Future Filmmaker Friday - Iris, Campus MovieFest Winner for Best Special Effects

In honor of San Diego Comic-Con this week, how about a more geek-oriented short for this week's Future Filmmaker Friday?

This short is Iris, produced by the group Apeture Process at the College of New Jersey.  As with all Campus MovieFest entries, it was entirely produced in a week - a fact that will blow your mind when you see all the CGI and compositing it entailed.  I've listed all of the team members below but Joshua Lewkowicz was Captain as well Cinematographer, Editor, Writer, Foley.  It deservedly won the CMF Golden Tripod award for Best Special Effects.

This short looked fantastic on the large digital screens at the awards ceremony.  The colors are slightly less vibrant on YouTube, but it's still worth a look.



The rest of the team:
Andrew Kuserk - VFX, SpFX / Animator, Match Moving, Character Design, Writer
Steven Munoz - Actor
Alyssa Mangel - Producer
Ryan Laux - VFX, Compositing, Editing, Gaffer, Writer
Chris Lundy - Sound, Composer, VFX, Sound Design, Writer, BTS
Garrett Verdone - Voice Actor
Manuel A. Montiel - Voice Actor
Julie Rossi - Voice Actor, Catering

Also, some of you might remember Nicholas Sailer, whom I profiled two years ago after his film "The Strong One" won Best Picture and Best Director at the 2012 CMF Hollywood awards.  He recently let me know he'd finished directing his first feature, "Ipseity."  'd like to send him some congrats and give all of you a link to view his film online.


CMF is a wonderful program that goes to college campuses throughout the year and provides students with Apple laptops and Panasonic HD cameras to make short film within one week. Each school then has their own finale to select the best of the best, which then move on to the Grand Finale in Hollywood. Each week I'm going to spotlight another student film that impressed me.

Future Filmmaker Friday - "Forgot My Pants" from the College of New Jersey, via Campus MovieFest

Last week I presented you with a heavy drama from Campus MovieFest.  Now for something completely different...

If there had been an audience award at the Campus MovieFest Hollywood Awards Gala, this selection from "The Best Team" at The College of New Jersey would have surely taken top prize.  At one point during the ceremony, we were treated to a montage that featured a few moments from each of the Top 30 Films.  When "Forgot My Pants" came up, it seemed as if most of the crowd was spontaneously singing along with the tune.



It's utterly silly, but you can't deny the tune is catchy.  The committment to the joke for nearly a full three minutes somehow makes it even funnier.  These guys definitely have a sensibility that reminds me of The Lonely Island.  It's the perfect ridiculous way to start your weekend.

CMF is a wonderful program that goes to college campuses throughout the year and provides students with Apple laptops and Panasonic HD cameras to make short film within one week. Each school then has their own finale to select the best of the best, which then move on to the Grand Finale in Hollywood. Each week I'm going to spotlight another student film that impressed me.

Future Filmmaker Friday: "Stetson Street" - CMF Best Director and Best Actress Winner

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending one of my favorite yearly events, Campus MovieFest. 

CMF is a wonderful program that goes to college campuses throughout the year and provides students with Apple laptops and Panasonic HD cameras to make short film within one week. Each school then has their own finale to select the best of the best, which then move on to the Grand Finale in Hollywood. I was so taken with the quality of the films shown there that I spotlit a number of them in a segment I called Future Filmmaker Friday.

Longtime readers of the site have seen me talk about CMF a number of times before and I always enjoy attending their on-site workshops during the several-day event known as CMF Hollywood.  This year, their guest speakers included director Jake Kasdan ("Sextape"), director Tom Shaydac ("I Am," "Bruce Almighty," "Liar Liar,") screenwriter Richard Wenk ("The Equalizer,"), screenwriter Robert Ben Garant ("Night at the Museum," "Reno 911"), manager-producer Richard Arlook, and Black List founder Franklin Leonard.   I attended many of these panels and enjoyed mingling with the visiting college students and chatting them up about their work.  It's impossible to be around a group like that and not feed off their enthusiasm.

With another year gone by, a number of films from this year's CMF Hollywood have ended up on my radar, so I wanted to restore that weekly feature throughout the summer and it wasn't hard to figure out which film should kick it off.


While at the CMF Hollywood Awards Gala, I had the pleasure of meeting director Connor Williams, his lead actress Caity Parker and the rest of his team from Bridgewater State University.  Connor and Caity walked away with top honors in their nominated categories, Best Director and Best Actress for their film Stetson Street.


As each filmmaker is limited to only five minutes for their projects, it's really hard to do drama and have it resonate with the audience.  Comedy presents its own challenges, but in general, I think it's easier to try to be funny than to be serious.  There were actually a lot of serious films in the screened selections this year and I was impressed how a number of them would have been compelling even if one wasn't taking into account the fact they were completely made in a week.

I reached out to Stetson Street's director, Connor Williams, to find out a little more about his film and his CMF experience in general.

So tell us a little about yourself. How did you get interested in film? Where are you in your school career?

All my life I have been good at making people laugh. The feeling you get when somebody forgets all their troubles and just laughs is like no other. I had made a few skits in high school with a friend and hosted a few events, but by the time I got to college I had to turn this into a career so of course I chose communications. I made my first real film entitled “four score and seven years ago” when we screened it in front of 60 people and all of them were in tears laughing I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I spent the next four years mastering my craft taking classes and working on countless projects. I have just graduated and do part time work for a studio in Boston called Generation Cinemastories.

Had you participated in Campus MovieFest before?

All four years I have always been screened at my school, but I never won. It was a great learning experience being told that I suck year after year and only made me a stronger filmmaker.

How did you develop the idea for STETSON STREET? How did the limitations of one-week to shoot and edit it play into how you developed your idea?

