Behind the Scenes of SLASH! (2/2)
Aaaall right, folks. Picking up where we left off.
PRODUCTION
(If you haven’t read part one yet, go take a gander!)
The whole shebang spanned about three weekends, nine days, and 90 hours. Here’s a full breakdown:
WEEK ONE
Fri (3/28): The introductory bar scene, int/ext
Sat (3/29): Art department transforms my college abode into Roger’s house. (A true feat, cause that place was MESSY).
Sun (3/30): Roger in the house, pre-slasher stuff
This was a nice and simple lineup to start with. We got all of our preliminary scenes done—y’know, before anything really crazy happens. We set up some dominoes and gave ourselves momentum for the next couple of weeks.
Scratch Kitchen here in Norman was kind enough to let us film in their secret lil speakeasy, which made for a great bar!
Anna and I quickly found our rhythm as co-directors—she called the shots and worked the technical side while I directed the actors and paid attention to dialogue and story. We also had a bit of a good-cop-bad-cop dynamic, which came in handy. Any guesses on who was who? ;)
WEEK TWO
Fri (4/4): Fight #1—Roger vs The Demon
Sat (4/5): SLASH! Studio (part 1)
Sun (4/6): SLASH! Studio (part 2)
Fun fact! I was not there this weekend. There’s a wonderful reason why, but I’ll save that for another post. Here’s a hint, though: ❤️💍💐🥰
All thanks to Anna, things kept rolling like I wasn’t even gone. Legend. Here’s what she has to say about that weekend…
“Working with Malachi (Jerry Graves) and Xander (Iggy) was so much fun, hyping them up and getting them in the Slash mindset…It was so chaotic in the best way possible. I even felt myself slipping into the madness of it all…like I was with these characters on the show.”
WEEK THREE
Fri (4/11): Fight #2—Roger vs …I’ll keep it a surprise, hehe
Sat (4/12): Epic slasher walk-ups, introductions, etc. (Brent was unavailable, so we shot a bunch of cool stuff with the killers!)
Sun (4/13): Other fights, final scenes/shots and pickups
This weekend was simultaneously the hardest and the coolest. It had all my favorite parts, which also happened to be the parts that required the most movement and action.
Note to self: try to avoid having to choreograph a fight scene the night before you shoot it.
PH-PH-PHOTO DUUUMP! *airhorns*
For more pics, check out this Insta post!
Our last night was a Sunday. With the entire final chase scene left to do, and school the next morning, we knew it was gonna be a doozy. General crew was sent home at 1:00am, and a skeleton crew stayed until 4:00 to wrap up.
Packing up the gear and cleaning the house took another hour or two, and it was around 6:00am when I was finally home. I was sitting in my office, winding down from the end of a long night (and longer production), when Thea’s alarm went off.
She came into the room. I gave her a tired smile. We hugged for a solid minute. No words needed.
Then, we traded places—work time for her, bed time for me.
Here’s the final pic I took of Slash! production:
I felt a billion things in this moment. Exhausted. Accomplished. Happy that we made it. Sad that it was over. And above all, proud of my crew for the hard work we put in.
But there was still one more phase to get through.
The final battle. The boss level…
POST-PRODUCTION
This is where it all came together.
COLOR! (by Giovanni Barrios)
GRAPHICS! (courtesy of Robot House and Dylan Dawkins)
MUSIC! (by Jacob Shaddock)
There was quite a bit to piece together here, but our editors Nick and Zach cranked it out in just a couple of weeks.
The biggest hurdle was ADR. For those who aren’t familiar, that is essentially the re-recording of voice lines due to bad audio. In a lot of clips where Malachi (Jerry) is yelling, the microphone couldn’t handle the volume, so we brought him into a sound booth and had him yell into a better one. The trick was to match his new lines with his on-screen mouth—which, as you can probably imagine, IS TOUGH.
But not tough enough. 😎💥
I don’t have any pics of us in the Slash! booth, so heeere’s one from Bonehead I never posted!
If you can’t tell by now, then just take my word for it.
THIS. THING. LOOKS. GOOD.
Oh?
Still don’t believe me?
BOOM!
MOVIE POSTER!
Thank you Jim Redding!
And now…
Finally…
THE PREMIERE
It’s gonna take a lot to top this night. How can you possibly beat an auditorium packed with people who are all there to celebrate something cool and fun you and your friends made?
Hundreds—nay, thousands—of combined total work hours came to a head on one surreal night. We screened both Slash! and Bonehead (alongside Sonder, a fantastic highlight of everyone’s unique human experience from Natalie Giorgetti). The laughs were rolling, and when Bonehead made his appearance in Slash!, everyone CHEERED!
That had to be my favorite part. It felt like an audience reaction to a Marvel-level character reveal.
After the screenings, there was a reception in the lobby. We all walked the red carpet and took pics in front of the Greenlight banner. I was swarmed with people who wanted me to sign their posters. Everything made me feel like a miniature celebrity.
It was a dream.
And in a flash, it was over.
It’s hard to say goodbye to something that so much of myself was poured into. I’m going to miss everything about this project—the hard, the easy, the fun, the stressful, the rewarding, and the people.
But the road doesn’t end here.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR SLASH!?
A few little tweaks, and then we’re gonna hop in the film festival circuit for about a year. Once we get through that cycle, I believe both Slash! and Bonehead will be available to watch on YouTube!
Personally, this whole experience has me stoked. I’m more fired up than ever to keep writing and to see how far it takes me.
More short films? A feature? A comic book series?
Time will tell.
And I think it’s going to have good things to say.
BUT FOR NOW…
THANK YOU!
To the astounding and assiduous crew! To the massively talented cast! To all you readers here who seem to think my little curtain is worth looking behind!
I LOVE YOU, and I couldn’t do this withoutcha 🫶
Take care, and I’ll see you on the next…thing!
- Breyden
