A feature-length mystery-thriller film shot entirely in London, Ont., during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has made its international debut.
Written and directed by Greg. A Sager and produced by London-based Matchbox Pictures, Open Your Eyes tells the story of Jason Miller, a screenwriter whose mind and world begins to unravel as he rushes to finish an overdue screenplay and avoid dealing with a recent traumatic experience.
The film, which became available to buy and rent on Tuesday, is being distributed in Canada and the U.S. by Gravitas Ventures, and stars Ry Barrett as Miller, and Joanna Saul as his down-the-hall neighbour and love interest Lisa.
“While Jason burns the midnight oil to finish his script he becomes more and more intrigued by her as strange and mysterious things begin to happen in the building causing him to question everything,” reads a description of Open Your Eyes issued by Matchbox.
“Something’s just kind of off, and all this strange stuff starts happening to him… It’s a little throwback to The Shining sort-of thing,” said Sager, who also edited and produced the film, during an interview with 980 CFPL’s Devon Peacock on Tuesday.
Production on Open Your Eyes came together quickly, with a script written within a few weeks, and shooting commencing on May 28, 2020, Sager says. Restrictions implemented as a result of COVID-19, however, forced the use of a smaller crew to ensure health and safety concerns were met.
“Ours are usually anywhere from 20 to 30 people that are involved. Directly on set, we usually have about 15,” Sager says.
“But to stay within the guidelines…. it was just like, ‘OK, how are we going to do this with, you know, minimal people?'”
Sager estimates that six people were working at the set at any given time, with five on the set itself, including himself, the film’s two leads, director of photography and producer Gary Elmer, and Michael Down, who served as assistant camera, assistant director, and assistant editor.
With restrictions capping numbers at five, sound recording Steve Scott camped outside in a van during shooting to mix the film’s audio, which later included a score composed by Rahul Shah.
“We moved the mics, actors put on their own (lavalier microphones). We just all wore multiple hats and assisted one another. It’s kind of a nice, intimate, working environment,” he said. (Sager later penned an article detailing the shooting process for the industry magazine MovieMaker.)
“Any movie that gets made is an amazing feat to me. It makes you look at movies differently too. I’ll give more movies more of a chance than probably most people, because the whole process, even in normal times, is difficult.”
Sager says there are some advantages to shooting a feature film in the Forest City, including less red tape, and a smaller competition pool.
“We’re, kind of the only feature film game in town. It keeps the budgets down. The community really helps out. We unofficially partner with Fanshawe, take a lot of their students, which helps us, but it also gives them hands-on experience,” he said.
“Filmmaking in London is still a novelty, not a nuisance. Like Toronto, filmmaking can… it kind of became a nuisance because people say, ‘oh, they shut this road down. Oh, I can’t go here.’ It has its advantages for sure.”
Sager says he hopes to see more film and television production move from the GTA to London in the near future as production companies look to stretch their dollar.
Open Your Eyes is Sager’s fourth feature film and is Matchbox Pictures’ fourth to get an international release. Through Gravitas, the movie can be bought or rented through major video-on-demand platforms including Apple’s iTunes Store, Amazon, and Vimeo On Demand.
It’s anticipated that the film may see a short run in Ontario cinemas later this month should the pandemic allow.
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