DVD Special Features: The short film "Fight Scene" starring David & Johnny Butler

My brother, David Butler has been a filmmaker almost since the birth of Johnnyfilms in ' 97-' 98. Five of Johnnyfilms' first ten film projects (be they ever so humble) were graced with David's talent. As well as being creative and ambitious behind the camera he is without doubt a very talented actor and comedian. In "Across" he was the creative genius behind the personification of the characters we had envisioned during the very short writing process. We had been hanging out talking about "Touching The Void" and other films we loved that were about rock or ice

climbing. I mentioned that we should do a half-hour spoof about climbing. We flushed out the idea for a few hours and decided to mock the extreme sports videos that flood DVD shelves. David and Krystal are avid outdoorsmen and go on day climbs often. David and Krystal were currently semi-immersed in the sport and culture of climbing making the props and paraphanelia of the sport available if not at hand.

It seems to me that sometimes it's really difficult to get people impassioned and inspired about a film that you want to do because they know that they will not be payed for their art, that they will more than likely be donating their time, and/or elbow grease for no pay to make your dream to come true. When the vision of the film is shared ardently by the cast, crew, writers or producers then people are more ambitious and sensitive to the production's needs. This project was born in heaven and flowed like gravy

from all of our veins.

Krystal Madden is David's wife and has been involved in several Johnnyfilms productions. She co-starred in "Boogah!" and performed as assistant set designer and pyrotechnician on "Blitzkrieg Europe". She was part of the project from the very beginning and also helped flush out the characters during our brainstorm-ing sessions.

Jeffrey Madden is Krystal's (little) brother and was an obvoius choice for his climbing experience and comedic qualities. 'Jeffie's' presence, and raw charm was invaluable to the film and the success of the premise.

No one had gotten much sleep. I think David had had

the script was in David's head and the storyboards were in mine.

I began shooting immediately and the production began flowing like a well oiled machine. We shot the entire film in 6 and a half hours. The video and audio editing took about a week as I bio-melded with my computer in an obssesive campaign to produce the film before my next project was due to begin. I don't think I could've done better if I had spent a month or two on it. Like I said, this film was born in perfection. Everything about it flowed effortlessly from everyone involved and I believe it shows in every scene. The Weather was perfect. The action is realistic. The style is peg on. The humour is original and sharp. The photography concept worked very well. The music fell into place in every scene.
Hard work aside, I got lucky. We got lucky.