I have always wanted to do something domestic disturbance related because of how dramatic it is. My actor Mark Cividino is very explosive and I wrote the script around his acting style. My directing style comes from experience and film taste but mainly from a short I did called FRED which takes advantage of those static compositions. The flashback technique is nothing new to film making and neither is changing time order. I have always had trouble fitting my films into 5 minutes and these two techniques really helped me condense my story down. My goal was to make an intense “trailer of a travesty” leaving the audience wanting more. I am also a purist and don’t really go in for fancy effects and camera tricks. I like clean story-telling and let the content of the film itself do all the talking.

How much time did you spend shooting the film?

The camera came a day late and I thought I was going to murder somebody, I thought everything was going to be horrible. We had two 12 hour days Saturday and Sunday and then a non stop three day edit. We shot the argument, birthing and grocery store scene one day and everything else the other day.

I think a big help to me winning Best Director and the film being so successful was we filmed the rehearsals. I would get Mark and Caity to scream at each other and then I would show them what they looked like and adjust the script accordingly we did this 3 times and I cannot explain to you how much this helped. It was the writing process.

Was there anything you wanted to do, but couldn't, due to time restrictions?

Honestly, I wanted to get the opening shots at a train station and that’s about it. I can’t complain one bit about anything other than lack of editing time. We actually didn’t end up using a lot of footage and the part where mark is throwing the clothes into the bag is entirely improve. I was just lucky enough that the audio was recording.

What - in your opinion - makes for a good short film?

Emotion, emotion, emotion. In short films it is impossible to develop characters, blow peoples minds with huge over arching plots and all the other dynamic qualities of features. For shorts you want people to get sucked in and feel an emotion for five minutes an emotion that will help them escape reality for 5 minutes. You can have a build up, you can have a little bit of a story, but in the end the audience needs to feel emotions. Also, a good score is vital, this film was nothing without music.

What have you taken from the CMF experience? What were your impressions of CMFHollywood?

I am proud to say that my university, along with Ed Cabellon, flew my crew and I out to Hollywood for free and put us up in the Sheraton plus paid for our CMF badges. SO, I had no expectations at all though knew I wanted to meet some people.

Honestly, it was the best time of my life so far. I met so many awesome people and got to here good advice from amazing people. The best work shop was “Life After CMF Hollywood”. So much free food and booze was overwhelming and really brought everyone together at the mixers and Jillian's. Obviously winning was the highlight of my week and the WD hard drive they gave us will truly help me get my production company up and running. My university is SO proud of me and so are my bosses at work. They both want to hire me full time now and it feels good to be wanted.

I just need to say this film would not be possible without Henry Carrasco, Jason Kimball, Billy Loftus, Mark Cividino, Caity Parker and everyone at Readville Productions.

Henry is one of the most talented audio engineers I have ever worked with and a main focus of this project was to get great audio and mix it in post and he did just that.

Jason Kimball scored the film and was Johnny on the spot with anything through production gaffing, editing, set design equipment, griping he even shot a few shots.

Caity, Mark and Billy were phenomenal actors to work with and are no doubt going to make it in this industry.

Readville Productions is a budding organization focused on comedic skits. We have a sizeable YouTube following and are always looking for more! 

When I met Connor, he struck me as a good guy and I can tell I wasn't wrong because not only did he make sure in this interview to single out each team member's contributions individually, but in our email communication, he asked me twice to make sure I didn't leave out the shout-out to his team.

You can find the Readville Productions website here. I wish these guys all the best.

Congrats to the entire team! I'll be showcasing some more of my favorite CMF films from this year throughout the summer.

Future Filmmaker: An interview with Eliza McNitt

Some of you might remember that two summers ago I attended Campus MovieFest's Hollywood awards ceremony. CMF is a wonderful program that goes to college campuses throughout the year and provides students with Apple laptops and Panasonic HD cameras to make short film within one week. Each school then has their own finale to select the best of the best, which then move on to the Grand Finale in Hollywood.

I was so taken with the quality of the films shown there that I spotlit a number of them in a segment I called Future Filmmaker Friday.  I was able to run interviews with all of the filmmakers I wanted to showcase, save for one: Eliza McNitt, who directed a short called VIOLET.



Recently, Eliza reached out to me to tell me about her latest short, Without Fire. Without Fire is the story of a Navajo girl who has to figure out a way to heat her home without electricity or fire in order to save her asthma-stricken mother from a bitter winter storm.

The film was the recipient of a $25,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant and just screened at NYU's Fusion Film Festival and received the top awards for Best Cinematography and Best Film.  It will also be appearing at the Sun Valley Film Festival, and the Atlanta Film Festival. You can find it's website here.  

Eliza found time to answer a few questions, so I took the opportunity to get the interview I wasn't able to complete before:

So tell us a little about yourself. How did you get interested in film? Where are you in your school career? 

I found film through science. I was researching the role of the pesticide Imidacloprid on Colony Collapse Disorder - the disappearance of honeybees around the world - when my friend Charlie Greene told me about a documentary contest for C-Span. The prompt was to “inform Obama of the nation’s most important issue” so I immediately thought of Colony Collapse Disorder. A world without bees is difficult to imagine considering one out of every three bites of food we eat is a crop pollinated by honeybees.

I won first place at the Intel Science Fair for my research, but the audience I was able to reach out to was limited to scientists and environmentalists – I thought this documentary competition would be a good opportunity to transform my research into a film. I traveled to Florida and Pennsylvania to interview leading scientists and beekeepers. And there was a moment when I was in a bee suit holding my little HD camera in a swarm of bees when I realized I was fascinated by this. Not the sweaty suit, but the process of making a film. There was a real adventure involved in the creation of a film and the stories you discovered along the way.

Our documentary Requiem for the Honeybee won first place in C-Span’s competition and was broadcast internationally. As a competitor in science fairs I told a narrative about my research – my hypothesis, the materials I used, how I came across my conclusion – and I realized what interested me all along was the process of storytelling.

