Shot on a shoestring budget, and right before HD became the norm among independent filmmakers, The Ethereal Plane had its world premiere at the Director's View Festival (www.imdb.com/event/ev0000793)
in 2001, and was later screened and won first place at the MiniDV Film Festival.
In 2004, The Ethereal Plane was picked up at the American Film Market and sold to a Thailand distributor, as well as a contract with Amazon for sales and rentals.
== Plot==
The film begins with an exterior of a building in Area 51. Uncle Clarence greets an armed guard, and his card allows his entry into a highly secured lab. The guard goes about his business, when suddenly lights flash, a sonic boom fills his ears. Then a strange thing happens. Everything freezes. The guard's sugar packet draining into his coffee up freezes in mid spill. Soon after, Clarence walks out of the lab, the guard still frozen in place.
Stamford, Connecticut, a year later. Damon Taylor (Ron Rogell) goes about his dull work routine and attending door to door computer software sales meetings with his female partner. His latest clients are not very friendly or cooperative, and have him wait while the wife is much more interested in talking on the phone to someone who found her earrings in a dressing room.
Clarence's nephew Harrison (Gene Gabriel) minds his own business in a downtown area, when a sinister SUV pulls up and confiscates him. Two agents question the whereabouts of a device that his uncle stole, and they want it back. Harrison does not cooperate, and ends up stabbed in the stomach. He manages to escape their grip and runs away from them.
During his lunch break, Damon stumbles upon the bleeding Harrison in an alley. Harrison is near death, but he manages to plead with Damon to "find the device and come back for him". Grabbing Damon's pen, he quickly jots down the name of a woman named Kayla, and her phone number. Before he can do anything else, the two agents show up. Harrison quickly give him a password to tell Kayla. Damon is about to call 911, when they shoot the phone out of his hands. Damon flees, but the agents run up and shoot Harrison in the chest multiple times, killing him.
Shaken severely and bloodied, Damon finds a phone booth to call 911, when the agents find him and chase him in their SUV. Damon eludes them, ducking into a pizza parlor.
He eventually makes his way home, where he decides to call Kayla.
Damon and Kayla meet at her house, and he informs her of his death. He brings up what Harrison had said to him, and the password. Kayla promptly brings out a small device with a knob that resembles a clock and give it to him, as per Harrison's instructions.
In the anonymous safety of a park, Damon decides to take the machine and turn the knob counterclockwise. After a brief shock, Damon enters the ethereal plane, and time stops. After some wandering around, he returns time to normal.
The agents once again find Damon. With the machine, he figures out now to reverse time. He does so, just as they are about to shoot him. Following his reverse-self back to the scene of the crime, Damon is able to find Harrison before the stabbing, and change the outcome.
Together, they go back to Kayla's, where they are shot dead by the agents. Uncle Clarence shows up, having shot the agents and went back in time to save everyone.
In the end, Clarence and the group try to figure out what do to next. The agents show up, and the group touches the machine...sending them back into the ethereal plane.
== Production==
The Ethereal Plane was Clarke M. Smith's first time directing a full-length feature. It was produced by film and media company TimeAxis Media.
Almost entirely shot in downtown Stamford, CT, The Ethereal Plane production was created entirely from volunteer efforts of local talent, as well as actors from New York and New Jersey.
When independent filmmaker Clarke M. Smith met actor Ron Rogell in a temp assignment in Stamford, CT, they discovered they had similar interests in filmmaking and science fiction. Clarke had written a treatment, which at the time was called "Dimensions", and he showed it to Ron. Ron, subsequently got excited to work in a Smith film after viewing a short he had just recently completed, called "Distant Echoes", which had also screened at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in May 2000.
At the time, Smith was not entirely ready to take on a new project, having just finished "Distant Echoes". But Ron liked the treatment so much, he encouraged Clarke to finish writing it as a feature length screenplay. Within a few weeks, Clarke hammered out the first draft, and the title changed to "The Ethereal Plane," a title thought up by Clarke's wife (and eventual co-producer of the film) Leilani L. Smith.
Shooting lasted for 15 months, beginning in August 2000, ending November 2001. Ironically, the film�s storyline takes place in one day, specifically a 6-hour period. One of the challenges of the film was to maintain hair lengths, clothing, goatees, etc. Ron had to put on the �bloody shirt� several times throughout the year, and of course, it could not be washed. Also, much of the film takes place in a grungy alley, and during the course of shooting, things changed.
All of the actors and crew in the film had �day jobs� to attend to, and could only shoot one day a week, which was usually Sunday. But it became a scheduling nightmare, because several shoots required all or many of the actors to be present. Getting a group of volunteers together a few times is one thing, but the shoot required this to happen many times, and many times, not all were available.
�Filmmakers complain about having such a low budget,� one crew member explains. �We had NO budget. The film cost roughly $5000, and that was for the camera, and the editing system.� This of course doesn�t include the gas used to get there (much of the cast lives in New York, one in New Jersey), and the food courtesy of Leilani running over to Subway or Dunkin� Donuts.
