Photo Gallery

The making of LINK UP

The following are excerpts from Mark’s book TRULY INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING;

            For the actors, who had never made a film before, the production proved to be a new experience. Aaron Lake recalled, “(LINK UP) was the first one and what surprised me the most was the number of takes. I had no idea that it was that consuming. I remember the scene we shot in the gym was very difficult. It was such a huge space with strange acoustics, and with my experience in the theater it was hard to connect to the material. Conversely, the scene we shot in the planetarium was a lot of fun. The room gave an edge of danger and fear that was great to use.”

Aaron Lake, David Lake and Bill Cordes wait to begin filming in the Barton County Community College Planetarium

The E.S.T.R.E.S.S. Device

            David Lake was surprised how a prop could look so real, “I remember the longest shoot we did was probably over in the Science and Math Building (in the Planetarium). I think probably it was the equipment you brought together - the pieces that you brought together to make the (E.S.T.R.E.S.S.) device. How in the movie it looked so technical and efficient, and thinking back at the time how it (was pieces of junk) and the way it came together for the LINK UP scenario. I think I like (watching LINK UP) the best, and maybe just because it was the first. Last summer we had a marathon with your movies, one evening when Aaron was home and Lindsay (Aaron’s sister) and we were all there. In fact we had a going away party for them since they were going back to school. And somebody said, “Let’s watch those movies!” And it was late, it was three in the morning before we got through with them. There was a good crowd and they stayed, and we had a good time watching them all.”

Mr. Johnson explains why they're leaving for Great Bend, Kansas to Lt. Decker inside the military plane

Lt. Decker confronts Mr. Johnson about the real reason for the mission

For more information about the Combat Air Museum visit their web site at

http://www.combatairmuseum.org/

            The most memorable shoot for me was the scene at the Combat Air Museum in Topeka, Kansas. There was only one day during the entire shoot that all three of us could take the entire day and drive up to the airfield: the Friday before Easter. We had to go rain or shine, and it did more than just rain. By the time we were past Salina, heading east on I-70, we drove in a never-ending hailstorm. A couple of times I could feel the car start to slide off the highway. 

                When we arrived to the museum, it continued to hail and rain, and I had planned to shoot outside next to the parked airplanes between the hanger and runway. But luck was on our side; the one plane I wanted to use, an Air Force Constellation, had been equipped with electrical outlets, and I brought my light kit just in case. We were able to go inside the plane and shoot the entire afternoon in the very impressive location, even with the sound of hail hitting the outside fuselage and water dripping inside. It was very cramped, and I took more time than expected to get cameras and lights in place for the various angles. I originally wanted to shoot two scenes, but only had time for the one in the plane. We barely had enough time to shoot the exterior shot of Bill and Jarrod walking to the plane in the rain, with the camera safely inside the hanger, before they closed the museum. By coincidence, we had a K-35 military tanker plane land just at the right time on the runway seen behind the actors as they started walking to the Constellation. It gave the scene and the film an amazing sense of realism, creating the illusion we were actually filming on an active military base. I was able to turn a weather disaster into a great looking scene by keeping cool and using what I had to my advantage. This was a result of my previous experiences in low-budget filmmaking and being prepared for any turn of events. The other scene was shot at the Great Bend National Guard Armory, and actually worked out better than I thought, by creating an illusion of a military base with more than just a hanger and a runway.

Bill Cordes and Jarrod Carr on the set of LINK UP

Mark Adams making his first film at Barton County Community College

            Despite the long hours and disjointed shooting schedule, everyone seemed to enjoy the experience, as Bill Cordes observed, “LINK UP was a lot of fun. Filming with Aaron (Lake) was a riot, and David and Sara. You see - I remember all of it because what I really liked about that one was we had the time, and I really developed some friendships. And we did that trip to Topeka and I’m thinking of being in that airplane and it’s raining, and the rain is coming in and we’re trying to shoot this shot in an airplane that’s suppose to be about ready to fly! (Laughs) And there’s rain dripping down all over us! And then Sara kneeing me in the gut during the fight scene and that was kind of like (opens his eyes wide open, remembering the pain.) Of course these things are real fresh in my mind because my daughter watches the blooper reel constantly. I mean she’s always, “Let’s watch the LINK UP Bloopers!” It’s her favorite video! But yeah, that was a lot of fun.”

Kevin and Brian receive the phone call that Julie's been kidnapped

The interrogation shooting location

            Aaron Lake had fonder memories of this first film than the later ones, “We had a great time. We all enjoyed it. Our chemistry was hot and I did two more films, so that should tell you something. I think that was about a five-month process from beginning to end, so when we saw it there were things in there I didn’t even remember shooting. It was quite overwhelming. I think Kevin (is the character I liked playing more than T.J. from the next film, TRUE IDENTITY). Dad and I had more in-depth work, as I recall, and that meant a lot to me. Also I remember being so overwhelmed, in a good way, because it was something I had never experienced before. It will always hold a place in me.”

