ADR has made such a difference! Glen and I are constantly amazed at the growth of the film. How the editing and sound work can define and add to the story. We swear that in the future we will "have no wine before it's time". Wishing now we hadn't had to send it into festivals and so on before this point. BUT...there are always deadlines. And the curse of the indi-filmmaker is that you have to meet deadlines before you are finished...for what else? Financial reasons. The festival circuit is truly important to the film and we have been planning and plotting our strategy. The larger more prestigious fests won't take you if you're not a "Premiere", World, North American, European, National, etc. So...if we didn't want to wait a year to out the film (which we could not afford to do) then we had to submit our works in progress and HOPE... Hoping that someone can see what a great film you have before it's finished is a game of chance. We toss the dice and hope.

Our days these days are spent working in the nuance of sound; how a ticking sound pulls your eye to the watch, how a heartbeat will drive the music, etc. It's fun and rewarding. ...And very time consuming. In between we strategize and fill out entries to the big festivals, get press kits together and plot our next projects. Writing, financing, always moving towards the next one(s), while we work to put the finishing touches on this one. A filmmaker's work is never done.

Point Of No Return

We have just returned from Vancouver where we did some guerrilla ADR with our stars. GREAT to see everyone again and to get one step closer to finishing. We are at the point in the post process where the fine cut is done...no more little edits to correct, no more beats to add. We are at the point of fear and loathing. Does the film work? Does the story engage? Does it lag anywhere? Will the audience get this nuance or that? Will they feel the emotion? To that end we've been showing it to people who don't know the script and asking them to speak out loud as they watch. Critique it and give us answers to our burning questions. A daunting process for sure. The good news is most of our fears are self inflicted. (Isn't that always the way?) In fact some of the scenes we've never liked are people's favourites! I'm not sure if that's always the way....hmmmm...

Anyway this weekend will be spent trying last ideas. Throwing scenes around and seeing where they land. One last kick at the can as the editor, Glen and myself try any and all of our ideas, voice all our concerns, talk openly and boldly about STORY. And then when we all agree on every point, every edit, every beat of the film we will lock picture. Forever. The point of no return. Yikes!

Small Rewards, Big Rewards

We finished our reshoot for the film this weekend and will spend the next day or two editing in our shots to "lock" picture so that all the finishing touches can begin. Our composer is already working on the score. Our intrepid post people at Digital Film Central in Vancouver have begun transferring our high resolution version to colour correct, our ADR is booked. We have reached the top of the roller-coaster hill and begin our speedy, death defying descent to the finish line.

We sorely missed our crew of 40 from main unit this weekend as six of us including our 8 year old actress and her mom worked together to lug gear, set up dolly track, do make-up and wardrobe and props and sound. Krista (our starlett) had lost 4 more teeth and just before shooting realized she was wearing neon pink nailpolish! We were an hour and a half up a logging road on the top of a mountain and nailpolish remover is not something I carry in my jeep. With the aid of windshield washer fluid and sand, we painstakingly picked all that polish off those tiny fingers and began shooting.

On the way down the dusty bumpy mountain road, as a reward for her sore fingers, I let Krista watch the rough cut of the film on my laptop. Perched in her child's car seat she oohed and ahhed at seeing herself in a movie. At the end she looked up at me in the rearview mirror and said, "Hey! I finally get the story!"

In editing a film that includes flashbacks, dreams, 2 time-periods and ghosts, we have been wondering, "does the story make sense"? To Krista it does. She has given us the biggest relief and reward to date.

The Weight of Film

It's 4 am. First light in the sky. I can't sleep. Editing in my sleep. Dreaming the movie over and over again. We are very close to picture locking the film...That is; picture locking EXCEPT for the reshoot we will do later today. We will climb the mountain again to shoot our opening shot...Again. It must be done, it's our opening shot after all and it must be perfect-The first time we shot it--it was not perfect. This time it must be. I am weighted down with this responsibility. What can I do that will make it PERFECT-interesting, beautiful, intriguing, and of course EPIC!!!!???? We have the camera for 24 hours, what else can I shoot in this window of opportunity to make the film better? What is that opening shot going to be? How can I begin the journey of emotion for our audience? A little girl and her dog look down from the mountaintop, the world laid out before them. Past and present melding into possibility, hope, a second chance. The weight of history bearing down on them...The weight of the film is in that shot and on me. Maybe a glass of wine will help...

