Synopsis

When you're seventeen, every little thing can seem like a major change in the world. So it goes with Isaac, a teenager who, as his senior year in high school comes to an end, stares uneasily into the future. His feelings of confusion are further compounded by the arrival of his older brother, Ben, who comes home for the summer to take up with his ex-girlfriend, Lila, and set out on one last road trip before entering the world of responsibilities. The harmony the three youngsters seek over the weekend getaway quickly gives way to unexpected complications, however, as Isaac and Ben realize their shared feelings for Lila. (Cinequest)

Notes

This was our first feature film. Nandan and I met in film school. At that time, mumblecore was at its peak. Those films helped me understand that I didn't need to make a short thesis film when I could just as easily finish school early and make a feature on my own. So, I moved back to my hometown (Olympia, WA) at the beginning of 2009. Nandan wasn't finished with school, but he took a semester-long leave of absence to come help.
We spent an entire six months in "pre-production". Having never made a movie before, we made a lot of questionable judgement calls about how to spend this time. We threw failed fundraisers (most notably a roller disco), tried to lure investors with a lemonade stand, and left letters asking for money on the doorsteps of expensive-looking houses. We went out a lot in search of new friends, secretly sizing them up as potential actors, or weighing the photogenic value of their living spaces. Everyone who appears in the movie is someone we cajoled into participating.
The shoot lasted all of July and into August. We worked from an 18-page outline that laid out each scene in the movie. The dialogue was entirely improvised, but we rehearsed the more conversational scenes several times in the months leading up to the shoot. We knew that to rush could lead to poor decisions, creative sacrifices, and - worst of all - bad vibes, so we scheduled our days to maximize our margin for error. We never shot more than four scenes in a day, always got a full night's sleep, and spent as much time swimming and eating soft serve as we did working.
-- via Newhard Entertainment