History of
‘Caffeine!’
‘Caffeine!’ started as a production workshop to give aspiring filmmakers an opportunity to get practical experience on a sound stage. The idea was to build out a practical set, (in this case a coffeehouse) and develop a series that provided a shooting opportunity each Tuesday night. Initially, scenes were written to accommodate several actors that were asked to be involved, and then the scenes were given a ‘table reading’ and finally a full production. As a collaboration began with Metro Arts Institute’s theatre and film program, ‘Caffeine!’ began to quickly evolve in a very ambitious way. Many of the school’s graduates began to get involved, as did several filmmakers with their own companies and resources. An ensemble began to form, with post-graduate actors taking on the roles of characters that ‘hung out’ in this coffeehouse. Telescripts were written, and along with the ensemble players, a ‘feature’ or ‘guest’ character would appear for one sometimes two episodes. It was also decided that each episode would begin with a book for its title, which gave each episode the possibility of a thematic direction for the story lines. It was a very ambitious project, but as we began to film each Tuesday night, something very exciting began to happen.
As more and more people began to hear about the project, the set began to fill up with talented people wanting to learn more and more about the process. Because each of the episodes took place on a single set, we could attack the scene set-ups very quickly and shoot eight or nine pages in a single evening. Most of the actors had been trained in theatre acting, but the transition in acting for this new form--television or ‘intervision’ (as we like to call it) evolved quickly as the actors started to get used to acting for the camera. Young film students quickly fell into the production jobs, and soon we had a full production company of sometimes thirty people working during the course of an evening.
As the family of a production company began to emerge, we also began to develop the Internet part of our company so that the world could begin to enjoy and learn about what we are doing. Caffeinetv.net was born, and this is the website for our creation--we hope you like it and watch it change and grow. The remarkable part of the vision is that it has endured nine months of filming each Tuesday night; with the same crew and cast we had from the very beginning. Our goal is to keep the series of ‘Caffeine!’ fresh, and to give it a quality that you would find if you watched your favorite television show. In order for us to continue, we ask that you support our effort by purchasing every other episode, in hope that we will eventually begin to move into a sound stage that will develop other projects for ‘Intervision’, and do it with high quality equipment. Caffeinetv.net will continue to develop its production mechanics, so that other young actors and filmmakers will be able to walk in and have the same experience we had. For more information, please write to us, click on the Contact Us link at the bottom of this page.
‘Caffeine!’ started as a production workshop to give aspiring filmmakers an opportunity to get practical experience on a sound stage. The idea was to build out a practical set, (in this case a coffeehouse) and develop a series that provided a shooting opportunity each Tuesday night. Initially, scenes were written to accommodate several actors that were asked to be involved, and then the scenes were given a ‘table reading’ and finally a full production. As a collaboration began with Metro Arts Institute’s theatre and film program, ‘Caffeine!’ began to quickly evolve in a very ambitious way. Many of the school’s graduates began to get involved, as did several filmmakers with their own companies and resources. An ensemble began to form, with post-graduate actors taking on the roles of characters that ‘hung out’ in this coffeehouse. Telescripts were written, and along with the ensemble players, a ‘feature’ or ‘guest’ character would appear for one sometimes two episodes. It was also decided that each episode would begin with a book for its title, which gave each episode the possibility of a thematic direction for the story lines. It was a very ambitious project, but as we began to film each Tuesday night, something very exciting began to happen.
As more and more people began to hear about the project, the set began to fill up with talented people wanting to learn more and more about the process. Because each of the episodes took place on a single set, we could attack the scene set-ups very quickly and shoot eight or nine pages in a single evening. Most of the actors had been trained in theatre acting, but the transition in acting for this new form--television or ‘intervision’ (as we like to call it) evolved quickly as the actors started to get used to acting for the camera. Young film students quickly fell into the production jobs, and soon we had a full production company of sometimes thirty people working during the course of an evening.
As the family of a production company began to emerge, we also began to develop the Internet part of our company so that the world could begin to enjoy and learn about what we are doing. Caffeinetv.net was born, and this is the website for our creation--we hope you like it and watch it change and grow. The remarkable part of the vision is that it has endured nine months of filming each Tuesday night; with the same crew and cast we had from the very beginning. Our goal is to keep the series of ‘Caffeine!’ fresh, and to give it a quality that you would find if you watched your favorite television show. In order for us to continue, we ask that you support our effort by purchasing every other episode, in hope that we will eventually begin to move into a sound stage that will develop other projects for ‘Intervision’, and do it with high quality equipment. Caffeinetv.net will continue to develop its production mechanics, so that other young actors and filmmakers will be able to walk in and have the same experience we had. For more information, please write to us, click on the Contact Us link at the bottom of this page.