Cowboys and Angels

We had a big discussion last night about why the hell we do this filmmaking thing. How hard it is. Frustrating. Discouraging. Costly. High Pressure. Long hours. No stability. Few returns. Insane-really! Of course that turned into how much we love it...Yes, it's all of those things-but it's the stories! Okay, the stories we are making are one thing...But it's the behind the scenes stories that are the life-blood of the filmmaker. As we sit in the edit room, watching the film unspool, we are reminded of "the making of" stories and we laugh! Our winter shoot was riddled with stories, the big one being the massive snowfall that we woke to on Day 1, creating a 3 hour trip up the mountain (which should have been a 20 minute drive). Every, I mean EVERY truck got stuck (at least once)! There's the story of the cowboy extras who's horse trailer slid precariously into the ditch. But "Coyote" (his real full name) simply offloaded the horses and they rode them bareback up the snow covered mountain because they didn't want to be late for their call time! Coyote and gang were the first ones on set! Those cowboys provided more than a few entertaining stories. They were REAL cowboys, who live on the range...literally! The only way to communicate with them was by leaving notes on the gate of their ranch. They did carry cell-phones, but they rarely worked and when they did, our cowboys would ask if we could call them back they were right in the middle of birthing a calf. It's difficult to get cowboys to work on a film during calving season-a lesson learned. We eventually did make it up to the top of the mountain and the snow that had cursed our journey blessed the film. Gobs of snow hung from every branch. Mist fell down over the lake and made it all look magical! We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful, harsh, idyllic setting for our scenes. Coyboys and Angels - Don't make a film without them.

RACING & PACING

On July 6th, a mere 4 days after receiving the film transfers (not sound synced) we finished a rough assembly of scenes with gorgeous sound and scratch track et al for TIFF's "drop dead date". Our editor, Ryan Jickling, Glen and I dropped dead of exhaustion for one day then got back on the boards to get a full rough cut done for VIFF. Both TIFF and VIFF got a copy of our rough cut yesterday and today is a day of "catching up". I am already hearing the words..."On your mark...get set..." We go back into the editing room tomorrow to begin the race to our picture lock!

Making films is sooooo bad for your health! We've been eating take out or nothing at all, drinking too much and sleeping too little...But we are buoyed by how the film IS coming together! Wow! Gorgeous visuals! Fantastic performances! And a lovely story that works! This is an exciting and nerve-racking time. Our friend likens filmmaking to learning to strum her new guitar, "Down, Down, Up, Down"...Indeed it's a time of seeing your mistakes, finding brilliant ways to fix them, crying yourself to sleep or celebrating your achievements. Filmmaking's not for the weak of heart, that's for sure!

Keep fingers and toes crossed for our festival entries. As long as we breath there's hope.

CRAZY AMBITION

One might think we're crazy...'fact we're the first ones to say that. We had a project that was way beyond our means. Our means being zero! Hahah! Our script called for three seasons, from snow blizzards on ice bound lakes to hot summer nights. Several locations that swing between modern day and the 1940's, a cast that included a child, an old man and a dog! We needed soldiers, horses, tons of extras and ghosts! Special effects ranging from misty lakes, blowing snow, street wet downs and smoke. Our script includes flashbacks, dreams and mystical journeys. We needed cars, trucks, jeeps and a motorcycle with a side car from the 40's! And our dog had to ride in that side car wearing goggles that match Suzuki's who bravely donned an old helmet and goggles himself to whiz onto our screen. We had car shots, water work, massive night scenes, steadycam shots and of course helicopter shots to do. And we wanted to shoot on FILM!

Never say never. And NEVER underestimate the power of a good story, a dedicated cast and crew or the wardrobe you can find at Value Village!

Dreaming and Doing

Wendy Ord and Glen Samuel of Mountain Lake Films in Kelowna welcome you to our new blog.

We've just wrapped filming of "HEIR TO IT ALL" previously called "TORA", our epic short film that began as a dream a year ago when we moved onto a property in central BC. We were told that the falling down buildings on the property were once a Japanese Internment Camp during WWII. Altho' this turned out not to be true, our research and the story began. Canada interned more than 22,000 men, women and children of Japanese descent, (3/4 of them Canadian citizens) just because they looked like the enemy. It was a part of our history that we knew little about and a story we had to tell. We spent 6 months writing a dramatic screenplay. When David Suzuki signed on to play one our leads (in his first acting role ever), the film took off. We began shooting our winter dream sequences in February of this year and wrapped our spring segment of the shoot less than two weeks ago.

With almost $200,000 of donated talent, crew and equipment (including the latest 2-perf 35mm film system from Clairmont Camera, Kodak Canada and Digital Film Central), we have a stunning wide screen cinemascope film in the can! Thanks to all who volunteered their time and talent - we are humbled and proud of your contributions to our dream.

JUST DO IT!