a Vicarious Evolution Entertainment pictureIt’s finally done… LOVE CONQUERS ALL (in 2 parts)
View the playlist for special features.
From the “Guide to Yellow Springs”
I was a featured “young artist” in the Yellow Springs News’ 2009-2010 “Guide to Yellow Springs”. The article, written by Hallie Cranos, talks a lot about Love Conquers All. Excerpts (I’ll post the whole thing on my web site soon:
[Q]uery has just finished her first film, a short film called “Love Conquers All.” Starring Lee Johnson and Olivia Byrnes, the film chronicles a young man’s (Johnson) increasingly obsessive interest in a young woman. Query adapted the screenplay from a short story by the Irish author Mike McCormack, entitled “Amor Vincit Omnia,” which means “love conquers all” in Latin. In addition to directing and writing the screenplay, Query also produced and edited it herself….
The idea for her film emerged in April when during a conversation with Johnson they realized they wanted to make a video together before he moved away in August.
“Suddenly I had a camera and a lead actor — that’s like 50 percent,” she said. “Steve Bognar lent me sound equipment — another 25 percent. It all just fell into place.”…
The experience of making the film was very positive, she said.
“The cast and crew were so on board,” she said. “They were always willing to follow me, even if they didn’t know where I was going and I didn’t know either.”
A long overdue update
• On Sunday, August 2 a rough cut of Love Conquers All was screened to a full house at the Underdog Cafe in Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA. Thanks to everyone who came and in particular those who gave good feedback and stayed for the talkback.
• On Saturday, August 15 it was screened at the Flat Lake Festival, at the film tent hosted by the Clones Film Festival, in Clones, Co Monaghan, Ireland. Thanks to Thomas and Geraldine Zechner and the whole crew at the CFF film tent; Paul Duane, Jinx Lennon, and of course, Mike McCormack, for attending the screening.
• With the feedback I’ve received, I will edit a final cut soon. Stay tuned…
A riveting production photo: director Vanessa Query and lead actor Lee Johnson hard at work during an intense day of filming.
photo by Jessica Welsh
Make Your Own Damn Movie!: Secrets of a Renegade Director by Lloyd Kaufman (Amazon link)
I definitely should have read this before shooting… alas. It’s helping me through the occasionally-disheartening (though overall pretty tolerable) editing process.
Also, for the next time I should probably get Josh Becker’s The Complete Guide to Low-Budget Feature Filmmaking, because it’s Josh Becker.
And next time I should do a feature. Which means I’ll need more people, and specifically more crew. Who’s with me for the next ride??
Preview screening, August 2 in Yellow Springs, O.
You are all invited to attend a preview screening with a feedback/talkback session:
Sunday, Aug. 2, 7 p.m.
Emporium Wines/Underdog Cafe - http://www.emporiumwines.com
233 Xenia Ave, Yellow Springs, OH
If you’re not in the area but still want to participate in a virtual test screening, let me know.
More information on the movie: http://vee.nixsyspaus.org/loveconquersall
Love Conquers All trailer (via justvee@YouTube) (or watch on Vimeo)
The Fifth (& Last) Shoot
TODAY’S CAST
• Lee Johnson as Speedie Ryan
• Donna Lynn Johnson as Speedie’s mom
• Jack Layh as Speedie’s dad
• Shane Creepingbear as Speedie’s co-worker
• Olivia Byrnes as Abbie Crayn
TODAY’S CREW
• Direction by Vanessa Query
• Camera by Vanessa Query
• Boom operations by Ashley McNeely and Amy Batchman
• Make-up by Jake Kintner
• Production assistance by Jessica {???}
TODAY’S LOCATIONS
• the homes of the Johnsons, the Byrnes’, and Lee and Maddy
• Yellow Springs Senior Center
• Sunrise Cafe
TODAY’S SHOOT
• rest of scene 3 montage, scene 6, scene 11, scene 7, rest of scene 10, added shot for scene 2 probably
• 5-hour production day, 35 minutes of footage
I’m going to hibernate for a while.
The Fourth Shoot
TODAY’S CAST
• Olivia Byrnes as Abbie Crayn
• Jason Sine as Sammy
TODAY’S CREW
• Direction by Vanessa Query
• Camera by Vanessa Query
• Boom operation by Ashley McNeely
• Props by Lee Johnson
TODAY’S LOCATIONS
• the home of Lee and Maddy
TODAY’S SHOOT
• scene 12
• 1-hour production day, 15 minutes of footage
by now we’re just doing what we can, when we can. did this scene with herbal cigarettes rather than rolled tobacco so the actors could feel more comfortable pretending it was pot without getting light-headed. i’ve dubbed this scene the “cool-down scene”. and i’m really, really tired. lee suggested taking a break, at least a few days, after we finish shooting, before i do any more editing. a good idea.
The Third Shoot
TODAY’S CAST
• Lee Johnson as Speedie Ryan
• Olivia Byrnes as Abbie Crayn
• Alex Byrnes as coffeeshop guy
TODAY’S CREW
• Direction by Vanessa Query
• Camera by Vanessa Query
• Boom operation by Rosemary Byrnes
TODAY’S LOCATIONS
• the streets and sidewalks of Yellow Springs, Ohio
• Emporium Wines and the Underdog Cafe
TODAY’S SHOOT
• more montage, more scene 2, scene 4
• 1.5-hour production day, 1 hour of footage
Scene 4 was the hardest scene for Lee, so he’s grateful it’s out of the way. It went very well. It was the first time I did focused, specific line-readings for a lot of the lines, instead of just letting the dialogue flow. (I’m sure that’s called something specific that film people know about.) It’s not as much of a natural-dialogue-flow as some of the other scenes.
The other small bits we did, just to finish off some montage and add in some drama to scene 2.
Then 4 of us cast and crew went to see Drag Me To Hell, the new Sam Raimi. I thought the last 10 or so years of watching movies with an eye toward filmmaking were bad; it’s roughly 1 million times worse when you’re actually making a movie rather than just wanting to.
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