RANGER RON & THE CLEANSING CARDINAL: SMODCASTLE 37 HOUR FILM CHALLENGE PREMIERE RECAP (3/22/25)

It was a honor to be a FINALIST during this year’s SModcastle 37 Hour Film Challenge with our film Ranger Ron & The Cleansing Cardinal! Thank you to everyone who came out to support our film along with the other finalists in this competition.

Check out our photo and video recap from the premiere to the right and bottom of this post!

RANGER RON & THE CLEANSING CARDINAL SELECTED AS A FINALIST IN THE 2025 SMODCASTLE 37 HOUR FILM CHALLENGE (IN THEATRES 3/22)

I’m thrilled to announce that  Green Couch Media’s upcoming short film, “Ranger Ron & The Cleansing Cardinal”, created last weekend (3/1/25 - 3/2/25) for the 2025 “SModcastle 37 Hour Film Challenge”, is SELECTED AS A FINALIST!

This honor comes with a THEATRICAL PREMIERE of the film at SModcastle Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands, NJ on SATURDAY, MARCH 22nd at 2PM!

To purchase tickets, CLICK HERE! 🎟️🎟️

I’d like to express my gratitude to Jeanette Ferri for her support, love and encouragement in the making of this film.

I’d also like to thank everyone who has taken the time to watch our films, especially “The Adventures of Ranger Ron”. It’s because of you that we keep on creating!

Finally, a shout out to Ernie O’Donnell and his team for organizing a challenge that combines our creativity with Kevin Smith’s “View Askewniverse”!

2025 SMODCASTLE 37 HOUR FILM CHALLENGE BEHIND THE SCENES (3/2/25)

This past weekend, Green Couch Media participated in the 2025 SModcastle 37 Hour Film Challenge organized by Ernie O'Donnell.

Similar to the 48 Hour Film Project, the challenge was to write, shoot and edit a film no more than 4 MINUTES and 30 SECONDS. In addition, we were required to use the following elements from one of Kevin Smith’s films:

• LINE: “I look back on that period as the best time of my life.”

• PROP: Chocolate Covered Pretzels

• CHARACTER: Cardinal Glick (From The Film “Dogma”)

At 8AM MST on Saturday (3/1), I received the elements and began storyboarding what would become “Ranger Ron & The Cleansing Cardinal”. To summarize the story, when Ranger Ron's boss, Mr. Robinson, isn't feeling well, he decides that it's time for them to visit "The Cleansing Cardinal".

Although the writing process was quick, the biggest challenge for the weekend was the set design to this film. As many of you know, the look of Ranger Ron involves a lot of digital backgrounds using stock images. One of the stipulations to this contest is that the use of stock images is prohibited!

In the first part of the film, I went to a park on the outskirts of Albuquerque, NM and shot background video to be inserted in the introduction of the film. A disadvantage of being a “one-man-band” is that shooting in an uncontrolled environment can lead to unpredictable outcomes. As a precaution, we shot the introductory scene at our studios against a green screen, inserting the footage we shot within the 37 hour time period.

The exterior of the church I used for Cardinal Glick’s office was shot right around the corner from our studios, which made it convenient considering the time constraint.

After all the outdoor footage was shot, we created the set design for the church office. Coincidently, a lot of the props we used were passed down from my family. Despite the challenge, creating a real set to interact with made it easier to act out all the characters I played in this film.

Shooting wrapped around 7PM MST on Saturday to which I immediately went into editing the short. I completed a rough picture lock at 8AM MST the following morning. To my surprise, the edit locked at exactly 4 MINUTES and 27 SECONDS. However, the speed of the film felt a bit slow as some of the dialogue between the characters lingered too long. After making the necessary edits and fixing editing glitches, the final picture lock clocked in at 3 MINUTES and 49 SECONDS. Believe me, it’s a world of a difference in a movie of this nature.

Finally, I went into sound mixing as I voiced over all the characters (ADR) and recorded the music. Sound mixing took an additional three hours but it made the film come to life.

Exhausted, I uploaded the film to the SModcastle Film Challenge FilmFreeway site right before 6PM MST, three hours BEFORE the deadline!

So, what’s next for “Ranger Ron & The Cleansing Cardinal”? We find out on March 15th if our film will be selected as a finalist and premiere the following week (Saturday, March 22nd) at SModcastle Cinemas!

However, regardless of selection, we will be having a special premiere of our short in the coming weeks! Stay tuned for updates to watch this short film. But for now, you can watch the trailer to the upcoming movie in this post!

A special thank you to Jeanette Ferri for her love, patience and support in me making this film!

To watch our entry from last year, “Puck You!”, CLICK HERE!