The Brilliant Feature Film That Was Shot for 6K
One thing struck me as I watched Kent Lamm’s feature film “Bad is Bad.” It was really, really good. Not good like, “nice effort old darling, isn’t it amazing what you can do with DSLR video,” but, rather, it was better than some of the studio features that made to the big screen last year. An extraordinary accomplishment for budget of 6,000 dollars.
At the core of Lamm’s movie is a strong story which was written by Lamm and Chris Fornataro. The screenplay deftly avoids cliche’ pitfalls and offers a few unanticipated turns which keeps the viewer hooked from scene to scene. Lamm and Fornataro also have the courage to include a daring story element that could have easily denigrated the film if it was shot the wrong way. But because of the good writing and well thought out directing and camera work, the element is very effective.
The solid production value for seemingly no money came from a confluence of strategies. The first, of course, was for Lamm and his producing partners, Chris Fornataro and Kevin Gottschalk, to wear many hats themselves from acting to sound department. Then they struck out to enlist their friends.
The budget limited their access to casting experienced talent. So Lamm kept an open mind about who was available and then modified the script to partially match the actor rather stuffing the actor into the character of the script. It’s a bold, confident move that pays off which shows Lamm’s foresight in recognizing the limits of his budget and adapting accordingly.
Bill Brock, who plays George (the dad) was found at a local Richmond, VA stage play. Lamm spoke with him after the show and exchanged contact info. Brock eventually agreed to be in the film. Lamm goes on to say that some of the other actors were a bit more difficult to find. “We were unable to get any actors to sign on to play Lapinski, the man in the attic, so we ended up casting our assistant cameraman’s dad, who had zero acting experience. We rewrote the part for him, and took our time shooting and editing the scene. People are always surprised to find out he’s not an actor. Literally everyone else who appears in the movie was a friend and had their character written specifically for them.”
Lamm’s adaptive strategy was also utilized for a location. In the movie there is a pivotal scene that takes place in a restaurant that wasn’t a part of the original script. Lamm told me that he knew the manager of the restaurant who was kind enough to offer the location for the movie. Rather than let himself be hemmed in by what he had already written and decline the offer, Lamm wrote the restaurant scene specifically for the location.
When you watch the movie you’ll see that the extra restaurant location does a lot to deliver a greater sense of depth to the film. To be sure the film would have had the same impact because of the story alone, but it’s almost impossible for me to think of the film without that restaurant.
The film has a good cadence which Lamm admits was not the way the initial cut looked. He told me that his first edit on the film was rushed. He did it while he was home for summer break from USC. Watching the first cut, Lamm noticed that it was too indulgent which made the pacing too slow. The story took too long to get started. Without a doubt one of the most important skills a filmmaker can have to know when to kill your darling scenes for the sake of the film.
The movie was shot on a Canon 7D which was purchased for the production. The 6000 dollars to make the film came from two sources. The first was from the pockets of the three filmmakers who had been working part time jobs specifically to save for the production of the movie. The second half of the funds came from the winnings of contests that Lamm entered with the shorts that he made before taking on the feature length film.
I’m thrilled to see a feature film of this caliber come from such a small budget. It couldn’t have been easy. However, the results are extraordinary, and Lamm illustrates what can be accomplished with emerging technology, a solid story, and, above all, the willingness to adapt to the situation.
“Bad is Bad” is going to be screened in Southern California at USC if you have an opportunity to get there, I highly recommend it. Reserve seats here.
Otherwise you can watch it in it’s entirety below. Lamm also had a gallery of behind the scenes photos here.
