Seeing a future in mini-features for new media outlets, Screen Door Films’ “The Swing,” its first feature in a 30-minute time frame and shot in HD, will premiere Feb. 17 at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
Producer Bryan Carmody, who stars, and director John Versical said they chose a story that could be produced on $70,000 budget.
“The Swing” is the story of a northern Michigan family that never quite made it, and the struggles of its patriarch Jacob King to avoid the problems of his past, even as they come back to haunt him.
Starting production in 2005, the 13-person crew shot on location on a 640-acre plot of privately owned forest in Northern Michigan. “Everything, from food to power generators, was imported from Chicago and Detroit,” said Carmody.
DP Kimmer Olesak utilized the new Panasonic HVX-200 camera for principle photography due to the advantages the P2 all-digital format provided.
“We got HD for the price of DV, and while I’ve been wary of the digital format for filmmaking until the past few years, the P2 format sold itself, especially for this remote production,” Carmody noted.
