Production Notes

The journey to produce “Albino Farm” was a long, adventurous and ultimately triumphant one for the cast and crew. Making the movie on a low budget, with the intended scope it required, was not an easy task. Every shooting day brought a new problem to solve or work around and then there was the weather! When in Missouri they say; “wait fifteen minutes and it will change.”

The project was initiated five years ago after a cocktail conversation between Joe Anderson and Sean McEwen during a respite from a mutual friend’s bachelor party in Las Vegas. Anderson had co-produced several independent feature films and was in pursuit of a genre project among other mainstream fair. Mr. McEwen had a keen interest in horror films and while working as a Los Angeles-based actor and television host, was passionate about flexing his writing muscles. The two decided to collaborate and look for stories with the sole requirement that true human fear be the core principal to exploit.

After a few months mutually pitching each other stories, McEwen recalled a tale he heard while attending college in Springfield, Missouri. A Civil War-era farm had been used as an internment camp for unwanted citizens born with birth defects. After a half-century of isolation, the imprisoned inhabitants had raised several generations of inbred miscreants. Many were said to be physically horrendous beyond nature. The totality of the accounts will never be known as most fled deeper into the Ozark Mountains after the camp was discovered by government authorities in the 1930’s.

To this day, claims of missing persons in the region are blamed on these “mountain folk.” One recent story, involving four college students, remains unsolved despite the discovery of their vandalized vehicle and a vast search of the area. This story became the basis of the screenplay.

After several drafts, Anderson and McEwen partnered with producer/manager Rachelle Ryan to assist in seeking industry finance from various independent Hollywood production companies. Several companies offered to purchase the screenplay outright but the three were adamant about partnering with terms that gave them an ownership stake.

With heat already on the project from meeting those companies, they decided to seek maximum value and raise their own funds to produce the film. As is typical, the practicality of raising funds for a film budget was no easy task but they managed to secure nearly $1 million from private investors in combination with a loan backed by participating in the Missouri Film Commission’s rebate program. That program offered a 50% rebate on all in-State spending and created an opportunity to increase production value.

The search for a director proved a much harder task. Anderson, McEwen and Ryan interviewed candidates but felt none really had the necessary passion for the story or understood the technical needs to pull off a heavy make-up effects shoot on such a low budget.

Having consulted with special make-up effects wizard Jason Barnett (Industrial Monster & Props), who had already been commissioned to create drawings and mock-ups of several creatures, Anderson and McEwen understood the greater magnitude of the situation and felt that a close collaboration with Barnett was the only way to pull it all off. With Barnett already well-versed in the script and demonstrating the precision required, both Anderson and McEwen decided the best solution was to co-direct with the same spirit in which they wrote the screenplay.

Though both Anderson and McEwen would be working with Barnett along the way, they also decided to split their directorial duties into two distinct areas. Since McEwen worked the dialog into the script and knew the acting process, he would work with the actors and with Anderson’s strengths in scene structure, shot composition and equipment knowledge, he decided to lead the production crew.

To oversee the logistics of the actual shoot, line producer Jason Stewart came onboard and created the overall physical production plan that would see the film shoot for one month at twelve separate locations. Stewart took several scouting trips to Missouri with Anderson and McEwen, as well as the film’s co-producer, Barry Curtis. They locked locations in and around the small towns of Warrensburg and Marionville with the last location being the famous tourist destination, Fantastic Caverns, north of Springfield, Missouri.

Upon returning, Rachelle Ryan had the casting process in full swing in Los Angeles. Kimberly Lenae Foster and Chuck McCullom (Foster-McCullom Casting) lined up auditions for two of the four lead characters. Though actors Nick Richey and Alicia Lagano were previously cast for the roles of Brian and Melody by Ryan, the search for their counterparts in Stacey and Kenji saw 200 actors chosen to come in to read over a week’s time.

The character Kenji, originally written as a Japanese foreign exchange student, changed to Sanjay after seeing Sunkrish Bala (“Notes from the Underbelly”) audition. He had a really interesting take and a great characterization so Anderson and McEwen changed the ethnicity and welcomed Bala into the mix.
Australian actress/singer Tammin Sursok (Nickelodeon’s “Spectacular”, “The Young and the Restless” and Australian TV’s “Home and Away”) also had a great reading and came back to win her role after the mix and match process with Nick, Alicia and Sunkrish.
Great care was taken to engage her in the film as she had other offers that were conflicting with the start date. Those issues were eventually resolved and she came onboard just prior to shooting.

The balance of the supporting cast members were hired from Kansas and Missouri, with the inclusion of special performers to play deformed cave-dwelling creatures. Actors Paul Ford and Troy Dunkle answered that call and were amazing as they played the Old Dwarf and Pinhead, respectively.

Pre-production started in early May 2007 with an experienced crew base coming from Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri. One of the greatest finds was production designer Cat Cacciatore and her team of set designers, construction crews and scenic artists who built the giant farm gate and rock wall as well as the guard tower, animal huts, bone tree and worked to dress all of the sets at practical locations.

