Chronicles of the Chronicler: Epic Series Poster

Chronicles of the Chronicler: The Retrospective

The other day, I sat down and shot an interview about my YouTube series, Chronicles of the Chronicler. This is a series of episodic action-adventure themed stop-motion shorts that I've been making since 2010. They have become the most viewed videos on my YouTube channel, and been a learning experience for me in many ways. In this set of seven videos, I reflect on making the series and becoming a respected BioTuber (YouTuber who makes Bionicle-themed videos) without the intention of doing so.

Director's Cut: Chronicles of the Chronicler 3: The Lost World

It was suggested on YouTube that I release a Director's Cut for COTC season 3: The Lost World. There aren't very many of my videos I can actually do that for, and I decided that it was worth a go. This wasn't as simple as just pulling out the old footage and adding it back in, this required me filming footage for sequences that were in the script, but never actually filmed. Luckily enough, all the necessary audio from Carl, Shannon, Frank, and Lauren was already recorded from the first time around, because they recorded straight from the script, even if a scene wasn't filmed.

In total, 19 sequences were added back in (or extended). I had to reconstruct nearly all the models, because in the meantime, the short "Takua and Jaller go on an Adventure" was shot, and characters Rooktoth and Golem were built using peices of Takua (as Toa), Gali, Lewa, and Onua. Makuta was also deconstructed completely for Clarence. I could easily rebuild the Toa, but I didn't have the time or the patience to rebuild Makuta. It's a good thing he was only needed for one scene and I could get by with just using his arm.

Here's a list of what's new:

1. Makuta's escape/Ahkmou's capture***
2. Extended Altair Dialogue at jail house***
3. Altair explains the Mask of Time*
4. Takua and Jaller talk about Pohatu*
5. Makuta's Warning**
6. Extended Altair Dialogue at Hall of Records***
7. Gali Fights Rahkshi in Ga-Koro**
8. Extended Lewa/Pohatu argument**
9. Jaller Discovers Takua's Mask**/Tahu fights Rahkshi in Ta-Koro Ruins***
10. Extended Lewa/Pohatu exchange after Le-Koro Attack**
11. Extended Toa Takua/Altair Dialogue**
12. Lewa's Inspirational speech***
13. Jaller's relief at Takua's return*
14. Tahu/Pohatu/Takua/Gali Dialogue before climax begins***
15. Extended Nuparu/Kongu attack**
16. Pohatu/Kopaka fight Rahkshi***
17. Lewa/Takua/Pohatu/Onua fight Rahkshi***
18. Extended Makuta appearing scene***
19. Extended Makuta fight***

*=Completely new footage and audio
**=unused footage and audio from Principle Photography
***=new footage with audio from Principle Photography

- It can be noted that certain lines of Jaller's and Nuparu's during the climax were re-recorded. Also, the music during the climax is mixed completely differently.

- #5 and #7 were previously released as deleted scenes. #2, #6, and #11 were previously released as audio, but with no video.

- #3 and #4 were a scene that was completely new, but based on a sequence that was in the original plans for the film, but removed from the final draft of the script and never filmed nor recorded prior to the Director's Cut pick-ups.

 

You can watch the director's cut here:  http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnaeLczOR4qqWvPb-KwLdDBtfVpLT6MKh

Questions and Answers: Chronicles of the Chronicler (series)

WARNING: This Q&A contains plot spoilers!

Q: What is "The Fallen Order"?

A: The title of the first season is somewhat unexplained, but "The Fallen Order" refers to the Toa. At the start of the film, the Toa have all disappeared. It is revealed in Episode 2 that the most of them have died. Takua, Pohatu, and Onua are still alive, but Takua has shirked his responsibilities as Toa, Pohatu has been possessed by the dark side, and Onua is in hiding. The order of the Toa has apparently fallen and has been fallen for quite some time. In the end of the film, both Onua and Pohatu die, but Takua returns as Toa, restoring this Order to a fraction of its former glory.


Q: How closely do these stories tie in to the original Bionicle story lines?

A: There are varying degrees of faithfulness to the source material. The first one starts off utterly defying the real story lines by saying the Toa and some of the Turaga have died. The series also overlook the fact that it is very possible to bring a Bionicle back to life (this being most obvious in the first and third seasons, where all characters react as though it is impossible). The original 2003 Bionicle plot line killed Jaller, Takua, and Makuta all off, but brought them back. Also in the 2003 plot, the island of Mata-Nui was destroyed, and the Matoran were moved to the island of Metru-Nui. There are also several more Great Kanohi masks than the limited number mentioned in the second season (which were limited to just the Toa Nuva masks, the Toa Metru Masks, the Mask of Time, and the masks of Takua and Makuta).
However, every single character in the series came from the original stories (with the only exception of Altair in "The Lost World") with their original personalities in tact (the only exceptions are Brander, Boras, and Aft; none of whom had personalities in the original stories). The Toa characters have more flaws than in the original stories, but the core characteristics are grounded in the source material. All of the original terms (such as Rahi, Widgets, and Kanohi) were used too.
It can also be noted that in the third season, the Mask of Time creates an "alternate reality" scenario, so it's a little permissible to excuse these differences.
 

