As any of you who is reading this knows, The Cedar in the Water has yet to be released. Personally my answer to why not is simply timing. Right now I wish I could restart production entirely due to the training and equipment I have acquired over the past two years. With that as a legitimate idea, there still remains the question of what will happen to all the shot footage?

Well the film will be released soon. I have come up with a few editing techniques I really want to apply and once sound and special effects are taken care of and any color correction is done it will be released. 

Director/Writer

Tyler Costill

The sun is setting. 

The biggest problem with this film has been the delays of shooting. I thank my great crew (Eddie, this is basically for you) and public audience for their patience, but I understand there comes a point when enough is enough. 

After some much needed inspiration while watching the rough cut and while shooting some touch up scenes, I can officially say that this film is coming to a close and will not be in production past September. 

October is the real ideal release date atmosphere I believe this film needs and you will all get to see it then. 

Just a few more things need to get done. I won’t lie, we do have a lot of work, but nothing I know we can’t handle. 

One thing I want you all to know is that I am really proud of the work we have done. The film looks precisely how it should and is really something I have fallen in love with.

Get ready. 

With all due respect,

TC

With spring in full swing, The Cedar in the Water production is gearing back up for the final scene and touches. Locations are still an issue being worked out, but all footage is expected to be finished by May 21st. Stay alert for new updates, trailers, and more in the weeks to come.

With all due respect,

TC

With CGI and special effects running at top speed on most films, including short films, does a story that holds virtually no computer generated images stand a chance? 

The cool thing about The Cedar in the Water is more so my own personal exploration into my directing. Over the course and development of the film I have grown in several aspects by way of my directing.

While working with Eddie I have been able to understand how to get an emotion on screen by telling him to “do something this way” or if it doesn’t work right I rethink the situation and say “ok lets do it another way” until we get exactlly what I want. 

The majority of the film has been shot on a Cannon GL2 (My first child), a medium grade tripod, and a poor man’s steady cam. MY freshman year at Drexel University has given me the opportunity to work with PD-170’s and more elaborate equipment which will come into play at the ending and touch up scenes of Cedar.

So back to my original point. I am taking on the Cedar project as a foundation for my future in feature directing. Cedar has many challenging aspects such as how and where to shoot, and the fact that everything in the shot is authentic to the time period.

Up coming Costill Brother films will have digital components, but I’m a very physical type of guy. I love props and real material, but the more and more advance CGI becomes, I foresee myself incorporating it in future projects.

With all due respect,

TC

P.S. The Cedar in the Water will have several “How did they do that!?” moments I promise you.

The seasons have changed and the world has gone from a barren ice tundra to sprouting lush and beautiful plants and life. 

This is what we’ve been waiting for. Shooting for the final touches to the film will begin in the next few weeks. Stay alert for new trailers and specials.

With all due respect,

TC

P.S. Go outside.

It has been quite a journey up until this point.

It all started with my brother, David, telling me, “You need to do a student film that can get you noticed. Something bigger and better than anything you’ve done so far.”

And after a few days of thinking I came to him and said, “I really want to do a film about fishing.”

He took my words and spun an amazing tale that I knew had to be told. 

(Little did I know that that original script would evolve more and more into an even more compelling and gripping story.)

Two years ago when David and I completed the first draft of the script, I was highly excited to start filming. This would be my first attempt at something bigger then just a 5 minute short.

So David, his fiance, Samantha Willis, and I, drove out to our granparents lake one hot August day and started to film. My brother worked the camera, Sam did a bunch of tasks that I can’t believe she had the paitence to do, and I directed and did my best at acting in the lead role of W.S. Stratton (at the time the character went by another name but that name slips my mind right now). We covered a lot of great material in the script and the footage looked beautiful.  

And then a lot of nothing happened for awhile.

A month later I tried filming some of the river scenes with the help of my girlfriend, Kristina Vispisiano, and my old film friend and colaborator, Will Wolff. The footage didn’t come out too great, but Kristina did take some photos that kept my imagination going, but that was the best the day turned out. 

After watching the footage, I determined I wasn’t right for the part and just looked awkward. With the seasons changing (the film takes place during the summer and now the trees were all dead) I cancelled filming and shelved the film.

During this period of nothingness, I produced a few short comedies to get my filming a little better and David went through about 5 new versions of the script. We found a man by the name of W.S. Stratton who basically was our main character so we decided to take his story and make it a little bigger and bolder, but this was only in script. 

I had no plans on filiming this, but it stayed in my thoughts and everyday I was thinking up new shots and imagery for it.

And one day in late July, during the following summer, while putting hairspray away at Target (one the many meaningful tasks of a Target Team Member), I came to a revelation. I imagined my dear friend, Eddie, wearing the Cedar clothes fishing at the lake. He had the look and I knew he’d be willing to do it.

A few phone calls and meetings later, we got Cedar back in action with Eddie at the lead role. 

Now several great months of filming with numerous people helping and many amazing memories, we are heading toward the finish line. 

I have learned much since the first day of filming and The Cedar in the Water will have a lot of post production work done to it, but I promise the final product will be gripping, passionate, and above all, the vision of this story my brother and I wanted to tell. 

P.S. I give, and will continue to do so in the future, great thanks to Eddie. The things I made him do were quite baffaling, but he always did it with high spirits and this film would have still been just another unfinshed dream without him. That final thought goes out to all those who have helped also. Thank you. Now lets get this thing done!

-TC

“On the Dock” featuring Edward James Zubrzycki, Jr.

Photograph by David Costill.

Location: Silver Lake, on the set of The Cedar in the Water