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Stephen Gray

@stephen.jb.gray

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🎬 Director, Writer, Producer @afterdeathmovie
🧾 Filmmakers, check out @saturation.io

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"I've spent the last 20 minutes bawling my eyes out."

Not my words. A viewer's, moments after watching After Death. When the film opened in 2,700+ theaters, the reactions poured in: "this movie is a gift," "I've never seen anything like it," "it made me feel less afraid of death."

Seven years of work, $12M at the box office, 1.1M+ tickets in 30+ countries. But these voices are the real scoreboard.

You cannot engineer a reaction. You can only earn it.

Produced by: @jasongpamer @jensjacob24
Production: @sypher.studio
@afterdeathmovie

#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #DocumentaryFilm taken in Los Angeles, California by @stephen.jb.gray

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2 months ago

Truck rolling. Cameras set. Everyone in position, and one shot at getting this right.

When you wreck a real car there is no take two. Choreography, camera placement, safety checks, all converging on a few unrepeatable seconds, with pieces still landing at the last minute. That is the honest texture of production: a prepared team absorbing chaos as it arrives.

You cannot rehearse the impact. You can only rehearse everything around it.

Production: @sypher.studio
DP: @austinstraub
@afterdeathmovie @jensjacob24 @jasongpamer
#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #OneTake taken in Baja Film Studios by @stephen.jb.gray

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2 months ago

We just got an A- @cinema_score for @afterdeathmovie! @thomas_vanz @austinstraub @larrychappell @jasonstrull @jasongpamer @jensjacob24 @h_parrottmusic
#afterdeathmovie #neardeath #neardeathexperience #movies #cinema #cinemascore taken in Los Angeles, California by @stephen.jb.gray

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10

3 years ago

We needed a reflection. What we actually needed was a nurse.

One of our favorite shots puts Eva's face as a reflection inside Don's hospital room. The luminance fought us the whole way, until we improvised: a nurse went in, pretended to stock shelves, and her body created the perfect area for Eva's face to appear.

Sometimes the fix for an optics problem isn't a light. It's blocking.

Featuring @kate___duffy
Production: @sypher.studio
@afterdeathmovie @jensjacob24 @jasongpamer @brycecyrier @luisagomezdesilva
#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #Cinematography taken in Baja Film Studios by @stephen.jb.gray

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a day ago

A studio in Paris, sketching rough drafts of meeting God @thomas_vanz

Early in After Death, the film has to show what people describe experiencing: what Heaven could look like, what meeting a God of light could feel like. Nobody has reference footage for that. Thomas Vanz's visualizations gave us the direction long before final shots existed.

On impossible images, you don't start with detail. You start with direction.

VFX Artist: @thomas_vanz
VFX Supervisor: @larrychappell
Post Production: @bssoutpost
@afterdeathmovie @jensjacob24 @jasongpamer

#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #ConceptArt #vfx taken in Paris, France by @stephen.jb.gray

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2 days ago

How do you perform the worst place a person could ever be?

One moment at a time, one scene at a time. The performer at the center of our void scene described imagining everything the monsters would do to him, not just now, but forever. That word is what makes the scene land.

The darkest performances are built one honest moment at a time.

Featuring: Howard Storm, played by @doug_lito
Production: @sypher.studio
@afterdeathmovie @jensjacob24 @jasongpamer @brycecyrier @luisagomezdesilva
#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #ActingCraft taken in Baja Film Studios by @stephen.jb.gray

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3 days ago

The plane in After Death is 100% identical to the one that crashed in 1969, down to the tail number.

Dale was flying a Piper Navajo, and Larry Chappell pulled the exact tail number from the accident photos to rebuild that actual aircraft digitally. Nobody in a theater will pause to check. Larry checked anyway.

The details nobody verifies decide whether everything feels true.

VFX Supervisor: @larrychappell
Production: @sypher.studio

@afterdeathmovie @jasongpamer @jensjacob24

#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #VFXArtist taken in Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine To Aviation & Museum by @stephen.jb.gray

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4 days ago

We crashed exactly one car for this film, and it was on the wrong continent.

The crash happened in Mexico. The story happened on a bridge in Texas. @larrychappell supervised over FaceTime: focal lengths, lens characteristics, measurements, and 3D scans of the car on an iPad, so the scene could be rebuilt digitally in post.

VFX doesn't get fixed in post. It gets earned on set.

VFX Supervisor: @larrychappell
Post Production: @bssoutpost
@afterdeathmovie @jensjacob24 @jasongpamer @brycecyrier @luisagomezdesilva

#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #3DScanning taken in Baja Film Studios by @stephen.jb.gray

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8 days ago

"He said he was looking at himself."

We called Don Piper from set and showed him our re-enactment. Nicholas Saenz portrayed Don's anguish so faithfully that Don recognized his own worst chapter. And the first thing Don told our Eva: she looked a lot like Eva when she was younger.

With real stories, the only review that matters comes from the person who lived it.

Featuring the story of: @donpiperministries
Don Piper played by @nicholasthesaenz, Eva Piper played by @kate___duffy
@afterdeathmovie @jensjacob24 @jasongpamer @brycecyrier @luisagomezdesilva
#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #TrueStory by @stephen.jb.gray

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9 days ago

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

The question I've been asked most about After Death: why take on a project this personal? I find it difficult sharing such a deeply personal journey publicly. But the honest answer is the reason the film exists.

It was born out of tremendous loss.

Production: @sypher.studio
@afterdeathmovie @jensjacob24 @jasongpamer
#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #DocumentaryFilmmaking taken in Winnipeg, Manitoba by @stephen.jb.gray

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10 days ago

Our composer wrote a score she cannot fully explain.

Hannah Parrott says music writing always feels kind of supernatural: you write something, and you do not quite know how it was written. For After Death she meditated on the things that give life to her soul. "I was constantly surprised at how easily the music came. That aspect just felt like a gift."

Prepare your craft relentlessly, then leave room for the part you cannot control.

Music: @h_parrottmusic
@afterdeathmovie @jensjacob24 @jasongpamer
#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #FilmScore taken in Seattle, Washington by @stephen.jb.gray

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11 days ago

We pulled it off.

The crash sequence came together literally at the last minute. Rain rigs, projection, a real semi, two identical cars, a bridge rebuilt from 1989 accident photos: every piece landed later than anyone wanted and exactly when it needed to. Watching the finished sequence, you would never guess.

Last minute is not the same as unprepared. Preparation is what makes the last minute survivable.

Production: @sypher.studio
@afterdeathmovie @jensjacob24 @jasongpamer @brycecyrier @luisagomezdesilva
#AfterDeathMovie #BehindTheScenes #FilmCrew taken in Baja Film Studios by @stephen.jb.gray

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15 days ago