the making of Enter the Savior - a memoir
The Whole World Was Against Me
Part 5/6

Just when I thought things were going well...
That night in Mike’s apartment we worked on Mark’s film straight until 5am.  The filming went well generally, and we had quite a bit of fun.  We went to bed and got up early at 9am to shoot Mary’s film.  It was a very painful morning as we met at the film school and took the equipment to a busy street sidewalk.

From the previous 3 weeks, me and Mary already had a lot of tension built up.  Combined with a lack of sleep and a lot of anxiety concerning my own unfinished film, I was not in any sort of good mood.  I went through the day alongside Mark and Mike helping Mary film her project.  She had brought a forty year old man to act the main part.  All day long we encountered numerous difficulties, both between people and equipment - a lot of unpleasant verbal exchanges with Mary arising from increasing stress and anxiety of the production as well as malfunctioning equipment and her general lack of understanding on how to work the cameras properly.

A lot of gawkers passed-by as the day wore on, hundreds of people on the busy streets watching what we were doing, asking us questions and getting in the way only generated more stress.  At one point, a homeless druggy walked by and started to route through our belongings inside a cart.  I ran over and told him to get out.  He said something quite nasty so I yelled at him.

Frustrations mounted, tensions arose
I couldn’t stand the way Mary barked commands at me or Mike.  At one point I had to petition to her to let Mike off the hook so he can eat his lunch.  But perhaps the worst of it came at 3pm, when Mary had realized that the light meter she was using all day was broken.  Thanks to the light meter, we had just wasted an entire day.

Six hours was spent filming that one roll of film currently in the camera.
So Mary took the film out of the camera and
threw it in the trash.
(Great Scott!  Great Googly Moogly! )

I watched in horror as I saw the completion of my film go down the toilet (and around and around it goes...around around it goes).  Mary had to REDO everything from scratch.  If it took 6 hours the first time, its probably going to take at least 4 hours the second time.  Which meant that we would finish at a lovely 7pm.  Just in time to go down to Chinatown and watch the sun go down. 

SHOOT ME, SOMEBODY SHOOT ME NOW
At that point Mary and I erupted into a shouting match on the sidewalk.  It wasn’t really her fault or mine.  It was the film school’s fault for giving us broken equipment, but we were just so angry at each other.  Although I knew that I had to stay to help her finish her film because she had already been there for my film yesterday, I was still incredibly upset that I could no longer finish my film.

And to top it off...
At one point during the day, the actor Mary hired came over and subtly harassed me in the guise of “comforting me because I looked so upset.”  He was giving me back rubs and running his hands on my neck.  It eventually hit me that the guy was gay.  Unfortunately, I was too angry at the time to really care so he got his fair share of touching and feeling.  I left at one point to get some food for my crew so he then went on his merry way to harass Mark and Mike. 

As I predicted, Mary eventually finished at around 7pm.  It was too late.  The sun was setting, it was Sunday night, and the equipment had to be returned tomorrow.  Upset, disappointed, and all the awful emotions of failure and frustration mashed together to overwhelm me.  And to top it off, the gay actor asked if I wanted to take a boat ride around NYC with him.

“God, why?  What do I do now?  I’ve come so far, I’ve done so much, everything was going so well.  Why’d you let this happen?”

I doubted God and his goodness again.  But there was no hope left.  It was over.  I was to go home with nothing.  No completed film, a wasted $5,000.  Curses.  I hate my life.

Why do you doubt?  Oh ye of little faith?  Have I not helped you this far?

Have I not been with you since the beginning?  Have I not answered all your prayers up till now?

Have I not provided everything that you needed?  So why then do you doubt?

A Glimmer of Hope
I suddenly had an idea.  I asked my crew members to keep the equipment on Monday.  Don’t return it.  We only have one final class left on Monday anyways.  They were reluctant, but they agreed.  The next morning, me and my crew returned to the alleyway.  (At that point, Mary and I were so fed up with each other that I let her go after an hour.)  But I was so grateful to Mark and Mike for being so kind as to lend a helping hand, beyond what they were required so that my film could be completed. 

For several hours, we shot scenes of me and Mark, individually and sometimes in the same shot.  We were working very efficiently throughout the day.  At 2pm however, it was time that we headed back to the school to attend the last class.

Storyboard from the last chapter of the film, when the Savior reaches out his hand to help me up to my feet.

I STILL was not finished, so I asked Mark and Mike if they would go without me and return as soon as the class was over.  But because we were financially liable for the equipment and I would be waiting in a shady part of the town, Mark decided to stay behind with me while Mike went and took good notes for us.

Mark: Christ on-screen and Christ off-screen
I just couldn’t believe Mark’s kindness.  Sure, he wanted to stay behind to help guard the equipment, but he raised no objection to the amount of time that my film was taking to finish.  Mike was great too, he promised to return right after the class.  As the day wore on, Mark shot a lot of first person perspective shots of me doing flying side kicks in slow motion, in fast motion and from different angles.  He shot scenes where I was doing the drugs, and sometimes, we needed to do shots where we would be in the same frame.

Because Mike wasn’t here, Mark had to setup the camera, roll the film, run over to me and do the take, then run back and turn off the camera.  For hours we shot and shot and shot.  This time, it was from 11am to 7pm.  Mike had returned at about 6pm, due to a little miscommunication - an error on my part (I had briefly returned to the school to pick up some more film stock and erroneously told Mike that we were already finished).

The Final Stretch
So 8 hours later, I was only shy a few more shots.  But it was dark.  I still needed to shoot a few crucial shots of me walking out of the alleyway with Mark.  And before I said anything, Mike suggested that we meet here at 8am the next morning to wrap up.  I couldn’t thank them enough.

Storyboard of the opening scene of chapter 6, when I had just thrown my finishing move flying side kick and destroyed the drug pusher.  I am huffing and puffing on the ground when the Savior comes and helps me up. By the way, look at the top right corner of this page.  Yes, that is Catherine Keener's autograph whom I met on the street.  Keener has appeared in successful independent films such as: Adaptation, Full Frontal and Lovely and Amazing.  She liked my storyboards too!

What a bunch of wonderful guys.  I really felt bad too, I was using up so much of their time.  And I kept reassuring them that I only “had a few shots left,” but then I would discover in my massive cluttered mess of storyboards and notes and papers that I actually had a lot more.  But they were infinitely patient with me.  And they were infinitely benevolent.

I had the greatest 2-man crew in the world.

The next morning at 8am, we meet.  The last series of shots were of the film’s final sequence, where the Savior would help me to my feet and we would walk out of the alleyway.



Storyboard and actual film comparisons of the last three shots in the film.

At 10am, shooting wrapped.  The production of Enter the Savior was finished.

Amen.  (psst...read on...the best part is next!)

"Now that you are free, come take a walk with me, into the light of eternity."