Charles Anteby

Charles Anteby's latest demo reel includes a scene from To Rest in Peace.

The scene was shot on our third day of production. During the screening in Kuwait, several people tried to guess which local hospital we filmed in. But this was actually filmed in Santa Clarita, California. Kudos to our production design team.

The third day of production was particularly difficult, because of a big technical setback we had in the morning. We were not able to get our first shot in until after lunch, and then only because of some major problem solving by camera department, grips and electrics, and producers. Having a professional cast with a good attitude helped us rally and rescue the scene. My biggest concern when the crew is working against the clock is: will the stress of the day affect the performances? But I was very happy from "action" to "cut."

Congrats to Charles on your continued success!

Congrats Katie Byron!

Congratulations to our production designer, Katie Byron, for the success of her feature film Like Crazy. It won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, and also won Best Actress for Felicity Jones. The film opens in theaters October 28th.

The Variety review praises Katie's work:

Production designer Katie Byron adeptly adorns Anna's and Jacob's respective apartments down to the finest detail, from half-empty bottles of dish soap in the sink to student-loan letters from Sallie Mae in the mailbox.

There's another great review on Entertainment Weekly.

One of my favourite aspects of screening To Rest in Peace, is the shock people express when they find out we filmed most of it in California. They are immersed in the world of Kuwait, and believe we filmed it there. So much of that movie magic is Katie Byron's work.

After one screening in Kuwait, someone insisted "But the house was filmed here, right?" "No, nothing with actors was filmed in Kuwait. It was just me and the cinematographer here." "But how did you find a house that looks like that in California?" "Production design!"

Congrats Katie! And best wishes for your continued success.

Gulf Film Festival

To Rest in Peace will be in competition at the Gulf Film Festival in Dubai, April 14-20. We are amongst ten Kuwaiti films selected, which will join other filmmakers from around the world.

Our screening dates are April 15th at 6 P.M., and 17th at 3 P.M. Check out their website for more details.

The Gulf Film Festival is run by the same team who put together the Dubai International Film Festival, where we had our official premier in December. It will be great to go back and see everyone again!

Unsung Heroes of Production Design

To Rest in Peace is unofficially picture locked, awaiting a thumbs up from its faculty mentor, Amanda Pope. This is a good time to reflect on some of the great work that never made it into the final cut.

Films often have to cut out lines, scenes, or even entire characters. (Compare the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven to the theatrical release, which is missing a key character in the story). Fortunately, To Rest in Peace has not lost any scenes or characters. But there's a lot of great production design that won't make it onto the screen.

My personal favourite is the 'emergency room' sign in the hospital scene, pictured above. The art department did an amazing job of transforming a drab Santa Clarita set, into a Kuwaiti hospital. At a test screening in Kuwait, several people in the audience were convinced that we filmed at a local hospital. Thanks to Katie Byron the production designer, Henry Alvarado the art director, Rebecca Eskreis the set dresser, and the art PAs Julianne Dome, Cynthia Fox, Monica Sender and Stephanie Wooten.

The scene ended up playing best in one continuous steadicam shot, beautifully operated by David Baldwin. But the shot never looks in that direction. So, dear 'emergency room' sign, we'll miss you.

There was a lot of great work by the art department that never made it into the final cut, or even into the dailies. But what it did was completely free us to shoot in any direction we needed. We were standing in the spaces of our imagined world, and every detail around us was true to the characters and the story.

The Family Connection

One of the happy coincidences of To Rest in Peace was my reconnecting with Mohammad, a cousin of mine I had not seen in years. The last time I remember seeing him was in Kuwait, when we were young teens. He called me out of the blue a couple of weeks before production, and said he was interested in helping out.

Mohammad was amazing to have on set. He was there every day, working hard at everything he was given. Production Assistant, Art Assistant, Stand-in, C-stand.

At one point he brought his video camera along, and got some great behind the scenes footage. Some of it is up on his blog, freemind82.blogspot.com, and some of it will be reserved for the DVD extras. My favourite is the cute "roller coaster" video.

Day 3 of 10

A good day 3. We had some big technical set backs that pushed our first shot until after lunch. With only a couple of hours left, the team rallied together, pushed through, and was able to create a beautiful scene.

It was so lovely to see all the actors in Kuwaiti clothing, moving through a space that the art department had made completely authentic. We missed a couple of shots that would have really showed the full glory of the art department's work. But we have our scene, and a beautiful scene, with several options for post-production, which is exactly what we need.

I was moved by how many people we were able to get for extras, and Prasanna Iyengar, our costume designer, did a great job of dressing them all. Pictured above, left to right, are Vachan, Kamal, my dad Faisal and Mohammad, who was kind enough to bring Kamal and a contingent of seven or so people. Mohammad will also play a man who is stopped by soldiers and interrogated on Tuesday.

Rich Prugh, our set photographer, was not on set today, and will not be tomorrow. We missed him! Looking forward to having him back on Tuesday for Day 5.

Sunday night is an overnight shoot for our climactic scene. Then a much deserved day off for everyone on memorial day.

Green Light!

We were officially green lit today!

The green light process at USC is a series of meetings with all the thesis department heads: producing, editing, sound, visual effects and physical production. We start shooting on Thursday.

I also visited the workshop of our production designer, Katie Byron, which is now hosting our wonderful art department team. The picture above is art director Henry Alvarado with one of two stop signs he made for us, with some help from the good people over at 24.

It all comes together...

Last week Fawaz, Brad and I had our first visual design meeting with Sean (DP), Katie (PD), Prasanna Iyengar (Costume Designer) and Henry Alvarado (Art Director). It was really incredible for me, because it was the first time everyone in charge of the visuals put forward their ideas and unique take on the film. Don't ask me why, but most exciting of all for me was seeing that Prasanna had already created our badges for the Red Crescent volunteers... There's just something really official about the film now. I can't believe we are less than three weeks away!