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See it on KSL here:
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=210

Amendment

“Amendment” is a short film/scene entirely written, produced, edited and submitted within 18 hours for the Demon Chaser Film Competition.  Our main and only goal was to have fun and give everyone the chance to make a great film in all aspects.  Set in a post apocalyptic world two men set out to deliver what could be the saving grace for mankind.  Amendment is a short abstract piece depicting the classic “crossroads” deal with the devil.  It doesn’t matter what the deal is, what it’s for……if you make a deal with the devil you lose.  Filmed in the middle of one of the biggest rainstorms in 2010, the film was entirely shot of a Panasonic HVX200 and a Canon 7D.  All effects were completed (quickly) in After Effects, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.  Many thanks to the amazing team of cast/crew that stuck in there that cold morning to create this fun project!

The team participated in the Demon Chaser Challenge which is a horror and sci-fi short film contest in association with Utah’s first-ever Salty Horror Film Festival (That took place November 4–7). Their independent film titled “Amendment” was be judged against several other films in the following categories:

Best Film (AWARDED) Best Directing (AWARDED) Best Cinematography (AWARDED) Best Writing Best Makeup or FX (AWARDED)

Best Acting Best Kill (AWARDED) Scream Queen (or King) Audience Choice

By definition, an independent film is made “independent” from the conventional studio system (e.g., Hollywood, Bollywood, Pinewood and others). In a sense, independent films can actually be more artistic and cutting edge due to lack of funding. Filmmakers are forced to be extra creative with every aspect of the project due to lack of physical and financial resources available to the big studios.

Award-winning independent filmmaker, James Cawley of Ridgeline Creative, agrees. “We don’t have their big budgets or equipment and we don’t have warehouses full of props to choose from. We make do with what we have on hand.”

As additional proof, virtually all independent films fit the low-to-no budget scale and in the case of the Demon Chaser Challenge contestants, all crew and talent were volunteers — nobody is collecting a check for this project. Everyone signed on the dotted line for no other reason than the love of film.

That love of film showed in the form of sitting off Exit 84 from I-80 at 8:30 a.m. on a chilly Saturday morning. The team had chosen an open salt bed off of Stansbury 15 Road west of Magna as their location. The exact location was not selected beforehand; it was simply pull over to the side of the road and setup shop.

BRENDA UPRIGHT as “The Demon Girl”

Each team was given a sub-genre, which was sent via e-mail at midnight on Thursday, October 21. A required prop was identified at 9 a.m. at the start of the Challenge. This team’s sub-genre was “ancient curse” and the required prop was “salt.” (Not a problem since they were surrounded by miles of salt.)

“James and I didn’t start collaborating on the script until nearly 24 hours after the sub-genre was given out,” writer Mark Pittman said. “Even considering the contest clock would start ticking a mere nine hours later, I wasn’t worried. We had an outstanding team and James’ concept was solid.”

The remainder of the cast and crew first laid eyes on the script shortly after 9 a.m. With wardrobe, makeup and set creation, that’s not much time to study your lines and get into character.

Even worse, schedule conflicts from several members of the team forced them to pass on day two of the contest. That meant the entire film must be made in half the allotted time — just 18 hours.

“With the crew we rounded up and the tight script, I was very confident we could pull it off,” Cawley said. “The longer we filmed the less sleep I would get on Saturday night during post production.”

Many teams in timed film contests shoot for the maximum time limit for their film. To accomplish this, everything must be turned up to maximum: script, number of scenes, amount of editing, timeline for rendering, etc. When you’re filming against the clock, this is usually a bad mistake to make. The entire project can fail by simply not having enough time for the last guy in line to finish their part.

Makeup/Effects by Cameron Rutherford, Body By Pono DelaCerna

In the case of the Demon Chaser Challenge, the maximum time was 6 minutes, 66 seconds (7:06) with 54 seconds allowed for credits (8 minutes total). “Amendment” has a total runtime of 3:06 including credits.

“We chose to take the time limit and cut it in half because we only had half the time to complete the project due to other film commitments,” Cawley said. “Instead of shooting for eight minutes, we aimed for four.”

Everything was going extremely well until a mid-afternoon rain shower put the “Amendment” set underwater — literally. After a few minutes of huddling in each other’s cars waiting for the rain to stop, the team wasn’t the least bit daunted and quickly adjusted for the new conditions.

“If we hadn’t been so far ahead of schedule by the time the rain came, things might have gotten crazy.” Cawley shared. “The team took it all in stride and we ended up moving our final shots to drier land a few yards away.”

Some 18 hours 45 minutes after the contest had officially begun, the team’s film had been successfully FTP’ed to Demon Chaser’s representative, filmmaker Brian Higgins. See the film at the Demon Chaser screening to be held Sunday, November 7 at 7:05 p.m. during the 2010 Salty Horror Film Festival.

CAST & CREW

Directed by: James Cawley
Produced by: Brenda Upright, James Cawley

Cinematography

• Kori Moravec
• Kenyon Christian
• James Cawley

Starring

• Brenda Upright as Demon Girl
• Eric McGraw as Salt Warrior #1
• Pono DelaCerna as Salt Warrior #2

Script Supervision/Screenplay

• Mark Pittman

Editing/VFX

• James Cawley

Makeup and Blood FX

• Red Sky Morning Makeup and FX

Makeup Department Head

• Cameron Rutherford

Audio/Foley

• Randall Adams

Production Assistants

• Pete Eisenstein
• Lexi Hogan
• Cameron Rutherford
• Brian Hin
• Gentry Williams
• Kenyon Christian

Also, Don’t miss Ridgeline Creative’s Short WWII Film REUE, Premiering in December 2010.

Ridgeline Creative is currently in pre-production for the feature length film “Red Creek”, production will take place between Feb 2011 – May 2011 in Ophir, Utah and our studio set in Salt Lake City.  If interested in assisting on this project please contact Ridgeline Creative HERE, include “Red Creek Film” in subject line.  Be sure to include your skills, demo links etc.  Someone will be in touch with you shortly.

James Cawley from Ridgeline Creative was given the task of creating a cover for Success Magazine (Spring 2009).  After several client revisions and publisher notes over 500,000 copies of the magazine were distributed nationwide next to other popular magazines like Forbes, Popular Science, Personal Computer World, Entrepreneur and Fortune magazine.  The concept that was needed was a visual of a cluttered earth, full of debt and financial issues burned away by the clients logo.

Here are some sneek peek screen shots from our first two production dates last week.  More coming soon!