Hollywood at home

Chicago’s own Matthew Harris takes us through the process of making his first feature film, ‘Dimension’

By Dan Ochwat

If you could change your life by three inches, what would you do? Physical alteration (bigger penis or smaller waist size), financial gain (add three inches of zeroes to your bank account), supernatural fix (time travel)?

This isn’t a conversation starter, but the premise of “Dimension,” a locally made movie from Matthew Harris, part owner of the bar Matilda, who took out a home equity loan to bankroll his first feature film. He made the money back and hopefully more.

“Dimension,” distributed by Cinequest Distribution and produced by his company, Rusted Rhino Production Co., was released Sept. 17 on DVD and is available at Blockbuster, Netflix and Amazon.com. The unique concept film polarizes audiences, according to Harris. It’s an urban fairy tale that follows residents of a Chicago neighborhood as they decide exactly how to use their life-altering three inches.

At the end of the movie, however, one character makes a choice that Harris says everyone should make. “It’s so obvious that everyone misses it. About 1 in 100 people get it right away, but the other 99 say, ‘I’d ask for a three-inch-high stack of cash or stock bonds.’ ”

It’s this curious concept that Harris believes won the film a distribution deal with Cinequest Distribution, a feat that is remarkably uncommon in the competitive world of true independent moviemaking.

“The concept is a pretty easy sell,” he says. “(Cinequest) has done a ton of trade publication, business-to-business advertising, and pre-orders are very strong. Cinequest has one of the larger film festivals, which we got into earlier this year. Their distributor arm was there, and we had a great screening, a sold-out screening, only the second screening we ever had, and several distributors were there, and it got into a bidding war. I was like, ‘I’ll make a decision right on the spot,’ because I didn’t have a lot of hope for the movie, because it’s so competitive.”

How competitive is it? Harris points out that “Dimension” had a rate of film festival acceptance of 13.1 percent, and the average acceptance rate for a first-time feature filmmaker is 1.6 percent. Sundance and even the upcoming Chicago International Film Festival are extremely difficult to break into, and submitting to these fests is a financial drain. Harris spent more than $63,000 in submitting and attending film festivals and associated costs.

“What people do not realize, they think you can just take it to film festivals,” Harris says. “You’re lucky to get into one festival, and the submission fees are around $50, the print, electronic press kit, you Fed Ex it because you’re working on it last minute, and it’s on your dime to get out there. The cost of attending and promoting the film have been much more than the cost of the film itself. That was a rude awakening.

“And at this point, it’s all about DVD sales. If I actually make a little bit of profit, oh, I’d fall over,” he says.

 

The journey

Harris isn’t a classically trained film student, but rather someone who has always had a deep-rooted interest in wanting to make a movie — and someone with the balls to do it. He’s written more than 10 scripts and 20 treatments over the better part of the last 20 years.

“Dimension” was the chosen script based on a treatment he constructed on his last day of college in the late 1980s. The team of filmmakers and actors believed in the concept and thought it could be an affordable shoot (under $100,000).

His breakthrough into learning about filmmaking came when Nicolas Cage and the film crew for “The Weather Man” were in town. Harris met folks on the set and even networked his way into a position with the film’s production company, Saturn Films. “I worked with them in Hollywood and learned the process of making movies, came back to Chicago and got a home equity loan and said, ‘I’m going to try and do this for real.’ ”

The film was produced for just over $77,000, under the now non-existant Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Experimental Film Agreement. The shoot took place in Chicago and part of Colorado, lasting 61 days.

“We mainly filmed in Lakeview, River West and West Town,” Harris says. “We kind of shot off the beaten path. Instead of being on Chicago Avenue, we went a couple blocks this way or that way. I’ve lived in West Town or River West ever since a couple years after I bought Matilda. It’s kind of industrial, a little more my taste of what Chicago is.”

Filming in Chicago was a blessing, he says, much more cost-efficient than his original proposal of shooting in Los Angeles.

“Chicago was frickin’ great,” Harris says. “The Illinois Film Office, Chicago Film Office, they were like, ‘Whatever you need, let us know.’ They were really flexible with permits, very supportive, even gave us contact lists for post-production. I mean, for a $25 city permit, you can get a street shut down.”

He laughs. “You pretty much can.”

Harris mined some loyal Matilda friends for help on the film, paying very little, of course. The first assistant director and sound guy are both regulars at Matilda, and Chris Marty, who did the music and helped produce the film, is a bartender.

“They basically said we’re gonna do this in a couple weeks,” he says. “A couple weeks turned into several weeks, turned into several months because of post-production.”

The actors in the film comprise part local SAG actors and friends and family. He admits he began rehearsing the movie with nothing but friends and family, but realized pretty quickly that acting is tougher than it looks. The downfall: SAG actors cost money. Because the movie was made under the Experimental Agreement, the actors are deferred to certain rates. “But it does’t eliminate the union rules, which you have to follow,” Harris says. “And that’s what killed us with the budget. It could have been a $25,000 feature, but with time constraints, restriction on the hours they can work, travel per diem, clothing allowances and the food — that kind of tripled the budget.”

Some of the actors include Mary Kay Cook (“Stir of Echoes”), Deanna Dunagan (“Losing Isaiah”), Kiernan Shipka (“Mad Men”), Paul Turner (“Road to Perdition”) and Sarah Von DerHaar (“America’s Next Top Model”).

“To hear your dialogue actually being filmed, and then watching the footage, editing it together, and then actually seeing a story that you created in your head, it’s a thrill,” he says.

But that’s not to say that making a movie is easy.

