Border Town

Yesterday was the release of Border Town, an independent production shot entirely in Richmond Virginia. For an independent film working with a SAGmodified budget it turned out rather well.

In the beginning stages of pre production the director asked for several large stunts e.g.  pipe ramp a Mercedes car, roof top tackle scene, lots and lots of squibs and a whole lot of old fashion ass kicking. The limited budget forced production back to the drawing board on what was relevant to the story and what should stay to help add value to the production. One of the scenes they cut in particular that I was disappointed about involved a car crash. One of the henchmen driving a Mercedes would hit a man causing damage to the windshield; then the car would spin out of control and smash into the side of a parked truck and possibly flip which is where the pipe ramp would’ve come in. The first script was actually packed full of action from beginning to end. It’s always tough as a stunt coordinator to read a good script packed with action and see it get pushed to the wayside due to budget. It’s not about the money as much as it is for the pure enjoyment of working a career that I love. Waking up knowing that I’m going to either flip a car or crash one into another is always a great source of motivation for pulling myself out of the bed.

Filming this project went rather smooth minus the fact that when I came in to stunt coordinate my first day on the project I was still recovering from a nasty bout of the flu which made me spike a 103 degree temperature. Needless to say I felt like I was on fire which I’m sorta use to by now. Day one was the “diner scene”; some fight choreography between Mark Joy and Terry Jernigan along with the two of them exchanging gun fire. Terry Jernigan did an outstanding job playing the sheriff and brings some comical relief to the screen. Mark Joy was a pleasure to work with as usual. I’ve worked with him in the past on a couple shorts with Lucas Krost/ director of The Branching Studio and he carries himself in a very professional yet humble manner. He’s been in the film business for quite some time now and has landed some decent roles so it was great to see a local Virginia actor get a much deserving starring role.
When the filming began for the final gun battle it was all shot on the same backlot that HBO used for the John Adams Mini series. The set was damn near falling down due to weather and age but the crew did an outstanding job of transforming a Colonial set into a small mexico looking border town. Even had its own bodega. Ann Minarik definitely showcased her prowess as an Art Director on this film. She had help of course but this woman has some amazing talent.

At first we were going to squib every thug that was getting shot but I decided against that since not everyone was qualified to get squibbed. Squibs are dangerous if not handled properly and only stunt performers or trained actors working with a stunt coordinator and special FX technician should use them. If you’re not sure what a squib is I’ll enlighten you:
Its an electronically controlled explosive about the size and shape of a dime and the only people that can purchase and rig them are licensed special FX technicians. The squib gets placed where the bullet impact would occur. First the stunt performer getting squibbed would put on a protective backplate usually made of kevlar. On top of the kevlar sits a brass plate that has shallow cup the size of the squib milled into it. Those two items combined protect the stunt performers body part. On top of all of that but under the wardrobe is a blood pack. The squib can be wireless where it would then be hooked into an FM transmitter that the performer have hidden on his/ her body and the special FX technician would have the triggering (fire, detonator) box or it could be a hard wire set-up where the squib would be wired directly to the trigger box which means the wire would have to be concealed by the wardrobe (usually running inside performers pant leg to the ground then to the trigger box. Upon detonation the outward force which is directional since its meets resistance against the backplate tears open the blood pack and wardrobe giving the appearance that a bullet has penetrated the body.
When it came down to who got squibbed I ended up being the only qualified and experienced stunt performer having worked with special FX several times before. I took a simulated shotgun blast to the back which required the use of 4 D80-1 squibs. That amount of blast is enough to punch a whole right through a solid board or my shoulder if I hadn’t been properly protected. The stunt went great. I was standing atop of a pickup truck hood while attempting to ambush the Vincent (Mark Joy) when Isabella (Linda Rodriguez) nails me with a cheap shot from a double barrel shotgun. For all the other thugs/ henchmen we killed them off with the help of Shave FX and their superior ability to generate the same effect in post production. So it was a matter of training the actors on how to react as if getting shot then padding out the ground below so they could fall hard and sell the hit.

Its always a great experience when working with the local film crew in Virginia and I look forward to the next feature that The Branching produces.

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