In the Lyons Den: The Last Shot
Part Seven
Seven months. Fifty single days. Hundreds of hours. On June 3, 2007, it all came down to one last shot.
There was a decidedly cheery atmosphere at the nursing home location as director John C. Lyons and his crew filmed the last shot of Lyons’s dramatic indie Schism. Despite the upbeat mood, the simple zoom-tracking shot still had lighting director Michael Best moving lamps into the right position and sound recordist Kirk Daniels expressing concern over the air-conditioning noise. The film’s lead Terry Smith was in character as he sat hunched in a Geri-chair with assistant director Dorota Swies applying touches of make up on the top his head.
They were still working, but the nervous, almost giddy energy on the set meant one thing: their months of toiling through weeknight and weekend filming sessions were over.
Smith, who had the most intense performing schedule, wasn’t necessarily relieved when I reminded him that he was finished. He said it was a “bittersweet day,” one that meant he could take a much needed break over the summer. But as a slightly-past-middle-age stage actor, he is able to look at his time here as the beginning of a life in film.
“Here, you’re not an actor, you are that person,” said Smith of acting for the camera and not an audience.
Smith sees this production as a learning experience, one where the challenges of a new acting form were clear. But make no mistake, he’s still dreaming big. He’s ready to promote himself and his newfound film acting talent if Schism makes it into the Sundance Film Festival. Lucky for Smith, he’s not the only one with big dreams.
Lyons is determined to make the Sundance Film Festival, which even after criticism of becoming too celebrity-oriented is still the big game for small independents. The deadline for submission is mid-September, meaning the summer months are going to be full of editing, sound recording, rerecording and more editing.
With over 45 hours of digital film shot, Lyons said he expects the first assembly cut to surpass two hours in length. His bigger challenge will be getting two hours down to a tighter 90 to 100 minutes.
All of this takes now is time and patience. He’s saved up four weeks of vacation, two of which will go toward a trip to Sundance and two of which will be used to extend his weekends to three or four days until he’s got a cut that he can submit to Sundance. Without a location to prepare and a crew to manage, his weekends in the editing room will be different. But after more than half a year, he, like Smith, isn’t totally happy to be done with production.
“I’ve been in this routine for so long, part of me is going to be sad I won’t have to go film,” said Lyons.
Now it’s time for a new routine. Lyons will have to make hard choices on what stays and what gets cut in order to focus the story. He’ll have to do ADR work and possibly some reshoots. Schism certainly isn’t like his previous pictures, short films that didn’t necessarily require deterring from what he had initially envisioned.
No, the process he goes into now is something entirely new.
This article is part seven in a series about the upcoming Erie-produced feature Schism. More articles will follow as the production progresses. For more information on Schism visit www.SchismMovie.com.
Previous articles:
In the Lyons Den, Part One (Screenplay and Auditions)
In the Lyons Den, Part Two (Location)
In the Lyons Den, Part Three (Actors)
In the Lyons Den, Part Four (Lighting)
In the Lyons Den, Part Five (Photography)
In the Lyons Den, Part Six (Mid-Filming Report)
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