TimWoolery.net Documenting the Journey and the Learning Curve

The Hijack – Notes and Photos

The Hijack started out of a conversation I was having with JFP one evening - we were idly discussing the desire to make a movie, had gone to the trouble of shooting some test footage with a new 'steadycam' rig we'd built but that looked like about all we were going to do.  We were commiserating about this when The Lady went "Did you hear about the 3-Minute Film Festival on Alice?"   We had not - a quick internet search later we saw that the deadline for submissions was about 6 weeks away.

"Screw it, man," said I.  "We're doing this."  And so the journey began.

Like other projects I've worked on, The Hijack had that magical quality in which all the problems are solvable and a bunch of people come together at short notice to do something awesome.  It doesn't always work out that way but it did this time and for that I am grateful.  ML was available to be our 'backup man' after the first two choices fell through and now that I think about it, it should have been him from the beginning - I love his deadpan.  JFM got the 'technology' from his day job and programmed the lights to look interesting and pretty when turned on - total sweetness.

[View with PicLens]

Read 'The Hijack' Screenplay - You'll notice that we do a lot of talking and when I wrote the script I was re-reading 'The Maltese Falcon'.  I wanted the dialog to have that same kind of patter, something that I think is sorely missed in the average movie today.

JFM, SW and AC all jumped on board with the project at the right time and were mercifully free of prior commitments.  Additionally, other minor details like "Where are we gonna shoot?", "Props?" and were solved through the resourcefulness of family members.  People came up with locations, I was able to use the loaner car I was driving at the time and all the little pieces and parts just came together.  It's great when it happens and I wish I could know how to make it happen every time -- I'd be a rich man, I think, if  I could do that.