"Crazy Joe" (2012)

"Crazy Joe" is a short film directed by Clarke M. Smith and produced by he and Catherine Foster. It starred  James Steinberg, Hannah Frantz, and Brian Buckley Smith. It was completed in October of 2012, and was Smith’s first San Diego film after moving from Connecticut in 2009.

Background
The first draft of the script was written as long ago as 2001. Smith was inspired by “A Beautiful Mind” in the way it showed characters that only one person (and the audience) could see. Beyond that, he wanted to tell a ghost story, but not a scary one. The film had a very positive start around 2005 when the producing partners Tom and Kim Shay had agreed to make the project with Smith. Locations were found, and actors began to be looked at, including Ron Rogell (from “The Ethereal Plane”) and Rich Goldstein (from “Sweet Miracle”). However, the producers pulled the plug on the project, citing a lack of resources and time, as well as not feeling that Smith was ready to direct such an emotional story with grieving characters, and serious tone. Smith was very disappointed, but in later years, fully agreed with their decision and felt he needed to mature more as a filmmaker. This resulted in the team later regrouping to instead make a much simpler film, “Shutting Down” in 2008.

Realizing the Script
The film sat in ‘development hell’ for several years, until a few years after Smith and his family relocated to San Diego, CA in 2009. Upon his arrival, he slowly met local filmmakers, and was eventually invited by writer Jason Lethert to be a PA on a short film Lethert had written called “Traveling Through Life” (2012). This was an eye-opening experience for Smith, who was taken aback with the amount of crew and professional equipment that this low budget film had. Compared to his smaller scoped Arizona and Connecticut film productions, this was a whole new and foreign level. The seed was planted to finally make “Crazy Joe” a reality, and with a great group like the one he had worked with.

A then local filmmaker named Catherine Foster met up with Smith and became a co-producer after securing a private veterans bar in San Diego called Moose Lodge, where the majority of the film would be shot. Foster also had a bit part as the principal of Lizzie’s school.Smith set out to first find a cinematographer with camera gear. He had now fallen out of practice and knowledge with cameras, as there had been a shift to HD quality during his absence from filmmaking. The first potential DP turned out rather humorously, to be a great misunderstanding. Lethert introduced Smith to an artist who was also a camera person, and they had a meeting to discuss the script. The meeting went well, but the artist wanted to make several script changes. After the meeting, it turned out that the artist misunderstood and that Lethert and Smith were looking for a director/cinematographer, and didn’t know Smith wanted to direct. Unfortunately, though it got close to an agreement for the artist to be the cameraman, he and Smith disagreed on the script vehemently, the artist even doing a drastic rewrite Smith did not like. They soon had a falling out and went their separate ways. But before that, at the artist’s studio, the team auditioned Hanna Frantz for the part of “Lizzie”. Smith was set on her to play the part from that day on.

Going back to the drawing board, Smith next put an ad in Craigslist, while meeting with other DPs via Facebook connections. He met with several, and when he and cinematographer Chris Patterson met up, they hit it off well and agreed to fully take on the project.Smith offered the part to Hannah, and the next task was to cast “Joe” and other roles. One fateful evening, Jason Lethert invited Smith to a screening of a film he had worked on called “The Branch Report”, which featured actor James Steinberg. Smith was immediately taken in by Steinberg, and he asked him that night if he would audition for the lead. The audition happened, and he was cast.

The final main character (the antagonist “Conrad Rumsfield”) went to Brian Buckley Smith, who Smith had found on an actor’s website, and auditioned him based on his profile image. The rest of the cast was put together as Smith and Patterson prepared for the film shoots. A detailed video chronicles the casting of the film.

Shooting Details
Shooting began in July 2012, the first day being everything at the home of “Joe”. A large amount of scenes were accomplished in the single day. The home was rented by a buddy of Timothy Carr, who played ‘Uncle Tim’, the bartender. On this first day, a very nervous Smith arrived very early, and penned out last minute additional dialogue to the scene when Lizzie questions Joe about his drinking. This became one his favorite moments in the film, when Lizzie comes close to crying for her dad.

The next day was the school scenes, featuring many background players. The night before, Smith got cold feet at the chosen school and feared without a permit, they could all get kicked out. So he told everyone to instead meet at Doyle Elementary School, where they could shoot on only the school steps, and more public.

The cemetery scenes were shot at Oceanview Cemetery in Oceanside, CA. Map here. Shooting then concluded at ‘Joe’s office’, which was Brian Buckley Smith’s real office cubicle. This scene is generally deleted in most versions of Crazy Joe.

Film Analysis
Crazy Joe was Smith’s first film with a dedicated DP, as well as shooting digitally, in high definition. Two cameras were used: Panasonic AG-AF100 and Sony FS700, belonging to Chris Patterson. Smith was blown away by the quality of the footage he was given as editing began. Depth of field, sometimes very shallow (blurry background) was employed and for the first time in Smith’s filmmaking endeavors, was the closest to appearing like film (since making actual films) but shooting on video.

Greenscreen was employed for the nightmare scene in the mini-van. It was Smith’s family car at the time, and was perfect for shooting though the back, etc for many angles. He and Patterson then shot the background plates, and the actual crash shot was done with Patterson on a skateboard - handholding a very expensive camera to the horror of Smith (who drove Patterson’s white truck). The score was composed by Reber Clark. When Smith began the film, he tapped his composer Troy Sterling Nies from his recent Connecticut films to do it. By this time, Nies was deep into studies to become a paramedic and didn’t have time for a film. He recommended his close colleague Reber Clark, and Clark would go on to be Smith’s composer for all but one film in San Diego.

Aftermath
“Crazy Joe” premiered at The Moose Lodge in February of 2013. The entire cast came, as did a full audience of Moose customers, who also catered. As a warm up film, “Shutting Down” (2008) was shown, which had never had a public screening. After the screening, many members of the cast and crew went up, introduced themselves, and answered audience questions. Next, the film was accepted and screened at the Oceanside Film Festival in Oceanside, CA. Smith, Steinberg, and Frantz attended the opening evening, and then Smith’s parents and a sibling attended the next day’s screening. An interview can be found here, and festival footage can be found here. An extensive stage Q&A followed.The then new San Diego Film Consortium screened the film twice, the ladder being in September 2014. James Steinberg was nominated there for Best Actor in a Short Film, but lost to Merrick McCartha for The Heiress Lethal. Ironically, it was directed by the same director and team that Smith first worked on as a PA earlier that year. It took a few years for Smith to make another film, during which time he concentrated on planning and raising money for a ghost feature he had written called “Wandering Shadows”. Also, his DP Chris Patterson asked him to be his Assistant Camera on some other shorts he signed up for (Ramy A. Hassan and Patrick Lavender). Once that team saw “Crazy Joe”, they asked Smith to be their editor. Smith edited 4 of their films. During this time, Smith began an indiegogo campaign for the feature. Unfortunately, not enough money was made for the ghost feature, so he redirected the funds to a short he co-wrote with Jason Lethert called “Stover Hill" in 2014.

Video and Web Links
Official site

Trailer

"Crazy Joe" (2012) (Full Movie)

"Crazymakings: Creating Crazy Joe" (2013)

2013 Visual Audio Commentary (to come)

"Crazy Joe" (2012) SPFX Breakdown

"Crazy Joe" (2012) Bloopers

"Crazy Joe" (2012) Supporting Roles