In July, 2006, I directed the film Trick, a short suspense film about the wonders of childhood. Here are some thoughts and anecdotes about the process:
Trick Production Notes
by James Roland
Trick started out in a desert diner. The first sentence was scribbled on a paper napkin (which we still have in the RedFence vault) and Ruth Arnell outlined the entire story in about fifteen minutes. It was just after Halloween so we knew we should hurry and get it made, but I only succeeded in buying and freezing one creepy-looking pumpkin before the New Year came around.
Time passed, and summer struck; we finally mustered the funds and manpower to make it happen.
Casting was easy . . . at first. Ruth, of course, was on board from the start. But I didn’t want to cast another young adult as the male lead. So, Sam Newman saved the day by bringing in Jay Laisné (whom I never met until the morning we filmed).
As for the kids, well, the arrogant Producer/Director that I was, I told Sam not to worry about it, that I had the perfect kids in mind.
They moved to Texas the week of production. Sam the Superstar Producer replaced them in two days. We were set.
The night before filming, one of the most important crew members wiped out on his motorcycle. I didn’t find out until the next morning while he was limping around, packing up equipment. Nothing like good omens.
We filmed on the hottest day of the year (the frozen pumpkin never made it into the film, we placed it on the porch but it ended up being blocked by the kids, and we couldn’t move it because it was oozing toxic pumpkin juice all over the place). We recorded over thirty different set-ups in about ten hours.
At the end of the day we knew we had a good film, but we also had a long list of things we would N E V E R do again:
Never shoot half of your movie against a white wall.
Never cast children to stand in one place for eight hours.
Never shoot on the hottest day of the year in Southern California.
Never trust your memory for continuity.
And never, EVER, make a movie without your friends. The help of the entire RedFence team and everyone else that pitched in was essential to the finished product.
When you make a good piece of art (it’s not arrogant for the director to think his movie is good, is it?), it acts as a sort of talent magnet. People show up in your life with just the right attitude and skills to make your project better. I am grateful in particular to a few people, not because they were more important than the rest, but because they came on to the film later in the game and did not know me personally. They had much to lose and not much to gain by putting in long hours for a small project that some young guy had a dream of finishing.
Jay Laisné – He came on a whim and gave a FANTASTIC performance.
Justin Gagnon – He worked harder than anyone and learned how to create a beautiful lighting scheme in just one day.
Ian Mackley – When I saw Trick after layering in Ian’s music, I realized that it was no longer the film I was trying to make. It was better.
Thanks to them and everyone else who showed up to help (they are listed in the credits).
If you want to watch Trick for yourself, click here.
