The Premiere was a huge success!
When 4:00 p.m. hit on Saturday November 27th, the lights in the theater dimmed and the silver screen slowly faded in. With the faint rustling sounds of concessions around me and people getting comfortable in their seats, the bright lights crept through the darkness revealing the opening shot to my movie. This was the first time in my filmmaking journey to finally get the chance to see what I envisioned back in 2011 up on the big screen, surrounded by my crew of supporters and loved ones. With a slight hiccup in audio issues at the very beginning of the viewing, the 127 minute run-time flew by. Before I knew it, the ending credits began to crawl. This moment has easily become one of my top five all-time favorite memories in my life (so far). So much work, so much time, all leading up to this one moment in time: IT WAS WORTH IT!
To be honest, it was hard for me to try and relax during the viewing. I was constantly looking around seeing people’s reactions to certain scenes. I found myself leaning closer to the edge of my seat to hear people’s responses to planned comedic timing from the characters on screen. I was tense yet at ease. I was worried if the DCP would have an error midway through the viewing but was at peace enough to enjoy the fun action fight sequences that were so tediously planned out. In the lobby before the screening, I was encouraged by my family to enjoy the experience because their advice was whatever happens, it’ll be okay. Strong advice but still, hard to carry out when you want everything to be perfect.
It was awesome to finally get the chance to reconnect with the cast/crew in person. Through the past few years it has strictly been online or by phone due to everyone moving to different locations, including yours truly. People from Los Angeles, CA and Nashville, TN made the trip to Northwest OH for the premiere. Afterwards, we held a private after party in downtown Findlay, OH for all who attended the screening that wanted to stick around. My family knocked it out of the park in decorations, food, drink and overall atmosphere. I am truly and utterly blessed beyond belief to have the support and steadfast encouraging loved ones who believe in my craft that I do not take for granted.
Allow me to give you more details on how the night played out.
Screening the Film
We had a great crowd that showed up over the Thanksgiving weekend. Out of the main cast, our leading lady Kelly Rogers who played Pixel (Los Angeles, CA) and Andrew Callis who played the intimidating Neyta (Nashville, TN) were the only unfortunate ones that couldn’t make the trip due to personal reasons. They were there in spirit and as a kind gesture, I gave them a private, password protected link to the movie that they could watch simultaneously during the theater screening. What was really cool was that Kelly’s parents attended, traveling all the way from Northeast Ohio to support their daughter and I had a great conversation with them after the screening.
Photographer: Cara Loehrke
As I briefly mentioned in the opening paragraph, there was a slight audio mishap at the beginning of the film. What happened was the overall audio level in the room felt good but on the low side. I only noticed it because the opening scene is a big fight sequence with a lot of sound effects being highlighted with the epic score swelling underneath. In the room at the current level, the scene felt the opposite of epic. I kindly asked my wife to inform the manager if they could turn it up in the room. Unfortunately, they accidentally turned it the opposite way and you couldn’t hear anything on what the characters were saying in the next scene. I’ll be frank in stating that I PANICKED for a brief hot second. What seemed like 5 minutes, the error only lasted maybe 5 seconds and the audio was remedied. Two things to note on this particular experience:
- Check your DCP in the room – If you the filmmaker have the ability or time to see or watch your film in the theater that you’re intending to host a screening, you should also be present in the room when it gets tested OR get there early to see/hear it. I’m saying this to myself really. In working with AMC, their policy is to have the DCP or BluRay in their possession a week before your screening. That way they can troubleshoot it themselves. My belief is that they set the audio to a desirable level but in my case, I felt that it needed to be louder. This error is on me because I could’ve went to the theater when it opened at 11 a.m. to test the audio in the room. Please hear me that AMC crushed it in communicating with me every step of the way, even sharing that the DCP was good to go! The audio hiccup happened because the level wasn’t too my taste. So lesson learned, you the paying customer in renting the theater space can go earlier to test your screening to your liking.
- Audience’s Reaction – After the viewing, everyone enjoyed the film overall. However when I brought up the audio hiccup at the beginning, the common reaction to that was “oh yeah, I thought that was intentional” or “oh, I didn’t even notice it”. Did you catch that? A.) I was the one who brought up the mistake and B.) it didn’t fully distract the audiences experience in viewing the film. Now, if the audio fully cut out and was never turned back on, then yes we would’ve had an issue. But that didn’t happen and instead, I pointed out a fault that the majority didn’t really notice or care.
The only reason why I’m mentioning this audio glitch at all in this post is to help pass on the lessons I’ve learned in that moment to you. This didn’t mean that the entire night was now spoiled because of it. Sure it was unfortunate, but I’m choosing to not let it cloud the successful and enjoyable night as a whole.
