An exclusive interview with director BEN SMALLBONE talking the emotionally resonant, socially relevant, and powerful HOMESTEAD.
SYNOPSIS: A nuclear bomb is detonated in Los Angeles, and the nation devolves into unprecedented chaos. Ex-Green Beret Jeff Eriksson and his family escape to The Homestead, an eccentric prepper’s fortress nestled in the mountains. As violent threats and apocalyptic conditions creep toward their borders, the residents of The Homestead are left to wonder: how long can a group of people resist both the dangers of human nature and the bloodshed at their doorstep?
Directed by BEN SMALLBONE and written by Phillip Abraham, Leah Bateman, and Ben Kasica based on the book “Black Autumn”, HOMESTEAD stars, among others, Neal McDonough, Dawn Olivieri, Bailey Chase, Jesse Hutch, Currie Graham, Olivia Sanabia, Tyler Lofton, and Kearran Giovanni.
It’s always nice to follow-up with filmmakers as they move through their careers and BEN SMALLWOOD is no exception. We last spoke in an extended sit-down interview for his first feature film directorial “Priceless”, so it’s not only a joy to speak with him now about HOMESTEAD, but to see his growth as a narrative feature filmmaker.
As we got to chatting, uppermost was the production quality and the film’s emotional depth. As Ben revealed, a large part of those production values come from the real-life homestead near Salt Lake City which was used for filming, emphasizing its self-sufficient features like ammunition, solar power, and food storage. The film’s visual style, heavily reliant on natural light, was carefully planned to enhance the story’s themes of societal tension and unity. The themes of the film shine through thanks to the cast’s strong performances and chemistry which proved crucial, with many actors contributing creatively beyond their lines. Reflecting on his growth as a filmmaker, with HOMESTEAD he learned to trust his team and faced the challenging editing process.
Digging deeper into our conversation, Ben talked about the creative decisions that were made, among them:
- casting; importance of a “proof of concept” video which was used to raise funds and provided to potential cast to get them interested and excited in the project; casting “first choices” with veterans as well as new actors
- the tonal shift of characters; societal themes
- creative decisions behind the visual style and cinematography for the homestead setting were focused on capturing the natural beauty and vastness of the location while working within the constraints of a low-budget production
- working with cinematographer Matthew Rivera
- relying heavily on available natural light and scheduling scenes to take advantage of the best lighting conditions like the golden hour
- with minimized artificial lighting, approximately 96% of the film was shot using only natural light, thus allowing them to highlight the breathtaking vistas and create a cinematic look without the need for extensive lighting setups
- developing visual grammar to keep the audience aware of the scale and scope of the homestead compound, they used wide shots and mid-to-wide framing, establishing a sense of the expansive setting and the idea that there are always people on the fringes, even when the focus is on the main characters. The wide framing also allowed them to showcase the natural beauty of the location as a contrast to the tragic events unfolding
- the moral dilemmas of the characters in HOMSTEAD directly shaped the visual tone of the film
- the challenging – and unique – editing process; rough cut version of the film was completed within a month or two of wrapping filming; then reshoots were done and the film recut; six months was spent with testing and refining the edit based on audience feedback from the Angel Guild (which are approximately 100,000 individuals who invest money with Angel Studios; rough cuts would be on the Angel Guild platform on Mondays and by Friday there would be “hundreds of comments with scoring and feedback to help them refine and re-edit the film to get the score as high as possible.” The iterative process of constantly editing and improving based on audience feedback was a “remarkable experience.”
- and more!
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview 12/11/2024
HOMESTEAD is in theatres December 20, 2024.
The companion series, HOMESTEAD: FAMILY SURVIVAL is available exclusively on Angel.com and the Angel App on December 20th.
