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The
Last Christmas Party was shot using a variety of mini DV 3-chip
cameras. The main camera was Dora Mae Productions pride and joy,
the Sony PDX10. In our next shoot we hope to have enough bucks
to
get a Sony 24fps HDV camcorder.
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Becky
constructed a light for the
close-ups. It's made of clamps, a wooden dowel, gaffer's tape, an
old lampshade, with a china ball rice paper casing. Debbie
named it "The Panty Light" because of the
lace that ran around the
bottom.
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Max
the Dog is a white Miniature
Schnauzer. Fergus the Dog is a wheat-colored Cairn Terrier. Both
appear in the film with no formal acting training. |
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The
first time the four partners of Dora
Mae Productions worked together in a professional capacity was during
the 1988 workshop production of Debbie's play The
Breezeway. Sam was 17; she ranprops. Becky was
12. She ran
the refreshments at intermission. Her twin sister Jeannine video-taped
the performance. |
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Sean
Madden (sound recordist) works as a
freelance camera and sound operator in New York City. He met
Jeannine when they were both 14 working on the stage crew at Fiorello
H. LaGuardia High School of Music
and Art and Performing Arts.
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The
view of the Empire State
building from the coat room is the actual view from that window. |
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The
recipe for 'Goober' that the
character of Denise talks about was actually invented by the actor's
real life father.
Click here for the recipe.
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The
three love stories in the
film were adapted from three plays written by Debbie Jones and Jeannine
Jones: My Type, The Wing Man and The Marlboro
Woman were the
original titles.
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The
outdoor video journals that have the
characters of Jim and Denise addressing the camera were originally
filmed with doubles of the characters standing in the background. It
was too artsy so we cut it.
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Vesper
Stamper (singer, composer "The
French Horn") has a band with her husband Ben. She was an art
major at LaGuardia High School and shared a lunch table just about
every day with Jeannine.
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The
snow shoot was truly a guerilla
shoot. It was shot during one of the biggest blizzards in New
York City history. The shoot lasted from 9:30 PM until 4:00AM and
so did the blizzard. Samantha hooded the camera with a black
umbrella so Becky could shoot without getting
the lens clogged with
snow. Michael Birch(Jim) and Andrea Reese (Denise) kept
warm in between takes in the ATM lobby of
the Chase Bank. Fortunately, Michael
brought his ATM card.
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122
guests, not including the actors and
crew, attended the actual Christmas party we filmed.
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45
guests didn't attend that
year. They were a little freaked out with the whole
'documentary' thing. They came back full force for the next
Christmas party. |
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The
"ledge shot" with the
character of Phyllis in the snow 15 floors up was filmed on the terrace
of our dear friends Anne and Jim Perryman's Upper West Side
apartment. |
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The
shadow of
snow falling when
Phyllis is seated on the ledge was a digital effect created by Dean
O'Brien and composited in post. |
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The
"ledge" Phyllis sits on was actually
constructed by Jeannine using: a folding table from Staples, Styrofoam
and paint from Pearl Art
Supply and burlap. She covered the surface with Fleck
Stone and
fake snow. |
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When
Edwin was being filmed
peeking out from under the bed, Jeannine (production designer) raised
the bed on 8-inch risers to get the shot. After the 3rd take the
actor playing Edwin realized there was a dog
under the bed with him. |
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Edwin
buys Phyllis a pack of
cigarettes called "Louisville Lights." It's a fictional
brand that only exists in the movie. It took 3 days and 80 tries to
come up with the name "Louisville Lights." The packaging was
designed by Becky. |
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The
smokers sitting on the
back
stairs are not smoking. Those are fake cigarettes. Spray
diffusion was added to the scene to give the illusion of smoke hanging
in the air. |
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The
group scene where 6
characters discuss the rules of dating was shot with three cameras and
5 different angles. Another round of takes using 2 cameras
focused on the main characters (Sam and Stan). |
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The
Midori Sour that the character Stan
(Chuck Bunting) drinks really did taste awful. It was made out of
peppermint extract. |
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Dan
Grennes wrote the song 'Advantages'
specifically for the film. He is the lead singer for the band Uncle
Pumpkin and plays bass guitar for Arlene's World Famous Rock and Roll
Karaoke Band. |
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The
bar
scene shot at Blondie's involved
many, very accommodating friends, professionals, and friends of friends
showing up at 7am dressed for a night out on the town.
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The
actors that appear in the film
attended the actual party in character and in costume. The scene
in the coat room where Phyllis is searching for a cigarette was
improvised by the actor (Linda Larson). During the party several
cameras caught romantic interplay between the actors playing Samantha
and Stan - again, improvised. The Michael
Caine conversation was
an improvisation driven by the actor playing Stan (Chuck
Bunting). The entire cast improvised their characters' arrival at
the actual party.
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Matt
Hong plays in the reeds section of
David Berger and The Sultans of Swing. His recording of "Silent
Night" on clarinet for the film is lonely and moving. Asked by Debbie
to 'sound like' a street musician, his saxophone recording of "O
Christmas Tree" adds realism and flavor to the city scene. |
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During
the color correction process at
Digital Arts, our digital colorist, Tim Stipan, casually mentioned
working on The Departed.
That's right - we shared our colorist with Martin Scorsese! |
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More
than half of the camera and
lighting department (Matt Kulvicki, Andreas Wagner, Andrew Brennan, and
Heather Brown) all went to Syracuse University for Film with Becky. |
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Due
to
a mysterious dead pixel, we had
to re-shoot two scenes 9 months after principal photography
wrapped. Michael Birch had lost his original Monticello cap which
Debbie found online and Jeannine artificially distressed. The two
actors involved (Michael Birch and Andrea Reese) came together
like no time had passed. They were great. |
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The whole process of making the film
took exactly 2 years and involved 156 people from start to finish. |
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Debbie
Jones directed her first
production when she was 5 years old out of her friend Susan Peters'
garage in Pompton Plains, New Jersey.
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We met
Nina Schelich (costume
designer) while she was doing her day job bartending at Blondie's. (the
bar we used for the end of the film) She designed the wardrobes
for the 7 ensemble actors with a budget of $600. We are lucky to have
worked with this talented designer. Visit her website.
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The
food provided on the set was always
the same. Pasta salad, bread and butter, and candy. |
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The
apartment Jenny leaves in the
opening scene is Samantha's apartment in Washington Heights. They
were roommates at the time. |
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When
we
shot Debbie walking the
dogs in the snow it was a few weeks after the party. In the intervening
time, Max the Dog had gotten a haircut. To preserve continuity,
we had to buy him a doggie coat to conceal his new hairdo. |
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