“Everything I thought would be tough was easy, and everything I thought would be easy was really tough,” he says. “I thought running a bar was really hard, (but) filmmaking is much harder. Just when you have a great night at a bar, you’re like, ‘Man, I’m glad I did this.’ When you get a great shot, or a scene works really well, you’re like, ‘Man, I’m glad I did this.’ ”

Harris is humble. He knows that “Dimension” is a first-time feature by a first-time director, so the film isn’t perfect. He learned a lot on this film that has already lowered his budget tremendously on his production company’s second film, “The Half Life of Mason Lake,” which has secured three spots in film festivals and is being submitted to more.

For now, Harris will take a break from filmmaking to ease up on the financial strain. He does shoot short films every month because he has the equipment. Eventually, though, he says he’ll look through his scripts and hone them down so that they can be made into a low-budget film. Then, it’ll be time to make another feature and submit it to the festivals, and maybe Sundance will be in the future.

 

“Dimension” film facts

First day of filming: 05/29/05, Chicago Avenue Blue Line El stop (underground).

Elevation: 600 feet above sea level.

Last day of filming: 08/11/05, Vail Valley, Colorado (atop China Wall Mountain).

Elevation: 12,300 feet above sea level.

The film was made under the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Experimental Film Agreement, which limits the production budget to $75,000 and the number of shooting days to 30.

Number of “official” SAG filming days: 33 (An extension was granted for the three extra days).

Number of “actual” filming days that SAG doesn’t really know about: 61.

Average length of shooting day: 15 hours

Number of locations: 122

Number of crew members: 3

Number of cameras used: 2

Number of horses used: 8

Number of family members used: All of them.

Actual production budget: $77,369 (Again, a variance was granted by SAG for the amount over $75,000).

Largest percentage of the production budget: Food and drink: $21,522.

Post-production budget: $20,000.

Actual post-production money spent: $111,253.

Largest percentage of post-production budget: Submitting and attending film festivals and associated costs: $63,299.

Rate of film festival acceptance: 13.1 percent.

Average rate of film festival acceptance for first-time feature filmmakers: 1.6 percent.

Highest “documented” rate of film festival acceptance for an independent feature: “The Garage” (2006): 53.7 percent (83 film festivals to date).

Length of script: 157 pages.

Typical length of feature film script from 1990-2000: 120 pages.

Typical length of feature film script from 2000-06: 80 pages.

Length of first rough cut: Four hours, 11 minutes.

Length of final version: 99 minutes.

Number of hours of footage captured: 102.

Number of versions of the film considered (between rough and final): 17.

Original number of cast members: 83.

Number of cast members in final version: 17.

Longest scene in rough cut: Classroom scene — nine minutes.

Longest scene in final cut: Classroom scene — two minutes.

Information lost in cutting from nine minutes to two minutes: seven minutes worth.

Information lost (related to the plot) in cutting from nine minutes to two minutes: none.

Average number of takes: four.

Fewest number of takes: one.

Largest Number of Takes: 63

Biggest pain in the ass during filming: How to get power to the lights and the audio equipment, especially with some of our strange/very remote locations.

Best days of filming: Shooting “Hell” at Finkl Foundary on Cortland Ave. They pretty much let us do whatever we wanted in an extremely hazardous environment — it was incredibly noisy and well. It was hot as hell, but it was great. And shooting “Heaven” atop China Wall Mountain in Colorado. No ambient sound whatsoever, and just plain spectacular.

Frequently asked questions:

• Where’d you get the idea for the film?
I’ve always wanted to change things about myself and my situation, and I thought it would be a good idea to quantify this, so that everybody would have the same opportunity to adjust their lives by the same amount.

• Why did you decided to make a film?
Most of my life I’ve wondered what it would be like to make a movie, and I just didn’t want to wonder about it anymore.

• How was the film financed?
Home equity loan.

• Is the Artwork in the film important?
Yes. The artwork in each of the character’s scenes is intended to be reflective of their circumstance.

• Who did the music for the film?
Chris Marty, Fools Gladly and Cisco Pike.

• Where in the city did you film?
West Town, River West and Lakeview.

• After making two feature films and three short films, what do you think is the most important thing about filmmaking?
Without question, the editing.

• The tracking shots filmed from the inside of the car capture all of downtown Chicago, but there are no people or other vehicles in any of the shots. How did you do this?
The shots were filmed on two separate Sunday mornings between 4:45 a.m. and 5:15 a.m., just after the sun had provided enough light to film. This early on a Sunday there really wasn’t anybody or anything around.

• Any regrets?
Yes. Test marketing the various rough cuts instead of not going with my gut instincts on what the final version of the film should be.

• Any other lessons learned?
Writing a good script is like only 10 percent of the battle. There are countless other things to consider.

• Where did your main character, Chance Pullman’s “look” come from?
Believe it or not, his appearance is based on John Candy in the first “Vacation” movie.

• You’ve called this a “pyramid” movie. What do you mean by that?
Like a pyramid, the film is very broad (maybe even confusing) at the beginning or the base, and as it continues or gets closer to the top, it ends with everything resolved or tied up and with basically one theme or point and all questions answered.

• What are some of your favorite movies, independent or otherwise?
The Station Agent, The Brown Bunny, Galaxy Quest, Unforgiven, Sling Blade, The Shawshank Redemption, Primer, Flashdance, The Fifth Element, Moulin Rouge, Lantana, Syriana, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, My Cousin Vinny, Zero Effect, Tombstone.

• What’s something that you wanted to accomplish with the film that you feel you really were successful at?
Capturing the parts of Chicago that I love and making a movie that actually looks like a movie.

• Are any of the choices that are made in the movie something that you would have made?
Every single choice that is included in the final cut of the film, with the exception of some of the females wanting to increase their bust line, is a choice that I have considered and probably would have made at one point or another in my life. But, the final choice that’s made is something that we all can make in real life.

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