Cashing Out

Review from WVIFF for Cashing Out

2009-08-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

This is a GREAT film!

I'll admit that I was a bit worried about the length. A story has to be compelling with smooth flow to keep my attention longer than 60 minutes. But you did the job. And it did not drag.

The plot was fabulous - as were the actors. Good camera work. Good attention to light and framing. And most important - Good Audio! Oh - and great animation too!

It takes a good director and producer to pull off a film like this. I can only guess that everyone on the team worked well together.

You hooked me on the opening scene and by the end of the film my eyes were filled with tears. BRAVO!

B.J. Gudmundsson

Patchwork Films

www.patchworkfilms.com

Cashing Out Wins 1st at WVIFF

2009-08-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

Cashing Out won 1st place at the West Virginia International Film Festival in June 2009 in the Division III College Level Student Filmmaking category! Check out http://wviff.org/ for more info on the winners of this years festival.

New Cashing Out Trailer!

2009-03-22T16:34:00.000-07:00

New Behind the Scenes and Poster!

2008-11-29T17:32:00.000-08:00

"Cashing Out' Behind the Scenes - The Actors

First look at new poster designed by Harmony Becker

"Cashing Out" Trailer/Behind the Scenes Video!

2008-10-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

"Cashing Out" is the second feature movie from LightSmith Productions.

The movie was filmed in two weeks in July of 2008. Inspired by true events,

"Cashing Out" is a story about how one small act of kindess can change the world.

"Cashing Out" Trailer

"Cashing Out' Behind the Scenes - The Story

Director: Mie Smith

Director of Photography: Sun Jae Smith

Screenwriter: Kate Tsubata

Sound Engineer: Kensei Tsubata

www.lightsmithpro.com/cashingout

Cashing Out Post Production

2008-08-31T13:15:00.000-07:00

Post Production video and audio editing is well under way for LightSmith Production's next feature length film, "Cashing Out." A few scenes have been roughly edited and the footage is looking great so far. We are really excited to see how the rest of the movie will come together. Other than that, we are now working on a movie trailer and several poster designs to be released in the next couple weeks or so.

Here is our new office and home studio that has just opened this month!

Until next time,

Sun Jae and Mie Smith

LightSmith Productions

Cashing Out Filming Wrapped!

2008-07-27T18:07:00.001-07:00

After two straight weeks of longs days of filming and production, the principle photography for "Cashing Out" has ended. It's been a great two weeks filled with many great memories and experiences shared by all. We were able to film at several great locations in the Maryland, Washington DC and West Virginia areas. We appreciate all of the cast and crew who participated and made the time and effort to make this film a reality. For Mie and I, it was a great challenge to take on filled with many new learning experiences.

The next step will be post production process which includes all of the video editing, special effects and audio scoring. We'll keep you updated on the progress as things get going! Thanks for you all!

Annie's day

2008-07-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the Light Smith Production went and shot all day over at the Muhammad's. They live at 7**15 *Censored* Drive, so if you would like to visit the site of the shoot you would have to ask for permission to view the classified documents. Now on to more serious matters, the shoot was very long but fun indeed. We shot all the Adamson (Grandpa) scenes in the movie covering almost 20 pages of script...I think (Not all of course Adamson by himself). We shot some more agent scenes , the paramedic scene, scenes with Terry, and also more scenes with Ken. For food we had a cookout with burgers, hot dogs, watermelon and potato salad for lunch and dinner. We played some DDR down in the basement and watched a movie "Be Kind Rewind" (During the breaks of course). The crew was as productive and efficient as ever with only a limited amount of nap times :) Which is especially good for an all day shoot which begun at 10 in the morning and ended at 10 at night. According to my calculations that's about 12 hours of hard working actors, crew, and directors even if the house had great A/C, at least that's just what I hear ;) So props to all of the hard working crew, kitchen staff, actors, and directors who made yesterday an awesome day of shooting and Congrats! By the way forgot to mention the hard working actresses alongside the actors.

Locations shots in West Virginia

2008-07-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the most intensive filming day by far.
Up at 4, we had a convoy of three vehicles on the road by 5, heading for Petersburg, West Virginia, a small town filled with beautiful people and scenery. There we met Tom Hencke, who grew up in Lanham, MD, but who heads up the newspaper in Petersburg. He opened the Old Grant County Courthouse for us, a big brick building with white pillars, and a jail around the back.

Soon, we had a small group of local residents who were joining our cast for the day. Directors Mie and Sun Jae assigned them various roles. Within minutes, they were on camera, as the "witnesses" in the trial of the four main characters.

It was amazing how perfectly each one filled his or her role. We were astounded by the discipline of both the more experienced cast and those entering that day. The 94-degree heat was bearable when the fans and window air conditioner were blowing, but during the actual filming, all those noise-producing elements were turned off, and the strong lights were fierce. Inside the courthouse, the temperatures were probably 20 degrees higher than the shaded portico outside, so we had quite a time keeping people hydrated, iced down, and some had to keep a towel nearby to blot the beads of perspiration between takes!

Somehow, we managed to film some 21 pages of the script during the daylight hours, finishing by around 7 p.m. Breakfast and lunch were ordered for cast and crew: dollar menu from McDonalds was all our slimming pocketbooks could handle, and we ordered a bunch of pizzas from Pizza Hut for the evening meal before we all got back on the road.

To link to the Grant County Press website page inviting people to become part of our cast and crew, check out
http://www.grantcountypress.com/7-15/movie.htm

An exciting day of shooting.

