Pre-Production - We held auditions at Governors State University in University Park, IL. The cast was selected from a large pool of actors from across the Midwest. The auditions took place over the course of two full days. We were blown away when we met Kennedy Martin who plays the lead, Eileen Pinkerton. Kennedy was meant to play the role of Eileen. Everything from the way she dressed to her mannerisms was nearly identical to how Eileen was originally written. We also found that Linda Crowder, who plays Lady Dead, had degrees of similarity and a personal connection to Lady Dead’s plight.
Securing the cemetery and finding the right house for Lady Dead proved to be the biggest pre-production challenge. However, we were fortunate enough to get in contact with Zion Lutheran Church of Matteson, IL. The church owned and maintained the cemetery. Once we had clearance from the board members of the church, it was a very simple process to schedule our shoot. We only had one day to shoot the cemetery scenes with the hopes that there wouldn’t be a funeral that day. Location scouting Lady Dead’s house unfortunately wasn’t as successful. In most cases, we never received a phone call back from those we contacted and the one that we did hear back from denied our request. We agreed to use the producer’s house as an exterior location, always knowing that that was the neighborhood we intended on shooting in.
Production – Lady Dead was shot in five days over the course of three weekends. We had a very talented skeleton crew that moved quickly and efficiently. We shot with the Sony HVR-A1U in high definition. Careful steps were taken to reduce the saturation and sharpness of the picture so as not to have that ‘crisp’ look that high definition is known for. Being a micro budget film, we built inexpensive camera rigs and other DIY grip equipment in hopes of gaining production value without incurring hefty rental fees. The Crock Pot was also instrumental in maintaining a micro budget.
Post-Production – Editing of Lady Dead was done in Final Cut Express and was authored in iDVD. It took approximately four months of post-production to complete Lady Dead.