{"id":5173,"date":"2011-12-29T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2011-12-29T15:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/?p=5173"},"modified":"2012-01-02T11:17:40","modified_gmt":"2012-01-02T16:17:40","slug":"caught-on-film-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/2011\/12\/caught-on-film-6\/","title":{"rendered":"CAUGHT ON FILM"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Makers of El Caffinato<\/strong><figure id=\"attachment_5174\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5174\" style=\"width: 100px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Film3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Film3.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Film3\" width=\"100\" height=\"119\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5174\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5174\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rory Bradley\/Liz Levitt-Bradley<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n<strong><em>by Margot C. Lester<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the most talked-about films at the <strong>Carrboro Film Festival<\/strong> last month was the Western musical <em>El Caffinato<\/em>, created by husband-and-wife filmmakers <strong>Rory Bradley<\/strong> and <strong>Liz Levitt-Bradley<\/strong> of Carrboro. <!--more-->It was the film\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s festival premiere, and it won Best Film honors.<\/p>\n<p>The short rock-opera follows the traditional Western plotline, featuring hipsters in a contemporary coffee shop. The reluctant hero, Milo, is heartbroken at being ignored by the barista, Pepper. When a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153menacing stranger\u00e2\u20ac\u009d intrudes on the caf\u00c3\u00a9, Milo has to rise to the occasion.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5175\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5175\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Film1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Film1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Film1\" width=\"350\" height=\"197\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5175\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Film1.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Film1-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5175\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The \u00e2\u20ac\u0153menacing stranger\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in El Caffinato. Photo courtesy of Rory Bradley and Liz Levitt-Bradley<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We got to have all the fun of making a Western without having to find horses or carriages or anything like that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bradley notes. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We still had cowboy boots though.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Inspiration for the film came from a genre featured in the 48 Hour Film Project, Musical\/Western. The festival intended for filmmakers to choose one or the other, but the combination of the two piqued the Bradleys\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 interest. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We started contemplating how fun and humorous it could be to combine them,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Levitt-Bradley laughs. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Making movie<\/strong>s<br \/>\nThe film was planned using storyboards Levitt-Bradley painstakingly produced.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Liz drew over 140 images envisioning every shot that we wanted in the movie,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bradley recalls. These \u00e2\u20ac\u201c along with videos; clips from <em>Mad Men<\/em> and <em>Kick Ass<\/em>; and photographs, including shots of coffee cups and caf\u00c3\u00a9 tables \u00e2\u20ac\u201c were sent to local cinematographer Nic Beery to create the look and feel of the film. <\/p>\n<p>The story was shot mostly at Jessee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Everything from the wall colors to the pressed tin ceilings, the roaster room and the back bar made it really ideal for our project and captured the aesthetic that we wanted,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Levitt-Bradley says. The cast and crew shot eight script pages in 10 hours on a one-day shoot at Jessee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. The industry standard is typically only two pages in 12 hours. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Hand in hand<\/strong><br \/>\nCollaborative creation is the Bradleys\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 preferred M.O. They met at Wesleyan University and have collaborated on art and in life ever since. In 2010, they enrolled in <em>The Peoples Channel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>s field editing class and decided to give filmmaking a try. Though <em>El Caffinato<\/em> is their first film project together, both worked in the performing arts for many years.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153As the daughter of a professional mime, I grew up understanding that the performing arts are an important and essential part of life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Levitt-Bradley, who got into theatre at age nine. Bradley got his start as a college freshman, working on an independent feature called <em>Rounding First<\/em> in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<p>For the <em>El Caffinat<\/em>o book, the Bradleys collaborated with Emily Jean Frachtling and Rebecca Ripperton, former students of theirs at the Emerson Waldorf School. The foursome wrote the lyrics in about three days, going through the story chronologically.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When we each had material, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d share it aloud and begin picking and choosing lines, mixing and matching great phrases or great words until we had dialogue that we were proud of,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Levitt-Bradley explains.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5176\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5176\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Film2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Film2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Film2\" width=\"300\" height=\"444\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5176\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Film2.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Film2-202x300.jpg 202w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5176\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">El Caffinato, created by Carrboro filmmakers Rory Bradley and Liz Levitt-Bradley, won Best Film at the Carrboro Film Festival.  Film poster courtesy of  Rory Bradley and Liz Levitt-Bradley <\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153With our four voices blending together, the characters became more dynamic and multi-dimensional. When a character\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lines encompass each writer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s subtly different ideas, you really start to get a sense of the movement and activity of that character\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thoughts. They start to seem more real and believable, even if they are singing all their words in a highly improbable reality. Every lyric in the script was written in this collaborative fashion.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Then the Bradleys paired up to work out the melodies and chord progressions on guitar and piano over a couple of days. Bradley followed that up with a long weekend \u00e2\u20ac\u0153with a digital recorder and all of my instruments spread around on the floor of our office, recording the instrumentation you hear in the movie,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he says.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your latest trick<\/strong><br \/>\nSpeaking of recording, get this: No sound was recorded on set. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Every sound effect, footstep, piece of dialogue, cup clink, leather skirt squeak \u00e2\u20ac\u201c all of that was created by Liz and Aiden Dale [aka Dusky Dan Digby] and recorded after the fact, then synced up with the movie,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bradley explains. <\/p>\n<p>Levitt-Bradley developed a talent for sound effects while she and her husband worked on an original radio drama on WESU, at Wesleyan. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We built a makeshift sound booth out of cardboard and clearance foam egg crate bed toppers. Actors came over and recorded their parts one by one, watching a rough cut of the movie on a monitor that we set up in the cardboard booth and trying to match what they saw on screen. The final sound mix had something like 35 different layers, because you have to mix all of those things in separately.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The filmmakers are submitting El Caffinato to a number of other film festivals, which means, ironically, that if you missed it at the festival, you won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to see it for the near future. You can, however, check out the trailer at <a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/30657963\">vimeo.com\/30657963<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Once upon a time in the West<\/strong><br \/>\nFor these filmmakers, Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got it all. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We love the sense of community here, as well as the lively sense of activity,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Levitt-Bradley. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What sums it up for me is that everything relating to <em>El Caff<\/em> happened in about a 2-mile radius,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d her husband adds. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We live up the street from Jessee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, which is a block or so from Nic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office and the Carrboro ArtsCenter, where we also filmed, and another block from where the film debuted at the <strong>Carrboro Film Festival<\/strong> in the Century Center before a huge crowd of people who turned out to support local films. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what this town is like \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a small place filled to the brim with creative happenings and great food and a strong community feeling.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Makers of El Caffinato by Margot C. Lester One of the most talked-about films at the Carrboro Film Festival last month was the Western musical El Caffinato, created by husband-and-wife filmmakers Rory Bradley and Liz Levitt-Bradley of Carrboro.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[319],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5173"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5180,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5173\/revisions\/5180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}