Fade to Black: The Trigger Effect (2013) Online

Fade to Black: The Trigger Effect (2013) Online

Four young men confront destructive life choices. Gage, Pepe, and JJ lives change when a crime boss, Mr. M, gives Pepe a gun, which leads to the death of Jamal's family. Jamal seeks revenge, but Dana, his fiancée, urges a direct action-non-violent approach towards justice.

Notable appearances in the film: Padma Scott played both the professor and Wanda the employment agency greeter. Trevor Bailey appeared four times in the film. Once being chased, then being to a woman and her child giving directions, also as an orderly wheeling Jamal into hospital and a shadow in the Pepe and father scene. Khari Nelson Moran,one the casting agents, appeared in the classroom scene. Maria Gonzales the store owner in the why got no job scene was an actually store owner of Izzzy's convenience. The Producer Bill Singleton, Jr. plays the off camera dad of Pepe.

Film set trivia: The classroom school scenes were shot at Northeastern University at Shillman Hall, and various other campus locations, using some of the same sets as the film "Rave", an earlier film that was produced by Bill Singleton, Sandra Diaz, Ed Sumpter and Trevor Bailey.

Trivia about the shooting: The filmmakers lost their first director of photography due to their intense shooting schedule and the script. The filmmakers started shooting the movie without the lead actors and with the faith that they would get the 60 people needed for the film. They did.

Notable tidbits: The film was almost recast due to a member that had a conflict of appearance in many of the major scenes in the film. The film was based on actual events that took place in Boston Massachusetts.

Dr. Alvin Poussainte, consultant for The Cosby Show and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard University had this to say. This is a powerful film. It is gripping, moving, and explores in-depth the scourge of youth violence, particularly in urban areas, and the forces that drive it. Patrick Smith the sound engineer for the The Tonight show for many years encourage the making of this film and is currently helping to supervise all sound issues and he's a damn good friend. Kona Khasu was responsible for introducing Trevor Bailey to Bill Singleton and has written several screenplays and he's also a musician.

Rel Dowdell the writer and director of the critically acclaim film Train Ride and Changing The Game was instrumental in getting the film into the Poconos Mountains Film Festival run by Bridget Davis and attended by notable film critics such as Cam Williams, Wilson Morales and Flo Anthony. Rel Dowdell was also responsible for bring publicist on board Judy Kline. She has worked on such film as Fruitvale and Kevin Hart's Let Me Explain.

David Kleiler of Local Sightings a film organization in Boston that has promoted such film as Mean Streets and Hotel Rwanda conducted the first test screening which helped the filmmakers decide on the best cut of the film. Michael Flaherty, President and Co-Founder of Walden Media and producer of such films as Ray, The Chronicles Of Narnia series, Amazing Grace and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium had this to say. A beautifully shot film that's authentic and has integrity. Authenticity is most important as far as the look of the film.

Notable tidbits: Producer Bill Singleton wrote "the Jamal and Father" scene with Jahmal Williams and Peter Giscombe on the spot. The entire film was almost recast due to one cast member's possible conflict with being able to shoot the major scenes in the time frame of his availability. The film was based on actual events, one in which three teens shot and killed a grandmother on a truth or dare, and a young man who was murdered on his birthday both incidents took place in Boston Massachusetts.

Dr. Alvin Poussaint, consultant for The Cosby Show and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard University had this to say: "This is a powerful film. It is gripping, moving, and explores in-depth the scourge of youth violence, particularly in urban areas, and the forces that drive it."

