PRODUCTION NOTES “OUATIJ” was shot in April of 1995, during my undergraduate film school days at Jersey City State College. It was the first time that I ever picked a camera and shot a film. It was also the first time that I ever edited one (on a trusty Steenbeck editing machine, by the way). The equipment given to me was pretty bare bones: 1 Arriflex Camera with battery pack; a tripod and a light kit with 3 lights. That’s it. No matte box, no neutral density filters, nada…zip…zilch! I must say that it was a tough shoot (2 days total). The first day, we shot the car chase sequences. We loaded the camera and equipment in the back of my neighbor’s pickup truck and headed down to an industrial road on the edge of my hometown, North Bergen, NJ. Jason (the villain) was driving his own car, and I had my friend John and another guy in my car. Carlos, the other cop, was working that day, so I had to use a stand-in to drive my car while John stuck his head out the window and fired his fake gun. The second (and tougher day) was shot at 2 locations in 2 states: the office building interiors were shot at the HBO Building (where I worked) in NYC. The exteriors were filmed on location at the Paine Webber Building parking lot in Weehawken, NJ. I worked the cast and crew to the point where they were ready to strangle me! By the way, the crew included my former girlfriend Giulia (an art student at Parsons School Of Design); my sister Sabrina; and classmate, cameraman and actor David Fuchs (who played Dave the Shotgun dude). Since this was a non-union gig, I made the cast also act as gaffers and grips! I practically searched all over the Tri-State area for black toy guns—but could not find any. I had to settle on neon colored water guns and spray-painted them black. It worked so well that the security guards at the Weehawken site stopped production because they thought that we were really handling guns! Things worked out okay after they contacted the head of security—whom I got permission from days earlier to shoot there. Another little problem was that the cast wasn’t sure of my shooting methods. “Why do we have to do the same kicks over and over?” “Don’t worry,” I’d tell them, “it’ll look good when it’s edited together.” Even then, during shooting, I already had a mental picture in my head of how I would cut the film together. Later, they were not disappointed! We had the premiere at the film school party on the last night of the semester. Everyone showed their films, and they were 3-minute shorts that were—at best—experimental. My film was last, and everyone looked at me in anticipation. For months, I was teased about making my action movie. But, 10 cinematic minutes later (yes, mine was 3 times longer—and actually had a plot!)—everyone was a believer. Needless to say, I received an A for the semester and the respect of my fellow classmates and teachers. That felt verrrrrrry good! Fast forward 3 years later: every night after my film production class at NYU would finish, I’d stick around after class and re-edit “OUATIJ.” I cut out flash edits, and continuity mistakes and rearranged some scenes. Now, jump ahead 5 years after that: with the advent of digital technology, I had again revisited this labor of love and put it through the editing ringer once more, this time using Apple’s excellent FINAL CUT PRO software. This program allowed me to clean up the VHS interpositive and anamorphically-enhance the film to an HDTV-friendly 1.78:1 aspect ratio (after digitally manipulating the 1.37:1 OAR). What you see now is the definitive, 8-minute version of my film. While it’s not “Die Hard,” it is the indication and inkling of what I can do, given a good budget and a good crew. If I had money, I’d be dangerous! So, please enjoy the film for its spirit, and what it has tried to accomplish. My thanks to everyone involved, as this mini-epic could not have been done without them. Happy Viewing! Youssef Kdiry (2005)