Synopsis | Production Note | Credits | Press
 

For a mere 15 days—a relative impossibility in modern filmmaking—this small, independent, low budget yet ambitious project set forth to complete the shooting of director Marc Klasfeld's eye-opening, thought-provoking and controversial script. Utilizing an ensemble cast, all of whom worked for scale, multiple L.A.-area locations and shooting on digital tape, the production attempted to do just that.

So why would he make this film?

“When I was in film school, I had made a personal vow to myself that before I retired I would be responsible for at least one film that was going to be of some significance,” Klasfeld says. “(The film) is the result of nearly a decade of writing and something that I wanted to do to see if things really had changed at all from 1992.

“This film attempts to challenge notions in what I think is a unique and unapologetic way. It has no room for PC (political correctness).”

Multi-platinum-selling rapper Snoop Dogg appears as the film's narrator, introducing and closing segments with commentary in a way only Snoop can: Suave, street and real.

Moreover, in a bid for authenticity, the filmmakers utilized extra and background artists who were culled from the very neighborhoods in which the filming takes place and in which the extras reside, work, attend school and own businesses.

By utilizing stock footage mixed with filmed live action, authenticity was a foremost necessity and thus the challenge for Location Manager David Conway. In 15 days, the production utilized close to half that many different locations and provided a realistic window into just how diverse Los Angeles ' many neighborhoods really are.

The film's locations spanned the sleepy bedroom community of North Hollywood, to the hustle and bustle of working class neighborhoods in South Central and South Los Angeles, to the gated affluence of Hollywood Hills, to the deafening silence of mega-suburban Orange County.

If Production Designer Alan Maraoka and his team of talented artists weren't the busiest segment of this production, they were at least in the top two. Faced with a tight, 15-day shoot utilizing multiple locations, multiple sets and multiple environments, the team produced everything from prop police clubs to fake malt liquor labels to recreating burned out storefronts in South Central Los Angeles to the eerie smokiness of Parker Center and a most unique courtroom replete with original custom artwork.

In addition to serving as the film's narrator, Snoop Dogg lends his musical talents to the film's score and soundtrack.

An interesting challenge awaited musical supervisor Frankie Pine and music producers Quaze and Red Spider: How to score and create a soundtrack for what is in essence a modern period piece? The musical team had to recreate a sound evocative of early 90s Los Angeles which resulted in the usage of songs by Ice Cube, N.W.A. and Sublime—all updated somewhat for an audience a decade later.

 

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