The Line That Broke Me (Transmission 002) | TRYHARD COMPANY Blog + Crawl or Die Legacy
- Oklahoma Ward
- 8h
- 11 min read
"TANK doesn’t sleep — and neither do we. Week by week, we’re bleeding through the cut… and loving it."
Behind-the-scenes updates, production news, and indie filmmaking insights from Oklahoma Ward
📚 TABLE OF CONTENTS
🎬 PRODUCTION BREAKING NEWS
Production Breaking News – Inside the TRYHARD COMPANY Blog
From Slobbernockers to Shadows: Episode One Is Almost Locked
The push is real. As of this week, I’m three-quarters of the way through the fourth and final edit pass on Episode One of TRYHARD COMPANY.
This is the master edit — the one that seals the story and locks the performances in place. Once this pass is complete across all six episodes, the backbone of the series is done.
But let me be clear: while the edit will be locked, there’s still a mountain ahead. Sound design, final mix, and full color correction are waiting — and that will be a massive task in itself. Still, this milestone means we’re finally moving from rewinding and reshaping into full momentum forward.
At the same time, I’m building something new behind the scenes: a set designed for RED TANK. It’s eerie, off-center, and unlike anything else in the series. A presence in the shadows that you’ll only catch when the light shifts wrong. More on that in the coming weeks.
And it’s not just the edit that’s alive — the blog is pulling in record readers, the radio is building traction, and every day we’re knocking out the pickup shots and final scenes that will close the gap on this series.
This is the season where hype meets grind. Slobbernocker action, shadows creeping in, and the edit finally pulling tight.
Episode One is almost locked.
🛠️ PROJECT UPDATE: TRYHARD COMPANY
💬 Field Notes from the Director's Chair – Progress, Pressure, and the Push Forward.
Episode One is deep in the grind — I’m three-quarters of the way through the fourth and final edit pass. This is the push that locks everything in, and from here I’ll carry straight through Episodes Two through Six without circling back.
Pickup shoots are also in motion. This week includes a two-day shoot with RED TANK and the dog — one of the final big sequences that had to be captured before Episode One can close. Once that’s in the edit, we’re looking at roughly 7–10 more days of cutting before Episode One reaches full lock.
After that, the focus shifts to Episodes Two and Three, which are already prepped and waiting for their final edit pass. Each one tightens the story, stacks the momentum, and brings the series closer to its finished state.
Of course, locking the edit isn’t the end of the road. Color correction and sound are still ahead — and both are major undertakings. But the progress is undeniable: the series is moving fast, the shots are coming in, and the cut is finally transforming into the series I’ve had in my head for years.
Progress Tracker:
Episode One: 75% of final edit complete
Pickup shoots: in progress
Episodes Two–Six: queued for final edit
And here’s a reason to stay tuned:
👉 Next Saturday’s blog will feature exclusive photos from the RED TANK set build, RED TANK on camera, and behind-the-scenes shots of TANK and the dog.
🔍 Curious where each episode stands?
The TRYHARD COMMAND CENTER gives you a live look at every mission — from edits to effects to final sound.
Every update. Every step. Every fight to the finish.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
(For access to all Episode Breakdowns)
🎙️ DIRECTOR'S THOUGHTS
Wires, Guts, and Everything in Between.
🎙️ Let’s cut to the truth...
Life doesn’t pause when you’re making a film. My father is in hospice care, and every day brings its own mix of strength and sorrow. We talk often about this project — and while part of me once worried if I could finish in time for him to see it, he’s been clear: he’d rather I take the time to make it good than rush it just to be done. That perspective grounds me.
At the same time, Oklahoma’s weather has been an unexpected gift. Normally, we’re still baking in 100+ degree heat this time of year — but lately it’s been cool, gray, sweater-and-coffee weather. That’s movie weather. That’s the kind of air that makes me want to pick up the camera and film all day.
And through it all, the interaction around these blogs, the radio, and the fans keeps feeding me. Our audience isn’t the cynical, tear-it-all-down crowd you see online. You’re film lovers — horror, drama, indie. You’re here because movies mean something. That positivity fuels me, and I can’t wait to share TRYHARD COMPANY: The Chronicles of Tank with you all.
🔍 Three Things I THINK I THINK - That Hit Me This Week on YouTube:
🎬: Good Boy — Horror from a Dog’s POV
I watched the trailer for Good Boy the other day, and wow—brilliant hook. Picture this: a haunted-house horror, but from the eyes of a dog. Creativity isn’t dead—it’s right here. I haven’t seen the whole film yet, but that concept and the trailer alone are enough to make my indie-loving heart race.