I just graduated in May from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in Film and TV and I am pursuing a career as a writer and director.

I was really impressed with VIOLET when I saw it at CMFHollywood in 2012. Can you tell us a bit about how it came together? 

Thank you! Violet is the story of a frightened teen who channels her dislike for the color purple into an inventive plea for help.

I wanted to tell a story about hair. It’s a simple thing you can run your fingers through or get tangled up, but it is also your identity. I’ve always had long hair. But one time I cut it a little too short, and felt like I didn’t recognize myself. I wanted to tell a challenging narrative about the meaning of something you love, that you have to learn to hate.

My cinematographer Hunter Baker lives in Monmouth Beach County, which became the backdrop for Violet. I admire how Alexander Payne casts authentic people and places that sculpt the world of his films. In that style I wanted the locations where we filmed to bring their own sense of character.

We found this unbelievable hair salon called “Chop Chop Bang Bang” with a purple car parked out front. I even ended up casting one of the hairstylists who worked there. She wasn’t an actor and in many ways was just playing herself. When I met her she had pink hair, and the day we filmed it was green. That was the kind of personality the character would have. And what made her perfect for the role.

I really admire my versatile actress Amanda Yarosh, who brings a real complexity to her characters. I was also really fortunate to collaborate with my cinematographer Hunter Baker. Together we developed a subdued visual tone to make the images feel still and let the performances play out on screen.

It’s a short film, so we put everything into making this possible. I funded Violet using my prize winnings from the Intel Science Fair and the Baker’s were kind enough to let the cast and crew stay at their home. Violet was made for Campus MovieFest, where you have a week to create a film - so we shot and edited the whole thing in seven days. I missed a lot of class. What - in your opinion - makes for a good short film? A short film is about a moment. And story is the driving force behind that. I think a lot of shorts get lost trying to squeeze a feature length plot into a couple of minutes. The simpler you are, there is a greater opportunity to dig deeper.

What have you taken from the CMF experience? Can you tell us how CMF played a part in the genesis of your new short film WITHOUT FIRE? 

CMF is a true test of your survival skills as a filmmaker. Here’s a camera and a computer and seven days, go make a movie. That sounds crazy. But it’s possible (with little sleep and great determination). I was fortunate to be a finalist two years in a row at CMF and participated in the festival that culminates in Los Angeles. Through CMF I met talented filmmakers from schools all over the country. When I decided I would be filming my NYU thesis film Without Fire in Arizona, I immediately called up friends I had made through CMF who lived out there.

How did you come up with the idea for WITHOUT FIRE?

Without Fire is the story of a young Navajo girl who must find a way to heat her home without electricity or fire in order to save her asthma-stricken mother from a bitter winter storm. The story is inspired by a friend of mine who I met through my experiences at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair. Using soda cans he created a functional solar and water heater that could warm a room and heat water up to 200 degrees. I wanted to explore the journey of a young person’s unconventional use of science and technology. But like many of the themes in Violet, Without Fire also explores a tumultuous mother-daughter relationship.

You actually got a grant to shoot the film. Can you walk us through the process of getting that kind of funding? 

I was the recipient of a $25,000 production grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for Without Fire. After writing the script I was fortunate to discover the Sloan grant, which supports projects about science and technology.

Once I was selected as a finalist the process involved months of rewrites and a great deal of patience. I was assigned a writing and science advisor. In order to ensure the accuracy of the science in my script I had the opportunity to consult Tyler Volk, the Director of Environmental Studies at NYU. My story mentor, veteran screenwriter John Warren also helped me develop and structure my idea. I was up against several other filmmakers and there was no guarantee I would receive the funding, but I was driven to make the film with or without the grant. It’s a great honor to have received the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation throughout the production of Without Fire.

What were the challenges in making WITHOUT FIRE beyond getting the funding? What was the production like? 

Without Fire was filmed on a sheep camp on the Navajo Reservation with a crew from New York and Arizona. I was very fortunate to be granted permission to film on the Reservation thanks to the support of Ryan Begay and the Community of Pinon.

Casting was one of the biggest challenges and I was lucky to find two powerful lead actresses, Magdalena Begay and Misty Upham. I first saw Magdalena in a film online where she was building a time travel machine. She’s a ten-year-old Navajo girl who carries herself with great maturity and experience. It was an honor to have Magdalena and her father be a part of the project.

I really admired Misty Upham’s work in Frozen River – and I kept telling our casting director Angelique Midthunder, I want someone like Misty to play the lead role – and finally Angelique said "why don’t we just reach out to Misty?" She had just completed production on Jimmy P and August: Osage County with Meryl Streep. I was thrilled when she read the script and accepted the role. She brought forth a truly powerful performance and was such a professional actress to work with.

Shooting in Arizona presented many of its own challenges. I had to go to the hospital one day when I became severely dehydrated halfway through the shoot. I asked the doctor if he’d let me bring the IV to set so we wouldn’t fall behind schedule. He probably thought I was joking.

What do you think are the most valuable ways a filmmaker can make a short film work for them and what is your game plan for WITHOUT FIRE as you start to work the festival circuit?

Making short films has given me an opportunity to experiment with different visual styles and methods of storytelling. In both Violet and Without Fire I have pushed myself to use images to tell a story instead of just words. A short film is a chance to work creatively within limitation.

I want to take advantage of every opportunity to screen Without Fire. It’s currently on the festival circuit and has been accepted to NYU’s Fusion Film Festival, the Sun Valley Film Festival, and the Atlanta Film Festival. We will also be screening at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle before Arnaud Desplechin’s film Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian. Once Without Fire completes its festival run – it will be showcased on the website for the Museum of the Moving Image.

Do you have any ambition to direct a feature and what sort of movies would you like to make? 

