Production
All Things Chicken - the Movie > Production
Production Notes and Elements

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“… Chicken” was written over a many year process, originally as a play. There was a first attempt to make the movie in 2005 with a different director and myself as one of the main actors. This version of the script was completed in the spring of 2013, and the film itself was shot over 5 days from May 28 to June 1, 2013. Post was originally completed on Dec. 17, 2013 as 36 1/2 minute film. I re-opened the edit myself and completed the current nearly 29 minute version on July 5, 2014. It should be noted that in any film, people are credited with one or two positions but in reality they performed at least one other and sometimes many other jobs on this film and “…Chicken” would not have happened without that kind of effort and dedication. Suffice to say, there were many obstacles to the creation of this film – some typical, some quite extraordinary – and where no one was available to do the job, e.g. script and costume continuity, then I stepped in.

WHY THIS FILM? WHY NOW?

Men are as highly emotional creatures as women are, but they do tend to be more messed up about expressing it. They’re chicken in so many, many ways. And they often need objects as conduits to express that emotion. Thus, in this movie, they also literally eat a lot of chicken too. In the end, behind the jokes, this story is a human statement to the Universe: we’re here. Even more, we have some light we can add to the heavens too. Click on the title in this box for a PDF of the ESSAY ON THEMES AND IMAGES in the film especially the Comet and the Bunny.

Director's Note

This movie, while certainly reflective of my reading and cultural influences, is also a highly reflective of my life experiences, lost love and friendships – an exaggerated, comic version of one of my own many “stuck” times where I wasn’t moving forward in life, thus this Director’s Note.

Cinematography and Color Grading

Matt Cooper was the cinematographer, camera operator and, in post, the color grader. It was shot in hi-definition digital on a Canon C100 and Atamos Ninja recorder in 16 x 9 format. Additional “coverage” photography was done by the director using a Nikon 7000 DSLR as well as limited use of licensed footage (e.g. the nebula). Further on the Cinematography, click here.

Costume Design

Costume design and concepts. Paula Fradio’s reinforced the themes of the movie, while being completely practical whether it be Ray’s “The What” concert t-shirt or that Dave has multiple layers of clothing in almost every scene.

Behind the Scenes Photography

Swati Srivastava took the vast majority of the Behind the Scenes Photographs using my Nikon (as well as well as taking some moving images and conducting interviews with the same camera). She had volunteered to be a production assistant for the first 3 days of shooting and she was great all around help, as well as being a background performer on the 2nd day. But it’s in these photos that she excelled (after all, she is also a documentary filmmaker). There are some additional BTS photos that I took, especially of the “bunny” shoot on the 5th day.

Graphic Design and Art Direction

Art direction was by Reed Johns – including the menu design and table cards and the newspaper Ray reads – though of course the overall concept and some specific contributions came from the director, especially graphic designs for post and publicity.

Pre-Production: Location Scouting

During March, April and May I drove all around Los Angeles County looking for locations for “…Chicken” and eventually down to Encinitas, just above San Diego. I ended up changing the script to either consolidate locations to make shooting in 5 days possible or simply because some places – like a miniature golf course – were too expensive and I replaced that with a bocci court. Here is a selection of Location photographs from those multiple scouts. It also serves a further contrast between what the film would eventually look like as compared to how it “really” looks.

Pre-Production: the Indie-GoGo Pitch video, supporters and contributors

Watch the Pitch Video, a short film we made for the IndieGoGo financing campaign. It was shot by Matt Cooper and stars Matt Mercer and Drew Nye as Dave and Ray as well as appearances/narration by the director, Julius Galacki. Produced by the director and Rob Yoo (who due to illness had to pull out of the main project).

History - The Play and the First Attempt to Make Chicken the Movie

I wrote “All Things Chicken” as a play while I was attending the “Yale School of Drama”. Not only has the play been re-written but an earlier version of the screenplay was partially filmed in 2005. Click here for more details of that history, to watch the trailer that resulted from that early filming and some production stills.