Here’s the journey: Good Boy, directed by Ben Leonberg (in his feature debut), premiered at SXSW 2025 and instantly became a buzz-worthy indie thriller. Its trailer went viral—over 1 million views in just four days—prompting IFC to expand its theatrical release beyond the limited run. Reviews have been glowing, and it holds a mighty 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Indy, the dog-star, even won the “Howl of Fame” at SXSW for delivering a spine-tingling performance without a single line of dialogue!
The film officially drops in theaters on October 3, 2025, expanding what a horror story can be and proving that fearless creativity still rules.
I’m not sure if Good Boy will be a masterpiece—but it’s a reminder that the best ideas come when we stop remaking and start rethinking.
Footloose — The Dance Scene That Still Makes Me Smile
I’m saving a full blog for November where I’ll dive into 15 of the greatest film musicals ever made, but I couldn’t resist pulling this one out early. The year Footloose was released, it hit audiences with a perfect storm: camera angles that kept the energy moving, editing that cut right on the beat, music that pulsed through every frame, and dancing that turned storytelling into pure joy.
The end dance scene — Kevin Bacon and the whole town cutting loose in that barn — is, in my opinion, easily in the top 12 dance sequences of all time. It’s not just choreography, it’s catharsis. It’s the release of everything the story was building toward, delivered in a burst of sweat, motion, and pure freedom.
How can you watch it and not smile?
🎶 Tidbit 1: The barn finale was shot using a mix of professional dancers and local extras, which gave it that raw, unpolished, real crowd energy that makes the scene explode off the screen.
🎶 Tidbit 2: Kenny Loggins’ anthem “Footloose,” written for the film, hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for three weeks — cementing this dance sequence not just as a movie moment, but as a pop-culture milestone.
If you want a reminder of why dance scenes matter — and why they’re timeless when they land — check out this classic ending to Footloose.
Michelle Khare — Trying Tom Cruise’s Deadliest Stunt
We’ve all had that thought: Could I do it? Could I actually be a firefighter? An FBI agent? A stunt performer?
Michelle Khare’s YouTube channel is built on answering exactly that question. She dives head-first into extreme challenges — training as a cop, firefighter, or even pulling off Hollywood stunts — and brings viewers along for the ride.
This week she tackled one of Tom Cruise’s most infamous feats: recreating one of his deadliest stunts. It’s pure fun, pure adrenaline, and the kind of video that makes you lean back, smile, and say, “Okay… but what if it was me?”
If you’re having a rough day and just want something engaging and entertaining, this one’s worth your time.
nuff said.
🎙️ Radio Tunnel
⚡ The signal is live. Welcome to TRYHARD RADIO UNDERGROUND — your direct feed into the world of indie horror, sci-fi survival, and the making of TRYHARD COMPANY: The Chronicles of TANK.
Every Saturday, I’m dropping raw transmissions from the cutting room floor and the war-zone tunnels of this series. Think of it as a mix of behind-the-scenes filmmaking, indie movie talk, and radio theater — where one week I’m breaking down a Red Tank set build, the next I’m talking trailers, cult classics, and line deliveries that broke me.
This isn’t Hollywood gossip. This is the underground. If you care about indie filmmaking, Crawl or Die, survival sci-fi, horror storytelling, Kevin Bacon dance finales, or why one actor’s line delivery can stop me cold — this is where you’ll want to show up.
🎧 Transmission 002 is here: The Line That Broke Me.
Watch below — then join the #TANKarmy by dropping your thoughts in the comments, sharing it out to other indie film fans, and helping grow this underground broadcast into something bigger.
The tunnel is open. The frequency is live.
🎭 The Line That Broke Me — In Action
In Transmission 002 above, I talked about why I make movies. It isn’t just about spectacle, big budgets, or box office numbers. It’s about those small, human moments that stop me cold — the kind of delivery or choice that makes me want to create in this medium forever.
At 2:01 in the teaser trailer below, Will Arnett delivers a line in Is This Thing On that shattered me. The cracked voice, the pain under the hope, the way he says so much with so little — it reminded me why I sit in dark rooms for months editing, why I spend years building stories from the ground up.
That line is everything. It’s why I make movies.
🎥 Watch below — and see if it hits you the way it hit me.
🎭 ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
They didn’t just play the role.
They became the reason you kept watching.
🎬 Featured Actor:
Drops every other Saturday.
📺 SERIES SPOTLIGHT
Drops every other Saturday.
🎥 FILM SPOTLIGHT
Drive (2011) Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn | Starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac
❤️ WHY I LOVE DRIVE
Drive is one of those rare films that I believe will stand the test of time. A hundred years from now, even if movies are fully immersive with headgear or neural implants, this film will still matter.