I’m currently developing a feature version of Without Fire. The feature focuses on the experiences of my friend leaving the Navajo Reservation to participate in science fairs and the obstacles he encounters along his journey. But first I’m going to make another short, this one is going to be about my true passion – honeybees. I want to tell stories about compelling characters that challenge contemporary views of science and technology.

Future Filmmaker Friday: "The Test" by Ethan Moore and Abe Zverow

About a year ago, I did a spotlight post on a student film "Caution Wet Floor," from the University of Arizona, created for Campus MovieFest. Well, this week, director Ethan Moore was nice enough to send me a link to his follow-up film "The Test," which he wrote and directed with Abe Zverow.

I'll just note that a lot of the humor revolves around self-gratification, so just be mindful of that if you're watching it with people around.

Nice work guys!

Future Filmmaker Friday - Campus MovieFest's "Under Euclid's Watch"

This weekend brings Campus MovieFest back to Hollywood.  You might remember my posts about this program last year.  Campus MovieFest is an organization that travels from college to college providing participating students with Apple laptops and Panasonic HD camcorders. Each group has one week to create their own short film. At the conclusion of this, a red carpet finale is held to select the best films from each school, which then advance on to the finals at a gala event held in Hollywood.

I put out a call on Twitter for submissions from Campus MovieFest filmmakers and the team Red Tape Films from Indiana University responded with a link to their entry, "Under Euclid's Watch."  The film is a nominee in the Finals, in the Best Director catagory.


Good luck this weekend to the film's cast and crew:
Brendan Elmore - Captain, Writer, Director
Taylor Robinson - Producer, Director of Photography
Chandler Swan - Writer, Director
David Gordon-Johnson - Actor
Nichole Eberle - Actor
Jack Johnson - Actor
Troy Ehret - Actor, Production Assistant
Greg Goodin - Production Assistant
Sango Django Jeevan - Actor
Ryan Chase - Composer

Future Filmmakers - an update on some Campus MovieFest winners

Some of you might remember last year when I attended Campus MovieFest and spent several posts spotlighting the work of several of the young filmmakers there.  By sheer coincidence, within the last week, I heard from two of the filmmakers who were featured in that series.

First, Nicholas Saier let me know that he's finishing up his feature film "Ipseity." He sent along a trailer that I'd love to share with all of you.  You might remember Nick's film "The Strong One," which won Best Picture and Best Director at last years Gala.


IPSEITY Theatrical Trailer from Silo 12 Productions on Vimeo.

I also heard from Charlie Myers, whom I interviewed last year when I featured "Man Crush," which was produced by his CMF team at Indiana University. "Man Crush" won for Best Comedy and Best Actor at last year's Campus MovieFest Gala. Charlie has been working on a five-part serial called "The Morning Serial."


It's great to see these guys staying active after college!

Future Filmmaker Friday: Man Crush - CMF Best Comedy and Best Actor Winner

As you know, a while back I attended CMF Hollywood, the finale for Campus MovieFest.  During the closing Gala, an interesting dilemma presented itself to me - I didn't know anyone who wasn't working behind the scenes or presenting that night.  This meant that I had to find someone to sit with at one of the large tables.  (Think of it like the Golden Globes-type seating.)


While virtually everyone else there was dress in cocktail dresses, suits, ties, or at least nice shirts, I came upon a table with four guys dressed rather... casually for the event.  It was a bit of a Casual Friday kind of night for these filmmakers.  But they looked like nice guys, so I took a vacant seat and introduced myself to the incredibly friendly team of Cloud 9 Collaborations from Indiana University.

They proudly told me that their film was actually a finalist in several categories that evening and as the evening went on, they took home two awards.  Landon Scott won for Best Actor and later the whole team won for Best Comedy.  I'm not sure what thrilled them more - being named the Best Comedy in an international contest, or the fact that it was SNL's Horatio Sanz who presented them with their Golden Tripod.

Excitedly, the guys returned to the table after their second win, proclaiming me their "good luck charm."  I told them they didn't know the half of it, as I had featured "The Strong One" on my blog earlier that year and THAT film walked away with two awards of its own that evening, including Best Picture.

These fine young filmmakers were kind enough to welcome me into their fold during the rest of the evening, and enjoying the Gala and the afterparty with them was the highlight of my CMF experience.  That's why it's a special thrill to present my personal favorite film of the festival: Man Crush.

Below you'll find an interview with Charlie Myers, who co-wrote, shot and edited the film.  Charlie Mattingly was the other writer. Johnny Hourmozdi and Ben Linder did the music, and their cast was

Landon Scott, Bill Kenny, Kat Lyons, and Natalie Hamer.

 

So tell us a little about yourself.   How did you get interested in film? Where are you in your school career?

My name is Charlie Myers, I'm 23 and a recent graduate of Indiana University (with a degree in Film and Media Studies), and I've always loved telling stories.  Video has always been my chosen method of doing so because of the editing stage.  There's a chance to perfect  your story before anybody ever sees it.  Some people prefer stage theater because the story unfolds live; I prefer film and video because the final cut lasts forever.

As far as I can remember I've always secretly wanted to make movies.  I was just too afraid to admit it until a couple years ago.  At this point I've kind of gotten fixated on the idea.  As a kid watching movies with my family I was fascinated by the kind of immediate and lasting effect they had on my siblings and parents.  I always wanted to try to create that effect myself.

This was your team's third year participating in CMF and your team's third year as a campus finalist.  Can you chart a measurable improvement from your first year to the present?  Feel free to tell us a little about your other entries.

This is our third year of success but actually our fourth overall.  I addressed this during both our acceptance of Best Picture at IU and our acceptance of Best Comedy at the IGF.  (Someone online called me a douchebag for talking about this so allow me to clarify my speech, which was meant to be inspiring, not douchey.)

The first year CMF came to IU, our comedy wasn't even shown (it was called Books on DVD, you can find it online).  It was terrible. My writing/directing partner Charlie Mattingly and I went back to his house and sat in the dark passing back and forth a bottle of tequila for a couple hours, drowning in our disappointment and failure.  Somewhere within that time came the drive to come back the next year and win at IU.

