The Brave and the Kind: A film by John W. Yost

Over the past few months, I’ve gotten a ton of questions about the process of making The Brave and the Kind. These questions have led me to reflect on my own experience that started back in January of 2008. Making a film in a year is considered lighting fast by industry standards, and it certainly has been a whirlwind and an absolutely amazing experience. I’ve taken the time to share the story of this process below, which should answer all of the questions you’ve all been asking. Thanks again for your support and interest in the project!

1) To start is to have the idea. I usually like to do research on subjects, talk about the idea with close friends and family…see their reaction to it. In some ways the idea for TBTK is almost the full realization that began with that first interview with my Grandpa, which subsequently ended up in the film. But in many ways, much has changed due to personal revisions and trusted feedback.

2) After the idea is planted, most people then go on to writing the script. This was my experience writing a feature length script… and it was anything but pleasant. I think there are some people who love to have it all come into focus on the written page. Having a game plan certainly helped make the film better, and for that I’m thankful. But for me, the filmmaking process itself ends up becoming a way for me to discover what the real story is about, and having it locked down word for word seems too constricting. If you ask me, there is a fine line between sticking closely to the script and improvising. When that balance is struck, amazing things happen.

3) Next comes pre-production. For The Brave and the Kind, planning was happening while the script was forming. Once we got the locations in the script locked down, we went out and made the schedule. Once the characters were finalized, we moved on to casting… and so on. Ethan and Emily were both great finds, and most of our other locations and cast fell into place. They did so because we were still flexible in our story. Would it have been as organic if we had a stone-tablet of a script? For a film like Iron Man it sure would have been a disaster. For a film like TBTK, the little moments are sometimes discovered in the chaos.

4) Production couldn’t have gone any better. The schedule held up for the most part. We had a stripped-down crew, with many people fulfilling multiple roles, but they all did an amazing job remaining flexible and getting the job done. It’s tough as a Director to also be the Costume Department, AD (at times), Continuity, etc… However, we didn’t need crowds of people standing around drinking coffee either. The few indie films I’ve worked on were always terribly overstaffed and wasteful. One of the hardest things on set is striking that balance between not enough help, and too much. For the next film you can bet I’ll hire a few more people. But all you need is a lean, mean, group of hard-working people who are dedicated to the project and work well together. I would work with the TBTK crew again in a heartbeat.

5) We had decided to make the soundtrack before the film was even cut together. Usually the film is cut in post-production. Then final image adjustments, (color timing) and sound mixes are done. And only THEN do you add the soundtrack. I had been putting together scenes as we shot them in Final Cut Pro, so we had a structure to work with when we started the soundtrack sessions. Personally, I feel that it couldn’t have worked better. We had the freedom to explore some of our ideas, with a slight structure of the story to give these experiments a foundation. The title of the film comes from the lyrics of the song “Baby We’ll Be Fine” by The National. We took the song and split the elements up to create the opening song and closing song of the film. The rest of the themes came mostly from Rob, Pete, and Dustin.

6) Hell for me could be summed up in two words…post-production. Not that it isn’t exciting to basically mold and shape you piece. I’m just not an editor. I try my hardest, but I can be sloppy and unfocused when it comes to non-linear editing. (You should see my timelines…lots of tracks.) After 5 fine cuts and one final cut we had a test screening to get 60 or so fresh eyes, then the final edit with Jason and I really focusing on trimming the fat. Keep in mind, we started around March of 2008 with pre-production and in 5 months had the film completely shot. It has now been 8 months of post-production and we’re finally finished. In future projects I plan on it being the other way around: more pre-planning leads to an easier post-production process. Once we had picture lock the film went to Eastlight Studios in Queens for the color timing. This is where we smooth out any color differences and exposure problems, giving the film a more cohesive look. It is now in it’s final stages of sound mix at Overit Studios in Albany, NY. This is where we really tweak and sweeten the production sound, marrying professional image with professional audio. Once that is complete, the final piece will be delivered to IndiePix for festivals. Our hope is that the film community responds positively to it and that a festival run helps us find our audience.

7) Many things seem to be changing in the indie film community. Technology is making it easier and cheaper to make high quality films in half the time. However, it is the business model that is holding fast in the past.

Many recent indie’s have found the Internet as a way of distribution. My first feature was an experiment in that. Costing only a few thousand dollars to make, I decided to give the film away for free on the official website. This raised the question, if it’s free, will people take it seriously. Overall this was a success for the film. We’ve had over 400 people download the film and it was the website and free download that eventually caught the attention of IndiePix, which lead to TBTK and was one of the main goals of the production.

This distribution method is not feasible, however, when large sums of money are involved with production. There needs to be a model that allows for well-crafted but obscure indie features to get made, but also find an audience and make some kind of profit. Recently Joe Swanberg’s Alexander the Last was sold to IFC with theatrical and video-on-demand (VOD) rights. The film premiered at SXSW with a simultaneous release on the IFC channel. I don’t know the numbers or the film’s budget, but hopefully it was profitable for all involved.

There are many new models being tested in the realm of film distribution. Some distributors are offering special features only in the DVDs you buy in-store, and not on DVD’s bound for Netflix and Blockbuster. Others are selling films “by the pound” to online streaming places like IFC, Snag, and Amazon VOD. The one good thing to come out of all this is that films will have to become better in order to compete for the remaining cash. No longer will mediocre films find a wide audience. Scripts will have to be better to catch attention, waste in production will have to be cut, and new, innovative ways of getting the media to audiences will have to be invented. It’s a truly exciting time to be an indie filmmaker. For those who say the sky is falling, pick up a laptop and get to work, or be quiet and get out of our way…we’ve got work to do.

Tags: behind the scenes, film, IFC, indie, IndiePix, post production, process, production, The brave and the kind, The National

Posted on April 5th, 2009 at 12:55 pm by John .