The Bargain (or: Get Thrify, a tale of how we made our first movie)
Wandering the desolate, irradiated wasteland of what was once North America, an intrepid pilgrim searches a war-torn backwater for the one thing that can save humanity. And himself. The trouble is he's not the only one looking.
Complete with an experimental score from the musician Nick Sondy, "Prophecy" is 5 years in the making. It's been a long, painful battle but we finally took that hill. And since none of us went to film school we're quite frankly as amazed as you are that it's seeing the light of day.
Cops were called. Children were rescued. Fires were started. Planes were cursed. Hypothermia was averted. Witness our 3 days of insanity below.
Behind the Scenes
Fresh out of college with limited funds and even less experience, we fell in with some videographers from the University of Washington who had one question for us: do you want to make a movie?
We had no idea what was coming.
Curtis Anzai, our beloved "corpse", lugging his dry suit and costume up out of the creek where he spent nearly 3 hours submerged in icy waters.
The Crossroads. Up on the hill you can see the houses of the people who called the cops.
Mr. Zane as a brooding hand model.
The creek shots from atop the culvert.
Fun fact: that T-72 tank is actually composed of images from a physical scale model.
Weathering the road signs.
Our doppelgangers. Pretty sure this is Jan Rey and Jimmy but we could be wrong.
Paul Benson checks audio.
Sun Kim (above) & Jed Sarmiento (below) angle in.
An artsy little IG shot courtesy of Adrian Ho.
We lit this poor bastard on fire. Now he's part of the team!
Jason Tu does his best to destroy the evidence.
One of five genius newspapers fashioned by our talented graphic designer, Calum Clark.
Those Post-Production Blues
There was a period of about six months after finishing principal photography when we assumed that we were, both literally and figuratively, out-of-the-woods.
Andrew and Bikram had completed a rough edit in Final Cut and our initial soundtrack had been mastered and delivered.
Then we moved on to digital effects with Adobe AfterEffects.
We'll spare you the gory details but for anyone who is unaccustomed with that software let's just say that the learning curve is steep. Codec problems, mismatched frame rates, failing hard drives and badly-organized directories all played into "the long delay".
On top of that, we needed a new sound designer to help us rebuild the score after our initial edit was corrupted.
After years of challenges, false starts and delays, it seemed like all was lost. Until we found Nick.
About the Composer
Nick Sondy is a multi-instrumentalist, improviser, and composer. Years ago while studying at DePaul University, he
managed the student run radio station alongside Jim O'Rourke. After college and after forming the seminal rock band HogLady, he went on to collaborate with many of Chicago's foremost experimental musicians.
Some of his best recorded work is with legends Jack Wright and Burton Greene. He also wrote & performed with dance company The Space/Movement Project on"Recurrence Plot".
This is his first collaboration with Tropium Nitrate Productions.
He currently resides in resides in Muskegon, Michigan.
The Hunger
To call "Prophecy" a blessing and a curse would be an understatement. Spending 5 years with a project can teach you a lot. It can teach you patience. Impatience. Despair. Joy. Doubt. Confidence. Cowardice. Bravery. All those things. We didn't just learn about how to make a better movie.
We learned a lot about ourselves. What we are made of. And so the lessons go on, ever faster and ever stranger. I think only time will tell if our appetite for magic & madness has diminished.
Thank you all so much for believing in us and supporting us in those dark moments. We look forward to seeing you in the brighter ones.
With all of our love.
November 2017