BLACK ROAD PICTURES
History & Timeline
Content is still being added at this time. But please enjoy what is below so far.
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
One bored weekend afternoon, two 13 year old kids, Steven Juhasz and Kevin Rosmer, come up with a plan to make a movie. Asking to borrow one of his Dad's Hi-8 camcorders, It becomes a 3 minute James Bond inspired short film and immediately becomes a favorite past time.
A variety of similar short films emerge out of the following months, ranging from an after school fight scene and encounters with bullies to the misadventures of a poor, unfortunate Woody toy (an action figure of the popular Toy Story character); a series titled Woody's Horrors in which Woody is put through various tortures at the hands of other merciless toys. The majority of these films are made by Kevin Rosmer and Jonathan Lawrence. Another close friend, Jesse Boldt, also joins the crew.
The summer of 2002 brings with it the creation of a half hour epic featuring many new innovations for the young movie moguls including their first attempted special effect, the use of a dummy for the dramatic climax of the film, and the addition of music and sound effects recorded in real-time off screen. It is given the title The Wrath of Yachaun and features Steven Juhasz, Jesse Boldt, Jonathan Lawrence and Kevin Rosmer.
The Wrath of Yachaun has its premiere at school during an English class in the autumn.
Computer editing software is introduced to the process, starting with Pinnacle Studio 400 and progressing to updated versions of the program. This marks it as the year of non-linear editing, which changes many things.
The Wrath of Yachaun as well as all the other films were originally edited "in camera" or by cross-recording video cassettes. The new process allows for all kinds of flexibilities. Computer editing makes it possible to design and insert quality titles, edit scenes with frame by frame accuracy, and overlay music and sound effects after the filming has taken place. This new found flexibility accomodates for filming to move out of the back yard and into the surrounding world.
Several projects ensue: Riley's Christmas (about a disturbed young boy named Riley who goes berzerk on his parents when he gets an agenda for Christmas instead of the anticipated Metroid Prime Nintendo game), Gangster Crime (an action film about the conflicts between a few characters living in the underground criminal world), and a sequel to The Wrath of Yachaun called The Dynasty Restored, which after a couple years of perseverance would never be completed.
Work on The Dynasty Restored continues on and off throughout the months. In the end the project is scrapped due to all kinds of inconsistencies and growing disinterests, including the lead actors going through puberty in the middle of the movie, having taken so many long breaks between filming.
"Even though we were only kids at the time, abandoning the project was a bit of a heart breaking decision. It sometimes feels like there is a piece of my life that was never resolved or complete; like a person in their youth dying long before their time."
- K.R.
Left: The last clip of the film to be shot and edited, spring 2004. In this scene, the execution of Hing Fat features an effect achieved by playing with variations in playback speed. It creates the illusion that a spear is thrown into Hing Fat's stomach, impaling him to a wooden board. The idea for this came from listening to the director's commentary for the Mel Gibson film, Braveheart. Also notice the frequent pixelating of the image. This occurred due to the adoption of a Digital Hi8 camcorder, which was fortunately easier to transfer to the computer for editing, but also suffered from this serious technical failing; a rare malfunction in that particular camera.
Recreational filmmaking comes to a halt but thrives in the service of school projects, leading into the territory of documentary/educational filmmaking. The projects include an educational science video on the seven simple machines, a comical documentary about the Cold War, an alegorical film on the process of how a bill is passed in parliament, and a redramatization of a 17th century intellectual salon gathering. These projects involve some of the crew's first uses of green screening, picture-in-picture, and voice over narration.
Enthusiasm for narrative fiction films is revitalized soon after. It happens one night in the middle of November. After watching a low budget "B" horror film called Sleepover Nightmare, Jesse Boldt, Jonathan Lawrence and Kevin Rosmer, filled with inspiration, sneak out of the house to shoot a short trailer for a spoof horror film. It is given the title John of the Dead.
In time the film racks up over 100,000 views on StupidVideos.com.
"The editing of John of the Dead was very advanced by our standards. At the time it felt to us like a pretty 'legit' movie trailer. And we managed to make it so quickly; about a night and one full day in total. But it certainly reinvigorated our enthusiasm to make movies, try new things and better our skills."
- K.R.
The new found enthusiasm brings forth the most fruitful year in the young filmmakers' teenage lives.
In February, while studying for a final exam, Jonathan Lawrence, Riley Parrish and Kevin Rosmer take their feelings of anger and despair and redirect them into a short drama that becomes known as The Frustration of Physics. The film is shot and edited completely over the course of a day.
"Though the results on our exams were in the lower end of mixed, I will never regret how we spent that day. The creation of that project was time better spent than studying could have ever been. The value you get from making something that will last and that you can look back on is incomparable to a lousy grade."
- K.R.
Another project immediately appears on the horizon; a collaborative effort between Brad Sitar, Ben Desaulniers and Jonathan Lawrence. The project is Slicer, based on another low budget horror film, and is planned to be the most ambitious project to date. The concept quickly takes shape with filming beginning in late April. Originally intended to be a kind of spoof, the improvised approach to the making of the film ends up leading to the project being given a slightly more serious treatment. The story is about three juvenile teens who find themselves trapped in a haunted, abandoned school, enduring various trials in effort to escape. The entire shoot takes place over the course of several months during after school hours and on weekends, with editing occurring simultaneously.
While Slicer is in production, Corey Donovan, Robbie Wallace and Kevin Rosmer begin writing a screenplay for another film, planned to be shot in the summer. Construction Wars (a Star Wars parody) is expected to break new ground in all sorts of areas including running length, technical achievement and production design.
"None of our films made previously were even half as involving as Construction Wars. We were really stretching ourselves with how much we were putting into the costumes and props, the locations, and especially the extent of the greenscreen effects we had planned. It was honestly a project that was--at the time-- beyond our means."
- K.R.
The concept revolves around replacing the iconic elements of Star Wars with humorous references to the construction industry. For example, Darth Vader is replaced by Darth Welder, whose face is concealled behind an intimidating welder's mask.
Filming on Slicer finally wraps in mid July and post-production is completed weeks later. By August, production has kicked into high gear on Construction Wars and bleeds into September. After shooting a handful of scenes both on real locations and on a makeshift greenscreen set in the school gymnasium, filming comes to a standstill.
"I am sometimes asked why we didn't ever finish shooting Construction Wars. There are a couple reasons, but it essentially came down to a shift in my attention of interest and also the intimidation factor of not being able to pull off what we were setting out to do, which was indeed a justified concern at that time; In 2006 I wasn't capable of doing an effective job on bringing that vision to life... And yet, not finishing Construction Wars remains one of the deepest of my life's regrets."
- K.R.
With Construction Wars on the backburner, the team gears up for a Halloween screening of Slicer at the school. However, due to concerns by the school board, the screening is cancelled and a smaller screening takes place instead with the rest of their Grade 12 class, which concludes the Slicer chronicle, and by the end of the year Construction Wars is considered a dead project.
