Chamber of Shadows story - Fairfield County Weekly:

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Chamber of Shadows review - Timpedia.net
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Chamber of Shadows story - Wilton Connecticut:

Wilton stands in for Hollywood

Written by Jeannette Ross  Saturday, 13 February 2010 11:00

Bittersweet Lane in Wilton may not look like the Hollywood Hills, but during the spring of 2008, Steffen Hagberg transformed it into his own personal back lot. That’s when he shot his movie, Chamber of Shadows, in his garage.  You read right. His garage. For two weeks Steffan and his crew emptied the space of all the things you might expect to see in a suburban garage and then filled it with 12 sets and five actors and called, “Action!” It took a year and a half to edit the 79-minute suspense thriller, which Mr. Hagberg is now submitting to film festivals. The story follows a young woman who is trying to solve her boyfriend’s murder. The boyfriend was an electronics genius who left behind a box of codes. The young woman has the box a group of people are after. The visuals are as much a part of the movie as the plot. Mr. Hagberg is a fan of foreign films, particularly the Italian giallo genre, which is generally characterized by extended murder sequences, stylish camerawork, and unusual musical arrangements. Mr. Hagberg is quick to point out, however, that his film contains no gratuitous sex or violence. Like the genre, his film introduces the psychological themes of madness, alienation and paranoia.

When he finally amassed enough money to finance the project by working in the corporate sector, Mr. Hagberg said to himself, “Let’s make a cool movie.” He was not a neophyte, having studied film at Drexel University in Philadelphia and worked on films in New York City. To help flesh out his ideas, he decided to hire a screenwriter and connected with Chandra Niles Folsom of Westport. Knowing his production limitations, Mr. Hagberg decided to center the play in a single location — it’s cheaper that way — an isolated house inhabited by some questionable characters. “A house fit the suspense aspect well,” he said, “a spooky old house with spooky lighting.” In the house lived the young woman’s uncle, whom she visits after her boyfriend’s murder. “There’s the uncle, a maid, having the girl come to live there, it’s isolated, she’s trapped with an old man who’s lost his mind. Who does she trust? That was the general outline,” he said. “When Chandra came in,” Mr. Hagberg continued, “she said, ‘Let’s have him be a conspiracy kind of guy with the government watching him.’ “I said, ‘Let’s have him be an electronics kind of guy. Each room has a box with a code to get in each room. She (the girl) has a box with codes they all want.’”?With the script set they went to casting, and that wasn’t easy. “We had to fire two people because they became diva-ish,” Mr. Hagberg said. “We fired the main actress and then had new tryouts.” Playing the uncle is Patrick McGowan of New York City. “He freaked us all out” at the audition, Mr. Hagberg said. In other words, he was perfect. An actress named Marta Milans tried out for the role of the housekeeper. “A beautiful Spanish bombshell showed up. She didn’t have much experience but she did a great job,” he said. He also hired a crew of four: a camera operator, two people on lights, and a boom operator. Ms. Folsom, the screenwriter, recorded the audio. Mr. Hagberg directed. “I’m a control freak,” he admitted. Sets and setbacks Although he had worked on sets for a film called The Color of Truth, Mr. Hagberg admitted he and his crew were in over their heads at times.

“No one had any idea what we were doing out there. We were running around like maniacs,” he said. “We didn’t realize how much work it was. A 79-minute film with 12 rooms in two weeks in a garage.” Having 12 rooms meant needing 12 sets, each of which had to be built from scratch. “We built a set one day, shot two days. Then we built another set,” Mr. Hagberg said describing the shooting schedule. “We built a library with a study in a day. “There would be eight to 10 people at a time in a room, which in essence was 12 by 12.” Mr. Hagberg shot the film with one camera — in 24-frame standard definition video — which made it even more time-consuming. On top of all of that, there were the hard-to-control issues such as neighbors mowing their lawns during filming, cars driving by, and other neighborhood noises. Despite the difficulties, he said, “it was really cool, really fun to have complete control over the sets, but it was a no-sleep experience.” The cast and crew camped out at Mr. Hagberg’s, with his mother often feeding them.  The furnishings in the movie came from the shop Something Special in Wilton, and some came from Goodwill. Some props came from Mr. Hagberg’s house, some he built, and some came  from Home Depot. For the music, Mr. Hagberg advertised on Craigslist and Mandy.com, a film production job site. He hired Steve Miller of North Carolina. With production finally over and editing well under way, Mr. Hagberg’s troubles still were not over.

The working title of the film had been American Jihad, as suggested by Ms. Folsom. After filming was complete the lead actress decided she didn’t want to be associated with a film with the word jihad in the title and she threatened to sue. Mr. Hagberg decided to change the title. A 1993 graduate of Wilton High School, Mr. Hagberg, 35, has been intrigued by films all his life. He recalls shooting movies in his neighborhood as a youngster with “smoke bombs, karate, masks, and fake blood.” He currently works for a financial company in Stamford managing its Web sites and doing some video work for them as well. Since finishing the editing on Chamber of Shadows he has been writing two other features. One is a horror film that takes place on a New England college campus. The other is a mystery — a mdoern-age Columbo — starring Mr. McGowan. Mr. Hagberg has submitted Chamber of Shadows to a number of festivals, including the Southeast New England Film Festival, Underground Exposure Film Festival, Mojave Film Festival, and Calgary Underground Film Festival. Information:   http://www.blackstrapfilms.com

Blackstrap Films, LLC is currently looking to sell Chamber of Shadows.  If you are a film distribution company and would like to buy the film rights, please contact: steffenhagberg@yahoo.com