What is "Only a Child?"  
Only a few people know for sure, and they're not saying.

...er... Right, guys?

It's not a secret really.  I just want you to have fun when you see it for the first time.
But I'll tell you what, I'll show you what I put in the trade sites when I was advertising for my actors, and then tell you a little about the whole experience.  

Fair?

This ad was placed on NowCasting.com and LACasting.com.

Project Description:
A two-part micro film, to include a 1940s noir-style segment as well as a modern-day surreal experience at home.

Character Breakdown:
Looking for someone with that 1940s noir look.  
Men, think: Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, etc
Age: 30-44 (old enough to have a 10-year-old)
Must also be able to do light stunt work (as simple as jumping onto a bed).

Women, please see Veronica Lake, Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Ingrid Bergman, etc.
Age: 26-36 (old enough to have a 10-year-old son).

Ultimately looking for actors who have a knowledge of “noir” film and can "overact" in the fashion of a 1940s action/drama, as well as create tension as a modern-day mom and/or dad.   

"Light horror" (no blood or gore); must be able to realistically portray fear/shock/surprise.

I admit it.  I was expecting a huge response.

I was looking for people who were excited to work on something dynamic and different.

Something unique and creative.

Turns out, actor's gotta eat too, and while initial response was pretty good, not many wanted to venture out to Rancho Cucamonga to work on a 3-day-shoot project for just  the sake of  doing something fun.

My "Compensation" read (something to the effect of):

Unique material for your Demo Reel.  Will provide Uncompressed MOV file.  Food, Fun and the chance to work on something different.  Guy, Get to kiss the Gal.

I mean, you'd respond to that, right?

Fortunately, the right people did respond:
                      The pros who love their work and want to do something different.  I want to thank you all for showing up.                                              I'll be calling you for other projects.

Of those people, we found two that were perfect for their parts.

Meet Victoria Masina

And Anthony Wymess

You can learn more about them by clicking on their picture(s).

Click here to learn a little about the Noir Wardrobe.

Their pictures will take you to their      Home Pages.  
          Click on their names to go to                           their casting site.

No, Seriously!
      It's kinda       interesting.

But I got a little ahead of myself there.

Let's step back a bit and enter Evan Lake Schelton.

This fine lad and I go way back.  Well, at least to 2006 or so.  

His mom, Amy Schelton, and I worked together at Charter Media, where I was asked to put together a promo for "Home & Garden U," Video-On-Demand content.
Amy said she had a Son-In-The-Biz and he'd be perfect for the part, and darned if that wasn't the case.  
Evan knocked it out of the part, and was the hit of the project.

Flash forward a few years and I'm now working on "Only a Child," where I need, you guessed it,

... a child!

Let's call him "a kid," shall we?

I called Amy and asked her if she thought Evan would want the part.
                                        A few hours later, I had my kid actor.

Let's step back even further in time now and allow me to metaphorically introduce you to Lori Lee Chalmers.
             About four years ago we became friends.  She then started helping me out on my productions and projects and became a friend who is also my assistant.                                                          Good combo.

Then, for "Only a Child," she stepped it up and became a full blown Production Assistant/Creative Assistant/Everything Else.  My own personal Pepper Potts (yes, I'm a comic nerd, and knew that name WAY before the movie).  
Without her help, assistance and energy, this project would have taken twice as long, been half as cool and not nearly as fun.

So, Thank You, Lori!  You're the bestest!

Then we have Juan Santos, my Director of Photography.

Juan and I currently work at Time Warner Cable Media.  I've seen how good his work is, so I asked if he would be willing to help me out on this crazy venture.  After I explained all my lofty dreams about "Only a Child," he agreed to come on board and keep my camera honest.

He's a good man and I highly recommend him for your next project.

(Just make sure he's not working with me that week, if you please.)

On Sound, we have Walt Noon.

I've literally known Walt most of my life.

We met when we were 12 or 13 (and I'm ... what? forty-something now).  We were on different soccer teams when he saw me filming (yes, literally FILMing with Super8) my team's match.

OK, it's true, I wasn't that good, which was probably why I was on the sidelines filming the action.

Walt came over and asked about the camera, and that was the beginning to a beautiful friendship.  We've been making films, robots, magic items (for magicians), flying (ultralites and fixed-wing) and just hanging out ever since.

