"The Loyal Remnant" (2016)

"The Loyal Remnant" is a short film directed by Clarke M. Smith and produced by Jill Sierra and Rachel Elizabeth Ames. It starred Rachel Elizabeth Ames, Lon Sierra, Hannah Laine, Jay Jee, Amber Alexander, and Jarryd Gooch. It was completed in June of 2016, with subsequent editing changes and new musical score later.

It was Smith’s third film that he did not originate or write. It was the product of a film competition in LA called the 168 Film Project, in which entrants were given a verse from the Bible, and then given one week (168 hours) to write, shoot, and edit the film.

Realizing the Script
Jill and Raquel met at the initial 168 Film Project meeting and disbursement of assignments. At the same time, they started to look for a director and a writer. Jill had worked with Richard Bagdazian on a film he directed called “Dark Redemption, and was brought in to write. Raquel knew Clarke M. Smith, whom she had worked with on “Stover Hill”, and suggested adding him to the roster of potential candidates.

When Raquel called Smith, he was interested in editing, but not taking on director duties. This was for two reasons. One, he was not a fan of the rushed, timed film competitions that had become popular (the 48Hr being the most prominent). Two, his mother had just passed away less than a year before, and he was not feeling ready, or creative, for a new film project.

However, on thinking about it, and understanding that unlike the 48hr, this was a full week to shoot and edit. That made it a little more lucrative. Plus, he realized it would be good for him to get back out there and do a project, as his mother would have surely wished. Realizing that by now they may have hired another director, he called Raquel to tell her that if the offer was still there, he’d take it. The team voted to take him on. Though Smith didn’t want to also edit and spread himself too thin, he ended up being the editor as well. The assigned Bible verse was John 9:4: “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work”. Richard Bagdazian’s first draft, then titled “The Comrade”, was delivered to the team. The team had a very hard time with the script. It was fairly ambitious for a film due in 7 days. From his hands, it went through many changes. Smith and Jill Sierra in particular did not agree on many aspects of the script, and it went back and forth many times till they could finally agree.

With the script finally approved, the producers quickly cast the film. Smith was not involved with casting, other than his full approval for Raquel Ames to play the lead. They tried to get Randy Davison (who also starred in “Stover Hill”) a role, but he was not available. The part went to Jay Jee. Once the rest of the film was cast, the team found the location - a house and surrounding areas belonging to a friend of Raquel’s in Rancho Bernardo, CA.

Shooting Details
Shooting took place in May of 2016 - a very full Friday and Saturday, and into each night. Shooting went well and organized due to good planning by the producers. A number of post-apocalyptic costumes and props were acquired and made, as well as guns. For the most part, the film was shot in order.

On Saturday night, an exhausted Smith and crew ploughed through the intense conclusion when the Devil and his son attack the group. Smith wasn’t feeling it at all. He started feeling that the decision that was made, to shoot this scene in a rather dull room of the house, was a bad choice, and a disappointing end to the film which had been going so well and with great expansive locations. But at the time, it was wrapped and it “was what it was”. That’s when things went from not so good, to disastrous. There were two sets of sound technicians, one for the Friday and some of the Saturday shoots, and then another one for Saturday evening’s shoot. When the 2nd team took over, they failed to ensure that the audio from the card was backed up somewhere; it hadn’t been. They assumed it had been copied over to a harddrive, and therefore formatted the drive, effectively obliterating all the audio from all of Friday, and roughly half of Saturday. Once the realization of this sunk in, Smith was quietly furious. Though the team understood that all those scenes’ audio would have to somehow be re-recorded in time for the deadline (not to mention synced up to picture), Smith did not see how it could be done in time. Already distraught with the way the last scene came out, he called it a wrap, and went home pretty upset.

