Movie makers preparing to shoot film near Porterville

A film crew begins transforming the rolling hills above Porterville into a small village English village this week – all in preparation for The Devout.

This new film, written and directed by Mairin Hart takes place in the 1400’s in England, when the plague was ravaging though Europe and infecting and killing everyone in sight. The film follows one woman, as she must risk everything to save her friends and family from the horrible disease of the Black Death.

“The Devout tells a complicated story. There’s a lot of emotion and philosophical challenges at play here – religion versus science, man versus woman, and of course, life versus death,” said Hart, who was in Porterville last weekend to arrange a casting call for several acting roles in the film and to help get the film sets into shape.

And of course, there’s that nasty little plague. Who needs zombies when you can have folks stumbling around dropping dead, covered with pustules and horrible lesions. Just think of the horror and inevitability of disease during the Middle Ages!

“We thought this was a perfect tale to tell in the hills above Porterville, which we can make look remarkably like the area in England this story was written for,” Vallentine said.

Vallentine, Hart, and a whole cadre of film professionals are working hard this weekend to build a medieval village on a nearby ranch. The core crew, the director, producer, director of photography, set designer, all have jobs working in various phases of film production in Southern California.

Vallentine spends most of his professional time working on projects for the Syfy Channel. The others are similarly deployed throughout the working cadre in the film industry, but they share a common connection: they have all competed graduate studies at the Chapman University Dodge School of Media. And now, with their working careers taking off, their advanced studies completed, they have come together to produce The Devout – a half hour short that will be marketed on the independent film circuit and at film festivals, but which Hart and her colleagues hope to eventually use to springboard into a full feature length film.

“The film will be showcased around the world at a number of film festivals, and other venues as well as a local premier in May 2012,” Vallentine said.  “With enough support for this film, we hope to be able to create a feature length film that will be shown in theatres around the country.”

The Devout has already found a lot of local support from the Tulare County Film Commission, the Porterville School District and the Porterville Chamber of Commerce.

“We were interested in this production for several reasons,” said Eric Coyne, Tulare County Film Commissioner. “While considered a low-budget production at approximately $50,000, a significant amount of that money will be spent here locally in the Porterville area for construction materials, lodging and other supplies. That’s why we put Andrew and Mairin in touch with Donnette Carter at the Porterville Chamber right away, so she could help them with some of their local needs. But the real local value in my mind is the partnership with Porterville Unified School District.”

The Devout film crew worked with school officials to create college prep and career development opportunities for multiple pathways to become involved in various aspects of the film’s production – helping to engineer and construct sets for the medieval village, research and help the crew authentically depict the visible signs of plague, and help local medical professionals staff a first aid tent on location. Students have also created and are managing The Devout’s Facebook wall - where the public can find information about the film, or submit a picture and resume if they wish to audition for roles in the film.

“The Tulare County Film Commission put us in touch with school administrators and teachers so we could integrate students from several disciplines into the pre-production and actual filming stages,” Vallentine said. “We may all be graduate students now, but not long ago we were all sitting right where these high school students are right now – with a desire to be involved professionally in the film business but lacking experience and wondering how to get started.

“Working with students from several local high schools is a win-win,” Vallentine said. “They can help us keep a $50,000 film within budget and yet have the look and feel of a much more expensive production, and we can have an opportunity to share some of the knowledge we have all learned the hard way on film sets to teach the more about professional lighting techniques, set building, budgeting and planning for major projects and so on. I think most of us are looking forward to that part of this partnership Just as much as we are looking forward to producing one of our own projects from start to finish instead of working on someone else’s TV show or production.”

Currently the film is in its final stages of pre-production, and is looking for a number of key essentials for production.
 
• 20-30 local actors, willing to be in the film
• 2-4 horses, with owners willing to be in the film
• A number of different farm animals, Chickens, Goats, and Sheep
• Catering, for crew and cast during filming
• Security to have on set, during production
• Assistants with the construction of the medieval village
• RV’s, generators, firewood, weathered wood for construction

CASTING CALL: The Devout production crew is looking for 20-30 Caucasian males and females between the ages of 18 and 70. Producers will hold casting "auditions" from 1p.m. to 5p.m. on Saturday, January 28 at the Porterville Chamber of Commerce, located at 93 North Main St., Suite C.

People who cannot audition in person - Submit photo and brief personal description at The Devout’s Facebook page – set up solely for casting submissions:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Devout-Submissions/206787639411525

If you would like to assist in production of The Devout, please contact Vallentine direct. To learn more, visit the film’s official website www.thedevoutfilm.com

Most of the funding for the $50,000 project is already in hand, but the Chapman students are also currently looking for donations to complete their funding goal. Interested parties can donate at www.indiegogo.com/TheDevoutfilm

For all press and public questions, contact producer Andrew Vallentine by email at: andrew.vallentine@gmail.com

Watch The Devout  production crew on location:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Devout/169865689768546   

Distributed as a courtesy by the Tulare County Film Commission. Contact: Eric Coyne (559-624-7187)  www.filmtularecounty.com