From the Director
I had recently finished work on two indie films as a special effects artist and set designer. Jason, a long-time friend and creative cohort, asked me to collaborate on an intriguing concept for a film project. We talked through the concept at length, and drafted the. The Killing Hand was on paper — it was real. We brought in Jarrod, an accomplished writer, to develop the screenplay, and off we went.
The Look
With the subject matter leaning toward the darkest side of humanity, it was critical that we capture an intimate level of grittiness. We drew inspiration from Director David Fincher, whose sets have a textured look that seemingly tell the audience all that had come to pass in the dark. It was important that the pervasive filth of the city — the inherent evil — sift through varying levels as the story unfolded.
Locations & Lighting
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This film was predominantly shot at night in a back-alley cityscape. We searched for locations where the lighting tempered the mood of the scene. We found such gems in Lowell and Haverhill, where the streetlights painted the alleys in pools of orange and blue. When we needed to, we added our own illumination to bring out the background textures from buildings, walls, and other surfaces. We also integrated specific colors and light intensities in the character shots to add dimension and give distinction to their roles.
We are eternally grateful to the people at Angel Care Sensory Center/Luscomb Chiropractic for their support. The folks at Larry’s Comics (Larry, Brian, and Matt) came through for us as well. And we couldn’t have done all the outdoor filming without the extreme patience and understanding of the Haverhill and Lowell Police Department officers on duty. Thanks, guys.
Set & Production Design
Capturing the essence of the story also trickled down to decorating and/or building our own sets. One such example was gang headquarters. We received permission from Angel Care Sensory Center/Luscomb Chiropractic in Haverhill to use their basement, which at the time was a storage area cluttered with dusty, broken jewelry and trophy cases. Over the course of a weekend, we transformed an innocent warehouse in disrepair into a seedy underground meeting place.
We shot two critical scenes in the same location, each of which required retractable lighting to create two very different moods. Steve, our set engineer, wired and created the lighting effects that literally gave us two stages in one. For some scenes, we had to position the camera in confined spaces to capture the intimacy of the scene, so we constructed sets with removable walls to eliminate any restrictions.
Casting
Casting was a meticulous process of finding people with the look and the personality that closely matched the individuals in our story. We are fortunate to know many open-minded, adventurous souls who were willing to delve into their moral consciousness, and emerge as actors. This film pays tribute to the dozens of supporters who gave their time, energy, and talent in taking on roles that challenged (but did not overcome!) their faith in humanity.
Cinematography
I wanted the camera movements to convey a strong sense of what the characters were experiencing, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. At times the movements where intentionally exaggerated to help bring the audience in through the eyes of a specific character.
We designed the sets to give me flexibility in composing shots that captured nuances evident in the locations we chose. The more poignant scenes were framed to convey an intimate level of realism and emotion.
I interspersed shots that ranged from high above to ones that were very low. This helped to add more drama and tension to a scene while contrasting how a character saw themselves in relation to other characters in the societal hierarchy. These shots required camera stabilization equipment, some of which we designed and built ourselves.
Fight Choreography
 Jason and I wanted authenticity and intensity in our fight sequences. The fights, therefore, were not drawn out, and the characters were not able to get up and walk away after a flurry of blows. Jason, who studied Wah-Lum Kung Fu, worked with Barry Nielsen, his Sensei in the Uechi-ryu Karate style, to choreograph the fights. Together, we worked through many hours of rehearsals to ensure the scenes were believable, brutal, and had maximum impact. 
Jason and I designed and built an experimental weapon that was a cross between a machete, a mace, and an axe (fondly called Axe-Maul). Jason developed special moves to make the fight sequences with the weapon believable.
Post Production
The Killing Hand was shot with Canon GL1 MiniDV cameras and edited on a Macintosh with Apple’s Final Cut Pro. Post production was a monumental effort that transformed Jason’s editing suite at Digital Arts Studio into Mindbeside Studios, and Michael’s digital project studio into a full-fledged recording emporium for the film’s score. With patience, determination, and true collaboration, The Killing Hand emerged.
Mindbeside Studios is proud to join the digital evolution, and to help push through the cost-prohibitive barriers of traditional film production so that this sanctified art form becomes accessible to everyone.
We hope you’re drawn in to the story, and come along for the journey. We hope you're curious, even shocked, and ultimately entertained. And we hope that you allow yourself to contemplate, even for a moment — if you could, if you would, justify your evil.
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