Pre-Production
On December 11th, 2014, Kat Brady (Director/Co-Writer/Editor), Josh Brady (Producer/Co-Writer), and Shelby Halberg (Director of Photography) pitched the script for The Big Frozen Gumshoe as part of the Student Feature Film Initiative for Palm Beach State College’s Motion Picture, Digital Animation & Recording Arts Department. The winning team gets to independently produce their script, and the college provides them with equipment and guidance from the professional staff. Their project was selected, and production was officially underway.
On February 2nd, 2015, they launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for production. As recent graduates, they needed a way to cover expenses for things such as costumes, props, food, and insurance.
Thousands of creative projects are funded on Kickstarter at any given moment. Each project is independently created and crafted by the person behind it. People who like the project can pledge money to make it happen. Funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing. If a project falls short of its funding goal by the deadline, it’s over.
Thanks to their friends, family, and fans, they were successfully funded on March 6th, having raised over $6,000.
Between January through May 2015, the crew prepared for production with cast rehearsals, prop building, costuming fittings, storyboarding, lighting plans, script re-writes, and all busy pre-production activities.
Production
The entire 15+ crew consisted of then-current students and graduates of the PBSC film program. Fellow students worked in front of the camera alongside a cast of professional, local actors, many of whom studied at the Burt Reynolds Institute for Film & Theatre.
The Big Frozen Gumshoe began production on May 11th and was filmed on location all across Palm Beach County, Florida. The cast and crew filmed at over 10+ unique businesses, parks, and city streets from downtown Delray Beach to the Lake Park Town Hall. After 26 days of production, they wrapped on July 10th.
Post-Production
Director Brady edited the 78-minute-long film, including all sound editing and mixing, using Adobe Creative Cloud software. The original score was crafted by composer Andrew Aycoth, a West Virginia University alumni. The numerous visual effects were created by visual effects artist Katy Lee.
The Big Frozen Gumshoe was officially completed in June 2018. The film has screened at film festival across Central, South and West Florida.
The streaming premiere went live on April 11th 2020 on YouTube.
Accolades
FLICKFAIR Film Festival, Narrative Feature category, Official Selection 2021
L-DUB Film Festival, Official Selection, 2020
Fort Myers Beach International Film Festival, Official Selection 2019
Orlando Film Festival, Official Selection, Narrative Feature, 2018