Paint: Aria Pictures First film Production

By Gerald Martin Davenport on March 25, 2006, Updated November 21, 2024
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Paint — First Production for Aria Pictures

Hot out of the gate graduating from Video Symphony, wanted to put what I learned to practical and real use, I made PAINT, a short, short 19-minute movie about beginners’ luck in paintball.

Unable to find real actors, other than my son, Aria, who played Aria in an Aria Pictures production, and my daughter, Kyriè, who played Kyriè, I had to take anyone I could get, which meant paintball players, friends of Aria and Kyriè, and family.

I was the Writer, based off of Adam Vesely’s idea, and Director, but was also my own audio man, camera operator, lighting person, first assistant director, script supervisor, and so forth; I did have a little help from Kyriè who was Second Assistant Camera, and someone who helps the mic, now and then.

With a story that had a basecamp scene with two teams, I was barely able to get enough actors for one team; the second team in the forest was played by the actors who were already out (in the story) and were dressed differently — I even lowered their voices, but alas, most people who saw it were confused due to the similarities in body and voice of the actors.

With all of the issues that I ran into, all in all, I am very proud of the movie and that it was finished and viewed by 90 people at a private showing. This was basically a test run to see if I could start and finish a movie, and the answer was clear. Yes, I can. As well as create the artwork: posters, flyers, DVD cover, DVD menus, the website, and so much more.

I was ready to do another one, but I did not want to spend $5,000.00 of my own money renting the equipment, and I wanted to have real actors and more crew, but where and how can I do this?

Remember: Lights on for safety.