Director Clarke M. Smith explained that he "wanted to prove, among other things, that it's possible to have a really good-looking movie with no money. I dare say that nothing as ambitious as The Ethereal Plane has ever cost so little. However, I don�t necessarily ever want to make something this big again without money behind it - the hard working cast more than deserves to be paid. Thank God they believed in the script and the project as much as I did.�
Yael Martinez adds, �Being paid � not that I would have turned it down. But we all did if for the love of the art and a chance of being part of something unique. But most of all, because it was a blast, and I can�t wait for the next one.�
As shooting and editing would bring scenes together, Yael started working on the electronic score. �Music is my first love, and Ethereal Plane was my first acting gig. I�ve done a lot of R&B, and background vocals, but working on my first film score was a great experience. I could easily do this for a living.�
Casting the film was an interesting process. After Rogell and Smith agreed to do the film, with Ron playing �Damon Taylor,� they starting thinking about who would be a good �Harrison.� At the time, Ron was co-starring in a community theater production of �The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas� with actor Gene Gabriel.
Ron mentioned to him about this movie he was going to be in, and Gene took a look at the script and instantly loved it. Before anyone knew it, they had their �Harrison.� Clarke and Leilani came to the show to meet Gene, and the deal was done.
When it came time to find the agents, Ron had an acting buddy named Tom Shay, and Gene had a high school buddy named Yael Martinez, who could also do music.
The last principal cast member to find was �Kayla�. Rogell and the others had several possible ideas for an actress, but Smith had his eyes on Elizabeth Gallo.
�I cast Gregorio de la Pagiano as Uncle Clarence. He was in the last 3 short films I had made, and I thought he would be good in this supporting role.�
Gregorio's sister (Gallo) has had various film and television roles. �I thought Liz would be a great Kayla. I thought she could pull off the sort of sadness necessary to show what we don�t get to see in the film � that of her and Harrison�s friendship. We only learn of their relationship in exposition, and I needed someone who could make the audience feel her sorrow over his death, without ever seeing how or when the 2 characters knew each other.�
Midway through shooting, the production had to shut down for 5 months for several reasons, namely because winter set in, and the film takes place on a �sunny summer afternoon.� But it was also during this sad time that Smith�s stepfather Ande Felix, who for the past year had been battling an incurable case of melanoma cancer, passed away on New Year�s Eve of 2000.
�If there�s one thing I wish about this movie,� Smith explained, �its that Ande could have seen it. He would have loved it, and been proud. I hope he�s proud right now.� Mr. Felix had appeared in 5 of Smith�s short films over the years, during his college days. �You�ll see the dedication I put at the end of the film for Ande. He was always so encouraging and supportive of my work. For a while after he died, I didn�t care much about The Ethereal Plane, and we almost shelved it, especially when it was getting increasingly difficult to schedule actors at the same time. �In the spring time, all of a sudden it seemed, a bunch of them got acting gigs that they signed up for. �But as soon as the weather got warmer, we were back in the swing of things, determined more than ever to finish this movie.�
Shooting finally wrapped in November 2001, just in time to beat the cold weather. �Well, we didn�t beat the cold weather,� Ron said. �That awesome scene when my character is walking around the backwards world with nothing more than a shirt and pants, was freezing! After every take, I scrambled to put on my heavy coat.� That was the last day of shooting.
Smith said. "I have literally put my life on hold to finish this movie. The shooting was one thing, but with all the complicated special effects and action scenes, this was a killer to edit. It took such a long time. I haven�t exercised, haven�t done anything to the house we moved into 4 months ago, I stayed up half the nights, been pulling my hair out to finish what seemed like an endless battle. And I've developed what I call 'mouse elbow' - inflamed joints in my elbow, because editing is all mouse work. Creativity mixed with stress and burnout is a ferocious combination of emotion. Yes I love my movie, but I don�t want to see an editing console for the next 6 months.�
With the movie finally done, the producers put on a huge premier party. �We decided to go all out, � explained Leilani, co-producer of The Ethereal Plane. �After all that work, the least we could do for the cast was have a huge party to say thanks.� A huge party indeed. Leilani was able to get a video projector and screen, and they turned the basement into a terrific screening room. �Yes, the party cost some money, but it was worth it, � she says. �All that work truly deserved a party of this magnitude, and it was a full house full of fans!�
�Even though the film is done and over,� Smith said, �its now really just beginning. It's not my field, but we all want to get the film seen and distributed. We want to present it to several film festivals, of course, but also see what kind of market there is for distribution of this kind of production. I mean, if Blair Witch can do it, why can�t we?�
After the film was distributed in Thailand via Inferno Film Productions, as well as rentals and sales at Amazon, the film became bootlegged internationally. Below is a sample of places the film can be found.
