Director's Statement:

THE CHAMP was shot in three days at the Polsa Rosa Ranch in Santa Clarita , California . The crew consisted of former film students I met at the Los Angeles Film School and a few other film professionals.

I wrote THE CHAMP in May 2005 just a few days after graduating from film school. I had directed a few short films but never anything that I had actually written. I wanted to create something that was dark and sweet like a fairy tale. After I completed the script, I showed it to a few of my former classmates and other film professionals. With their feedback, I continued to develop the script and pitched it to investors and other collaborators. By the end of summer 2005, I had secured the film's budget and found support from both Kodak and Panavision who provided free film and camera equipment.

In September, I met Jesse Carlson who stepped in to produce THE CHAMP. Although the film took place in one location, there were some huge production obstacles in the script which required special attention by Jesse. He gathered a great crew who were extremely excited about the project. Jacob Geller was also a huge help in making THE CHAMP come alive. He was the first person to read the script and tell me I had to make this film. Only six months later the film was in post-production. After Jacob and Jesse started producing the film, we secured a great location just in time for our projected November shooting dates.

Rich Varga (THE CHAMP) and Marco Khan (THE BRUTE) joined the cast early on. Both the parts were written with them in mind. In October both actors began boxing training under the supervision of Mario Perez. Mario trained the two actors for six weeks and was present during production to make sure the boxing looked authentic.

Along with the boxing, the special effect make up was central to making THE CHAMP a believable short. Evolution Effects Studio was hired to provide the monster make up for the film. I shared many pictures with Chris Mills and his crew, but what they created was so much more than I expected. After a few make up tests we were ready to shoot.

By November 1, 2005 we had a full cast and crew. We put the finishing touches on pre-production and Cesar Alvarez flew in from Mexico to begin his work as director of photography. We had been communicating about the look of THE CHAMP since the first drafts of the script and shared our ideas on a blog that was later used for pre-production. By the time of production in mid-November, everyone was ready to shoot. Although we had only three days to shoot, everything went as smoothly as could be expected. The nights were cold, the generator died once, the cameras died twice, our security guard left with most of the production truck keys, and our extras wanted to kill us, but after all was said and done we knew we captured the spirit of the story and were very happy.

THE CHAMP is small film with lots of heart. It is a dark fairy tale using recognizable characters in a new way. It was an exciting project and I am proud to have worked on it with a great group of collaborators. I am equally excited to take this to festivals and screenings to see how audiences react to it.

Regards,

Joshua Martin, Writer/Director
The Champ