Q: Why does Vakama sound like Professor Snape from Harry Potter?

A: I did all of the voices in the first two seasons and most of them in the third season. When you have that many characters to do, you sometimes need to do some imitating of other voices to add some variety. For Vakama, I did an imitation of Alan Rickman's performance as Professor Severus Snape from the beloved film series based on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels. Some viewers of this series seem to dislike this choice, but I really thought the voice suited the character.
Some other voices that were based on celebrities' voices are: Kongu - Billy Boyd, Whenua - Ray Winstone, Matau - George Harrison, Ehrye - Christan Bale (as Batman), Nuparu - Gordon Ramsey (only in "Masks of Power"), Matoro - Paul Lieberstein (only "Masks of Power"), Brander - Christopher Lee, Aft - Andy Serkis (as Gollum), Norik - Ian McKellen, Altair - Christopher Lloyd.
It can also be noted that Makuta's voice in the series is based heavily on Lee Tockar's performance of the character in the Bionicle motion pictures.


Q: Will there be any future installments of the COTC series?

A: No. The series is over. It had a definite ending that tied up the lose ends.
I'm not going to say that there won't be any spin-offs. I've got some ideas I'm considering (ONLY considering, nothing is definite).


Q: Why did several characters' voices change in the final season?

A: Hahli and Pohatu were voiced by Shannon Asprooth and Carl Mohr in this film. I didn't think the audience would get up in arms if an actual woman voiced Hahli instead of me, and all of Pohatu's lines in Season 1 were distorted given his condition and to sound more menacing. As for some of the other characters, the voices were changed for other reasons. I had a hard time recreating Matoro's, Onua's, and Hewkii's voices from the first two seasons. When I tried to do Matoro's, my voice kept squeaking and it sounded really bad. Onua's original voice I never really liked, but two years had passed between "Fallen Order" and "The Lost World", and I was having a hard time getting it to sound the same. Hewkii always presented a problem because in Season 1, I did his voice while recovering from a cold, so I had a hard time recreating it in Season 2 as well.

Trivia for Chronicles of the Chronicler: The Lost World

PLEASE NOTE: This is modeled after the IMDB trivia pages and written as if I didn't write it.

The title was originally “Inika”, but was changed to “The Lost World” after the first storyline was dropped and production had halted so Sam Shenberger could devote his full attention to “Sam’s Comics: The Movie”. It was later renamed “Time Paradox” for a few months, but after “Comics” wrapped and production for this film restarted, the project began again from scratch, this time once again under the title “The Lost World”.

Unlike COTC1, there was intended to be another installment after COTC2 ended, but the intended sequel story was drastically different. Takua ended COTC2 with the line “I feel there will be a new batch of Toa coming along sometime soon”, which tied into the “Toa Inika” idea that involved Jaller, Hahli, Hewkii, Kongu, Nuparu, and Matoro becoming the Toa Inika and journeying to a distant island overrun by the evil Piraka (based on the 2006 Bionicle storyline). This idea ended up being dropped for budget reasons and the project was completely rewritten to have the Toa Nuva instead.

This film has several unintentional connections to the MCC Film Club’s first project, Cerea. Both films feature Carl Mohr, Shannon Asprooth, Frank Padour, and Lauren Murphy, with Sam Shenberger serving as casting director and occasionally secondary cameraman. Both films also feature two music tracks by Kevin MacLeod: “Private Reflection” (used in COTC3 during the Ruins of Ta-Koro scene and in Cerea plays over the prologue) and “Movement Proposition” (in COTC3 when Pohatu and Onua are fighting, in Cerea during the flashback at the beginning).

Altair was named after the very first PC computer. Before this name was picked, other names like Aorcost, Takaru, Peft, Homete, and Teoku were considered. Although cut from the final film, Altair also mentioned having a brother named Atari, after an old-school video game platform.

The characters Kongu and Ahkmou are never seen on screen together. That was because the model for Kongu and the model for Ahkmou shared the same lower body piece and could not therefore be shown on screen at the same time.

Production for this film began on February 11^th, 2011. It continued until March 7^th 2011, when “Sam’s Comics: The Movie” was greenlit by the MCC Film Club. As a result, production for COTC3 was pushed back to September 2011. Later, “Comics” ran over schedule and production was pushed back again to December 2011. It never resumed fully until April 2012, more than an entire year later.

Lewa is the tallest of the six Toa. Onua is the shortest.

As was the case in COTC 1 and COTC 2, Bailey Freemire was originally attached to this project as the voice of Hahli. She was dropped from the film in favor of having her star in “Sam’s Comics: The Movie”.

