GHOSTIES – The Witches Spell [Ghosties] is a 2014 paranormal, dark comedy short film written and directed by David Quintana-Lujan. It is the first film produced by Quintana-Lujan, and the first feature film produced under the studio name, Quantum Storm Productions. In the present time, a group of teenaged ghost hunters have struck out seeking ghosts during the summer. After they are introduced to a real black witch, who gives them a spell in passing, do the young team of ghost hunters begin to actually see the paranormal images of people who passed away. But are the ghosts truly real or a joke laid out by the local graveyard lawn keeper who’s tired of kids breaking into the property looking for ghosts? GHOSTIES features Jessica Yanker, Alan Berkowitz, Fabritzia Faustinella, Matthew Jasso, Kacey Kelley, Robin Galley, Travis Coker, Mary King, Angelica Grayson, Daniel Erik and Warren Lightsey.
Directed by D. R. Quintana-Lujan Screenplay by D. R. Quintana-Lujan
Story by D. R. Quintana
Based on Characters by D. R. Quintana-Lujan
Produced by D. R. Quintana
Darla Redwine
Starring Anisah Khan, Ashlyne Redwine,
Katelyn Merricks,
Haley Coker,
Emily Thompson, Tanner Fontana
Cinematography by D. R. Quintana-Lujan
Edited by D. R. Quintana-Lujan
Set Assistant Joan Yanker
Music by ASIA
Randal Behan
Zeca Mahoney
Production Company Quantum Storm
Productions
Running Time 48 minutes
Countries United States
Language English
Budget $8,500
GHOSTIES – The Witches Spell [Ghosties] is an ultra-low independent film directed and produced by David Quintana-Lujan in May of 2014. It was entirely filmed in Montgomery County, in the state of Texas with a soft budget of $8,500. Most of the cast were young teenagers [or "tweens"] and their mothers all helped with the production requirements behind the camera.
After the director-producer completed the third season of his webs series “The Secret of Angelika5,” he was looking for a new project to work on to break away from the “quick film format” that was being used on his successful web show. In February of 2014, he made contact with a woman named Glenda Rovito who introduced him to a new group of actors in the downtown Houston area. After attending a film premiere for Matthew Jasso’s action feature film, “BACKLASH [2011]“ the director-producer was introduced to a group of teen girls at the premier who looked like a talented and excited bunch. One little redheaded girl stood out of the bunch who caught the director-producers eye, Ashlyne Redwine, who was loud, proud, full of energy and had a positive strength that the director-producer could work with. Later the same night, he was introduced to her mother, Darla Redwine, who was looking for a project that her daughter could star in and both began talking about working on a project together. Through the one contact with Redwine, the director-producer realized that he would have access to an entirely new group of talented young actors. The director-producer went home and began to look for a script that would fit the format of having an all teen cast.
A week after discussion project possibilities with Rovino, the director-producer settled on rekindling an old short film idea he created in 2006-2007 while he was living in New England, entitled “Ghosties.” This short film project involved a group of young girls who searched for ghosts and used an old book of spells that helped them conjure up ghostly spirits. The director-producer re-worked the scripts, added a few new characters, and then produced a third script in the short film series as a feature film. The scripts were shared with some of the parents, who immediately signed on to add their teenaged child to the possible production. Rovino’s teenage daughter, Drucilla, who had already worked brilliantly with the director-producer in an episode of Angelika5, was first selected as the lead for the new film. This did not sit well with a few of the mothers of cast, mainly Darla Redwine and Kaylyn Merriks, who felt that Drucilla was an amazingly talented and trained young actress and felt that her performance in film might overshadow the other children in the cast. Now in a position that he might lose access to a large group of young actors prior to signing contracts, the director-producer removed Drucilla from the production and changed the script so that there wasn’t just one teen leading the cast in the future film.
In mid-March 2014, the director-producer met with several mothers and contracts with releases were happily signed by the small group of moms. The meeting was important as filming requirements were discussed in great detail. The team covered wardrobe, filming locations and possible casting additions to fill in the adult roles in the film that were still not cast. Alan Berkowitz and Jessica Yanker were brought in from the cast of Angelika5, Matthew Jasso was brought in after he promised to make a film with the teen girls at his February film premiere, Fabritzia Faustinella was contacted to read for the role of the Black Witch. So much material matters were brought up in each new meeting, that the pre-production phase for the film moved the filming dates up a full month. The director-producer felt confident that filming could start in May and shared the news with the mothers of the cast, positioning the entire production in the town of Montgomery, Texas.
To the surprise of the entire cast and crew, the film began production on the second weekend of May 2014. The cast and crew spent the day of the first day of production filming at various locations in Montgomery, Texas. First was a stop at a Karate studio, which was actually a fitness center that was owned and operated by Eddie Enriquez, who also played a role in Angelika5. At the end of the first location, a new talented, natural actress, Emily Thompson, was added to the cast. Her audition with the director-producer forced him to make the decision to bring her to the production and add her as a character to the script. The second location was at a storage center where the director-producers own family van was parked inside a storage room to simulate night time, where the teens took turns delivering their lines. The third location was a night shoot at the Lightsey Ranch, a water front property that was also used extensively on the set of Angelika5. Over the course of the first night of filming, a cold front moved into the area which helped quell the sound environment as the crickets and frogs fell silent during filming. Furthermore, the cold front brought in thick clouds that prevented the moon from casting light on the sets, and thus the conditions were perfect for filming.
After the first weekend of shooting, the teen actors were wiped out and they completed over 60% of the film. The director spent three more weeks working in the remaining scenes and also performing ADR to some scenes to ensure the sound was pristine in the final phases of editing the film together. One scene that was a required flashback in the plot of the script, was shot separately from the rest of the production. This scene concerned the role of the leading ghost, “Beheaded Betty,” who was played by Kacey Kelley [also of Angelika5] was shot over the course of two hours at a historical park in the town of Montgomery. This one scene in the film catapulted the feature in ratings from a G rating to a PG rating; as the character apparently commits suicide after her lover never returned from a cattle roundup.
With Ghosties finally “in the can” and editing all but done, the film would be released to the public in August, one week before school started in the local area. Ticket sales were handled online and the studio team prepared t-shirt and poster sales for the films premiere. The first showing of the film was presented at the Alamo Draft House in Katy, Texas and, unlike most independent films in Houston, Texas that were premiered at a bar, this premiere proved to have had the largest attendance in the city’s history as every seat in the auditorium was sold out, there was standing room only, and the management in the theater claimed that food sales went through the roof. Every attempt to build the excitement was presented to the masses that arrived to view the film, most of who were teenagers too. Houston’s Independent films known favorites, Nicholas Nicholson, Hector Luna, and Irving, Texas’ Steve Luke were in attendance and gave the premiere startling reviews. The performances of Alan Berkowitz and Fabritzia Faustinella eventually won awards for Best Supporting Actors and the director-producer won awards for Best Film and Best Producer.
With the films huge success came a little bad news as one mother, Kaylyn Merrick and her daughter chose not to be part of the films premiere as her teen child was cast in a 48 Hour Film Festival and didn’t want to associate with the rest of the cast’s success at the premiere. Even though some of the cast members were heartbroken that one of the co-actors didn’t make the premier to complete a team photo, the reception following the premiere removed all doubt as the young cast was welcome with wave upon wave of cheering fans and instant local stardom. This one premiere proved that Ghosties was a big hit with the teen genre and, if proper measures were taken to promote a solid production, that there was a large potential for children’s movie productions within the independent film scene in Texas.
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