The Production of 'Two Scoops'

In 2016, I moved to Aliquippa, PA. The surrounding area was very quiet. Immediately trying to capitalize on the surroundings and the atmosphere of Aliquippa, on Brodhead Rd, I began writing a short film that would eventually make its way to being 'Two Scoops'.

This film started out as a 6 page short story set in the town with a character that has a bi-polar disorder. The character in which was played by me, was loosely based off the title character on Showtimes 'Dexter' played fantastically by Michael C. Hall.

With as little lines as possible, I wanted to portray a character mysterious and that people might want to see again. Another aspect of the story is that it's told in a non-linear style.

Pictured left is from the first page of the screenplay for Two Scoops, which has been entered into the finals of Screenplayfest an online film festival.

I admit, this screenplay is not the most descriptive, or best written, however, I shown it to give an example as to the way it is told. In reverse, much like the film by Christopher Nolan, 'Memento'; Which the main character has short-term memory loss and he can only remember through pictures, and tattoos he puts on himself.

This film was a big push to make 'Two Scoops'.

After the screenplay and understanding the look of the film.

It's time to bring on some friends to help.

Shane A. Wright of .45 Productions was a person that I've worked with before on multiple projects, including the award winning trailer I cut for 'Hunter 1' and then we worked recently on 'Red Hearts'. We've worked on more than that together but this is just a story about 'Two Scoops'.

Also to the addition is Robert W. Rackley from Blu Plate. Robert, Shane, and I went to Douglas Education Center together and worked on multiple projects.

This project of 'Two Scoops' had multiple problems on set, which led to a rushed out picture, and rushing the actual production of the film-making process. A process where I was Cinematographer, Co-Director, and Lead Actor. It was fun, It's always a fun time to film and make connections with people.

The style selected was an 80's Film-noir type.

This can be seen in the trailer, as well as the various posters made of the film. Like this:

A big portion was another member of the cast that isn't actually a person, Rex. A mix of black lab and German shepherd, a dog that is too smart for his own good. Not complaining though, which was one of the best parts of the set, such a great addition and was a very good doggy actor. He actually went to his mark when needed, sat and watched when he was supposed to. The only part of the set that was challenging was when we needed to shoot the fight sequence, the tight hallway and the second any of us would fight, Rex would bark like a mad man and try and get us to stop.

It was funny, but it was a bit annoying since we had to shut him in the room until we were done.

Overall we had a good time shooting, especially when it was just Rob, Shane, and myself in the scenes we just needed to film.

I one day would love to expand on the main character and push him further than this short film.

This isn't the most full in-depth article I could do, but we didn't have much behind the scenes photos taken. But I wanted to give a look into the other side of 'Two Scoops' without giving too much away.