2008-07-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

The University of the District of Columbia partnered with us to shoot our hospital scenes. Not only were we able to do the scene with the boy with appendicitis in a real hospital bed, but the team of nursing and respiratory therapy students all became actors, filling roles ranging from receptionist to nurse to physician assistant.

With their help we were able to have a fully-staffed "hospital" for the various scenes. We even had real oxygen tubing for our patient, Jecquan Jackson, who got a shock when it was turned on full blast for one scene.

Real-life husband and wife Ezra and Jane Karimi played the worried parents, and we had Jeremy Striblin playing the kind doctor.

UDC has a wonderful training facility, with every type of real hospital equipment. And, they've got some very talented students and faculty as well!

Filming, football, foodbank, and more filming

2008-07-18T04:47:00.000-07:00

Wednesday's filming at the Liberty Gas Station on Annapolis Road brought a surprise: the owner, Mr. Sabbagh, is the father of one of our actor/crew participants, Paul Sabbagh! Mr. Sabbagh's station is famous in our area because hymns are playing all the time as people come to fill up their gas tank, and there is a constant feeling of faithfulness in the entire way the business is run. He gave permission for us to film there, also treated the crew and cast to sodas, and really encouraged the team.

On Wednesdays, we volunteer at a food bank, so we headed over to John Eager Howard Elementary, where the crew shot some scenes of the cashing team playing football. After the food distribution was over, we grabbed Tarik and his real-life grandfather, Reid Mickens, for a scene between the two for the movie.

Ros Mickens, professional filmmaker and daughter of Reid, offered to film a crucial scene for us; we've been honored to collaborate with Roz on several other projects.

Then, back home to re-distribute the cabbage and sweet potatoes and other vegetables to our own neighborhood families, and to call all our actors to prepare them for the next day's shooting schedule.

Filiming Day 6 Update

2008-07-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

Tuesday's shoots included a moving scene in Beauty Care, where Dolores Muhammad plays a woman about to undergo chemotherapy shopping for a wig who gets "Cashed," while Cathlene and Yuri are looking for disguises.

Then, to the park, where the Cashing Gang read about their exploits in the paper.

In the evening, we were welcomed to the Potomac Television premises by Steve Greenaway, Director of Operations and Engineering. There, Freeson Daugherty and Lonnie Holmes did the roles of bank manager Paul Taylor and unemployed homeowner, Joe Kellinson. After that, we shot the scenes where Paul converses with assistant Bank Manager Tony Asan, played by real-life bank staffer Shumon Iman.

The days' shoots were wrapped up by a final scene of FBI agents (the husband/wife team of Josh and Amadea de Groot).

Great news! We'll be filming our hospital scene at UDC's nursing education department.

Still waiting on a bank lobby....cross your fingers!

Another long day of filming

2008-07-15T07:01:00.001-07:00

Our Sunday evening filming in the rain left us all a bit creaky the next morning, but by 11 the team was out on the UMD campus to film the "flashback" scenes, and it turned out to be orientation for many of the incoming freshmen. I wonder if they thought the movie shoot was being staged to show them how great the University is.

Back to the house for a quick lunch and off to Frederick, battling traffic to arrive at the Orchard Restaurant where Uncle Jim Hickey got us set up before leaving for a meeting. Josh de Groot was released from jury duty in time to play one FBI agent and Amadea Jessen de Groot played the other. We shot the near-miss scene, finishing by about 6:30, then grabbed some burgers and gas on our way to Baltimore to the famous Bel-Loc Diner. There, we met up with several others there to do a scene, and the waitresses, Jennifer and Christina who were playing Jenna and Sandy. By the end of the shoot, we had recruited Miss Jean as well, to be a part of the "cashing" part of the scene.
It happened to be our mic operator, Sam Ferette's, birthday so we all gathered together to sing happy birthday to him ten minutes before midnight.

Big thanks to Bill at Bel-Loc, all the staff, and of course, the Orchard Restaurant!

Video Of Cashing Out During Filming

2008-07-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

The Making Of:

CASHING OUT
For more videos posted same day of shooting, visit

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cashingoutmovie

Shooting day no. 3
Free video streaming by Ustream

The cows are in town

2008-07-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

Today was an interesting day. After spending the entire morning making various preparations and then shooting a scene, the cast and crew went out for lunch. But the interesting part is that today was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A and anyone who comes dressed as a cow gets a free meal! So we prepared cow costumes (AKA cow masks and brown patches) and all 14 of us got free chicken sandwiches. We got a lot of stares but it was fun. Props to producer Kate Tsubata who had a full out cow costume and thus received a full meal.

Shooting continued on for several more hours until the sun came down. Everyone came back tired but satisfied with what had been accomplished that day.

The first shooting

2008-07-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

After much pre production work including casting, locations, costumes and props and some extra auditions, the first shoot was completed today. Although there were some technical difficulties with the audio and time restraints because of sunlight and the borrowed location, it was a very successful shoot. We were even able to view the edited scene that same day. With the combined efforts of all the talented cast and crew members, we can already see how great this movie will be.

Auditions

2008-07-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

Two auditions were held at the West Lanham Hill Community Center on July 6th and 7th. We've had a wide variety of people interested in auditioning, from professional actors to local neighborhood kids! Everyone was given their fair chance as they registered, read over some sides of their chosen character/s, and were called up to perform. We witnessed a great deal of talent, and our hopes are high that "Cashing Out" will have a great cast!

Cashing Out!

2008-07-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

The script is finished, casting has begun.