Major notes on trivia about the film: Producers had originally asked Brian Berdan to edit the film because of his work in JFK, Natural Born Killers and Nixon but previous and subsequent commitments prevented him from participating. They liked the quick cutting style and elements of those films. In fact there is a homage to his earlier work Blue Velvet in the opening of the You Know What I Hate scene. The Dr. King scene between Jamal and Dana where she implores him to put down the gun was filmed as homage to the filmmaking styles of Spike Lee and a similar scene in Any Given Sunday between Dennis Quaid and Lauren Holly. The film went through a series of editors before the filmmakers decided that they would be a better suited to edit the project. Bill Singleton and Trevor Bailey designed a new editing technique which isolates every single take and sentence of each actor in every scene using Final Cut Pro 7. During the course of editing a fire in the editing studio almost destroyed the footage, camera and computer. Also, during this time one of the computers was stolen, and in one session, gunshots could be heard hailing outside of the studio as the filmmakers edited. Bill Singleton and Trevor Bailey after getting a first cut of the film literally went to The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald and gave a screener to the film department. James Verniere, Film Critic of the Boston Herald wrote an email letter to the Producer and Director that would be great encouragement to the filmmakers.

Two of the actors literally got cast while walking past the filmmaker while they were shooting, Rick Mason who plays Jamal's uncle Drew and Atibon Nazaire who plays his henchman. The producer demanded that Rick Mason read on the spot, with his family in tow. Later, he would say that he always to act but someone would just have to cast him out of the blue he got his wish.

Notable appearances in the film: Padma Scott played both the professor and Wanda, the employment agency greeter. Trevor Bailey appears four times in the film: In the beginning of the film when Gage Pepe and JJ chase him as someone who got into a fight with Gage. Next he appears as a person giving directions to a woman who's child runs up to Gage in the scene known as "One second is all it takes." He also appears as one of the Orderlies wheeling Jamal into the hospital. Finally, he appears as a shadow in Pepe's dream sequence. Khari Nelson Moran, one of the casting agents, for the film appears in the classroom scene. Maria Gonzales, one of the actual owners of Izzy's Convenience Store, makes an appearance as the store clerk who ask Gage "why you got no job." The Producer Bill Singleton, Jr. makes an off camera appearance as Pepe's Dad, who blisters Pepe for being highly irresponsible.

Film set trivia: The classroom school scenes were shot at Northeastern University at Shillman Hall,and various other campus locations, using some of the same sets as the film "Rave", an earlier film that was produced by Bill Singleton, Sandra Diaz, Ed Sumpter and Trevor Bailey. The "I am a Businessman" scene where Drew, Jamal's Uncle, chastises Parker who unwittingly parks in an illegal space, was filmed at a building next door to where the producer Bill Singleton once lived. The original location of Jamal's home in the film was changed to a location closer to where the crew could film without interference.

The Producer could not write Atibon Nazaire's character into the script because he had appeared many times as a passerby, so he wrote a monologue as a wise guy just to give his character more depth. The minister's voice was also written into give the actor more screen time because of his vocality.

The filmmakers lost their first director of photography due to the challenge of the intense shooting schedule that the script called for in shooting the film.

David Kleiler of Local Sightings a film organization in Boston that has promoted such film as Mean Streets and Hotel Rwanda conducted the first test screening which helped the filmmakers decide on the best cut of the film. Kona Khasu, winner of the Sundance Film Festival screenwriting award and a member of Will Smith's team of writers was responsible for introducing Trevor Bailey to Bill Singleton. He's a musician and has written several screenplays including "Hunting In America." Rel Dowdell, the writer and director of the critically acclaimed films "Train Ride" and "Changing The Game," was instrumental in getting the film Fade to Black: The Trigger Effect" into the Pocono Mountains Film Festival, run by Bridget O. Davis and attended by notable film critics such as Mr. Cam Williams, Mr. Wilson Morales and Ms. Flo Anthony. Mr. Dowdell was also responsible for bringing publicist Judy Kline on board, who has worked on such films as Fruitvale and Kevin Hart's "Let Me Explain."

Patrick Smith the head sound engineer for "The Tonight Show" for many years encouraged the making of this film and is currently helping to supervise all sound issues and he's a damn good friend. Michael Flaherty, President and Co-Founder of Walden Media and producer of such films as Ray, The Chronicles Of Narnia series, Amazing Grace and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium had this to say. A beautifully shot film that's authentic and has integrity. Authenticity is most important as far as the look of the film.