“The Crown of the Forest” was a production almost as epic as the film itself.
Sophomore year, spring of 2005, myself, two other actors and a crew of only five (including the director) drove 12 hours to the northernmost reaches of California. Our primary location was about a mile from the nearest road, as you can see in the map (just south of JH ranch).
We had to lug our equipment down to the southern edge of that valley and quite a bit of it we hid under tarps for the entirety of the week. Because there was only a director, three producers, and a DP, all of the actors had to help drag sandbags, generators, dollies, and jib arms across the mile of marshy (because it was springtime) valley floor (see the picture below).
Not to mention the two days of shooting under a waterfall.
We battled snow, an equipment truck stuck in mud for days, an integral actor dropping out at the last minute, (the part was taken over quite admirably by our producer Marlene Velius) and yet still we finished the shoot both happy and ahead of schedule.
But it was worth it. The town embraced us. The local church treated us to an Easter dinner and a local reporter bought us a steak dinner at a local restaurant. Our last scene was a firelight dialogue scene (in part two on youtube) and we finished the shoot all of us lounging around our fire and reminiscing about the week. The sky was so dark that night that when I stood and the valley and turned off my flashlight, I literally could not see my hand in front of my face.
Paradise Hollow stands out as one of the few places that I would love to go back to one day. With the snowy mountains in the background, the trickling brooks, and the old farmstead straight from the 1800’s it would make the perfect location for a horror film, don’t you think!
Anyway, here’s the film in three parts. I hope you enjoy it!
Impressive! Very nicely done! Hellmuth was the perfect choice. It is always a tricky deal trying to tell an epic story in just a limited time. I think you pulled it off!
Oh man Brian, this post makes me so nostalgic. That was such a fun shoot. I’m right there with you about wanting to go back there someday. It’s almost like it’s an enchanted land that cast it’s spell on me and will forever draw me back. In my life, so far, I have never seen a more beautiful place. *sigh*
Thanks for posting about the experience! It made me remember some of the things that made that such a great shoot. I love seeing the pictures too!
I love this film. It holds a special place in my heart as sort of “The Dagger II” (even though it has very little to do with that film). This was the last film I scored at Biola, and makes me wax nostalgic thinking of long nights holed up in the composer’s lab trying to finish off that damn waterfall scene.
Thanks for posting this!
I really enjoyed this, thank you very much for all your work!