LOGLINE
A woman manning an isolated space station by herself receives mysterious transmissions and must quickly unravel who or what is sending them, or an untold number of lives could be lost.
Behind the Scenes
REHEARSAL
Laying the Groundwork
With such a short shooting schedule, it was imperative to block, rehearse and explore the character and the story like a one-woman play, drawing upon Geffri Maya's years of professional theatrical and film exeperience and Meredith's theater directing background.
Technical Rehearsal
We were very fortunate to be gifted the use of a technocrane for the weekend shoot, which cinematographer Meena Singh is familiarizing herself with here to prepare for the big day(s) following Geffri Maya as she sails through the air.
Mastering the Crane
1st AC Paulina Bryant works with two of the crane technicians, Steve McDonagh and Gilbert Alvarado, as they practice and prepare for an upcoming packed shooting schedule of only two days.
Storyboarding
Meredith and Geffri Maya review storyboards and animatics Meredith created to prepare for the stunts.
Choreography
Meredith and Geffri Maya practice the meditation scene choreography, and multitask some actual meditation.
Homework
Geffri Maya likes to dig deep into the world and character when she prepares and rehearses, using script analysis, discussion and brainstorming to build.
Stunt Prep
Before training Geffri Maya in a stunt, Diz and his team, including Arona Spader, Marie Fink and Kevin Gomez, rehearse all the moves Meredith and Diz plotted out using animatics, storyboards and good old human flailing about.
Locking the Stunt
Meredith and Diz review the stunts as performed by stunt double Arona to refine the movements before putting Geffri Maya up in the wires.
Leaving the Ground
Diz Sharpe, a consummate expert who honed his skills in such blockbusters as "Gravity," "Intersellar," and "Inception," trained Geffri Maya over the course of a few days' rehearsal on the stage while the spaceship was built. All wirework in the film was performed by Geffri Maya!
Stunts in (the) Space
Geffri Maya and Joe Russell practice a scene, with Geffri trying out the stunt and Joe cueing her as the AI voice of the space station, "Conway."
Double Duty
In between rehearsing as an actor, Joe co-produced, wrangling equipment, essential crew members and even more essential memes to keep up morale.
Getting excited
Meredith and Geffri Maya watch the set and stunt truss come together on the last day of rehearsal before shooting.
Behind the Scenes
BUILDING THE WORLD OF TETHER
Planning the Set
Meredith and Production Designer Jeremy White plotted dimensions with tape, paper and a very helpful action figure of Rose Tico from The Last Jedi.
Storyboarding
Meredith used the Storyboarder app to build boards that communicated the blocking to all department heads, and refined them with Meena, Jeremy and Diz.
Building the Ship
The spaceship interior was built in only four days by Jeremy (at the desk) and his amazing team, with retractable walls and ceiling for the sliding stunt truss and wires. Meena's lighting design was incorporated into the walls of the set.
Raising the Truss
The stunt truss, which was the grid that Geffri Maya dangled from for all of her stunts, was 23 feet high and 50 feet across, so it could straddle the entire spaceship set. It took lots of muscles and an F150 to hoist it up into the air.
Easter Eggs
Jeremy put amusing easter eggs into the ship design, including sneaking Meredith's birthday month and day into a few choice areas. The main desk also has Meredith's initials, but that is purely by chance! It was a rented prop!
Finishing Touches
MariaSara Santoro is seen here putting aging paintwork onto the walls to give the ship a more metallic and lived-in look. Jess Gonzales led the art direction, positioning every button panel, row of switches and interface display for Geffri Maya to "control" the ship with!
Costuming
Chelsea Staebell zips the sleeve onto Geffri Maya's nearly finished costume while Meena checks out the colors.
Designing
Jess Gonzales mounts switchboards, cables, panels and more to fully round out the interior of the spaceship.
Last looks
Meredith approves final placement of lights, screens, props, and the desk.
Behind the Scenes
SHOOTING THE SHORT
GEFFRI MAYA
CO-PRODUCER TRACI CARR
TECHNOCRANE SETUP
MEENA SINGH AND GEFFRI MAYA
GEFFRI MAYA AND DIZ SHARPE'S ARMS
GEFFRI MAYA AND NETSUKI BLACKWELDER
GEFFRI MAYA AND NETSUKI BLACKWELDER
MEREDITH AND MEENA
GEFFRI MAYA AND DIZ
DIZ, MEREDITH AND GEFFRI
MEREDITH AND GEFFRI
GEFFRI AND MEREDITH
GEFFRI AND DIZ
GEFFRI MAYA
GEFFRI MAYA
A. TAD CHAMBERLAIN, SOUND
GEFFRI MAYA ON THE CEILING
GILBERT ALVARADO, ETHAN ERWIN, MEREDITH AND MEENA
JOE RUSSELL, MEREDITH AND GEFFRI MAYA
GEFFRI AND MEREDITH
GEFFRI, DIZ AND MEREDITH'S THUMBS UP
