(view trailer)

"A shy young man’s fancy turns to the pretty girl sitting next to him on a café terrace. But cell phones, waitresses, city buses and a rebellious can of soda seem determined to thwart his awkward overtures – until an innocent fortune cookie comes to the rescue."

On the set

Primarily shot in one location on September 28th, 2008 (with rehearsal on the 21st), Fortune Cookie was a "small" project - meaning that it took over a month to write the script, get the cast and crew together, get the permits, secure the location, etc., proving once more that "fresh and spontaneous" takes a lot of planning in this business.

The XH-A1: packing a mighty punch in a small package

The story went through several permutations: the male character was a laid back surfer type; the male character had an unintelligible Irish accent; the male character had an unintelligible German accent; the male character was shy and spoke very little; the two characters had a wedding in a church; the two characters walked a baby in the park; etc. Each unexpected change in location, actor availability, financial consideration, etc. resulted in an equal change in the script that would appear organic to the story while at the same time allowing us to work within our limited means.

Caroline Pelletier (make-up)

The location was a local café terrace made available to us by the generous owner. Since the cost to us was $0 (except for meals and refreshments for the cast and crew, of course) and we didn't want to interfere with regular business, we opted to shoot on a Sunday, which was the slowest day of the week. Still, our small crew managed to attract a lot of curious onlookers who went into the cafe, providing a little extra business for the owner and populating our shots with extras who acted the most naturally in the world. The set did require some dressing up: hanging a menu and a sign to hide unwanted logos and trademarks, putting plastic flowers in the otherwise barren planters to add a splash of colour, etc.

Miguel Mendoza (Carlos)

One daunting obstacle was natural light, since we didn't have the budget for lights and generators. Because of the time of year (late September), the sun was starting to set earlier and crossed the horizon at a lower angle. As a result, there would be a lot of long shadows moving across the shot from one take to the next. We only had about four hours of usable light to work with, so we planned every angle like clockwork to make sure shadows wouldn't mess up continuity. That proved to be a non-issue, however, as the day of the shoot was overcast, and while we lacked sunlight to brighten up the scene we were able to work with even lighting conditions. Clouds, nature's softbox!

Trista Gladstone (Rachel)

Another challenge was street noise. We couldn't even think of closing the street (a major artery in the city of Montreal), so our excellent sound technician used wireless Lavalier mics that cut down ambient sound to a minimum. Some filtering and compression in post got rid of almost all noise, and we were able to rebuild the sound track (including traffic sound that sounds more real than real life) for optimum effect.

Pierre Beaulieu

Thanks to a great crew, talented actors and the participation of several people who donated time and/or their location (including the good folks at the Montréal Film and Television Commission), Fortune Cookie has been very well received by audiences. At the time of writing this, it's making the festival rounds and as soon as it receives CRTC certification, we'll be approaching broadcasters.

(click on the image for full-size poster)

FORTUNE COOKIE (2008)
(00:06:14)
Shot on HDV (1440X1080 MiniDV); colour; stereo; English w/French subs.

Produced and directed: Jacques E. Bouchard & Patricia MacDowell
Story: Jacques E. Bouchard & Patricia MacDowell
Screenplay: Jacques E. Bouchard

CAST:
Rachel: Trista Gladstone
Carlos: Miguel Mendoza
Waitress: Caroline Pelletier
Cook/kitchen help: Patricia MacDowell
Café patron: Josh Cowan

CREW:
Camera: Jacques E. Bouchard
Editing: Patricia MacDowell & Jacques E. Bouchard
Sound: Pierre Beaulieu
Make-up: Caroline Pelletier
Photographer: Matthias Elsdörfer
Grips: Dee Rich & Matthias Elsdörfer
Acting coach: Josh Cowan
Original Music: Rachel Kidd

SPECIAL THANKS:
PâtisserieYuki
Baie d’Urfé Curling Club
Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision de Montréal

All content ©Right Brain Productions Inc.

Photos by Matthias Elsdörfer

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