‘The Delivery Man’ is a short film written, produced, and directed by Ryan Firpo, a Bay Area native. Financed by personal savings, and contributions from family and friends, the 25 minute film was shot over the course of four days on the Alameda Naval Base in Alameda, CA. To capture the black and white, film noir style of photography employed in the film, Ryan and cinematographer, Michael Epple chose the newly introduced Panasonic HVX200, and paired it with the P+S Technik Mini35 adapter. The film features a cast entirely made up of Bay Area actors. Editing was completed using Apple’s Final Cut Pro. To finish off the sound for the film, Ryan and sound designer Frank Clary were able to spend four days up in Portland, OR at Zoom Sound, where owner David Hughes was kind enough to donate time in his 5.1 Surround Sound mixing station. This is the first short film directed by Ryan Firpo.

 

For the most part, I made ‘The Delivery Man’ because I wanted to tell a compelling story. I didn’t set out to make a film with a message that will change the world. I merely wanted to tell a story where the audience would wonder: What’s going to happen next? To borrow a term from the literary world, I wanted to make a good, old-fashioned “page turner”. I wanted to make a film rich with surprises and supsense. When I began writing the script, I knew we would have to shoot it in black and white. I saw this creepy world filled with criminals and shadows, accentuated by long dolly shots and low angle close-ups: classic film noir, and I couldn’t have been more excited. I told Mike (the cinematographer) about it and he was as intrigued as I was. We immediately began planning out the look of our creepy film, searching for every opportunity to play up the tension. I was so impressed by the cast. This was the first time I worked with any of them, and they were all pitch perfect in their roles. Everyone understood the film we were making and everyone worked as hard as they could to acheive that vision. I am so proud of my cast and crew and the film we finally ended up with; a film rich with surprises and suspense.