The Baby Cries: 14 pages in 1 Day

The Baby Cries: 14 pages in 1 Day  

by Mario J. Novoa

February 10, 2015

It was one hell of a shoot. Ambitious but not in impossible. Because we shot with a very limited budget and small cast and crew, we needed to squeeze out every word and shot for The Baby Cries script. With the exception of Matt Pascua (Marco), the cast had performed The Baby Cries on stage months prior to filming. Miriam Peniche, Martin Morales and MJ Silva had already found the nuances of their characters, except that they had to perform for camera in a new environment. We had one table read and one rehearsal day so that we could find "home" in a different environment. While we shot in 1 day, there were days of discussions and planning over the phone or in person. The burden lay on the camera department, which was headed by D.P. Dan Cotreau. 

For most productions, you lay out several days of production to get all the logistics down correctly. I truly felt that this endeavor could be created in one day. Everyone doubted that it could be done, but I needed to assure the cast and crew that we could do it. Since I was editing the film, I knew I could fill in the gaps (if any) in pro-production. 

When I reviewed the film after our production day, I found areas of opportunity for creativity. I believe our limitations can lead to highly creative moments. I was able to use sound and various shots to fill in areas that I could not afford to shoot. As I looked at where the film needed touch ups, I made the best I could with what I had. 

I am happy with the final outcome and that I was able to do this production in such a short period of time. Only our audience will feel the film's impact when they view it, and they will be the final judges on whether or not the film was successful. 

When you have limited opportunities, you have to make the best with what you have. If The Baby Cries, embodies anything, it is boldness. 

Creativity should not be bottled up, but explored. 

The Baby Cries Teaser Trailer

This is a teaser of my short film The Baby Cries. The Baby Cries is being developed for a feature, web-series and multi-media production. We hope you enjoy the teaser.

May 5, 2013 : The Baby Cries in Dublin, Ireland!

www.gaytheatre.ie

May 5, 2013 : The Baby Cries in Dublin, Ireland!

I’m sure there are many babies crying in Ireland, but not like mine. This story is about two gay dads raising their newborn daughter while trying to reconnect with their own parents. This story is about love, faith and hope for LGBT people who are trying to mend ties with their family. This story is based in part of my own experience as a father while trying to reconcile with my parents, after coming "out" many years prior. This week my little baby will be shown to an international audience with a cast and crew from Los Angeles. They’ve arrived in Ireland and are prepping for an all week performance.

I am So grateful that my play The Baby Cries is part of the International Dublin Gay Theater Festival in Dublin, Ireland this week! 

Congrats to the cast MJ Silva, Martin Morales, Andres Solorzano and Carla Vega who are in Ireland already. Break a leg guys!

The Baby Cries - Production Design and Performance

I took these photos of the location during our preproduction of the film The Baby Cries, to help get a sense of coverage. This is the hardest part for a director sometimes, because you have intuitively know where to get your best shots. Sometimes your intuition can work against you, and you end up with bad shots. This is always frustrating. I've learned to experiment in pre-production and production, and find the best shots that conveys story, color, design and most importantly, allows the actors to do their best.

When I took this random photo in pre-production, I rewrote a scene between the grandparents in which they talked about their relationship with their son. I loved that we could see across the Silver Lake Reservoir in L.A. I didn't know if we could pull it off, especially with the lenses that we were working with. Although during production we had a limited amount of time, I went back and reshot the scene again with actors Martin Morales and Miriam Peniche. This time we achieved the shot I wanted and was pleased with the outcome.

One of the things I try to be conscious of as a filmmaker, is that we are taking full advantage of the location we are shooting in. I've worked on numerous projects where the director forgets to use the location as character, and ends up cutting out the beauty of the location. The use of close up shots seems to dominate the logic in post, although I argue that with cinema, location is everything...and performance.

Silhouette of Martin and Miriam.