Prevision

Genre: Science Fiction 

Released: 2008

Length: 31 minutes

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 After putting my first two short films through the international film festival circuit wringer, I decided to take the plunge by writing, directing, and producing my first feature film. In 2007, I pumped out a 100 page script in just under a week. I had just read the Robert Rodriguez book "Rebel Without A Crew or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player." That book really pumped me up. For some reason I felt like a contestant on "Name That Tune." I thought, I can name that tune for $6,000.
 

 At the time I knew an ambitious actor named Chris Whitby. I cast him to play the lead role in The Prevision; a film about a deeply disturbed adver-tising creative who believes he has stumbled upon decoding the ancient mysteries of alien intelligence via use of a shoddy radio transmitter. A device handed down to him from his marine uncle who served in the Vietnam war. Chris told me: "I understand that you're working with a $6,000 budget. I just wished you payed me just a little more. If you do, I'll help you cast the whole film. All my friends are actors. Just saying." I had no choice. I had to grant Chris his wish.

 I began principal photography in the fall of 2007. I had very little help during filming, having the ocassional assistant, but for the most part I was on my own. As challenging as it was being a filmmaking octopus, I still felt it was the purest form of creative freedom I had ever experienced. I filmed The Prevision with the Canon GL2. Most of the scenes were shot on the go, on the streets of Toronto with the Glidecam3000 Pro camera stabilizer. I used a Canon 0.72x 58mm wide angle converter lens for many of the outdoor sequences to provide an open scope to the spaces where Neville goes out to eaves drop on aliens. The Prevision screened at The Indie Can Film Festival at the Innis Town Hall Theatre at the University of Toronto.
 

 The original 90 minute version had no rhythm. No soul. The message got lost somewhere in the third act. A few years later I trimmed the fat and added some new sequences to dice it up. I even trimmed the title to "Prevision."

It was a humbling experience to say the least to discover that instinct alone does not help you realize your vision. It takes years of hands on experience, patience, sacrifice, and hard work.