            My wife, Tracy, had a friend from high school, Jay Hauser, appear as Xerox, which was a strange experience, “(I remember) Aaron and David were funny, and they seem to get along well. (Jay Hauser was in the film), that was strange. Well, Jay was suppose to be this sort of ‘Bill-Gates-geeky-intelligent’ type guy, Xerox. And he had a hard time getting his lines out. He’s not geeky enough and he’s not suave enough to pull it off. (Laughs) I love him. He’s a nice guy. But, you know, he had a really hard time. I remember shooting in the vault where all of the art work was kept, and I was shooting behind-the-scenes with the Hi8 (camcorder), and he was screwing up his lines big time. (In the editing room, serving as Xerox’s lab), there were a lot of people in a small room with no ventilation. (Tracy was just off camera holding the microphone) It was interesting. (Laughs) Well, Jay and I dated at one point in time (in high school), and it had been a long time since I had been in that small of a space, that close to Jay. So, it was sort of weird. That (scene) and the shoot in the vault were hard shoots. I remember those being long days. Long shoots for what they should have been for a scene.”

              As in JUDGMENT DAY, I wanted original music for the film. Travis Mecum was not available, and I thought about borrowing someone’s electronic keyboard just to make some simple mood music, since this was a dramatic sci-fi film. There was a student at Barton, named Eric, who said he had a computer program for creating music, and over the summer break he would play around with it and come back with something. Summer came and went, the new fall semester began and Eric didn’t return to school. In fact, he joined the navy. So I asked Scott Donovan, a local radio DJ at Eagle Radio, if he knew of anyone who would be interested in creating music for my film. He gave me the name of a part time DJ, who was a high school student, Kerry Marsh, who had composed music and made some demo tapes. I called him and he sounded very enthusiastic about the film, so I gave him a copy. It was already cut together, just waiting for music and sound effects. Then we met one night in my editing room and he brought a big electronic keyboard he had borrowed from school. I thought we would watch the film and talk about the ideas we had, he would go home and write the music and then we would record it later. In about 3 hours that night we had recorded all of the music for LINK UP. It was amazing to see Kerry take a couple of minutes to work on a theme, and then watch a scene and perform the music. The result was music that fit perfectly to not only the length of the scene but the mood and emotional impact of the content. All from the top of his head, improvised at the time. I was lucky to find such a talented musician, and he was only a sophomore in high school. He would still be in Great Bend for a few years, and was eager to help out with the next films. In fact, he turned out to be a wonderful actor as well.

For more information on Kerry Marsh

visit his web site at http://www.kerrymarsh.net/

            Kerry remembered, “I was very intrigued, actually, by the idea of doing the music score. I had always screwed around at a keyboard or at the piano, and I thought it was a great opportunity, actually, musically. I really thought it was a very interesting thing, I had never considered myself doing that, especially at that age or at that time. So no, I didn’t know anybody did what you do in the area, making movies. It was really cool, actually, and I was glad that (Scott) Donovan thought of me and gave my name to you for that. It seemed to work out because we kept doing it. (Laughs) So yeah, it was good. (LINK UP without the music or sound effects) was the strangest thing I’ve ever watched, it was just like scene, scene, scene and no crescendos or music to patch everything together. And I guess I probably started thinking about that, but I was actually more intrigued by the idea of watching a movie without a soundtrack. It definitely needed it, any movie really does, it’s important. But (with LINK UP) I at least did get interested in the story, and I thought the acting was much better than I ever would have expected for a bunch of volunteers from the area that had nothing better to do, apparently. (Laughs) I was really excited about doing it (creating the music) after watching LINK UP. I’ll tell you what though - the deal is that now, looking back, I might have sketched out a few ideas: a few melodic themes or whatever. I did that for some of the stock music I did later on…and I really didn’t have that for LINK UP. It was a lot of “B.S.”-ing, I guess, in there. But fortunately, I had already done a lot of that on my own, just playing chords and hearing maybe what was sounding good coming up. At that time I didn’t feel I needed to write anything down, I would now, though! (Laughs) In LINK UP the main action really is involved in that last scene with the shooting, and that’s really the only time you do anything terribly exciting (with the music).”

            I thought it would be fun to have a World Premiere showing of the film for the cast & crew, and I was able to project it on a large screen in the Fine Arts Auditorium on Barton’s campus. Since it was a large theater I also had it free and open to the public, making fliers that I posted around campus. I had rented a Tuxedo for that night, and later my wife, Tracy, bought me my own tux to wear at future premieres. Everyone seemed to like the final 39 minute film and it went on to win a 4^th place award at the 1994 KAN Film Festival.