Producers Boris Wexler and Julian Grant of Escape Films have the distinction of being the first Chicago filmmakers to shoot a feature entirely with the Canon EOS 7D, one of the new generation of DSLR cameras geared to independent filmmaking.
Their “under $500,000” dramatic feature, “Fall Away,” has been shooting weekends at Chicago locations, many of them at night, said Wexler.
“We looked at the Red, but found the Canon 7D performs best at night in low light. This is a pretty dark film, set in night time Chicago with scenes in bars, and the Canon works without a tremendous amount of light.
“I shot previously with a 7D after using it on a short film and was blown away by its quality. It’s visually very comparable to the Red, but without the same resolution,” he explained.
“Fall Away” follows the life and death of Jake, the lead singer of a country and western band, who is brutally murdered in a Chicago alley after spending a lifetime hiding his bi-sexual identity.
Grant is directing and wrote the script based on an original story by actor Grant Stokes. “I wanted to look at the many faces and stories we create as human beings, the duality of Jake and his Jekyll and Hyde behavior,” Grant commented.
Stokes plays Jake, the lead singer of the band “65 Home,” who is killed in a Chicago alley after spending a lifetime hiding his bi-sexual identity.
“Fall Away” also stars Erinn Strain, Nathaniel Card and Ann Hagmann, in a cast of 16 principal performers and some 65 extras.
After shooting for 18 days on weekends, since Jan. 8, they wrap this weekend. Production reconvenes in April, for weather reasons, when the crew shoots for a few days in Nashville.
Grant, who has produced and directed many TV movies and is best-known for the mini-series , “Robocop: Prime Detectives,” is also editing.
French born Chicago filmmaker Boris Wexler, who created “Pillow Talks” webisodes, is in development for two other features. Composer/sound supervisor Martie Marro has received many awards for music and soundtrack production.
