Director (Josh Copeland) and Producer (Taylor Napier) setting up a shot and photographing each other in the illustrious Studio A (Mom’s garage)

Josh in giddy awe watching his wonderful actors (not pictured: Brittany Carlton + Thashana McQuiston) rehearse a scene

Matt Taylor (camera assist, stunts) holds our DIY crane steady (perhaps a tad inappropriately) between takes on our big Diwali trip. The crane was constructed using (1) poles from Home Depot, (2) the head from a $15 plastic tripod glued to the front-end, (3) dumbbell weights on the handles at the back-end for counter-balance, then the crane arm was (4) screwed onto the plate of a busted, old Manfrotto tripod, and then the whole thing mounted to (5) dolly track made from tent-poles.

Matt Taylor (camera assist, stunts), Josh Copeland (director, cinematographer, etc.), and Taylor Napier (producer, production audio, Twin Peaks consultant) setting the scene for the Driver’s first big trip.

PROCESS BREAKDOWN! The sci-fi drug-plugs started with a Josh Copeland doodle, but they were miraculously constructed by the craftiest guy you’d ever be lucky enough to know, Ben Crawford. Crawford sculpted a mold after the initial sketch, then used a combination of acrylics and LEDs attached to a power source to build multiple sets of the final prop using a kiln, a soldering iron, and some clever ingenuity.

An early read-through with the cast (pictured: Brittany Carlton + Devin Walls) where we also took the opportunity to test Ben Crawford’s sci-fi drug-plugs out on the movie’s lead.

The director/writer/cinematographer smoking while setting up a shot during rehearsals with Breck Wilhite and Brittany Carlton.

The director/writer/cinematographer smoking while setting up a shot with Brittany Carlton.

The director/writer/cinematographer rehearsing with actors Thashana McQuiston and Brittany Carlton (cigarettes adjacent)

The writer/director not smoking for once, script in hand between shots

SPOILER ALERT, SORT OF: Bucket o’ shimmering, silvery nano-poisoned blood