The next year we did just that having made An Alphabetical Dictionary Conversation with Chet Toddsworth, a short that involved 21 actors over three days, under our new production name Cloud 9 Collaborations.  That short made it to the IGF, but unfortunately received no other recognition.

However, seeing the other shorts that won that year we were again inspired (Bloodsuckers was my favorite, definitely watch that one if you haven't seen it.  Definitely proved to us we had a lot of room to improve).  We saw how high the bar had been set past Indiana.  Determined to make something that could make it further than our last two years, we made Clean Streets our third year.  While we made it the furthest yet as a finalist at the IGF, we again saw how high the bar had been set, and were determined to come back for our last year and finally win. The moment we came up with the premise of Man Crush, I believed we would do just that.  So going from terrible and not even shown to winning an international title definitely felt like an improvement.

What - in your opinion - makes for a good short film?

Short films are tough.  I often find that problems arise when filmmakers try to meet a time requirement.  If it's five minutes, they fill five minutes.  If it's ten, they make it ten.  What this leads to is stories that ought to be two minutes long are stretched, and therefore lose their appeal.  Suddenly they feel hours long.  I may sound like a hypocrite because all of our shorts have been five minutes to the frame.

However, people have told us they love our shorts because they feel two minutes long while actually being five.  We have achieved this because each year we tend to bite off more than we can chew.  Each script has been about fifteen pages (which in normal scriptwriting practice would equate to fifteen minutes of screen time).  By compressing a fifteen minute story into five, we create a more dense and attractive story and never lose our audience.  And that's important for a short, because you cannot lose your audience for a second as each is valuable.

Man Crush deals with a straight guy who becomes concerned that he might have a crush on his best friend.  Where did the idea come from?

The idea for Man Crush comes from simple observation of males.  Somehow, while many men are terrified to be perceived as gay, they are allowed to slap each others asses and brush it off as being "bros." What happens when those behaviors are misread?  What if someone were to perceive those typical "bro" practices as something more?

Originally Landon and Bill were supposed to engage in a lot more of these "broin out turned gay" activities but there wasn't enough time.  The reason we had them wake up together at the beginning was so that the audience would conclude immediately that this must be a gay couple, so when it is revealed soon after that they are just friends, suddenly the story gets interesting.

That being said, we wanted to be absolutely clear right off the bat that this was in no way mocking or putting down homosexuality (much like the classic Seinfeld line, "Not that there's anything wrong with that!").  Instead we focused on making it about a guy who has these strange, misplaced feelings that he cannot explain, and that happen to be for another male.  It turned into the classic "I can't tell my best friend that I love her because that will ruin our wonderful friendship" story, except with two dudes (something I like in itself because I'd never seen it before.)

But again, we immediately inform the audience (by way of the phone scene where Landon tells the radio woman his predicament) that this is not a story about a guy struggling with homosexuality in a society that may not accept him, but instead about misplaced, ineffable feelings for a best friend that happens to be male.  Apparently it worked though because so far every gay person I know to have seen it has said they love it, so I'm proud of that.

How sure were you guys that you hit the right tone?  Was it a case where you didn't really relax until you saw an audience react to it, or were you pretty confidant once you shot it?

I was confident when I had finished shooting it that it would be a great comedy, in the sense that I knew I personally would love it (which is important, as I'm one who believes that you have to make yourself laugh first and foremost).  But there's an amazing double standard that exists in our society, where it's considered attractive for two women to makeout (and they're only experimenting), but when two guys kiss, even briefly, they are immediately labeled as homosexuals forever.  Again, there's nothing inherently wrong with that, but it leads to many males being terrified of being perceived as gay.

I knew we had hit the right tone when people, male and female, were cheering on the kiss between Bill and Landon at the end.  After that kiss ends Landon's confusion, nobody labels that character as gay anymore.  However, at our Q&A as well as just walking around, the number one question Landon received was, "Are you gay in real life?"  So maybe we got people to question their sense of social norms, maybe not, but at least they enjoyed the story and had a good laugh (hopefully).

What's the collaborative process like between you and your teammates?

We operate under the name Cloud 9 COLLABORATIONS because we firmly believe in the collaborative effort.  One of the main reasons we never have credits (the first one being that they are a waste of time) is because credits imply that one person had one job.  When we make shorts, everybody has input.  Therefore, we feel as though we all made it, so we operate under one name, and that's all the credit anyone needs.  Having a solid script is a good start, but the real story and comedy comes from the scene and the characters, so keeping your ear to the ground and allowing the story to change and transform in front of you on the fly is just as important.  Improvisation is a great example, and we love working with actors who have that important skill.  Everything is fluid until that final export, and the credit goes to everyone involved.

How did the limitations of one-week to shoot and edit it play into how you developed your idea?

Years past we only had three days to make our shorts, as we didn't own our own equipment.  This year I finally had my own camera so I actually got a decent amount of sleep.  I shot it in two days, which allowed an incredible amount of editing time, which was wonderful.  Sometimes the deadline brings about the best changes, but having an abundance of time this time around allowed me to watch the short hundreds of times, something very important to make it the best it can be.

Was there anything you wanted to do, but couldn't, due to time restrictions?
 
Originally, Bill and Landon were supposed to have a more developed relationship, but there just wasn't enough time.  It was more important to focus on Landon's predicament and let the audience fill in the rest.  As I said previously, I wanted to put them in a series of "bro" scenarios, and indicate that Landon saw them as something more (ex: they play basketball and maybe Bill plays Defense a little close, etc.).  In the end though I was just happy to hit five minutes.

 What have you taken from the CMF experience?  What were your impressions of CMFHollywood?

