SUMMIT - Official Teaser is Finally Here!

We can't say enough how much this project means to all of us on the CongestedCat Team. So many amazing things came along with the production of our first feature-length project: new friends, new challenges, new opportunities... This was a passion project of ours from the heart, and we're thrilled to bring it to you, our friends and film-family. We're still working on the film itself (color correction & score) but the teaser is ready for your viewing pleasure. The official full-length trailer will follow in a few months.

Five friends travel to Vermont for an end of college ski trip. When they end up at the wrong location and can't backtrack because of the intense cold and secluded surroundings, they decide to take shelter in an abandoned house overnight. But when they wake in the morning, things are suddenly not quite what they seem and it's too late to turn back.

Shot in January 2013. Beginning festival submissions in Spring/Summer 2014.

Updated website coming soon. For now, find out more on the Summit page and here on our blog.

*Compressed Version. Shot on Canon C300.

Catching Up on Summit, One Year Later

Today is the one year anniversary of what was the last day of principal photography for Summit. We ended up wrapping just after 6am on February 2, 2013.

The very last shot of production

During the past 2 weeks, the anniversary of production, I decided that I would write a kind of director's journal reflecting on the experience of making my first feature. I had planned to write about each day on set, from my perspective, and share each post on its pertaining day's anniversary. But I ended up writing more than I expected and sharing more about how I felt than I originally intended. It turned out to be quite a cathartic experience and I ended up chronicling 15 days in over 35 single spaced pages. So I've decided that I will still share it but not as daily blog posts, as originally intended; rather as one concise story, "Shooting Summit," that I will release as a PDF for download on the Summit and CongestedCat sites at a later date. I hope that it will be helpful to other no-budget filmmakers making their first features, and maybe act as a “you're not alone” piece for other filmmakers who have first feature 'horror stories' of their own. I also hope it offers an interesting look behind the scenes for fans anticipating the film and all the people that first supported us when we began pre-production and crowd funded the film in 2012.                                                            

The 16 days spent in Massachusetts making the film were the most stressful & exhausting but also most rewarding & productive days of my life. I cannot be more grateful to those who supported the film in pre-production, but especially to my crew & cast who stood by the project in the worst of conditions and helped me turn a dream into reality. I could not have done it without you. Thank you all again. 

- - -

As an update on the progress of the film as a whole, there were a few exteriors of the car driving on snowy roads that we never got because of time constraints and the loss of snow at the tail end of production. So, John (my DP), Peter (1st AC), Andrew (I'll call him a PA but he wore a hell of a lot of important hats on set), and I drove back up to Canaan, NY last Saturday (January 25th) to get those shots. It was freezing and brought back some of the trying memories of the year before. Our bodies remembered this cold; it all came rushing back. It was pretty brutal. However, it was still a successful and fun day, full of unexpected surprises; just like last year. 

We had run-ins with the local police twice, though surprisingly not when we climbed up on a billboard to get this shot.

One of the run-ins involved getting pulled over on the Taconic Parkway. The police officers were doing this good cop, bad cop routine but eventually decided not to give us a ticket. As it turns out, one of them has a son who wants to be a filmmaker, and the good cop spent a lot of time asking about cameras and editing software. Then he asked for my business card, and wished us luck. (I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this encounter was peak privilege that I have and probably would’ve played out very differently if the 3 men in the car with me were not white.)

The day felt a little bitter sweet because it was exactly the kind of day I wish we had everyday last year; overcast and snowy. The new footage ultimately works really well for filling in the moments that I want in the film but also accentuates, in my eyes, what we could have had but did not for certain scenes last year. Regardless though, I am grateful that we managed to have snow on the ground for all exterior scenes of the film and that, in the end, everything did work out. 

I'm proud of the film and the fact that we managed to make it on nothing but a shoestring and a dream. I'm excited that it is in its final stage, which includes color correction, sound mixing and scoring; and I cannot wait to share it with you. Unfortunately, we have a long road of festival submissions and replies ahead of us, which will likely include many rejections but hopefully some great acceptances. In the meantime, we've got our official teaser premiering in less than 2 weeks, a new website coming in April, some fun behind the scenes videos with the cast coming in May, and before you know it, the film will be fully accessible to you. 

Thank you again for all your support in the making of this film!

Christina

Pre-production Sneak Peek Video

Hello wonderful backers, 

Just updating to share a fun new behind the scenes video we put together that chronicles all our big moments in pre-production leading up to our first day of shooting. It includes some never before seen footage from table reads and auditions! We decided to wait to release it until reaching 2,000 Likes on Facebook, and today we reached that goal! Now we're pushing to hit 3,000. We hope you enjoy the video!

