Train Car FULL production Previz

Hey folks!

Here you’ll find the complete (though still very much incomplete) previs for the Train Car sequence

“Previs” is short for previsualization—any form of mapping out scenes, blocking, or visual elements of a movie. It can be as simple as animated blocks of text, storyboards, or even a rough film shoot of a scene before doing it for real.

Freddie and I haven’t used previs all that often. We have used them occasionally for complex VFX or action sequences—especially when the rest of the crew needs to know exactly what’s in frame.

For example, on We're All Gonna Die we did a previs just for the sequence where the Spike swapped the land.

For Nail House, though, our plan is to extensively previs all the action scenes. This lets us iterate and evolve the sequences for months leading up to rehearsals and filming. With our budget, being precise—knowing exactly what we need and communicating that to department heads far in advance—is going to be essential to pulling off what we envision. If we had a money hose to just spray dollar bills at problems, we could afford to be looser in our prep. But our hoses only spray water. Someday though. Someday we will get that money hose.

Another reason? Our action designer, Yung, LOVES previs. OMG does he love them. It’s core to his process—and he’s a genius. So who am I to argue?

Also, I think as we get older, it’s easy to fall into creative ruts and rest on our laurels. This feels like as good a time as any to try being more specific and detailed in our prep than Freddie and I have been before. We still have an infinite amount to learn about this craft—so why not push ourselves out of our comfort zone on this one?

So anyway—what you’ve got here is a weird Frankenstein edit of footage from various days, cut together into a previs to use on set. It includes:

• Early choreography workshops that Yung and team did in Toronto nearly a year ago

• Rehearsals before the set was built

• Previs-specific shoot days once the set was built

• A quick dialogue previs we filmed on a day off during the action scene shoot

• A clip from Roland Emmerich’s The Patriot

I’m also attaching a PDF that Yung put together for on-set use. It’s a 101-page document that breaks down every shot in the action previs, helping the AD schedule shoot days and allowing us to track our progress.

TOMORROW we’ll post the locked cut of the Train Car sequence!

As always, thank you for supporting independent cinema. If you have any questions about any of this, drop them in the comments or in our Discord.

—Matt