watch The Tank - my new prison movie

Just shot the majority of my new prison movie, THE TANK. A once in a lifetime opportunity for hobbyist filmmakers like me, we were able to shoot in the jail cells of an abandoned police station in metro Detroit. They are tearing it down this week, but a detective on the force (also the screenwriter) got us permission to shoot for one day. Smelled like death in there...and for good reason, as the detective later gave us a tour of all the places where people actually DID die in there!

All of the actors were amateurs, but they were all fantastic. The two major players were ex-cons. Since we only had the one day to shoot, and we wouldn't have access to it until the day of the shoot, and the actors had never done any acting before, I decided to make it documentary style, like the original "Scared Straight" movies. We found some rehearsal space and taped out what we thought were the dimensions of the main holding cell. Then we rehearsed the script like you would rehearse a play, two nights a week for two months. I've never done anything like that before...it seems like an absurdly long rehearsal process for a short movie, but it paid off when we got inside to shoot. I only needed two or three takes of each scene. The actors had their lines down cold and their positions blocked out for continuity and they stuck to it. The added pressure and excitement of finally getting inside this old, creepy jail only made their stakes rise. They behaved like pros the whole time.

Setups were a major problem...we had no idea what kind of lights would be inside (very few still working and all too dim) so we borrowed a couple of Arri kits from MSU and just lit the hell out of it. Had a boom mic and a lav and were able to keep the echo down to a believable minimum. The decision to do it documentary style also let the DP have a bit of an easier time with his setups. Basically "shoot what you see unfold, then shoot it again for coverage." So I pretty much have two master shots of each scene, from one angle and then the opposite, and inserts to edit from. That will take awhile...

At one point I was watching a scene unfold on the monitor with headphones on and it felt like I was watching an episode of "Locked Up - San Quentin" until I realized...I was MAKING an episode of "Locked Up - San Quentin."

Can't wait to finish and show off the finished product, but since the actors were all fantastic and kept asking "when can we see it? when can we see it?" like four-year-olds playing with Dad's camcorder, I cobbled together a short teaser-trailer this morning which you can see at http://vimeo.com/5162232

Teaser trailer looked pretty good. I am interested to see the finished product. I am guessing that you used two different locations. As the hallway looks fairly new and still seems to have power. Though maybe my idea of abandoned is different then it actually was. One thing I noticed right away is that the characters looked to be a believable age. To often do we see indie shorts and movies where the characters have to play an age that isn't even close to what they are. Kudos.

There were only two main things that jumped out at me. One was the lighting. While I'm sure you were on a time crunch, your lighting still needed a bit of tweaking. You said you got an arri kit but it looks like you only used one light. Not only that but the shadows are really harsh. Perhaps you lit that way on purpose, but then I would ask why. I would recommend some diffusion at the least next time and make sure you distinguish between your key and fill lights. I did only see the short trailer so maybe the final product has some better lit scenes.

The other thing that bothered me was the handheld camera work. For some shots in there it worked. Mostly the shot where he was walking down the hallway. I felt like I was there with him for that shot. However for the rest of the shots i just felt it was unnecessary. I know you said that you were going for a documentary feel but handheld doesn't equal documentary. I also understand maybe you were going for a certain look with the handheld and I just need to wait for the final product but for me, those shots in the trailer weren't working.

It is awesome that you got to shoot in that location. Sounds like a fun experience. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Thanks for looking, Brooksy. It wasn't abandoned as in a building that urban explorers would sneak into...it was abandoned (and secured) by the police department for other digs. Documentary was too broad a word to describe the style I was going for; you're right to call me out on that...I should have said "Reality TV" or "Maysles Bros." That's how come all the handheld...I wanted the feel that this was real and the crew was present and capturing everything, as a news crew would. The lighting is harsh and the shadows glaring, agreed...again, part of the style. It'll make much more sense once I've finished the edit. I appreciate the feedback, and thanks for checking out the teaser!

Looks interesting Uranium only crit would be that there was no insight into the story in the trailer but the characters look menacing as you would expect and since Prison Break is my favourite TV show of all time and I like these kind of films I may check it out when it gets released. Good job on getting the location.

I'm looking forward to seeing this. I'm from across the river in Windsor and I think I know this prison. Cool. Sounds like it musta been a very tight shoot lol.