Behind the scenes of all the fun moments we had in pre-production, including never before seen table reads, rehearsals & bloopers. Featuring Footage from: Previously shared videos: Kickstarter Pitch: https://vimeo.com/41451085 Pre-production promo: https://vimeo.com/41451334 Meet Lauren: https://vimeo.com/41554587 Meet Ricardo: https://vimeo.com/42101303 Meet Emma: https://vimeo.com/42504894 Meet Ryan: https://vimeo.com/43061683 Questions with Cast 1: https://vimeo.com/43480906 Meet Rob: https://vimeo.com/46153774 Questions with Cast 2: https://vimeo.com/47657260 Exclusive Footage only to be found on DVD in entirety: -All 5 actor auditions -Kickstarter Scene read -1st full table read (before final script revision) -Car rehearsal

We're also putting together another behind the scenes video that includes footage from production! That's something we'll be sharing early next year after we release our teasers & trailer this Fall & Winter. 

In other news, we don't have a final cut just yet because Matt, my editor, and I have been going back and forth making a lot of little tweaks. But I'm feeling confident that we should have picture lock (outside of a couple exterior inserts we're getting in January) by the end of this month! The sound mix has started scene by scene, my composer has sent some awesome score samples, and my graphic designer is working on a new title logo! Progress is definitely being made. We hope we'll have more visuals to show you before the end of the year. 

Our first festival deadline is in April of next year. So we're working hard to make sure we can have a completely finished & polished cut a couple months in advance for a cast, crew & backer premiere and for at least 1 audience test screening! Needless to say, December-March will be super busy for the Summit team. 

In the meantime though, I'll try to keep the updates and inside info fresh & interesting because I truly appreciate your continued support throughout the progress of this film. Thank you again for everything! 

We aim to release our first teaser for the film on October 28th, so stay tuned for that! 

Best,

Christina 

We Have A Rough Cut!

Hello to all our incredible supporters!

I apologize for not updating more frequently. But it’s for good reason, we’ve been super busy with post-production the past few months and I’m so happy to announce that we have a full rough cut of the film! The runtime is 1 hour and 18 minutes, not including the credits and a handful of exterior shots we plan to pick up this winter.

This week, we’ll be sending the cut to Colin, our sound editor, to start mixing the audio. Our composer, Raymond, has been working on music samples over the past few weeks and he should now be able to really flesh out the score. And, of course, our visual effects artist, Steven, will start working on the title sequence and other effects that need to be done throughout the film. The final step will be color correction. We still have a long road ahead of us, but the fact that it’s cut together and all the footage worked out is such a dream come true for me. It looks amazing & the actors’ performances are just phenomenal. I cannot thank my crew and cast enough for making this film not only happen but a film to be proud of; and I cannot wait to share it with all of you!

We aim to have a teaser cut by September and a full trailer by late October. By February, we hope to have the full final cut and be able to have the cast, crew & backer premiere. Then maybe we’ll have a private screening for anonymous audience feedback. Once April hits, we’ll start submitting to festivals, most notably my dream festival, the Toronto International Film Festival. After the film premieres at a festival, we’ll be able to send all the $25 or higher backers their DVD’s and other rewards.

In the meantime though, we’ll try to share exclusive footage, videos and photos with you through the rest of the process. Thank you again so much for your generosity & support, as well as your patience throughout the completion of this film! We could not have made this happen without every single one of you.

While you’re waiting to see footage, you can check out some of the things we’ve been sharing on our Facebook page, like stills from the film! Also, I’ve been doing a few interviews lately. This is a New York-based podcast where I talk about the crazy things that happened during production and what’s been happening in post, Listen Here.  If you never got a chance to listen to my first interview on the show during the Kickstarter campaign, here it is. Also, this is a great article from the local paper near where we shot in Chatham. We were the cover story!

Thanks again for everything, and I’ll try to keep the updates coming!

-Christina

Venue Search, New York Cine Radio, & Project Updates

New Venue Search for IndieWorks

Earlier this month, we hosted our very first IndieWorks screening event. The night went really well; filmmakers and film enthusiasts came together to share, enjoy, and connect with local indie film in mind. Through the success of our first event, we're making adjustments to ensure each IndieWorks event can be better than the last.

We're currently looking for a new venue that can hold a larger audience (100 people or more), with a reasonably quiet atmosphere and/or a separate room where we can project multiple screens throughout, so all of our guests can view the films comfortably.  We'd like to reach out to our audience to help us find a fun, local venue to accommodate our guests, with no admission fee, and offer a drink special to those attending the event. 

New York Cine Radio Podcast

Two weeks ago, Christina was featured again on New York Cine Radio Podcast. They spoke about her experiences as writer, director, and producer of 'Summit', as well as crowdfunding, IndieWorks, & 'Kelsey: The Webseries'. It's a great listen for aspiring filmmakers who are approaching their first projects. 

Check out the interview here. 

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'Summit' & 'Kelsey: The Webseries' Updates

We've got some updates on our current projects.

'Summit' is currently in its final ten minutes of its initial rough cut - Whoa, that was quick. We'll have more updates as the next few months approach us, when the film is in its final swing of post-production. 

'Kelsey: The Webseries' is also half-way through production! You can follow along with our production updates through our Facebook page, especially if you've ever wanted to be an extra. We're periodically looking for extras to help us fill in some of our more populated scenes. It's an awesome way to hop onto a set and see a production from behind the curtain and help out indie filmmakers!

We'll be updating on progress of our venue search and our first InsiderSeries episodes as it goes on! 

 - Chris