They Came From The Valley

My brother James, my fiancé Christy and I created this short film as part of the entertainment for the 2009 spring semi-formal at Fresno Adventist Academy.


Fun Tidbits:

The reverse side of the vent in the attic was shot at about midnight, to avoid heat stroke. We used a 1k halogen on a nine-foot light stand in the back of my sister’s truck to provide the “morning” light.

The night exterior before the TV scene is a color-corrected clip from the crane shot of James backing the car out of the garage.

All slow motion is the actors pretending to move in slow motion. No real or digital slow motion is included in the film.

To fill the box with packing peanuts cost $9.


Special thanks to:

My wonderful fiancé Christy for all her help. She did sound, grip, camera and anything else we needed. She was there every day and I couldn’t have done it without her.

James for coming up with most of the ideas and boiling himself in the burning Fresno sun.

My sister Julie for letting us borrow her truck to get all the crane shots, waving a scrim in front of the light to simulate TV flicker, getting the box filled with packing peanuts and helping us cut out the 84 pieces that made up the Beard Man 5000 backdrop.

My sister Eilene and her boyfriend Tony, also for helping cut out the backdrop and providing moral support during production. Extra special thanks to Tony for thinking of the Maysisms "Is your scruff just not enough?" and "Seven o'clock and still no shadow?"

Mrs. Jones for letting us steal her class time and students for the ending crowd scene.