The Hush is a film that challenges its audience to think and feel. It's a surreal journey into both the gritty criminal world and the supernatural. The film was built to be an artistic genre-breaking vision, seamlessly transitioning from film noir to horror to supernatural to action-thriller. I wanted to produce an independent film that would see my artistic passions come to life, while maintaining a high-quality production look and feel of films with 50 to 100 times our budget. I wanted to create a journey that allows the audience to rethink the way they experience movies, but, like most true independent filmmakers, I had to do all of this on a very limited budget ($8,000)—a budget that on most Hollywood sets wouldn’t even meet the catering costs.

Making The Hush - Intro - MSP2009 from Mitchell Street Pictures on Vimeo.

My company, Mitchell Street Pictures, and I were able to accomplish this vision with the help of hard-working, passionate artists. One thing that was certain early in the preproduction phase was that our needs could be met with affordable products and tools from companies like Blackmagic Design. You have to do your research and spend the time figuring out what tools are right for both your project and your wallet. Being a filmmaker since my youth has taught me that it really boils down to patience, determination, and being as creative as you can with the tools you can afford (or have access to).

The Hush tells the story of a hit-man seeking redemption, as he faces ghosts from his past and fights to survive the night. The film is layered with struggle, conflict and dark forces of both the supernatural and criminal world. To tell this story, I had to be able to use different lighting styles, color schemes, sounds and a host of other production and postproduction techniques to keep the audience engaged. Recently we received an honorable mention at the Los Angeles Reel Film Festival, which is a festival highlighting the world’s best independent films.

"The Hush" - Extended Trailer - MSP 2009 from Mitchell Street Pictures on Vimeo.

Even though I have been called a “one-man movie-making army” in order to keep true to my ultra-stylized vision for The Hush, I still had to choose the right production tools. I was drawn to Blackmagic Design's Intensity Pro card as part of my filmmaking arsenal; the ability to squeeze a high-quality uncompressed signal out of a camcorder that to some degree rivals the quality of film and higher-end HD cameras is a godsend. And Intensity delivered this capacity at a very "indie-friendly" price point and with spectacular features. Every part of the production and postproduction process was done using Blackmagic’s Intensity Pro.

I would use the locations and resources that were at my fingertips. I had every location nailed down after a first draft at the script. Coming from a large and artistic family, I had support all the way through: my mother (catering), father (production designer) and wife (co-producer) were involved on a day-to-day basis. Alongside my family, everyone involved in the film was there because they enjoyed the material and wanted to push themselves artistically. With the right people and tools, we ventured into the night, ready to capture a unique story that we all believed in.

Production
The Hush was shot in a variety of different locales around Oakland and the San Francisco Bay area. Whether the shot called for day-for-night interiors or a dark night where anything could happen, my crew and equipment had to be ready to work flawlessly at a moment's notice.

My crew and I had to be entirely self-sufficient: a mobile capture station on a budget allowed us to create without compromise. Our system included an Apple Mac Pro tower running Final Cut Pro, a Canon HD camcorder, a 50-foot HDMI cable and a CRT monitor all working with the Intensity Pro card.

Footage was captured directly from the camcorder to Final Cut Pro using the Intensity Pro’s ability to handle HDMI at stunning levels of quality. Shot in ProRes 422 HQ for higher quality with less storage requirements, I captured more than 75 percent of the film directly onto the Mac’s hard drive, avoiding extra storage costs and other media expenses. My director of photography absolutely loved the Intensity Pro’s ability to allow her to check her shots in real time, enabling immediate testing of shots, lighting and a dozen other things. As a production team, we could be much more efficient and able to immediately adjust and approach. For an independent filmmaker, efficiency is golden.

Back Home to Post
Following production, the film moved to our home postproduction facility at Mitchell Street Pictures. Here we completed everything from initial edits on Final Cut Pro to HD mastering, including color correction/stylization, VFX work, followed by a complete sound design process and original soundtrack composition. I would live and breathe the film for slightly over a year, practically day in and day out—time that was necessary to continue crafting the film. Even in the digital era, where speed is praised, we have to remember that things take time, and post is where "magic" that happened on a set either falls apart or continues to shine.

One of the biggest challenges in postproduction was setting the proper moods within each scene, and even in every shot. Our approach was to create a living graphic novel, where every shot could stand alone. This meant that color stylization had to play a major role in placing the audience within the various scenes. To accomplish this, I would rely on the Intensity Pro in an After Effects workflow. In visually mastering The Hush, I could preview the color work and VFX within After Effects using the HDMI output capabilities of the Intensity Pro on HD monitors or a downconverted SD NTSC signal; the video card gave me an accurate video representation at every level on both After Effects and Final Cut Pro.

For audio, we completed ADR passes, foley work, an original score and, of course, a final mix. Once again I turned to the Intensity Pro card for all of my audio needs, which gave me an accurate signal of all sounds and their levels, from dialogue and sound effects through ambiance and soundtrack. We handled all ADR and foley recordings using the RCA outputs on the Intensity Pro card, which was connected to 50 feet of AV cable transmitting a down-converted signal to an NTSC monitor in a homemade sound booth. Coming back from the booth was an XLR cable that returned a mic signal to my tower. The homemade booth would give us the precision and efficiency to sculpt our sounds, something low-budget films often struggle with. I would spend countless hours recording and mixing while my family slept a few rooms away.

Blackmagic Design met my needs as an independent filmmaker: their belief that creativity does not need to be dependent on whether or not you have a high production budget is important. My crew and cast were hardworking and disciplined; we were a small team with a lot of passion and drive. They allowed and inspired me to get The Hush done.

To summarize the factors that allowed me to finish a digital feature film on a scarce budget, we have: sacrifice, a devoted team, organization, patience and determination in not only finding the right affordable tools, but crafting and capturing your story.