Liars and Lunatics :: Film Blog

visit our new blog…
      >>> www.amoonbrothersfilm.blogspot.com

Well, this blog has been around for about a year. In fact, this is our 86th post.

But with the new title for the movie, we’ll be having to change the name of the blog, too. No Liars and Lunatics, anymore, folks!

What’s the name of the new blog?

www.amoonbrothersfilm.blogspot.com

Probably better to go with a more generic name anyway. That way it can cover more than just Liars and Lunatics. Or rather Not-Liars-and-Lunatics. If you get what we mean.

And with that, we bid you Adios with this final Liars and Lunatics blog post.

Mark your bookmarks…

And see you at the new blog!

Been looking at various different versions of the DVD cover for our film. Everything from lettering to positioning of photos. Which photos to use or not to use. Colors.

P.S. By the way, looks like we will be going with a name change (for the movie title). Will keep everyone posted once it’s finalized.

We’re currently toying with the idea of changing the title of our film, Liars and Lunatics. Not that we don’t love the title. But there are reasons…

Got any thoughts on this?

Feel free to comment below. Or you can always send us an email at moon_bros@hotmail.com

P.S. If we do change the name of the movie, we’ll have to change the name of our website… and of this blog…  won’t we?

Check out most filmmaking books, and they’ll tell you the importance of good sound.

Well, we found out how true that is… on a day that probably caused us some of the most anxious moments during the filming of Liars and Lunatics.

Yep! That was the day we discovered the importance of a battery. That not only was the battery in our boom mic dying, but that same battery was so rare that no store had a replacement! We tried other microphones, only to realize how good the boom mic really was–when the battery was working, that is.

That day was enough to make us wish we were back in the days when films were silent!

And speaking of the silent film era, there’s a story about Charlie Chaplin’s first visit to a sound stage. This is what he observed:

“Men geared like warriors from Mars sat with earphones while the actors performed with microphones hovering over them like fishing rods. It was all very complicated and depressing. How could anyone be creative with all that junk around them?” (from Movies and Money, by David Puttnam, p.110)

Okay, so maybe it just takes some time to get used to, Charlie. You really can be creative with all the “fishing rods” and “junk” around. (But, come to think of it, this is coming from some guys called the Moon Brothers. Hmmm… Moon Brothers… Men from Mars with fishing rods… )

Well, in any case, sound doesn’t have to make things all that complicated and depressing. At least when your batteries are behaving…

{{ Photo :: Working with the boom mic on the film. }}

When you work in theatre or film, you become expert in the art of cleaning up. And if you’re really good, you become expert in the art of cleaning up quickly and efficiently.

Especially if you don’t have a whole lot of money to waste.

One day, during pre-production of our film Liars and Lunatics, we were doing some tests at one of our locations. Testing for sound and lights. We were in the church building where we were to shoot the courtroom scenes. Well, quite frankly, we had made a mess. There were tools and equipment everywhere. Blankets were hanging up on the walls. 

It looked like a mini hurricane had hit New York City.

And then who should walk in… but one of the church people! He was there to open the door for the organ-tuner. Needless to say, we were a bit embarrassed at the state of our mess in his church. So we decided it was time we were finished with our tests for the day. We’d better clean everything up…

And fast!

Well, fortunately for us, we’ve had good practice striking sets from our work in theatre. So, in less than a half-hour, the church sanctuary was neat as a pin. In fact, we probably could have taken those before-and-after photos!

We never did find out what that member of the church felt when he came back later in the day to lock up after the organ-tuner left. In any case, the whole clean-up drill certainly was good practice since we would have to dismantle “our set” at that location several times during the course of shooting the movie. Especially for Sunday morning church service…

{{ photo :: The blankets act as a sound buffer in filming. }}

Well, it’s a new year, folks. Time to get back to work…

Which brings us to all the problem solving techniques required to bring a film to life.

Which then brings us to remember the blankets. 

Those blankets gave us some great sound for our film, Liars and Lunatics. But before that could happen, we had to sit down to figure out how to make these blankets work.

We decided to use grommets—you know, those little metal eyelets. We scoured every shop we could think of. But apparently, grommets must have been going out of style that summer (either that or they were very popular). 

We had someone go down to the fashion district in NYC, but unfortunately those grommets were too small our use.

Fortunately for us, we did find enough grommets. And actually cleared off some store shelves in the process.

But then came the labor-intensive work of attaching those grommets to the blankets. Mary, one of our production assistants, proved herself time and again to be the Amazing Grommet Girl. (Perhaps, one of these days she’ll have her own comic strip to follow the adventures of this superhero.)

Well, we were able to string the blankets together (using the new grommets, of course) and hang them as sound dampers on ceilings, on walls, wherever they’d be out of sight of the camera’s eye. Up and down, those blankets came.

And they sure worked. We have the sound to prove it!

{{ Photo :: The film crew attaches our “sound blankets” to the ceiling. }}

Want to do something different for your New Year’s Party this year?

Why not take a page from Dr. Donovin’s Party Planner… That’s right. Something akin to Donovin’s “a morale booster” from our feature film Liars and Lunatics. 

Okay. So Dr. Donovin is the director of a mental asylum. But don’t let that stop you from taking some tips from a guy who really knows how to plan a never-to-be-forgotten party… 


1. The color theme. Think drab.

2. There are no helium balloons or streamers at this party.

3. Hand-made party hats. You can make them look like crowns if you want to (that idea came from our Production Designer… we think).

4. Also, artificial roses (the REALLY cheap kind are best). Stick them in your hair. Give them to guests. If you think you’re particularly suave, you can even stick them between your teeth…

5. Tell all your guests to wear their bathrobes.

6. Hire a really bad Elvis-impersonator. Make sure you tell him to wear a bathrobe too. (Oh and sunglasses!)

7. Play some lame music (For his party, Dr. Donovin chose a song we wrote in our Rasmania band days called “Grandma’s Obsession”. It was an excellent choice).

And voila! You have a party that your friends will probably remember for years to come!

…Happy New Year!

Problem solving. That was one of the things necessary when working on a film. We’re still in the editing room fixing “problems”.

Problems are inherent throughout the filmmaking process. Thinking back to when we were preparing for principal photography of Liars and Lunatics in the summer of 2006, we were always testing out ideas on how to make things work.

One of the biggest challenges was filming in a church. With the high ceilings, we needed to minimize the echoes and such for all the dialogue scenes. Our solution: blankets.

Yep! We put a “casting call” out for blankets. Anyone getting rid of a blanket? Give it to us! By far, the best blanket donation was from a hotel in New York City. They were getting rid of about six big blankets. They were relatively light in weight. They had that pink floral pattern that many hotel blankets began using in the 1980s and 90s. Not really quite in the style of the Moon Brothers…

But we snatched them up. Hey! They were free. How could we turn them down?

It was like getting a Christmas gift (in July)!

And with that… May we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas… from the Moon Brothers… 

{{ photo :: One of our grips, Nathan, takes a break during the film shoot. You can see the blankets hanging behind him in the background. }}

Okay, so the DVD has been put on hold. But this time the wait is due to some talk on distribution. So, if you want to be among the first to know when the DVD will be released… sign up here!