Making of Owens Hobby

I came up with the premise for this film in the summer for 2010. It was part of a list of premises that we were assigned to come up with for class. "A stalker freaks when his stalkee gets kidnapped." That's all there was to it. I had no other idea of how that story would come together. I remember brainstorming some of the plot for it. There would be another detective involved and the stalker would both aid and avoid the detective in their efforts to save this girl. It seemed complicated and unlikely to work in a 12 minute format. In the end I wrote a feature based on a different premise and left this one alone for about six months.

December 2011: I'm working as an assistant editor, labeling, organizing, and ingesting footage. Often the computer would be slowly importing, and I would have an hour here and there to sit and work on whatever I like. I decided that it was time to get back into writing. I looked at the list of ideas that I had worked on before, and I decided to go on this one. 

I had also recently had an idea which I thought connected to this premise. The idea was based on tricking our perception of people based on their actions. What if we saw somebody in a dark room cutting out magazine letters and pasting them on a page? We would assume that he is up to no good, surely. I decided this was a great way to begin the script. Because of the nature of the hero, we shouldn't initially accept that he's the good guy. He leads a dark life and we should be disturbed or creeped out by him at first. 

I wrote the first draft fairly fast and showed it to my friends and fiancé. They are often my closest confidants and I trust them to tell me when I'm doing something stupid....

Well they weren't impressed, to say the least. I took a hint and wrote something else, setting this script aside for another six months. 

The next script I completed I took into the preproduction phase. We were working with a large amount of preparation time. Two quarters. Several months to go before production starts. Everything was looking good for this production.

It's about that time certain key members quit, and I silently rejoiced. I was making the wrong movie. 

I shifted all of my resources into making Owen's Hobby. I had redrafted it a couple of times and had given it to a few different friends. Reactions were getting better. Some people even really liked it. 

I started pre-production as a solo act, and I was desperately in need of assistance. I was really lucky to be recommended to a hard-working and intelligent aspiring producer by a mentor/professor of mine. Molly Mayo seemed to like the script a lot and thought it was a great opportunity. She signed on pretty quickly and we formed a strong team. 

Things were getting done. The movie was moving forward.

The rehearsals and production ran relatively smooth while I transitioned more of the pre-production work to Molly and focused on developing the film's performances as well as the visual and auditory experience.  Production saw relatively few hiccups. Most obstacles were overcome quickly or worked around logically. We shot for 5 days initially. 5 really long days of early mornings and late nights, of intense Tybee heat and threatening rain (which ended up being torrential the moment we wrapped). Even though the first 3 and the last two were a couple weeks apart. It felt like a marathon. However, we wrapped to an exhausted cheer, knowing that we'd eventually be back out for reshoots. 

Two months later, after reviewing the initial cut with several trusted professors and friends, I made a list of what shots I thought would be necessary or extremely beneficial to the film. Last week we went out during our school's midterms and amongst the chaos of other projects and made it happen. 

And today. They're in. The picture of Owen's Hobby is complete. All shots that will be shot for it are finally in. 

So here's what happens next:

Since the beginning, I've said six months for post. I set a goal for the end of February. I intend to make that goal, perhaps even beat it by a month or so. I have a very busy, but talented Sound Designer. He starts working over the break in November and December. My composer is great, we just need to put together the funds to get him.  Motion media has already started. Visual effects and color correction will happen over the break. And everything will come together in January and February. It seems like a long schedule, but it's completely necessary for a quality product. 

I know I'm eager to get the film into festivals. I've been seeing deadlines flying by for the last month, and we'll submit to them next year. For now, I must be patient and wait for things to happen naturally and organically. 

Thanks to all of you who have supported the project. The best way that you can continue to help is to spread to word. The more people who click "like" on Facebook or follow the film on twitter or the blog, the more likely the film will be to get into festivals and continue to be seen. So we need your help. Support us!

-Zachary J. Burke