Red Hours Diary

I worked as Director of Photography on director John Fallon’s short film “The Red Hours,” below is my RH diary… enjoy.

When my bud John Fallon first sent me the script to his feature film “Red Hours,” I was pretty excited. It had everything that any self-respecting horror fan could want; blood and gore, nudity, smart dialogue, and nudity combined with blood and gore. I remember talking with him about this script, and could hear the frustration in his voice because of the difficulties he was facing while trying to get it made. Then one day I get a call from John saying that he was going to write a short version of “Red Hours,” allowing him to shoot the meat and potatoes without having to spend major coin. When I let this sink in I was excited for two reasons, one being that I was stoked that I would finally get to see my bud’s flick realized, albeit in a shorter form, and second I was secretly hoping that he would ask me to help in some way. I got my wish because he called me shortly after first to say he sent me the script, and then asking if I would be willing to work as his director of photography as well as work behind the scenes to make “Red Hours” become a reality.

When I got my copy of the script I was surprised at how intense it was even in this condensed form, so I started to pull it apart and figure out what kinds of locations I was going to need to find to make this flick happen. I also knew that I needed to find a crew as well, and one that was willing to work for beer (we like beer in Louisiana). The first location I secured was the bar. The awesome fellows at Bootleggers were nice enough to let us use their bar for “Red Hours.” After the bar I need to find a location that would allow us to film with more blood and gore than most horror features use, which meant that there would be a huge mess to clean up at the end of each shooting day. This wasn’t an easy task, but thanks to production designer Killian Williams we got the location we needed and much more. After we locked the two main locations Killian got to work on designing the interiors that would be used in the flick, and I started searching for props and supplies that would be needed for the film.

John knew that he wanted his friend, fellow actor Deke Richards to take the leading role in “Red Hours,” but that left us with the task of finding a leading lady. Once John decided that he wanted to find a local Louisiana girl for the role of Natasha I started looking around the Lafayette area, and both John and I finally decided to give the role to Alicia Hoff, an actress that had worked with us on my short film “Wide Asleep,” but a few weeks before principal photography she hurt her knee forcing us to seek out another actress. After a handful of failed auditions I met Amy Wickenheiser. She came into my office to talk about the part, and it was apparent that she was willing to put in the time and do whatever it took make the character of Natasha come alive. As soon as she left my office I called up John and told him that I thought we had our girl. With the role of Natasha filled by Amy we decided to cast our friend Heather Westwood as Drew.
Finally we had most of the resources we needed to make Johns vision come to life on a shoestring budget. Actor David Lawson and I drove out to the New Orleans Airport to wait for John and Deke, and I could feel the excitement in the air. Dave and I had such a great time working with John on the first flick that we couldn’t wait for this shoot to start. As soon as the guys got off the plane we started talking about the shooting schedule, but once we got home we cracked a few beers and relaxed a while before the madness that was the “Red Hours” began.

The first day of shooting started at around 8AM, and had it’s share of problems, but overall it went off without a hitch. Shooting in a bathroom with a large mirror is never an easy task, but with a little preparation it’s still a lot of fun. The first day was a blast! Watching Deke act was pleasure and working with John was the most fun I’ve ever had behind the camera. After we wrapped the first day we did what most tired film crews do with a full day of shooting ahead of them, we started drinking. Once we got to the bar things got a little more difficult than we had hoped they would. First, we didn’t get the amount of extras that we wanted, and the bar was difficult to light with limited means. So we shot all day and at the end of the day realized that it would probably be best to reshoot a few of the scenes with some better lighting. It was an exciting and stressful location to shoot, but watching John in action, and seeing Amy, Heather, and Deke kick ass was worth every second of stress.

While I enjoyed shooting the entire film, by far the most enjoyable shooting days were the ones at Killian’s house. The main reasons being that we got to use gallons upon gallons of blood, and shooting half naked girls is never a bad thing. Also, working with Heather is always fun, she never looses her cool, and does her best to keep everyone on set happy and comfortable. Another highlight of this location was the production design that Killian worked up, it was inspiring.

When the shooting was finished we got to hang out with the boys for a few more days, and talk about the work that we had just completed. I can’t thank John enough for letting me into his demented world, letting me shoot his film, and giving me the chance to work with a talented cast of actors. I hope this little flick brings John the success he deserves because never in my life have I ever worked with anyone that cared more about film than this man. He’s a good friend, a talented writer, and a hell of a director.