When the credits finally came to a close and the house lights turned on, I went down to the front to give a quick speech. It was unplanned but I wanted to make sure I thanked everyone who attended and signaled out the actors who made it. I had them stand up from their seat to take a much deserved bow of recognition (pics below). After sharing some of the details about the after party, I encouraged everyone to take a Gauntlet trading card pack, the ones I discussed in the previous Log. As I hoped, they all loved it and were blown away at the commitment I invested in creating them. Also the gum was a solid touch.
Photographer: Tricia Boss
After Party
With the stress finally lifted after the screening, the after party was a huge relief. Here is where I could finally converse with everyone who watched the movie to hear their thoughts and feedback. It was priceless to receive all of the peoples’ opinion about the film, whether they liked it or not. I also enjoyed people picking out some of the Easter eggs that I purposefully put into the story. Overall though, the common response I received throughout the night involved the sentences of “so much work” or “I understand why it took you so long” and “I can’t believe you made that out of your garage”. Making your own film with no financial backing can be incredible hard. In fact, it’s the hardest thing you as a creative can do, EVER. But when you finish your film and have people be blown away at the finished product, hearing the phrase “wait, you did that?” is one of the most humbling compliments a filmmaker can ever receive.
The food was phenomenal, the decorations were on point and the wide range of beverages was available for all ages, my family really stepped it up to make the event a memorable one. True story: I hardly ate anything because I was too busy talking to people, catching up on their lives and answering their plethora of questions in how I made the film. If it wasn’t for my wife who reminded me to eat periodically throughout the night, I don’t think I would’ve had the chance to taste all of the great homemade food. Finally, one of the things I really wanted to have happen was the cast/crew who made it the screening to sign a Gauntlet movie poster. However, the poster I wanted them to sign was the one that was shown in the AMC lobby (see pics below). After having Kelly’s and Andrew’s signature added to the poster, this will be the icing on the cake as a fantastic memento for the rest of my life.
Press
Leading up to the premiere, I began reaching out to local newspapers and my alma mater to garner interest. I was able to connect and be interviewed by a few publications which was a fun experience. Even though the premiere was a private event and closed to the public, I invited the journalists I spoke with to the event and also asked if they could write up an honest review to the film. I was able to convince one journalist to attend with their plus one and a couple of days after the screening, my very first review of Gauntlet was published on Dec. 2nd, 2021. The honest review was positive while pointing out areas of improvement, closing with praise on the overall achievement of creating a no-budget, sci-fi indie film. You can check out the articles yourself by clicking the respective links below:
- Putnam County Sentinel article: Saturday, November 27th, 2021
- BG Falcon Media review: Thursday, December 2nd, 2021
- BG Independent News article: Friday, December 3rd, 2021
One thing that I learned in reaching out to these publications and being interviewed is that I am so happy that I took the time and effort to create a Press Kit before speaking with them. At the end of each conversation I had with them, they all asked if I had a press kit for them to use and I immediately and confidently said “I sure do!” What is a Press Kit you ask?
A film Press Kit is a collection of materials that filmmakers, producers or publicists put together that is distributed to the press in order to spread the word, provide information and show off your film. – audiosocket.com
Things that a Press Kit would have include a synopsis, log line, cast and crew bios, high resolution stills from the film, quotes/statements/interviews, director statements, etc. Essentially, the website I created for the film is considered to be an “electronic press kit” or EPK. So when the journalists asked for my press kit, I sent them a OneDrive link that had all of the information, including the high resolution stills, for them to use in their publications. That’s why when you see the screenshots above of their articles showcasing photos of the film and myself, I supplied those stills in my press kit.
Gauntlet Official Press Kit
Now that the premiere is at an end, the next steps will be submitting the film to film festivals via FilmFreeway and then approach companies to make a deal on distribution. I’ll admit that this will be uncharted territory for me but I’m confident. I not only have my networking of filmmakers to ask any question I may have but there are numerous forums and groups online where filmmakers across the nation are willing to help. This is what makes the independent film community so cool. Maybe in an upcoming post I’ll share all of the festivals that I’ll submit Gauntlet too, that way you can get a sense of which festivals that are out there that may (or may not) accept a film like sci-fi/fantasy. The last Production Log I’ll create for this entire journey will be when I close on a distribution deal. That way you can know which platform the film will be streaming and also learn from that experience as well. Who knows, that post may come sooner than we all think!
These past six months have been a gauntlet in of itself in trying to get to this point of completion. It has been a wild ride and now with the film complete, I embark a new adventure of business/marketing. The year 2022 looks to be promising, but above all, I’ll be doing more resting than anything else. I believe I earned it.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
“People overcoming the odds is actually a really important part of humanity, and I don’t think we kind of get to celebrate that as much as we should”
– Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit)
