The Saranay Motel, a film by Elliott Earls
In December 2005 in preparation for a looming performance at Music Hall Detroit, I shot an eight minute long digital film in a flea-bag motel on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. Over the course of the past eighteen months in collaboration with my band The Venomous Sons of Jonah and a loose collection of artists, I've taken that short and built upon it.
As of July 2008, I've shot over 1.5 terabytes of material including over 3000 photographs. The material ranges from high definition 720p footage, to stop motion sequences shot with a Nikon D-200 in raw format. We have shot on four distinct occasions for total of 16 days. The current edit is one-hundred and four minutes long and probably needs to be closer to fifty. At this point the arc of the narrative is largely in place.
Major portions of the film have been shot in the following locations:
- Detroit, Michigan
- Metamora, Michigan
- Athens, Georgia
- Paris, France
- Snowmass, Colorado
- Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
The status of the project as of July 20th, 2008
Independence Pass, Colorado
Over the course of a twelve week period beginning on January 1st of 2008, I took a break from working on the film. I was asked by Reed Kroloff to design a set of eleven 27"x40" posters for Cranbrook Academy of Art. Incorporating extensive drawing, three-dimensional rendering, typography, egg tempera painting and research, I had little time for other projects. Upon completion of the poster project I resumed work on the film.
The frame grabs below depict a scene from the film shot on July 11th 2008 at Independence Pass in Snowmass Colorado. Working with a number of students from the Anderson Ranch art community, I shot the main element of the scene at 12,500 feet. In the scene, Dougy has an encounter with Yahweh ( יהוה or "I am the One Who Is") in the form of a burning bush. Other elements of the scene were shot on location at Maroon Bells and the Ice Caves at the Grotto.
A note on technique
The scene was shot in both standard high definition 720p as well as in extremely high resolution/high frame rate stop-motion footage. The two formats were then cut together to create a rather strange scene (technically).
The Burning Bush |
Added:Sunday, July 20, 2008 9:59 AM |
Click here to see a brief snippet from the source footage...
The Louvre, Paris, France
On July 12th 2008, Immediately after filming in Snowmass I flew to Paris. With the Assistance of Gary Wasserman and through the generosity of the Wolfsonian Museum and the Musée D'art Décoratif ( a component of The Louvre ), we shot for four days "on" Napoleon's throne.
On Napoleon's Throne |
Added:Sunday, July 20, 2008 9:59 AM |
The Trailer
I've posted the first trailer for the film here. The Saranay Motel trailer is cut to a song entitled Can't Nobody Flow, which I wrote in collaboration with super-producer Timothy Day and actor Jerome Evans. Tim took the clawhammer joint Cluck Old Hen recorded with The Venomous Sons of Jonah, mixed it with some old-skool hip hop beats and 80's production techniques. Jerome Evans and I then contributed our verses. Video from the recording session is posted here. After watching the video, click on the record player below to compare and hear how Tim Day re-mixed the traditional clawhammer into a hip-hop joint. In the very last section of the song (the last minute) the track breaks down into a traditional old-time banjo track with my verse about Dale Ernhardt Jr. rapped on top.
Click on the image above to listen to Can't Nobody Flow.
Click on the links below to see The Saranay Motel Trailer
Play in Flash Video format 
Play in Quicktime Format (Highest quality option)
Play on youTube
Casting The Saranay Motel
While the The Saranay Motel was written and directed by Elliott Earls, much of the actual dialog in the film was structured as ad lib. Scenes were established with a clear set of narrative goals. And while the actors understood their characters' function within the story, enormous freedom and encouragement was given to infuse the character with the actors' own pathologies, tics, interests and foibles. In the casting process I essentially drew together a group of people from my loose network of stooges, flunkies, aspirant actors, graphic designers, yes-men, filmmakers and itinerant musicians. Most of the players within the film consider themselves "artists" rather than "actors." ( Jerome Evans and Benjamin Stewart being the obvious exceptions.)
The Film Stars
Dora Apel, Matthew Biro, Timothy Day, Darlene Earls, Elliott Earls, Ed Fella, Jerome Evans, The Reverend Robert Jones, Kei Shiraishi, Joshua-Ray Stephens, Benjamin Stewart, Kosta Stratigos, Ries Straver and Benjamin Teague.
With an original score by Elliott Earls, featuring The Venomous Sons of Jonah, Tim Day and Joshua-Ray Stephens.
Frame grabs from The Saranay Motel Feature Length Film
Horst and Les Plot |
Dutch artist Ries Straver stars as Horst Schicklegrüber. American comic book artist and designer Joshua-Ray Stephens as Les Griffin. |
Adam O'Hurlahee Preens |
American critic and art historian, Matthew Biro stars as Adam O'Hurlahee. |
Pico shaves Adam |
Pico, Cash Advance Records fashion and image consultant, shaves Adam O'Hurlahee as they discuss retribution. |