CMF has always been my favorite time of year.  It's the only time I feel I can truly take a week off of school and not care at all while also having an incredible time exercising creativity.  It's also generally the most stressful time, but it's the best kind of stress there is.  I was a fifth-year student this past year, so all of my old teammates had already graduated and moved away.  With them gone, my level of production dropped significantly.

Participating in CMF suddenly made me feel like I was living again (sounds lame I know, but it's true).  CMF Hollywood is always a good time, even if we were the only guys to show up not properly dressed for the occasion (oops).  Couldn't have had a better time at the IGF Awards Show.  Watching Landon Scott win International Best Actor (yes, for playing Landon, I wanted them to go by their real names) was like watching my child being born.  I'm just glad we won on our final go so I can lay the CMF years to rest happily.

What are your plans post-college?

I'll be moving to LA within a few days.  We'll see what the city has in store for me.

Finally, do you have any other short films on the web, or any personal website you'd like to plug?

I don't really have anything else to plug, except for my youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/Charman64) which has a load of random stuff (shorts, movie mashups, video remixes, stupid stuff of my friends and whatnot).  Sometimes I do little editing jobs when I think of something funny or fun to edit.  One in particular is called 300 Tourettes Guys, which is worth checking out if you need an immature laugh or two.  Or Good Wall-E Hunting, that's another of my favs.  Other than that maybe someday I'll make a professional website, probably a good idea.


So there you have it.  I really think that Charlie and his collaborators are going to be going places in a few years.  So if any of you out there have any leads for Charlie as he arrives in L.A. and tries to break in, please feel free to contact me and I'll put you in touch with him.

Future Filmmaker Friday: Violet

This week I'm showcasing another entry from Campus MovieFest, a drama called "Violet."  It was created by Then There Was Lumière Productions at New York University.

Drama is incredibly hard to do as a short film, and believe me, I've seen many a filmmaker try and fail.  It's hard to deal with weighty themes in a short film, and even hard to deal with certain subjects without dipping into overwrought melodrama.  Because of this, I'm very impressed with filmmaker Eliza McNitt and her lead actress Amanda Yarosh is excellent as well.



And remember, they only had a WEEK to shoot and edit this!  This was a nominee for Best Picture and deservedly won Best Drama and Best Cinematography at Campus Movie Fest Hollywood last month.

Future Filmmaker Friday - "Caution Wet Floor"

If you told me this week's Future Filmmaker Friday selection was the work of a professional director, I'd believe you.  "Caution Wet Floor" is a clever silent comedy that could easily be the centerpiece of a director's reel being used to push a commercial director for his first feature.   It's the work of from the team Two Coins at the University of Arizona.  It was a Campus Finalist in its own finale and was a nominee for Best Picture and Best Comedy at the Campus MovieFest Hollywood finale.  I love the pacing and editing here, and the shot composition is really well-done.

For those not in the know, Campus MovieFest is a wonderful program that goes to college campuses throughout the year and provides students with Apple laptops and Panasonic HD cameras to make short film within one week.  Each school then has their own finale to select the best of the best, which then move on to the Grand Finale in Hollywood.

That's right - one week to make a film that can be no more than five minutes.  That's not exactly an easy task.

If you like the work, leave comments here or on their YouTube page.  Filmmakers thrive on feedback and I know it would mean a lot for the filmmakers I feature if you lent some support.

Watch the film and scroll down for an interview with Team Captain Shon Gale and Director Ethan Moore.




So tell us a little about yourselves. How did you get interested in film? Where are you in your school careers?

EM: I was raised by a family that loved film, especially the comedies of Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Albert Brooks. I think those comedic filmmakers had a huge impact on the style of my own humor.

As a kid, I went to a filmmaking summer day camp called the Olympic Film Institute. At that time, we didn’t have access to any quality digital video cameras, so we shot all of our work on Super 8’s, got a digital transfer, and edited on an early version of iMovie. From that point on and throughout middle and high school, I used every school project and summer break to write and direct shorts, because why not? It was fun and way more interesting than writing a paper. That disposition led me to make filmmaking my study and career, and I honestly don’t think I would be happy studying or working in any other field.

SG: I spent a lot of my time in elementary and middle school making ridiculously terrible shorts and remakes with friends. I had boxes and boxes of costumes and we would essentially play dress up and make up stories as we went along. I edited on Windows Movie Maker, Pinnacle Studio, iMovie, and eventually Final Cut. In high school I made a lot of videos for school events and kept the ball rolling, tackling larger and more complex projects. It made we want to pursue filmmaking as a career and lifestyle, and I kept the ball rolling when I chose to major in media arts.

Right now, Ethan and I are both about to begin our senior year at the University of Arizona. We are earning our BFA’s in Film and Video Production in the selective production program at our school. Our capstone course has us creating our short thesis films over the entire school year, and we are developing those scripts as we speak.

Had you participated in Campus MovieFest before?

EM: Shon and I co-wrote and co-directed a short for CMF during our Freshman year, called “In Production” about a hopeless director attempting to make a film. We were awarded Best Comedy at the school level and won a copy of the newest Final Cut Studio.

SG: And we basically became best friends. Playing music, planning our next films, hanging out in the dorms.

EM: I was too busy with school to compete during my sophomore year, but Shon acted in our friend’s film “Mike and Megan” that won Best Picture at the school level. We shot Caution during the fall of our junior year.

SG: CMF has gotten a lot bigger on our campus since we participated as freshman. The production quality of everyone’s work keeps improving.

How did you develop the idea for CAUTION WET FLOOR?  How did the limitations of one-week to shoot and edit it play into how you developed your idea? 