Originally meant to be released as a feature film. Later, when the final length fell under the required 60 minutes for a feature, it was released episodically like the first two.

Only three of the Toa actually use their elemental powers: Tahu, Gali, and Kopaka. There was scripted a scene where Lewa was to use his, but it was too complicated to film so it was cut.

Unlike The Fallen Order and Masks of Power, both of which featured music from the original Bionicle movies by Nathan Furst, this film features music composed by Kevin MacLeod. When the Toa Inika storyline (and a little bit into the February 2011 production) was still being produced, music from the video game “Bionicle Heroes” by Ian Livingstone was to be used.

Each of the three Chronicles of the Chronicler series parts pertains to one of the three virtues of the Toa. Fallen Order: Duty, Masks of Power: Destiny, and Lost World: Unity.

Sam Shenberger recorded voice-overs for both Hahli and Kopaka, but later recast the two roles with Shannon Asprooth and Carl Mohr.

Jaller says that Ahkmou is prisoner 9091. This is an inside joke to the Beatles song “One After 909”. This number combination had been previously used as a phone number in “Sam’s Comics: The Movie”. 9091 is also the number combination of Sam Shenberger’s professional YouTube channel.

Lewa is left-handed, even though in several pre-production stills and even the first teaser trailer he was shown to be right-handed.

Second major Chronicler’s Company Pictures film to have visual effects.

While Matoro’s voice in COTC2 was based on Tobey Flenderson’s voice in “The Office”, his voice in this movie was changed to resemble the voice of Joel Hodgson from “Mystery Science Theater 3000”. Counting the “Adventures of Takua and Jaller” shorts released prior to COTC, this is Matoro’s third voice.

While recording voice-overs, Carl Mohr couldn’t remember the names of the characters he was to be playing, so he gave them nicknames. Pohatu was "Potato", Lewa was "Lewis", and Kopaka was "Cold Pack".

The film has two deleted scenes, the first being a scene where Takua is threatened telepathically by Makuta and the second one showing Gali fighting a Rahkshi on the beach of Ga-Koro.

This is the first and only installment to feature voice talents other than Sam Shenberger. Carl Mohr plays the voices of Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka. Lauren Murphy plays the voice of Gali, Shannon Asprooth voices Hahli, and Frank Padour voices Tahu.

Sam Shenberger originally wanted his friend Ryan White for the part of Lewa. However, the script was not finished in time for him to do the voice over and was never offered the role.

In all three installments, Jaller and Takua have the last two lines (if you don’t count Hahli’s narration at the end of this one). The last lines in the first and third films are the same.

The only COTC film that does not open with a shot of the mask of Shadows.

Some voices were based on real actors/movie characters/celebrities. For example, Hewkii was loosely based on Roy Scheider, Matoro was based on Joel Hodgson, and Altair on Christopher Lloyd.

Several scenes were partially filmed during production in February – March 2011, including: The scene where Altair looks through the Telescope, The scene where Makuta first appears in the Kini-Nui, and Tahu and Jaller in Ta-Koro (Matoro was not there in the original shoot). All this footage was scrapped when production picked back up in December 2011. Only one scene that was shot in February 2011 was kept, as it was the only complete scene: The fight between Onua and Pohatu. A fragment of the original Makuta at Kini-Nui also appears briefly.

Many of the voices in this installment actually aren’t the same as the voices heard in the previous films. Takua’s, Jaller’s, and Nuparu’s voices are deeper, Hewkii now has a (inconsistent) New Yorker accent, and Matoro’s and Onua’s are completely different. It can also be noted that Pohatu is played by Carl Mohr in this film, whereas Hordika Pohatu was voiced by Sam Shenberger in the first. Similarly, Hahli is voiced by Shannon Asprooth in this film.

Every character in this film’s names end in a vowel except Jaller, Altair, and Orkham.

Although his name is never said aloud, the first Ta-Koro guard is Nuhrii.

Episodes 5 and 6 are the only episodes which feature the entire cast. Shannon Asprooth as Hahli does not speak in episode 2 and is absent from episode 4, and Frank Padour as Tahu is absent from episodes 1 and 3. Both Lauren Murphy as Gali and Carl Mohr as Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka are absent from episode 1.

All three films begin with the line “In a time before time”. In the first two, these words are followed by “in a world you’ve only imagined”, but the third is followed by simply “a world you’ve only imagined”.

>>>> SPOILER ALERT!<<<<

below this line are bits of trivia that give away major plot points.

Both Jaller and Matoro die in this film. In the actual Bionicle storylines, Jaller died in the 2003 storyline, and Matoro died in the 2007 storyline.

Jaller’s death scene was different than originally planned. His death was to be caused by a poisonous Kraata bite, but the Kraata eventually got cut from the climax, so Jaller had to be killed by a Rahkshi instead. Voice-overs for this original ending were recorded.

