Release Date:
February 26th, 2021

Starring:
Jahnissi Tapia

Directed by:
Steve Sanchez Rosales

Assistant Director:
Yassiel Parra

2019-2020

Looking Out the Window:
I would leave work late at night and take the last bus home. I felt a relief to sit down and let the driver take control after I spent a long day standing on my feet. These nights were serenated with music playing through my earbuds, as the bus glided through the empty midnight streets. I love taking public transit and I wanted to capture this wholesome feeling on film.

In 2020 I moved to New York City and became fascinated by the extensive subway system. The new setting would be a perfect fit for the film I've had in my head for a year and I began work on making that film a reality.

October, 2020 - January, 2021

Here, There and Everywhere: Writing began by imagining a character taking the train and asking 'where are they were going?'. I wrote several drafts with different destinations but I decided to keep it simple and stick to the emotion I wanted to express. Our protagonist was simply going home from a long day at work and taking in the ambiance of the subway.

I was inspired by a scene in the film Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans where two people look up to the night sky and visions of the city fade through. I loved this visual and so I wrote in that the character could see visions of New York City through the train's windows. This was a unique way to show the character's love of taking the train and love for their city.

The screenplay is available below!
January 24th, 2021 Final Screenplay

November, 2020 - January, 2021

You Must Take the (J) Train:
If you look out the front window on most trains you will see it's coated with a tint to prevent looking into the conductor's cabin. The coating creates a blurry and colorful effect that bends light coming through it.

When I saw this for the first time I immediately knew it had to go into the film. I picked up the camera and started doing test shoots. The test footage I got was so good, some of it even made it into the film!

Station to Station:
The (J) line has many iconic stations. I chose to use the Chambers Street Station as our set because of its wide platforms and high cavernous ceilings. It's a large station whose full potential was abandoned, leaving it as a grand deteriorated cathedral for a single train line. It gives a dark mysterious vibe that was perfect for the ambiance I was looking for.

I recorded test footage and cut it together to some music. I was inspired by late-seventies, early-eighties music by artists such as Taana Gardner, Diana Ross, CHIC, Phyllis Hyman, and Debra Laws.

This was the music I imagined the protagonist listening to because of how the disco and funk rhythms aligned perfectly with the rattling of the train.

Just Another Girl on the B.M.T.:
Casting a short film as a beginner director in a new city can be difficult. I didn't know any actors and I had no portfolio under my name. I wasn't even sure if an actor would find it enticing to act in a film where they just wait for a train to arrive. I resorted to what I would do in high school and just ask people I knew to join the production.

Jahnissi and I were co-workers at the time and I told her about the project. She agreed to star in the film and We moved onward to planning out how the shoot would go. I had a responsibility to the actor to create a safe production. When I worked alone on Sunshine I was free to go anywhere, whenever I wanted. Now that I was working with Jahnissi, my role as a director grew and I needed to plan the shoot thoroughly.

February 7th, 2021

All Aboard:
We met at the station on a Sunday morning to have as much of the space to ourselves, our time however was limited due to an oncoming snow stom. I assured Jahnissi we would finish quickly and we got to work on the film. It took some time to get into the flow of shooting; I needed to understand how to shoot this character and how to communicate that to the actor. We spent a lot of time on the several first shots getting to know these two things but it was costing us time.

My biggest weakness at the time was being indecisive, I would sometimes freeze up and not know what to do. This slowed down production and made me even more anxious about the time we were losing. We spent two hours filming and we weren't even on the train yet. Jahnissi instilled an urgency into me and I realized that I needed to step up and get the film finished.

Stand Clear of the Closing Doors Please:
We boarded the train and I was excited about this part. We would ride the train northbound to the Essex Street Station, and then board the southbound train to Broad Street. We did this until we got all the shots we needed. I made sure to sit Jahnissi in front of the subway map poster for continuity between the various trains we rode. By this time we had gotten into the rhythm of shooting and I was able to get all the shots we needed, plus freestyle some new ones too. We were having a great time now and Jahnissi is a joy to have on set. She also brought along her friend Yassiel who was kind to take photos of our production!

Unfortunately we didn't get to shoot the ending of the script and I decided I would edit my way out of this problem. The storm was approaching, we said goodbye and parted ways. When I got home I was in disbelief that I had just done my first production in the city, and with an actor.

February, 2021

A New Destination:
Assembling the film together was straightforward until I got to the ending. The script called for the character to wake up from their nap in the morning, and take the next train back to work. Our production delays meant we couldn't shoot this scene, so I decided instead to use b-roll footage to finish the train ride. The film ends with the implication that the character got home safe that evening, and this new ending worked! It felt like a natural conclusion to the film and I was confident the audience would accept this as the intended ending.

Visual Effects:
The visual effects shots of the city lights appearing through the windows was done with masking and compositing. In Adobe After Effects I masked out the window panes and overlayed my own footage of the city. I lowered the opacity and increased the feathering of the footage to blend it with the window pane.

The Last Stop:
I wasn't sure how an audience would react to a film about a mundane train ride. I embraced my locomotive passion and released the film to a pleasant greeting of positive reception. At the time I felt the technical aspects of the film could have been better such as the cinematography and visual effects; looking back I can only adore the comprehensive feeling of taking a peaceful train ride with music. I love how gently the film procedes through the stages of taking the subway.

There isn't anything I would change today, and I'm satisfied with the work Jahnissi, Yassiel, and I accomplished. For my first New York City film I couldn't have asked for a better crew to produce it with.