And for the "Behind-the-Scenes," Mike Noon.

Say... is it a coincidence Mike and Walt have the same last name?

Nope... You guessed it... They're brothers.

Mike has been making movies most of his life.  Truly as long as I can remember.

So when it came time to document the Making Of "Only a Child," Mike was the obvious choice to handle the reins.

You want to know how he and Walt found out they were going to be helping me on this project?  It was in a blanket "news letter" to all my crew and the good folk who provided me my vintage vehicles and aerocraft.        I never asked.  I just assumed they'd be there and you know what, they were!  They saw themselves               mentioned in the letter and more or less said, "Golly!  Guess I'm helping Matthew that weekend."

Thanks guys!

You can watch Mike's awesome "Behind-the-Scenes" on YouTube here:

A good many people really helped this project take flight.  From Leo Doiron, the manager at Flabob Airport, where we shot our Noir segment, to

Jon Goldenbaum and Kevin McKenzie, who let me play around their very awesome 1945 DC-3, the Flabob Express.
Kevin even stayed from 4PM to Midnight the night we shot there on the field.  Thanks again, Kevin!

They do a lot of amazing things with this airplane, from airshows to teaching kids and much more.

Long live General Aviation, and the folk who love and support it!

And then, there are "The Car Guys."  

They came out - on a Sunday Night and waited very patiently while we set up for our shoot.  

They were absolutely awesome, and the only way I know to thank them is to show their cars to you here.

The cars are stunningly beautiful, and the guys and their wives that brought them out are definitely Friends of the Arts.

Here's where I thank two people.  Without their help, I don't know what I would have done.

Leo Doiron.
He didn't know me (heck, no one did), but he took a chance and allowed me to shoot there at beautiful Flabob Airport in Rubidoux.
Without this location, I was hunting back alleys and side streets.  Flabob was SO much nicer, and it was absolutely great that Leo made that happen.

And then there's Amy Schelton, mom to Evan Schelton.
It was at her house we did the entire second segment for "Only a Child."  We shot at her house from 5PM to Midnight on Friday night, and 3PM to Midnight on Saturday.  And she, Evan and her parents showed up for our shoot the next day!
So, yes, with her parents in town for the week, Amy still let us be a serious imposition for a couple hard night's work.  

Thank you both!

Without a doubt, it was the music of The Wikies that got this particular ball rolling.  

I edit largely in Sony Vegas (now up to version 9, thank you), and a few years back I frequented the Vegas Forums.  

As I recall it (don't ask about my memory), Jonathan Neal was also a member of that forum.  He had a thread where he mentioned his song with The Wikies that we were invited to hear."  

 That was "Only a Child.

I fell in love with the song, so vivid it was in my head.  And I thought, "Someday, I'm going to make a video to that song."

Well, it took a couple years, but I finally asked Jonathan's permission if I could have the rights to use his song in a video production.

He wrote back,

said, "Yep."

And here we are.

Is anyone keeping track of how many fortunate things had to happen in order for this project to fly?

Amazing, ain't it?

I was told I was supposed to put something about myself here.

I'm open to suggestions.

If you've read this far, you're probably curious about stuff, so I'll see if there's something new to say.

Guess I'm the Writer, Producer, Director, Shooter, Editor, Special FX and... well, you get the idea.   I sure was glad to have my team around me, though.

Without them, I'd have been in a world of hurt and I'd still be scratching my head  wondering how I'll get this done.

So it's a good thing I was able to convince them I could do this!

*whew*

I've been working with video for about 13+ years now.  I'll leave my history for some place else but let's just say that the vast majority of what I've done lately is my job.  I make :30 commercials for Time Warner Cable Media.  
Yes, that's creative.  Really, I can't imagine myself doing anything else.  It's a good job.  I'm really blessed.

But I haven't done anything for the sake of Creativity in a long time.

But for some reason, the time was just right.  I had the technology,

the time,

the energy,

and I was JUST self-deluded enough to think I had the skills          to pull this off.

Right, then.  With that said, let's move on

to the tech (Canon 5D Mark II, Cineform, Sony Vegas, Magic Bullet, etc)

and creative stuff (how I did what I did and why).

Back to Splash Page

Forward to Production Stuff

Copyright Matthew Roddy 2009