By Dale McGarrigle
Of the NEWS Staff

The filming of a movie is called production for a good reason. That's because it normally is. There's gear and props heaped all over the location. And there's people everywhere, spreading out in concentric circles in descending order of their importance to the film. 


Todd Verow is an underground filmmaker. He doesn't work in that way. 
Verow is more of a low-impact filmmaker. The Brewer native is back in his home area to make his latest, "A Sudden Loss of Gravity." While he was filming scenes for that movie recently, the following gear and props could be seen: a former mineral-water bottle now holding homemade fake blood, a six-pack of empty beer bottles, two coffee cans filled with glass crystals, three cassette tapes, a box of hand wipes and a roll of paper towels. About a yard-square patch of ground was covered.


Verow understands no-frills production. He also holds some disdain for the phrase "independent film." 


"It's become like the term `alternative music,' a marketing term," he said. "A lot of `indie' movies are Hollywood movies. Truly independent films are works that are not made with commercial considerations. They're done by filmmakers with a vision of what they want, who don't compromise."


His 1997 film "Little Shots of Happiness" cost around $20,000 to make. Verow predicts this, his fifth film, will cost even less than that.


"We've learned a lot along the way," said Verow, 31. "We've gotten better at getting free stuff. The big expense is getting video transferred to film and having prints made." 


Over the past 13 years, Verow, whose Bangor Films company is based in Boston, has earned a reputation as a daring, innovative filmmaker. "A Sudden Loss of Gravity," to a large degree, is the autobiographical work that he has been refining his skills to make. 


"Bangor-Brewer is a very interesting place that I don't think has been captured," he said. "This one is personal. I've been kicking the idea around in my head for 18 years, and I think I'm finally ready to tackle it." 


The film, set in Bangor in 1984, is about a teen-age boy and his friends, who do a lot of drinking and driving. A group of parents forms an organization to combat that.


"Each character has a role that they play in the town," Verow explained. "Other people come to town, and take over those roles." 


"Gravity" continued the theme of identity that Verow has previously explored in "Little Shots of Happiness," 1998's "Shucking the Curve" and "The Trouble with Perpetual Deja-vu," now in post-production. 


"It's about how people create their identities, and how that relates to the times and places where they are," he said. 


The filming of "Gravity" started Aug. 22. On this recent day, early in the shoot, Verow and company are setting up at R&M Towing on Union Street in Bangor. They are there to film a crucial car-crash scene, in which a teen girl kills her boyfriend in a drunken-driving accident that will have fallout throughout the movie. 


Verow has used many of the same actors and crew on his recent films, which is beneficial for both director and cast, he said. 


"You know what they're capable of," he said. "For me, it's exciting to challenge them. It's important to have a trust with the actors. We understand what each other is doing. It becomes like a family almost." 


Verow isn't a slave to the written word, and he encourages improvisation by his cast. 
"The script is an outline," he said. "We work on each scene and shoot it many, many times. We develop the characters together, so we'll get into a situation and know how the character is going to react. It requires a lot of preparation, but it's exciting. When you're making the movie, you discover new things about the characters. Every day is a surprise." 


The actors enjoy working with Verow as well. 


"I'm really pleased with the work I've done with Todd," said Leanne Whitney, who worked on two of Verow's films. "He gives you a lot of freedom to develop your characters. His direction is clear and concise. With some directors, you don't have a clue about what they're trying to do." 
Bill Dwyer, who has worked on three previous Verow productions, agreed. 
"He knows how to get what he wants without badgering," Dwyer said.

Soon after arriving at R&M, Verow scouts for the perfect wreck. 
"We need something from 1984 or before," said James Dwyer, the film's co-producer and Verow's longtime collaborator. "The wreck can't be too old, because it would be too rusty, or too new."


The company soon suffers a setback, as a towing-company employee informs them that they can't get inside the wrecks, which are without fail bloody. Verow and the actors discuss how to reblock the day's shoot, and decide to use the wreck of a Mercury Sable for exterior scenes, filming interiors in another car at a later date. 

"You have to think on your feet," Verow said. 

The crash follows a prom, so Whitney and Devery Doleman are decked out in poufy peach dresses and the two Dwyers are garbed in dress jackets. 

The Sable is towed to a grassy area next to a semi-trailer body. The brothers Dwyer depart to find flipflops for James, after he decides that walking barefoot near wrecked cars is a bad idea. While they're gone, preparations continue. Verow uses a weed as a brush to apply the fake blood to Doleman. He and Brenda Velez, an actress who isn't in that day's scenes, stomp on the cassettes and unreel the tape, then strew a couple of beer bottles near the crash site. Next it's Whitney's turn to get bloody, while Verow shoots stills of Doleman. 

Upon his return, James Dwyer gets the singular honor of playing the crash victim. Verow and Velez debate the correct amount of red-stained glass crystals to spill over and around him, as he lies on the ground, one arm resting on the undercarriage of the truck. In the background, Doleman dances to music only she can hear. Everybody is stumbling over the unspooled tape. 
Verow films with a small, silver digital camera, which he wears strapped around his neck. It's finally time to film, and he shadows Doleman as she staggers out of the driver's door, walks over to check on the body on the ground, then wanders off in a daze. Verow shoots the scene about a half-dozen times. Between takes, Velez holds a cigarette for Dwyer so he can take a drag without moving. 

Verow has been innovative in his use of digital video. He shoots on digital, downloads to a computer for editing, and then transfers it back to video and then to film. In fact, he was recently interviewed by Variety about his techniques. 

"I wanted to find a new way of making movies, where I can shoot the camera, so that it's just me and the actors," he said. "I like the immediacy of video. It captures a realism you can't get with film." 

Next it's time for Whitney and Bill Dwyer, the passengers in the wreck, to film their scene. Verow and the pair discuss how to block out the scene. Dwyer wonders how much blood he should have on him. Verow decides that Dwyer's character just had a tooth knocked out. Dwyer makes a face as he ingests the corn syrup-based "blood." 

"Just swish it around and spit it out," Velez instructs him jokingly. "Pretend it's Listerine." 
Doleman and Velez take off on a food run. Imagine the reaction at Wendy's when Doleman walks in, carrying a purple parasol and outfitted in a bloody prom dress. 

Meanwhile, after adding a mike to his camera, Verow shoots the next scene. Whitney and Dwyer hunch down behind the car door, then stand up one by one, look for Doleman's missing character, discover the body and carry it back to the car. James Dwyer, after an hour on the ground, is literally stiff and has trouble standing. Verow shoots the scene from several different approaches, then it's a wrap for the afternoon. 

Verow's cast of 15 features a mix of his veterans and a handful of locals. Filming is scheduled to be completed Sept. 18. Verow hopes to have the film edited by October of next year. 
The completion of "Gravity" will put Verow halfway to his goal of shooting 10 feature films by the millennium. 

Verow, whose first paid film job was as a cameraman for MTV`s "The Real World," has worked as a cinematographer for hire in the past, but not anymore. 

"It's something I avoid now," he said. "You get paid a lot of money, but it's too draining. I'd rather just do my own." 

Verow has drawn critical acclaim and some notice by film-industry types, but no concrete opportunities yet. 

"I'm in the radar," he said. "They're following what I'm doing. I'm circling like sharks, but no one has bitten yet." 

Verow doesn't know what he would do with the multimillion-dollar budgets that even low-budget moviemakers receive. 

"I'd spend a little more on costumes and sets, maybe even have trailers," he said. "But I wouldn't make it in any different way." 

(Bangor Daily News Copyright 1998)