EM: The first spark of the basic concept for "Caution Wet Floor" came when I was interning for a major agency last summer. In those bathrooms, you see a lot of suits walk in and out. I don’t remember what train of thought led me to the idea of a botched hit, but once I knew the hitman would kill his target and would subsequently die by his own device, the rest of the story just started building in my mind. The bag and asphyxiation made the most sense for the bathroom setting, and the motivation for the puddle, the gassiness, the hook, and the pant button followed. My rule was that the chain of events had to remain plausible and properly motivated. The situation could be absolutely ridiculous, as long as every accident could feasibly occur in that environment. In terms of the the film having no dialogue, the story had no need for it. There was no motivation for lines of dialogue, so I didn’t write any. You usually don’t hear much chatter in the men’s bathroom. It’s a sacred, mostly silent place. The sounds you hear in the film are the sounds you hear in any bathroom. Sinks, farts, urination, and flushing. It’s not meant to be gross-out disgusting, but rather realistic.

SG: This was truly a guerilla shoot. We shot in the public bathroom of the media arts building. Ethan, Brad Wong, our DP, and myself were in the middle of the most demandingly scheduled semester of our BFA program, and Brad was actually shooting his own CMF film as well (It went on to win Best Drama at the school level). Our hitman could give us Thursday and Friday night to shoot and had to come directly from the preview of the show he was in for the BFA theatre program. We were all completely overstressed.

How much time did you spend shooting the film?


EM: So we shot from about 6pm till 3am I believe on Thursday and then shot from 6pm till 5am on Friday. We had a $0 budget, a Canon T3i, a Tascam and boom mic, only the natural bathroom lighting except for one Opteka LED, and one PA at a time. We all covered the rest of the crew positions. Luckily, the bathroom was our only location. This allowed a 1 week shoot to become a 2 day shoot. Even if we wanted to, our school schedules wouldn’t have allowed any more time. But most importantly, there was such minimal production design needed. We really wanted a sterile quality in our design and color scheme. We didn’t develop the idea for the film around the time constraint, rather, the concept just happened to work perfectly for the time we had. Regardless, this film would not have happened if it weren’t for our amazing cast and crew. They worked their asses off in many physically uncomfortable positions and conditions. We couldn’t have paid them enough for their commitment to this project.

 SG: After the shoot, we got to editing immediately, taking an over 24 hour marathon session to log and sync the video and sound, cut the film together, compose the soundtrack in soundtrack pro, foley what we needed, create a sound design (yeah that didn’t happen), and color correct (that mostly didn’t happen). We worked non-stop up until the deadline, got it submitted on time, and got back to work on our school projects. We both agree, It was honestly the most stressful and equally gratifying shoot we’d ever worked on.

Was there anything you wanted to do, but couldn't, due to time restrictions?

EM: There was a lot more editing to do on the film, but we just didn’t have time and we know it could be a lot tighter.

SG: If we “coulda”, we “woulda”, but we've learned that you have these types of regrets after every shoot.

What - in your opinion - makes for a good short film?

EM: To me, a good short film needs to be truly inspired from the get go. Everyone always preaches “Write what you know,” but that’s because it’s true! You are the leading expert on your own life experience and perspective. Granted, there are many variables that combine to create a great short, but if it’s not inspired from the beginning, then it’s not going to work.

SG: The process of making this film has redirected my focus to pacing, and how incredibly important it is to keep your audience engaged—to allow them to get lost in your world. Its difficult to get a lot of anything across in a short film, so I think a good one finds a way to connect with its audience quickly and holds their attention.

What have you taken from the CMF experience? What were your impressions of CMFHollywood?

EM: The CMF experience really illustrates what we, as student filmmakers, are capable of under pressure, and I mean, the structure is really simple, “You have 1 week to give us 5 min. of your best. Here’s everything you need. Go”. You dig deep under that kind of pressure and can make some truly amazing work. This is what I feel, is the foundation of CMF’s success in showcasing student filmmaking talent. It’s not only that a lot of these films are really good, but that they were also made within a week or less! That displays a hell of a lot of passion and diligence. CMF truly gives us the ability to exceed the expectations of our work. As a student, you push yourself to a level that you just don’t get on a long term shoot. You learn new things about your abilities and accomplishments, and overall, you learn to have a lot of faith in yourself.

SG: CMF Hollywood was an amazing experience. We had taken Caution to Cannes with 29 other films from CMF, and had a great time there, but I honestly preferred the experience of CMF Hollywood. Every panel was valuable, insightful, and inspiring. Beyond the industry education provided to us, the whole event was focused around all of us as student filmmakers. Every aspect celebrated our filmmaking efforts and I think I can safely say that everyone felt very honored to experience this event. Even though we didn’t win Best Comedy or Best Picture, we were incredibly honored to be nominated and to be in the midst of so much talent. We can’t thank CMF enough for the amazing opportunities they have provided.

EM: In the words of the late-great Patrick Swayze, “Ditto”.

You can find Shon Gale's Vimeo page here.

Future Filmmaker Friday: "The Strong One" - CMF Best Picture & Best Director Winner

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Campus MovieFest red carpet gala on the Universal lot.  CMF is a wonderful program that goes to college campuses throughout the year and provides students with Apple laptops and Panasonic HD cameras to make short film within one week.  Each school then has their own finale to select the best of the best, which then move on to the Grand Finale in Hollywood.

That's right - one week to make a film that can be no more than five minutes.  Back when I was taking film classes, there are students who would spend an entire semester making a five minute film on 16mm.  I would have killed for the opportunity that CMF offers.  Even better is that CMF goes to many campuses that don't have film programs.  I saw a couple of shorts from those schools and if I may speak frankly, some of them were better than many projects I've seen come out of film school festivals.

I was so impressed with the talent I saw there that I've decided to start a new feature on the blog: Future Filmmaker Friday.  Over the next few weeks, I'm going to showcase several of the best CMF shorts on my blog.  This is where I plead with each of you to take five minutes out of your Friday and give some attention to the work of some promising young filmmakers.  If you like the work, leave comments here or on their YouTube page.  Filmmakers thrive on feedback and I know it would mean a lot for the filmmakers I feature if you lent some support.