Here’s why: you could watch Drive with the sound off. It’s not like a Terrence Malick movie — purely abstract and poetic. Drive is story-driven, but it’s also visually operatic. It holds caring, intimate moments, horrific blood-soaked violence, surreal abstraction, and heavy, heavy acting.
Try it sometime: turn the sound off, throw on an album you love — Pink Floyd: The Wall, a Led Zeppelin record, whatever hits your soul — and just watch the images. The film still lands. It still hits hard. That’s timeless cinema.
📜 Summary
A nameless Hollywood stunt driver (Ryan Gosling), who moonlights as a getaway driver, gets pulled into a deadly spiral after helping his neighbor (Carey Mulligan) protect her family. When a heist goes wrong, he’s forced to navigate the underworld of crime, betrayal, and brutal violence — all while trying to keep his humanity intact.
🧩 Two Interesting Facts
The iconic scorpion jacket was custom-designed and became one of the most recognizable pieces of costume design in modern cinema.
The film’s original budget was only $15 million — yet its style, performances, and soundtrack made it feel epic and launched it into cult status almost overnight.
🎭 Actor Spotlight — Ryan Gosling
Gosling delivers one of the quietest, most controlled performances of his career. He barely speaks — and when he does, it’s clipped and restrained. But every glance, every pause, carries weight. It’s proof that acting doesn’t always mean saying more.
🔥 Most Underrated Moment
The “elevator scene.” Equal parts romantic and horrifying, it condenses the entire duality of Drive into one scene — tenderness and brutality, side by side.
🎭 What Makes It Great
Drive isn’t just a crime thriller. It’s a meditation on loneliness, violence, and connection. It fuses art-house aesthetics with pulp storytelling, creating something uniquely haunting.
🎬 Iconic Scene
The opening getaway. No chase. No explosions. Just patience, tension, and mastery. It showed from the first five minutes that this film wasn’t going to play by anyone else’s rules.
🗞️ What the Critics Say
“A slick, stylish neo-noir with a beating heart beneath the blood.” – Rolling Stone
“Ryan Gosling turns silence into a weapon. Every frame threatens to explode.” – The Guardian
“Refn reinvents the getaway movie with elegance, dread, and beauty.” – Variety
🎥 A Small Moment That Changed Everything
Right above, you’ve got the official trailer — the big sweeping sell of what Drive is. But I want to pull your attention to something smaller. Something you might miss if you weren’t listening for it.
At minute 1:45 - in the clip below, Ryan Gosling is sitting in the car, hand on the wheel, watching something off-screen with that laser-focused stare. Then he makes a fist — slowly, deliberately. He’s wearing a leather glove. And you hear it:
Creakle. Creakle. Creakle.
That’s the moment I fell in love with this film.
Because that sound didn’t just happen by accident. It means Gosling made the choice. The sound team made the choice. The editor and director decided: this tiny detail matters. That little creak of leather tells us about his tension, his control, his quiet violence under the surface.
It’s not a car chase. It’s not blood or spectacle. It’s a glove tightening around a hand. And it hits harder than a thousand explosions.
That’s why I love film. It’s those small moments — the ones you almost miss, but can never forget — that make cinema eternal.
WATCH THE SCENE BELOW FOR THE GLOVE/SOUND @ At minute 1:45
🏆 CRAWL OR DIE CORNER
The film that started it all.
Before TRYHARD COMPANY, there was CRAWL or DIE — a relentless indie beast that clawed its way out of the U.S. underground and became a cult phenomenon, especially overseas.
🎬 WATCH IT NOW
You can stream or rent CRAWL or DIE here:
🔥 Cult underground sci-fi. One tunnel. One woman. One chance.
🎨 FAN TRIBUTE VAULT
This week’s spotlight: Vintage Fan Art
From the early days of the film — gritty, handmade tributes from the trenches of indie fandom. 🔍 Click to enlarge. Soak in the grime. The legacy. The love.
💬 STILL BLEEDING INDIE
TANK wasn’t just a survivor — she became a symbol. A silhouette of desperation, rage, and raw survival. In TRYHARD COMPANY, her legend evolves. The war gets bigger, the world gets meaner — but at its core, it’s still her story: One soldier. One mission. One endless tunnel.
🎬 Rent / Buy / Stream the Original CRAWL or DIE and Prepare for TANK’s return in TRYHARD COMPANY: The Series
FOLLOW THE JOURNEY
🔴 Don’t Miss the Next Drop 🔴
STAY IN THE LOOP WITH US
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Mission Accomplished... for now.
The briefing may be over, but the mission continues. Join the TRYHARD COMPANY team and stay tuned for more updates, insights, and behind-the-scenes information. Share your thoughts and join/follow us on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, twitter/x etc. - and we'll catch you every Weds/Saturday...
Create fearlessly,
Oklahoma Ward