Sam Shenberger described Jaller's death scene as "the scene that kept growing. Every time I edited it, I felt it wasn't strong enough. Originally, I didn't want a long drawn-out Hollywood death scene. When it came right down to it, it ended up being far too short for this hero. Eventually, some models had to be reconstructed to film some more footage. After all that, I decided that the voice-overs weren't emotion enough, so I kept re-recording Jaller's lines and adding more panicked reactions from Takua."

The whole finale was entirely rewritten at the last-minute. It originally ended without the whole time-alterations. Sam Shenberger wanted to end it on a bittersweet note by killing Jaller and Matoro off, but in the end decided that the concept of the mask of time lent itself to major time-induced intrigue.

As in COTC 2, Hahli kills the secondary main villain. She beheaded Aft in “Masks of Power” and pushes Ahkmou to his death in “Lost World".

Production Diary 7/21/12 - Chronicles of the Chronicler 3: The Lost World

Today, was the final step in production for Chronicles of the Chronicler 3: The Lost World. The only things that were missing were the voices of Gali, Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka. Now, we have the final cast. Not exactly as planned, but a cast none the less.

Sam Shenberger (Me) as Takua, Jaller, Hewkii, Kongu, Matoro, Nuparu, Altair, Onua, Ahkmou, Makuta, Guard, Orkham, and The Rahkshi

Carl Mohr as Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka

Lauren Murphy as Gali

Shannon Asprooth as Hahli

Frank Padour as Tahu

Production Diary 7/1/12 - Chronicles of the Chronicler 3: The Lost World - voice overs prt 1

Today, I invited my good friend Shannon Asprooth over to my house to record a voice-over for Chronicles of the Chronicler: The Lost World. She will be playing the voice of Hahli the Chronicler (the title character). I of course have worked with her on several projects at MCC (both with the MCC Film Club and Drama Club), and I knew she could add a new level of depth to the character than I couldn't quite get when I voiced her in COTC 1 and 2 (Shannon obviously has the advantage of being a girl). She had played the role of Rachael Whittaker in "Sam's Comics: The Movie", and we actually played a couple for a Home Run Inn Pizza commercial the Film Club made for a contest.

When COTC 1 and 2 were in the production, my best friend Bailey Freemire was to play Hahli, but scheduling prevented it, and in the end, she was dropped in order for her to appear in "Comics".

Shannon also brought her boyfriend Frank Padour, who agreed to play another voice. Frank and I were friends too, and he agreed to play Tahu. He and I worked closely on drama club plays, and he brought a great sense of credibility to the role.

Looking back on Sam's Comics: The Movie

The McHenry County College Film Production Club, early January 2011

It was December 2010. I was working on two scripts I planned to submit to the MCC Film Club at the time, finishing up a script called "Eleanor Rigby" and writing another called "Phoenix Fire". At the same time, I was also in the planning stages for "Chronicles of the Chronicler: Inika" (now "Lost World", but it was "Inika" at the time). I was also writing the last several comics for my "2010 comeback" series. As I was drawing them, ideas began to pop into my head, great ideas for future comics... but they were all too ambitious, all too hard to draw. As I tried, I was thinking "Dang, this would make a better movie than a comic." Thus began "Sam's Comics: The Movie."

concept art #1: Scene 1 - Nick's original introductory scene

At first, I didn't know if I wanted to submit my comics movie idea to the club, so I didn't write it right away. When January 2011 rolled around, I submitted "Eleanor Rigby" and "Phoenix Fire" to the club. When they asked if I had anything else, I told them about the comics movie. They were intrigued by my stories, but in the end they decided to go with another script. I can't say I could blame them, "Eleanor Rigby" was based on a copy-written song by The Beatles, "Phoenix Fire" wasn't finished, and "Sam's Comics" hadn't even been written yet. So the comics movie idea was shelved.

Me doing a promotional trailer for the film, long before filming took place.

 It was about March when Travis came up to me and told me that the film club had dropped the script they had picked for various reasons. He asked me to finish up either "Phoenix Fire" or "Sam's Comics" and pitch them to the club again. At this point in time, I hadn't done any work on either script since January, since I was working on filming "Inika". Given the choice between the two scripts, I decided to go with "Sam's Comics" even though I had not written a single scene of it, because I was still stumped on how "Phoenix Fire" should end. It usually takes me several weeks to a month to write a first draft of any script, but I wrote "Comics" in less than two weeks. Part of this was due to the fact that I was bored during computer literacy class (I learned nothing I didn't already know in that class) and part of it was that I wanted it written as soon as possible so that I had something to show this time.

