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We are happy to report that we are FINALLY in the production phase of The Exit Bag. After a few false starts due to illness and other delays, last Saturday we took still photos for what will become our hero’s Internet search for suicide methods.
Our first victim… Kevin Maxwell. He will be the gun suicide in our movie. We worked a couple of hours to get the scene location and back wall brain splatter dialed in. Then we went to work on Kevin. This is what Kevin looked like just before we blew his brains out. So what does he look like in the movie? You will have to watch The Exit Bag to find out.
Stay tuned as we continue to put The Exit Bag together.
I guess it wouldn’t be a real film if there weren’t any delays. Our scheduled shoot for tomorrow has been postponed. The flu epidemic that is sweeping the country has claimed one of our own. The actor playing Philip, the lead in our film, has the flu. After waiting for five months to start shooting, I guess a little longer wait won’t hurt anything. Get well soon Mike Pickering! We need you healthy so you can kill yourself.
We are about 24 hours away from our first shoot. Tomorrow we will be shooting a scene in which our hero, Philip, is researching ways to end his life on the Internet. It’s been five months since we decided to do this project. Everyone is excited that the production phase of our project is finally here.
The shoot tomorrow will feature the only part of the movie that is gory. The Internet search reveals several ways to whack oneself – including a gunshot to the head, a jumper, and a slit-wrist situation. We have been working on our FX makeup and I think that we just about have it ready to go. Here are our first attempts:
A pint of blood, anyone? We found the recipe on the Internet. The recipe is from the son of the man that created the modern form of movie blood. The consistency is perfect. It runs well.
Our first at tempt at a slit wrist. Not bad for our first try. The cut is a little too jagged for a razor cut and maybe a little two wide. When we do it tomorrow, the cut will be longer and smoother. Maybe even two slits on one wrist (just for good measure).
Brain splatter for the gunshot suicide. If you look closely, you can see hair in the mix. I thought it gave a little more of a “gross out” effect. The three suicide scenes will be stills, which is a shame because the bits and pieces of brain slowly slid down the wall.
Check our blog often as we add more details of the filming of The Exit Bag.
I have had some acquaintances ask me about short films after listening to me talk about The Exit Bag. Some had no idea that there were actually Oscar-worthy films out there that were less than feature-length films.
Here is a list of the five live action short films nominated for Oscars this year. Some you can watch online. Others you will have to go to a film festival to catch.
DeKalb Elementary
Reed Van Dyk
The Eleven O’Clock
Derin Seale and Josh Lawson
My Nephew Emmett
Kevin Wilson, Jr.
The Silent Child
Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton
Watu Wote/All of Us
Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen
Google the titles and you should at least find trailers for these films.
Juan Espinosa, Mike Pickering and Ron Hervey met yesterday to work out the details of the bag. In The Exit Bag, Mike Pickering’s character, Philip, decides on the helium bag method after researching several ways to commit suicide. We tried a couple different bags, but had little success on keeping them inflated. We also had worries about Mike doing the activities in the script and the risk of carbon dioxide poisoning. We are going to try a couple of ideas, as we push the scenes with the bag on to the back of the shooting schedule.
We plan on filming one of the scenes this coming Saturday (PRODUCTION STARTED – finally). We will let you know how it goes.
The Exit Bag subject deals with suicide. Even though the movie is a dark comedy, the cast and crew does not take suicide lightly. Suicide is a very serious matter that should be dealt with immediately. If you, or someone you know are contemplating suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. All lives matter.
