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Production Notes
More than a century ago, the bustling industrial city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania was destroyed by the worst man-induced flood in American History. It left thousands dead, homeless or missing.
Documentary filmmaker Mark Bussler and Inecom Entertainment Company CEO Michael Bussler have long been fascinated with the subject, and after significant research, decided it was a story well worth telling for two reasons: they felt that other documentaries on the Johnstown Flood were sanitized and that other productions lacked the emotional impact of what happened on that horrific day.
"The primary goal was to pack the documentary with action and personal stories. That required a lot of research to gain first-hand accounts and make the film as exciting, while still as factual, as possible. It's about the people who survived or perished in Johnstown, along with all the other carnage the flood inflicted when it roared through the city. I first became aware of the Johnstown Flood history two years ago; about the time we were ramping up to make films for the DVD market. I recognized that the story had a number of dramatic elements that would make an interesting movie," said Inecom CEO and Executive Producer Michael Bussler.
"You have the traumatic nature of this flood. This was not your typical, rising-water type of flood. It was more like a massive tidal wave, crashing through four towns and was still a solid wall of 40-mph water, 45-feet high when it hit Johnstown. As if that wasn't bad enough, the debris of four towns was dammed up at the stone railroad bridge. Then a fire began. Hundreds who otherwise might have been saved by floating away on remnants of debris were doomed to death by flames.
"The fundamental good nature of the American people is demonstrated in the aftermath of the flood when locals pitched in to put the town back together. Clara Barton and the American Red Cross rallied the nation to help Johnstown recover from the devastation.
"Putting all this together, I thought here is a story people need to learn more about today, illustrating as it does the American spirit in these turbulent times," said Bussler.
Mark Bussler set out to write and direct a documentary that literally places the viewers there and allows them to experience the horror and tragedy first-hand.
"The terror from the size of the huge, crushing wall of water had to be shown in the film to really convey how awful this event was. This of course proved difficult when I couldn't drown my actors or flood a real town. Special effects and miniatures involving water looked cheap so instead I went with the principle that what you don't see is the most terrible thing of all. You hear and see the flood before it kills people, and you can feel it through the actors reactions and the massive soundtrack I put together. That coupled with the actual pictures of the destruction make you really feel the size and force of the Johnstown Flood.
"I went with a predominantly black and white film to set the right mood. The film has a period feel, exemplifying the black and white still photography that existed in 1889. From a stylistic viewpoint it looks angrier too. There are no cheerful colors to get in the way of the death and destruction," said Bussler.
There were lots of ups and downs during the production, most notably, the complexity of the scenes and the weather. But the fact that Bussler is also a set designer enabled him to make clever use of whatever was around him. Recreating 1889 Johnstown, a bustling, historic city, was a challenging assignment to accurately convey the size and scope of the flood as well as the Victorian era in which it took place.
The biggest problem to overcome was the weather. The Johnstown Flood took place in the lush, green Conemaugh Valley in May of 1889. Bussler's filming schedule was to take place through the winter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and surrounding areas - a memorable winter that was below zero much of the time with snow on the ground for months on end.
Through the generosity of people in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio, Bussler was able to secure and build locations quickly. Filming was done in a variety of antique shops, historical societies and local residences. A section of the debris field was built on a farm representing the smoldering debris at the bridge. The debris field was usually covered in snow and ice and was cleared off with hot water before each filming day.
The coldest day of filming was minus ten degrees at the Ohio Central Railroad in Sugar Creek, Ohio. It was far too cold for the smoke machine to work properly and when the crew threw water onto the train representing rain, it froze instantly. All the scenes inside the train were shot from angles to hide the fact that it was a snow covered tundra outside.
Fortunately all the footage came back the way Bussler wanted and the story was pieced together as precisely as it was originally storyboarded. Johnstown Flood was looking great and Executive Producer, Michael Bussler, decided he wanted to have it narrated by the best narrator in the industry. Actor, Richard Dreyfuss, was recorded in January. Mark Bussler recalls, "Richard is an amazing actor with a terrific voice. He gave Johnstown Flood the emotional intensity and drama to make it an exceptionally powerful film."
Bussler worked with Richard Burkert and Dan Ingram at the Johnstown Flood Museum in Johnstown to round out the production. The Flood Museum provided the film with a tremendous amount of additional pictures of Johnstown and the aftermath, many of which were never before published. From there Bussler was nearly complete with the editing. The remaining few shots that had no available pictures or were not filmed were hand drawn with pen and ink by Bussler mimicking the 1889 style.
Editing was completed in April of 2003 after weeks of sound and music work. The last scene to be filmed was the lynching, which was filmed after the majority of ice had melted from the debris field set in late March.
Bussler wanted epic, classical music to end the film and turned to Scandinavian composers Edvard Grieg and Johan Svendsen. An authentic 1889 piano piece about the Johnstown Flood was performed by Pittsburgh Symphony pianist, Patricia Prattis Jennings exclusively for the film.
"The film is based entirely on 19th Century accounts. That way the story relays the exact experiences of those who were in Johnstown on that dismal day," said Michael Bussler.
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Copyright © 2008 Inecom Entertainment Company
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