Original concept art #4: Scene 2 - Sam and Molly hilltop sequence

The first draft of the script was over sixty pages (which I knew was unworkable), and had thirteen main characters, including comic characters Sam, Bailey, Kenzie, Ryan, Rachel, Nick, Megan, and Joel. Other new characters included were a villain named Greg Walker (named lifted from an earlier script I wrote called "Secrets of the Forbidden Lake"), a side-kick character named Aaron, and a trio of girls named Lindsay Smith, Emily Miller, and Whitney Parker. I had served as casting director on the film club's first movie project "Cerea", and knew that auditions are sparsely attended, so I could tell that even though more than half the characters were based on people I knew, there were way too many characters in the script. Logistically, Megan and Joel had to be the first to go. They were based off two kids I knew from church, but they lived in Wisconsin, so filming with them would be near impossible. This created a problem, since Joel had a significant role to play in the story, and Megan was part of his storyline (Joel in the script was upset with the way his older sister was treating him). At first I thought I would have to completely rework the story, but then I realized that he could easily be replaced with the comic character Molly (who was not in the script at that point) and that Megan could be replaced with Kenzie (who was already in the script, but had a less important role). As for the trio of new girls, I decided that there didn't really need to be three of them, and I condensed them into one character, and chose the name Lindsay Parker (combination of two of the previous names).

Original concept art #3 - Scene 2 - Bailey introduces Lindsay to Sam

 When I finished the second draft, I showed it to Carl, who was the club president. He and I sat down in the cafeteria at MCC and read through the first two scenes. Before he finished the second scene he looked at me and said "Sam, nobody talks like this." He particularly didn't like the way I used the out-of-fashion word "weirdo" several times, but I kept insisting that it was relevant to the plot. Carl also was confused by the way Molly was being portrayed, saying that this fifteen-year-old character had the maturity level of an eleven-year-old. This was partly due to how the script was originally written for Joel (who was twelve), but Molly was really fifteen. By the end of the meeting, I had agreed to reword certain conversations, and change Molly's age. This prompted me to change the age of several other characters to make them all similar in age. The way the script was written had all of them the same age as the people who inspired them were, so Sam was 20, Ryan was 19, Bailey and Rachel were 18, Kenzie and Nick were 16, and Molly was 15. I changed it so that Sam, Ryan, Bailey and Nick were 18, Kenzie was 17, Rachel was 16, and Molly would be 13.

Concept art #11 - Scene 3 - Jack's introductory scene

From the second draft, came a third. By this time I was starting to counter the idea that Sam and Bailey were in love. For personal reasons, I did not want to go there with the characters. The story as originally written did not have a love story because it was about the friendship and trust between Sam and his two best friends, Bailey and Ryan. I wrote the third draft with Sam and the new character Lindsay falling in love. This didn't quite work out, and I never showed this draft to anyone. I was afraid that this version made it seem like Sam was cheating on Bailey with Lindsay, and it still didn't change the fact that Sam still rescues Bailey at the end, and according to movie logic, they should kiss. I continued to vainly attempt to write a way around it, but I could come up with nothing. It had to be Bailey in the end, and it didn't make sense for Sam to rescue anyone else with the same determination... not even Ryan or Kenzie (the other two I tried to have kidnapped). It wouldn't make sense that Ryan would get kidnapped (he's too tough for that), and Kenzie has too much spunk and was too cunning of a character to get abducted.

Concept Art #8: Scene 14 - Rescue sequence (Kenzie and Molly's bits not filmed)

 Once we got a draft of the script we were satisfied with, we turned our attention to casting. I offered the role of the comic characters to the people who inspired on them. Bailey, Kenzie, Molly, and Nick all accepted. Ryan was unable to play himself, as he would be spending the entire summer in Colorado. Rachel opted not to be in the film, afraid she wouldn't have time to commit to the movie. We started casting with the fifth draft (which was basically the same as the second, except with better dialogue). My friend Shannon Asprooth agreed to be my casting director, so we made a flyer for auditions, which were to be held on April 25th and 27th. Characters up for casting were the newly-renamed villain Jack Weidman, his follower Aaron, Lindsay Parker, and Ryan Whittaker (Rachel was not on the roster yet, as I had only just found out we didn't have someone). First day we had three people audition, including Carl for Ryan. Day two was highly less successful, with just Travis auditioning for Ryan. The week after auditions, I met with Shannon to talk about our choices. Two people had auditioned for Ryan, and no one had tried out for Aaron. Shannon and I both agreed that Travis would make a good Ryan, and after talking, Carl became or Jack Weidman. Shannon also suggested a friend of her's and Travis's as Lindsay, even though that person hadn't shown up to auditions. I had seen this person perform in a drama club play at MCC prior to this, so I trusted that she could pull off playing Lindsay. Travis contacted her, and reported that she was interested. Carl also managed to find me people to play Aaron and Rachel, so we had a complete cast.

