Living Sent - Short film

An interview with church video director Ethan Milner from Birmingham, AL about how he made his narrative short film Living Sent.

This goes without saying, but I'll say it anyways - SO IMPRESSIVE dude.  How long did this project take from idea to premiere?

From the day I pitched the idea it was a little less than 3 months.

That's a pretty aggressive schedule... I know you guys have tackled bigger film projects before, so was this a situation where you already had the infrastructure (gear, crew, etc.) to quickly hit the ground running or did you have to start from scratch?

I had the idea over the summer of 2019. Shades had hosted the Pastor’s Conference for the SBC in Birmingham and I had an opportunity as part of that to interview about 30 pastors. One of those pastor’s gave an answer in an interview that sparked the idea. I waited to tell the team for about a month because that conference really took it out of us. Didn’t know if they would be down to climb the mountain again, but they’re awesome and jumped at it.

Our team has stayed mostly the same over the years so they knew what to do when a new narrative opportunity rolls in. The crew we used was a lot of people we’ve worked with before and then some new friends. But it’s like anything, it gets a little easier and faster every time out.

Pre-Production Behind-The-Scenes

There was a lot of intentionality, themes, and motifs that tied in throughout the film.  I’ll admit for my own films I’m not thinking that many layers deep.  Are those something that existed before the script?  How and when do you decide on those and work them into the film?

This one was a little different because while we were going for a narrative short film feel, it’s really an extended commercial intended for our people who are already connected to the church. Something to put into story form who we are and what we’re about.

So those themes and the basic idea of the story is something we’re constantly talking about and have been for years. So there was a lot of shared language and understanding which made it really easy to get the project approved.

The other intention inherent in it was the church had been going through a building campaign to redo its worship center. Which of course everyone feels different ways about and it took about 8 months of construction. We pitched the film to premiere the day we moved back into the new room as a way of taking the focus off the new carpet and furnishings and tech that was in there and refocus people on the mission of the church

As far as the themes of time and weaving and connecting the different character’s stories, was that something you had in mind from the start or was that during the revisions process?

Honestly when I sat down to write the script I felt the need for something to get me on my heels. I wanted something different and challenging to keep myself engaged. So in a backwards way it was like ok right... how do I make this story more exciting for me to write... and then hopefully the end product is more exciting to watch. So I started outlining in great detail before writing which I don’t usually do. I drew an outline that visually showed how the stories connecting and what each timeline was like.

Director Ethan Milner making an empty church look full.

So are you like “I want to end scenes on a clock”? Or is that something your DP is pushing for?

So the clock thing... I’m pretty convinced that was a mistake. That building campaign I mentioned that we were wrapping up had a tagline which was “The Time Is Now”... so we’d been saying that a lot to our people about missional living.

To try and tie that in, I had decided in the writing that I wanted the stories to take place on different timelines and then all connect at the same point at the end. I thought it’d be a good vehicle for tension if the audience was keeping up with the time. But in reality, I don’t think people can read analog clocks that fast... either that or most people just don’t care about those details and just want more of the story. So I don’t know if it worked at all, but I’m glad we tried.

Nice, well I think it totally worked.  On a technical note, I was shocked to see in the behind-the-scenes video how often you were utilizing the Ronin, especially mounted on tripods and dollies.  How did you guys come up with that strategy?

A little bit out of necessity. I didn’t feel like there were any appropriate moments for handheld work. And I knew I wanted to follow characters as they walked a lot... one of those themes I latched onto was walking and forward momentum into their environments or spheres of influence. And I just like shots of people moving. The schedule was so tight, we didn’t have time to take the camera out of the Ronin and re-rig it for sticks or for a traditional dolly shot. You lose like 15-20 minutes every time you do that. So we just left it on there and shot almost everything on it.

It was a blessing and curse. I like the movement we got. But gimbals are also the worst! Haha... there’s always a balancing or focus or wireless issue it seems.

Did that present any unintended benefits (or consequences)?

The benefit was that a straight push in or a real traditional dolly shot always looked way better using the ronin as a hot-head, but I did miss the organic things you can do when you’ve got human hands on the camera. The gimbal can be too perfect. It also limited some of what you could do with really fast moves like being able to do a whip-pan and stop on a dime. Thats tough when you’re controlling it with a joystick.

Production Behind-The-Scenes

For sure, some serious video gaming skills are needed to pull off those joystick maneuvers. Besides the Ronin what was the main gear you used for this film and how did you decide on that particular set of gear?

The main consideration was money. I made a conscious choice to spend money on crew and as little as possible on gear. We rented the ronin and wireless stuff needed for it, but that was about it. The camera and lenses were what we always use at the church. Having a great gaffer and electric and AC and DP is everything.

What was your main camera package?

An 8 year old Red Epic we bought soon after I got to the church and set of Zeiss CP.2 lenses.

How many of these locations were real locations vs. repurposed locations around the church building?

Half and half... church members generously helped us out with being able to use a real hospital, school, and houses, but with each real location there were parts that were just easier to do at our church. For example, the hospital wouldn’t let us hold an elevator door open long enough to film that scene. So we art decorated the church’s elevator for that. Same with a few of the smaller hospital scenes that fit better into our schedule if we knocked them out at the church.

I’m going to pretend that I’m not insanely jealous that you had a production designer.  For those who have never worked with one before can you share what it’s like?  What do they do and how do you think they helped your film? (Or art director, you can clarify that role)

Well... not so fast... a member of our full-time staff (our graphic designer) acts as production designer on our short films. He’s got a great eye and can print literally anything he needs. It’s a must though because filming in a hospital or school or any location like that you can’t use their names or logos. So all signage, any pamphlets or door hangers, all that stuff has to be redesigned and printed. All of that is done in-house.

Even in the house locations, little things like the clocks, packing boxes, the right lamp... all that stuff has to be considered. He’s always trying to find and borrow things (again from church members) that have the right feel for a that character in the story.

It seems like on every film project people will surprise you with their unique gifts or talents that you might not have known they had, you just have to invite people to be a contributor to the project and see what happens.

Last question: When are you going to make your first feature?  To me it looks like you’re ready.

Haha well thats kind. I’m definitely working on it and it’s not for lack of trying! Hopefully this next year or two some things will happen!

Well I’m here for it.  Can’t wait to watch it.

You can connect with Ethan on Instagram @ethan_milner and check out more of the amazing films his team has created on Shades Mountain's Vimeo.

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