Principal photography commenced later in the month with the first shooting day at an old 1930’s-era gas station with actor Duane Whitaker (“Pulp Fiction”, “Feast”) and continuing for two weeks in and around Warrensburg. The production got caught in several weather situations during night shoots and in one case had the entire crew waiting out an electrical storm so as to shoot the scenes with Brian and Melody as they come up to and go inside an old manor house.
After waiting for three hours in pouring rain, with everyone gathered under production tents, dressing room trailers and crew vans, the weather calmed just long enough for Director of Photography, Rene` Jung, with Gaffer, Hanuman Brown-Eagle, to light it and Steadicam operator, Dave Rutherford, to rush in and shoot six setups in an hour.

World Wrestling Entertainment veteran Chris Jericho flew into Kansas City for several scenes shot in Warrensburg where his character Levi drops off Melody and Brian at the Albino Farm gate. Chris was integral to creating a back-country vibe Levi. With his mannerisms and bits-of-business he brought life to scenes beyond the wandering eye gag that was created for him by a special contact lens. Though in character throughout the shoot, he enjoyed hanging with the crew and meeting many fans as word got out that he was in town.
Chris was later joined by Richard Christy, writer/on-air personality with The Howard Stern Show, who grew up in Missouri and was cast to do several scenes. Richard loved sitting in the make-up trailer as Jason Barnett applied make-up for his character of backwoods bumpkin, Caleb. Richard went so far as to say the time spent in the make-up chair was akin to going to a fancy destination spa resort! Something that other actors might take issue with?

Richard and Chris Jericho spent time off-camera talking about their mutual interests in horror films and music as Chris is the lead singer for the rock band FOZZY and Richard has been a drummer in a myriad of metal bands and continually plays on stage with many pals, including Mike Portnoy of DREAM THEATER.

The shoot drew to an end at Fantastic Caverns where the site was used for a creature lair. While inside the cave, another major lightening and rain storm kicked into gear with some lightening strikes hitting trees nearby. Two crew members inside of the cave complex, who were close to cables, received hurtful but non-lethal shocks. Over four long nights the crew battled through scene after scene in conditions that required having steady footing and enduring the cold and low ceilings of rock formations. The generosity of the Fantastic Caverns crew helped immensely in shuttling cast, crew and equipment into and out of the complex in specialized four-wheel drive vehicles.

The last day of shooting at the cave complex saw the entire cave floor flooded three feet deep by the heavy rain. The production wrapped just prior and avoided a major headache as all of he sets would’ve been wiped out.

Back in Los Angeles, editor Dan O’Brien worked concurrently during the shoot to piece together as rough cut. With the Los Angeles crew returning, O’Brien was putting the final touches on a first cut. There were several shots that were missed due to time constraints that he and others felt we needed to enhance the show. Joe Anderson and Rachelle Ryan agreed to the extra expense and a small crew went over to Jason Barnett’s IMP/FX studio and to a film location ranch in Agua Dulce in order to shot more inserts from various scenes. The horrendous arm-stitch gag, that is a first for any horror film, was recreated for better clarity in the studio as well as grabbing other shots that were required for scene transitions.

Color correction and other post-production work was arranged and overseen by producer Jason Stewart. Colorist Jeff Skinner of The Lobby, Inc. worked with Rene` Jung on the specific look of the film to create a constant lighting scheme. Special effects work was created by Kansas-based Bret Bolton of DV8FX. His work included the cave explosion sequence and various shots that utilized green screen or other compositing tricks.

After the picture was locked, Joe Anderson contacted his former high school classmate Scott Rockenfield to compose the original music score. Rockenfield, drummer for the Seattle-based progressive metal band Queensryche, had composed music for previous ventures and was seeking to work toward doing more feature films. When not touring with the band, he has worked on television shows and was nominated for a Grammy for composing on “Televoid.”
Rockenfield sat down with Anderson, McEwen and Jason Stewart for a spotting session at his Seattle studio so as to figure out what the needs were for the score. Though Rockenfield was in the midst of a world tour with Queensryche, he found time on the road to compose various sections and report back with what he had for a preview before he fully mixed them in his studio on return trips.

At the same time sound designer Jamey Scott of Burbank-based Dramatic Audio Post was putting together the myriad of tracks and sound effects he would use in combination with Rockenfield’s music. He also did ADR (looping) with all four lead actors to get clean grabs of several lines. A final mix session was arranged in LA with Rockenfield where all of the combinations of music and sound effects were laid back and married to the picture.

With “Albino Farm” completed and currently being sold by Arsenal Pictures in the foreign market, an upcoming limited theatrical and a DVD release through MTI Home Video, Anderson and McEwen commented recently that the culmination of their five-year adventure would never have been possible without any of the cast and crew that stuck with them through thick and thin. The reality that “Albino Farm” got to the point of sale is not lost on them in regards to the many people who helped along the way. With partner Rachelle Ryan, the production savvy of Jason Stewart, along with Barry Curtis, the creative collaboration of all the actors that trusted them, their DP Rene Jung, creature designer Jason Barnett, composer Scott Rockenfield, editor Dan O’Brien and all of the others, was a dream come true.