Travis Cooper auditioning for the part of Ryan Whittaker

 First thing to do was to schedule a script reading, where the cast gets together and reads through the script and bonds with each other. Problems arose right away. The person cast as Lindsay was not responding with the scheduling we made. The script reading was postponed almost an entire month before I decided enough was enough and dropped her from the project. Without a Lindsay, we had an incomplete cast. I thought about it for a while, and I finally decided to offer the part to Lindsay Allen. I had only met her twice before, and didn't know her very well, but I knew she liked acting, so she was offered and she accepted. I was surprised by her enthusiasm for the project, and she asked many questions about it. I admit, I liked that she was asking questions, because some them were questions that needed asked and I hadn't thought of. So we scheduled the first reading. When I got there, nobody else was. Carl came shortly after I did, and eventually Bailey came as well, but that was it. We immediately scheduled another reading. This time, everyone came... except for the people Carl got for Rachel and Aaron. He informed me that the girl for Rachel had backed out. At this point, I just decided that Rachel was not that important of a character to the story and just wrote her out. We were running out of time, as Bailey would leave us in mid August for college.

Lindsay Allen as Lindsay Parker

 We started filming on July 5th, about a month after I originally planed shooting. I thought we still had plenty of time, as the schedule I made only last for fourteen days, and Bailey was only needed for half of them. The first scene we did was the picnic scene at Four Colonies park in Crystal Lake. This location I had chosen, because I had filmed scenes for my previous (unfinished) project, "Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Grail" there. Nick was supposed to be in that scene, but he couldn't come to that day of filming. I decided instead of rescheduling (we were already behind) that we should run it without him. That day went very well, with everyone ready and willing. Molly apparently had not yet read her script (she couldn't make it to the script readings), but I was pleased with her performance. This day held our first big "instant memories" moment, when we were filming a shot where Sam asks Molly if she saw something, but a guy walking his dog pass through the camera's field of vision. I wittily quipped if Molly had seen the guy walking his dog.

DID YOU SEE THAT?!

 Day three of production was the first time we had any real trouble. We had scheduled an all day shoot on a Monday, but when I woke up that morning, it was storming out. Not only was it storming, but it was one of the worst storms we had seen in years. We had to cancel that day, but we pushed to schedule for the next day. I managed to get Bailey, Carl, and Nick on board, but I never heard back from Travis. This day ended up being one of the longest days of filming, even though there were days where we filmed more hours. Because we couldn't get a hold of Travis, we had to film the scene without Ryan. While we were filming he texted me and told me that the power at his neighborhood had been down since the day before and the cellphone was for emergency use only. Without Travis, I told Nick to look at the script and memorize Ryan's lines. He had about twenty minutes to learn them, but I was amazed that he never messed up lines once, just his blocking (aka where he should be standing or walking to). On the other hand, Carl (who had possessed the complete script for months before anyone else), did not have a single line memorized. By the end of the day, Bailey and I wanted to kill him. We did endless takes of the scene where Jack and Sam are walking down the hallway talking. We spent almost an hour alone on that one shot (the proof can be told by watching the clock on the wall go from 5:15 in the first take to 6:01 in the last take). But nowadays we have a good laugh about it when we look back. Bailey and I have agreed to NEVER let Carl live that day down.

Me and Carl Mohr in the infamous Hallway sequence.

Day four we shot one of the scenes I was not particularly looking forward to filming: The Hilltop scene. This was the first time I ever had to memorize a monologue, and even though I wrote it, I still couldn't remember the whole thing perfectly. Molly hit her part spot on, and after we were done filming and we were packing up to go home, Carl turned to me and said "I think she's the best out of all of us." Getting a compliment out of Carl wasn't the easiest thing to accomplish, but Molly did without trying.

Me and Molly Freemire posing to look like Concept art #4 (pictured above.)

During the fifth day of filming, we were shooting the classroom scenes. Carl managed to get me some extras to play students, and through this, we managed to get a Rachel for the movie. Shannon was brought on to play a cameo as a classmate who helps Sam with math homework, but while filming Shannon agreed to play Rachel instead. This cause a slight problem, since we had already filmed a shot with Travis (her character's brother in the movie) in class together. To cover up this inconsistency, we made an excuse later on that Rachel is super smart and in the same grade as Ryan.

Shannon Asprooth as Rachael Whittaker

Filming progressed slowly, but steadily. We finally got to the last week that Bailey was in town... and we still had six scenes to shoot with her. To make matters more difficult, we only filmed with her two days that week, so it was two scenes in one day and four in the second... and we weren't even worrying about full scenes, we were just doing the shots she had to be in! Even through all the chaos, the first day of "crunch week" ended up being my favorite day of filming... go figure! And even more ironic is that fact that we were shooting the break-up scene that day. The thing I liked the most about it was the fact that it was just Bailey and I shooting that day, and we both knew what needed doing and we both understood the scene, so we did not have any chaos at all. Even when we messed up, we just got back up and did it again. It was such an emotional scene, and I have got to say she NAILED it. Even with all the laughs we had, she and I managed to get keep straight faces. AND the best part (most rewarding for me) was the fact that extraordinary eye contact was maintained, even though in all the close ups, neither of us were looking at each other, since when we did her close-ups I had to be running the camera, and when we did my close-ups, SHE had to be running the camera! We made it work, and I think it's the most effective scene in the movie.