Even though I featured this next film on my blog a while back, I can't possibly overlook a short that walked away with the Best Picture and Best Director awards last week.  From North Carolina State University, this is THE STRONG ONE, directed by Nicholas Sailer.  Scroll down for an interview with him.




So tell us a little about yourself. How did you get interested in film?

I've always had a passion for stories and storytelling, and that was probably due to my parents reading novels, short stories, and good literature to me all throughout my childhood. I wrote and directed my first short film when I was 16. I have made at least one film every year since then, and it has been fun to watch the quality slowly improve. I don't think I would show you the first film that I made- maybe it will be an easter egg on a dvd of mine in the future- Who knows?

Where are you in your school career? 

I am currently a senior at the College of Design at NC State University. There are lots of people that are surprised to find that I'm not in a film program or at a film school. I chose design as my course of study because I see it as the easiest way to study creativity. The craft of filmmaking is something that I am living and learning outside of my academics. I never want my creativity to be constricted to one medium, but I will always be making films.

How did THE STRONG ONE come together? 

THE STRONG ONE came together in a really unique way. Josh Bielick (the cinematographer of THE STRONG ONE) and I both entered films into CMF the previous year- I won Best Picture and he won Best Drama. At the time, I saw his work and reacted in a competitive way- I recognized that his work was very good and that his film was very well done.

Several months later, last fall, we met randomly at an entrepreneur event- We exchanged business cards, and because the team that I worked with previously had all graduated, I made the effort to start talking about a collaboration. At the same time, Josh had been talking with Tim Reavis (Writer of the poem "Jurassic Parking Lot", on which THE STRONG ONE is based). Tim was actually a mutual friend of mine, and I had heard some of his poems, but never thought to adapt one into film. I sent Josh a script that I wrote, and Josh sort of indicated that he really wanted to use some of Tim's poems as source material. He sent me a text that said "I know a guy that writes damn good poetry" and from then on we decided on adapting one of Tim's poems. Josh and I met up and looked over 5 of Tim's poems. We settled on "Jurassic Parking Lot", and slowly things began to come together. During shooting we titled the film, "THE STRONG ONE".

How did the limitations of one-week to shoot and edit it play into how you developed your idea?

Shooting THE STRONG ONE in a week was not extremely difficult- There were late nights and early mornings, for sure, but the latest we stayed up was around 4 am during editing. We had to pay special attention to scheduling some of our shoots due to the sunrise shots, and ended up seeing the sunrise 3 days in a row.

What - in your opinion - makes for a good short film?

There are so many different rules and principles that I try and bring into a good story and film, these are just a few of them. I think the same things that make a good feature film apply, just in a smaller context:

1) The audience must have a reason to like or relate to the main character. So many people have come up to me and said that they went through something like the story that THE STRONG ONE depicts, and because of that, it hits home for them.

2) There should always be a journey of change or transition that the audience goes through- In the case of THE STRONG ONE, the child begins the story dependent on the dinosaur, and in the end, we sort of understand that the child has gone through this journey and is now independent, but revisits the dinosaur to remember how he got to where he is now.

3) Not all films have this, but one thing that puts a film at another level is a reversal of expectation: A good end to a story should be unexpected, but inevitable. In other words, like a good joke: You don't expect the ending, but when you look back and think about it, there is no other way that it could have ended better. THE STRONG ONE does this at the end when it's established that the dinosaur is 'The Strong One', and in the final scene, the dinosaur reveals to the child that the child himself is 'The Strong One'.

Was there anything you wanted to do, but couldn't, due to time restrictions?

I can't think of anything in particular that we tried to do that we couldn't because of time restrictions. There were a couple of shots that we had initially envisioned differently, but we ended up getting shots that were similar or maybe even better in some respects.


What have you taken from the CMF experience? What were your impressions of CMFHollywood?

The CMF experience has been a great networking tool, as well as an amazing platform for screening and sharing work publicly. CMF Hollywood was an exciting way of meeting so many different student filmmakers, and I hope to see some collaboration through that.

If you are interested, you can view more of my work at my websites, below:
www.nicholassailer.com 
www.vimeo.com/nicholassailer 
www.twitter.com/nicholas_sailer 

AND my blog at http://writerdirector-nicholassailer.blogspot.com/ 

Congrats again Nicholas!  And we'll be featuring another CMF film next week.

Friday Free-For-All: Campus MovieFest's "The Strong One"

This week kind of turned into an unofficial salute to student films and short films, so this seems like the right time to plug a program I first heard about a while ago.  Campus MovieFest has been around for a little more than a decade offering college students a fantastic opportunity to brush up on their filmmaking skills.

CMF travels from college to college, providing participating students with Apple laptops and Panasonic HD camcorders.  Each group has one week to create their own short film.  At the conclusion of this, a red carpet finale is held to select the best films from each school, which then advance on to the finals at a gala event held in Hollywood.  CMF gets stars from TV and Film to present awards to the best shorts in several categories.

I had the honor of attending one of these as a guest a few years back, when it happened to be held on the Paramount lot.  It was quite a kick to see students all over the country getting a taste of the Hollywood experience and seeing their film shown in the state-of-the-art Paramount Theatre.  That year, the celebrities handing out awards included Oscar-winner James Cromwell and Don Johnson.  Living out in L.A., you can get kind of jaded to the whole Hollywood experience, but I know what a thrill it would have been for me to have my movie compete in the CMF Finals when I was in college, and I think it's pretty cool that Campus Movie Fest has been able to do this for more than a decade.

This short film was produced by students at North Carolina State University, and it popped up in my feed a while back as one that really impressed some of the folks at CMF.  I figure the least I can do is give these guys a few more eyes on their film.  It's called The Strong One.




The Strong One Cast & Crew :
Josh Bielick - Captain, Cinematographer
Nicholas Sailer- Director, Screenwriter
Matt Harris- Production Assistant
Timothy Reavis- Writer, Actor