Having barely slept that night, Smith woke up early with an insane plan to gather up the entire cast and crew and reshoot the ending scene - outdoors. It was truly an insane idea that had little hope of being accomplished - but somehow, little by little, everyone was contacted and could all make it back to the set on Sunday afternoon (some a little begrudgingly). This also required makeup artist Desi V.’s blood and damage makeup on Hannah Laine to look exactly how it did in the original version. The last person to convince that it was necessary and worth the time, was DP Jonathan Pickett, who finally relented at the strong request of Smith. Before the shoot, the actors got together to record the full scenes to be used in dubbing to picture later. When Smith arrived, he explained reshooting to take place outside, on the patio of the house. The film, he argued, was essentially a western. And that you do not have the exciting conclusion of a western in the room of a house. He wanted to showcase the beautiful and expansive exteriors of the location. This of course required the filmmakers to work fast to beat the sun going down, which they barely did.

Post Production
The film was all shot before editing began. Smith barely slept all week, as did Jill Sierra, who worked feverishly to sync up the newly recorded audio to the raw footage. As the film was shot quickly, there hadn’t been a lot of logging of footage. So a lot of guesswork went into finding the right shots with the right audio. Editing went on at breakneck pace, while composer Matt Savina worked on the score. This would be the only San Diego based film that Smith would have a different composer for. His usual composer was Reber Clark. However, years later, Smith would need to replace the score for the film’s inclusion in the feature “Mystery Highway” when Savina was not available. Reber Clark provided the new score, as well as music for the entire feature.

Editing and in-progress critiques and changes went on til the last minute, when the film had to begin final rendering all night for the next morning’s online submission. The post-production group was exhausted.

Film Analysis
The original alternate ending can be seen in its entirety - "The Loyal Remnant" (2016) Deleted Scene 2 - Original Ending. In hindsight, the cast and crew agreed with the choice for the reshoot. This was quite the bold and daring production request from Smith, one that he has never done before or since. “I was never, ever going to be happy with this film if the original ending, was the ending of our film,” Smith said. “It took a LOT of convincing of this incredibly hard working and dedicated team to come back and do it after we officially wrapped, but I’m so thankful to them all for coming back.”

In most versions, a scene was cut involving Raquel and Hannah having a little chat. The scene was a foreshadow to a moment when Hannah makes her own makeshift cross, as she had seen it in Raquel’s hands earlier, and gets the idea. But unfortunately, the film was running long and lagging a bit in pace.

Cast and crew semi-joked that the devil himself was responsible for the destroyed audio files, because of the portrayal of the devil as being defeated in the end. Smith felt that the loss of audio, and subsequent rushed replacement of it, hurt the film a good deal. Especially the night scene, as it never felt organic. The moment the replaced audio changes over to on-set audio, is when the group enters the abandoned building and looks around. So, it wasn’t a total loss but sure could have been.

Aftermath
A month later (June 2016), “The Loyal Remnant” premiered along with all other entrants at the 168 Film Festival in Los Angeles, CA at the Regal LA Live & 4DX in downtown LA. Smith and his family were late due to major crowding of a nearby Adele concert, and literally made it up from San Diego as the opening scenes were beginning.

Though the film didn’t get any nominations or awards, it went on to find nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup at the 2016 San Diego Film Awards. Also, Raquel Elizabeth Ames was nominated for Best Actress at a Christian film festival in Florida. Once the rush of editing was over, Smith did a lot of visual effects tweaking on shots of the devil’s face (Lon Sierra). There were also 2 other versions created - one simply much shorter with some scenes removed entirely, and one that was secular (references to Jesus removed). This was done so the film could be shown out of Christian based festivals and simply be regarded as a straight drama film, apart from its Biblical origins and verse.

Video and Web Links
Trailer

"The Loyal "Remnant" (2016) (Full Movie)

""The Loyal Filmmakers" (2016)"

1999 Visual Audio Commentary (to come)

"The Loyal "Remnant" (2016) BTS compilation by Raquel Elizabeth Ames

""The Loyal Remnant" (2016) 168 Film Festival