Concept art #12: Scene 11 - break-up sequence

The last day of crunch week was the deciding factor of the film's completion. If we succeeded and filmed all of Bailey's shots, we were in the clear. But we still had four scenes to shoot. It came down to the last scene of the movie, and we were down to the final shots, when all of a sudden, the camera battery died. So we took it in the closest building and plugged it in. While we were waiting for it to finish, it started raining. I started freaking out, I had no clue what to do, Bailey was leaving in two days, and we couldn't get her anymore after that day. As fortune had it, a stroke a luck came along and I realized all we really needed was one more shot, so when it stopped raining, we could go out and film it and Bailey would be finished. Buuuuuutttt.... when it stopped raining it was pitch black out. So I did the only thing I could do... find the nearest street light and film under it. So despite the fact that the rest of the scene being filmed in daylight, we found a way to complete Bailey's shots and finally, the movie was in the clear... or so we thought.

Me tying Bailey Freemire up for the rescue scene.

Once Bailey left, things didn't necessarily become easier. School had started again, and it was almost impossible to get everyone together again, and we never filmed another scene with Kenzie, Molly, or Lindsay again because of scheduling issues. I hated when I had to almost completely write Lindsay out of the rest of the movie. I had put so much on the line to film with her, since she lived about an hour away from Crystal Lake (where the majority of the movie was shot). I kept trying to schedule a day where we could go and finish her scenes on her own turf in Sycamore, Illinois. When I first mentioned this, Carl thought I was crazy, but he saw my reasoning (this was during a period where he and I were butting heads on a semi-regular basis). Things kept happening whenever I scheduled the Sycamore shoot, and eventually we just ran out of time. It was the hardest decision I had to make in the filmmaking process to can the Sycamore shoot, effectively cutting Lindsay out of most of the film. It still pains me to this day, because Lindsay was truly an awesome person, and a strong young woman the likes of which I've never seen. I was honored to work with her. But the movie had to go on, and the story still worked without her.

Lindsay Allen as Lindsay Parker

Filming the big fight scene was another milestone. It was something I was looking forward to as well as dreading. It was really hard to write a fight scene in the script, but it was even more difficult shooting it. Not so easy when you don't have a clue what you're doing. Carl and I were literally making it up as we were going. My brother John told me that he was very impressed with how the fight looked so coordinated. It all came down to editing, because if you had been there that day, you'd see just how clueless we really were! (evidenced by this picture below when Carl attempted a flying kick)

USE THE FORCE!!!!

It came down to the end, and we running out of time. We had put off filming the scenes with Jack Weidman's henchmen because no one was committing to playing them. The script called for at least two. Aaron was also a problem because we originally had one of Carl's friends cast. He backed out. Next we cast Antonio "Heavy" Clinton. He too backed out. Then Bailey dragged her then-boyfriend to play the part. He backed out. Carl brought in another one of his buddies. He backed out. Finally, Carl worked his magic and we got Heavy back for two days to finish the part. I think Heavy did a great job, he gave much more depth to the character than I had written, and depth is good.

Me editing the film

 It got to the point where I had to start editing while we were still filming. It got very frustrating since certain scenes had only been partially filmed and couldn't be edited until it was filmed. Another big problem was that we now needed the help of special effects to convert the climax scenes from day to night, so as to mask the fact that Bailey's final shot was shot at night. Another problem that came up was the fact that we were short two of Bailey's lines with the chance that we may need to do ADR (additional dialogue recording) for the picnic scene since we didn't have the boom mic working for us then. Luckily, we did not need ADR for the picnic scene. We still needed the other two lines, though. I enlisted the help of my friend Sarah Kusz, whose voice sounded highly similar to Bailey's.

From left to right, Shannon Asprooth (played Rachael), Gabri Zmich, Sarah Kusz (Bailey's voice mail), and Sam Shenberger (played Sam). All three of these girls were added to the comics after the movie.

Carl was the only person who had access to the special effects editing software, and of course that was the final thing we did... in the last week before release. We spent long hours in the MCC media center together putting the finishing touches on it. Carl and I had long since gotten over our differences and were once again enjoying our time together (stressful though it may have been editing), and we enjoyed the thrill of success when it was finished... the day before release. Yay procrastination!

Carl Mohr and Peter Lilly (our adviser) in the MCC Media Lab, reviewing the VFX edits.

 I had taken an entire year off from drawing comics to make this movie. The following January, I began a new season of comics, and I had more tough decisions. Should the comics after the movie continue in the same thread? In the end, I opted "no". I decided to view them as two separate entities, both reflecting the other, but neither depend on the other. A later comic parodies this fact by having Gabri asking Sam why he and Bailey aren't dating like they were in the film. The other big decision I had to make was whether or not Carl should be added as Carl, or as Jack Weidman. In the end, he became Carl. One later comic had Ryan referring to him as "Jack", but it was just for a joke. Shannon was also added as herself, and Sarah was as well.

Carl, Shannon, and Sarah in Comic form.

All in all, I learned so much from this experience. I met a lot of awesome people while filming, and got to become closer to old friends. It made me appreciate just how much work really goes into making a movie. You can watch documentaries about making movies, but I didn't know just how much making a low-budget (or literally no-budget) film would be similar to Hollywood productions. From the initial ideas, to the writing of the script, to the casting, to the shooting, to crunch week, to post-production, to the premiere, I have had one of the greatest experiences of my entire life, and I thank everyone who helped make it possible. It was a long, difficult journey, but we made it through and I loved every second of it.

Picked up May 7th, 2011 - began filming July 5th, 2011 - finished filming November 11th, 2011 - final edit completed November 18th, 2011 - released November 19th, 2011.

Production Diary 5/30/12 - Wrap for Chronicles of the Chronicler 3: The Lost World

WARNING: THIS DIARY UPDATE CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS FOR CHRONICLES OF THE CHRONICLER 3: THE LOST WORLD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Today marks the last day of production for COTC3. I filmed the last shots for the film, and what may possibly be the last stop-motion shot I'll ever shoot. I have some mixed emotions about it. Part of me is relieved that its over, and part of me knows that I'm gonna miss it.

This movie has been a crazy ride. I can't say it was the most stressful movie I've ever done, Sam's Comics holds that award... This one holds second place though. At least this one didn't drive me to the point of nervous break-downs. I would say that Chronicles 3 wins the longest lasting production award, as it started production sometime in January, began principle photography on February 11th, 2011 and ended on May 30th, 2012. Part of the reason it lasted so long is because "Sam's Comics" was picked up by the McHenry County College Film Production Club on March 7th. I did do some filming during production for "Comics", but only one clip actually survived "The Purge".

model photo taken during production for "Sam's Comics: The Movie" (2011). Earlier this day, Sam had filmed three scenes for "Comics".

The story for the third one was very difficult. At the end of the second movie, Takua mentions that he has a feeling that a new batch of Toa will come along. The original plans for Chronicles 3 was for the Matoran Jaller, Hahli, Kongu, Hewkii, Nuparu, and Matoro to become the Toa Inika (like they do in the 2006 Bionicle storyline). This idea was scrapped early on, because I didn't have the Toa Inika sets released by Lego. I was stumped for a while, but then I got new inspiration after watching "Shrek 4". This got me thinking about alternate reality, which somehow got me thinking about time traveling. The next idea for the third movie was to have time travel, but then that became too complicated. Then came the idea that became the final film: bending time by bringing the fallen Toa from the past to save the present.

There was no script when I started filming; I only knew what I wanted to happen. Because of the nature of the Toa's deaths mentioned in Chronicles 1, Onua and Pohatu had to come head to head in another fight scene. The idea I had was to have them sword fighting, but then I thought "I did that like four times already in the first two", so I decided to have them fighting hand-to-hand. This turned out looking much better than the sword fights, and effected how the rest of the script was written (like a few months later when the script was actually written...) I filmed bits of several other scenes before "Comics", but as soon as it came along, production immediately halted, only to have infrequent bit shoots whenever I had time to film between "Comics" and my school schedule. Once "Comics" was finished, I reviewed what little footage I had done already, and then made a big decision: To scrap all completed footage and written script drafts and start from scratched. This delayed production from starting in November 2011 to January 2012. I finished the script on my 21st birthday, January 3rd, 2012. By this time, I had my buddy Carl Mohr attached to the project as various voices.

Several things were changed from the original February 2011 plans. The characters Taipu (who was going to appear in Chronicles 1 before being replaced by Hahli) and Macku were dropped from the script, and the Rahkshi were given more screen time. Later in March, the script was added on to, fleshing out the plot to make sure that this last film in the series was the best it could possibly be. The biggest change made in the plot was the fact that (AND THIS IS MAJOR SPOILERS HERE) Takua, against all odds, becomes a Toa once again. He was originally only supposed to be a minor character as a Turaga, but in the end, I couldn't justify downplaying the main character in the final installment.

Another big step I took to make sure the fans would be satisfied with COTC3, I decided to film some scenes while I was on vacation in Michigan this last week.

All in all, COTC3 totals 1501 still frames and 348 videos shots. That's 638 more stills and 326 videos than COTC1, and 491 more stills and 292 more videos than COTC2!

Still some voice over recordings to do, so I'll leave the diary update at that.