Alumni Spotlight: David Lawrence ‘06

David Lawrence graduated from the college in 2006.  And since then, he has toured the country as a stand up comedian and has worked as a writer for Disney Studios out in Los Angeles.  Now, he’s adding feature filmmaker to the list of his accomplishments.  Check out what David had to say about his latest project, Disney Shot Kennedy.

A shot of David after sustaining an on-camera injury during the filming of Disney Shot Kennedy.

THE FILM TRIBE (TFT): What is the general premise behind Disney Shot Kennedy?

DAVID LAWRENCE (DL): The story follows the last week of a small conspiracy theory newspaper that gets shut down, and the four friends that work there.  They are in their mid to late twenties and have to come to terms with the fact that their lives aren’t turning out the way they thought they would, and they don’t know what to do about it.  They don’t have any answers.

(TFT): Is it a comedy?

(DL): It’s kind of an experimental comedy.  We have the traditional
narrative, and then I mined the national archives for footage.  The
archival footage pops in and out to comment on what’s going on with the narrative.

(TFT): How long did it take you to write the script? And what was your inspiration?

(DL): I wrote the script off and on for about three years.  I’d hit a wall
with the story, give up, throw it in a drawer and go write something else. The original idea was called SOFA and the concept was to shoot three guys and their Saturday night sitting on a sofa. It grew from there into a record store movie and got read at a couple of agencies around Hollywood, but they all called it a “High Fidelity knock off,” which I hadn’t consciously done, but it was true.

Over the same period, I was writing a book of off the wall conspiracy
theories called Disney Shot Kennedy, and I realized that I could marry the two, and instead of the characters talking music they could talk pop-culture.  Then I needed a “record store,” so I had the characters run a little newspaper.

Production still of the conspiracy paper HQ.

(TFT): Was this what you typically like to write, or the exception?

(DL): I’m very fascinated by plot structure, so my work tends to either be comedy of errors or these intricate conspiracy stories.  This was a little of both I guess.

(TFT): How long was the screenplay?

(DL): The screenplay that I green-lit was 126 pages, but I was constantly rewriting on the set.  We would start to block a scene and it would become obvious that it wasn’t going to work the way I had it in my head, so I would have to rewrite on the fly.  Always for the better I think.

Action shot from Disney Shot Kennedy.

(TFT): How long has production been going on?

(DL): The film was green-lit December of ‘08. The principle photography was shot in June, and we have set a final cut for the first part of the new year.  The film is being edited by Erica Westmoreland (‘07), also a W&M grad.  She and I have been collaborating since college.  She’s brilliant and a total workhorse.

(TFT): How many total WM people were involved with this production?

(DL): There were four W&M grads including myself.  Erica signed on very early in pre-production.  She introduced me to Randall Taylor (‘08) who came on for sound. I met Tara-Rose Hess after I saw her in a comedy at the black box on campus.  It was student directed, and it became pretty obvious that the director had given up about half way through, but nobody cared because Rose was so funny.  I went up to her after the show and told her I was writing a script and that I’d like to put her in it.  It took me a few years, but I made good on my offer.  Mika Shannon (‘06), another alum, made a painting as a prop for me.

('06) Mika Shannon's painting that was used in the movie.

(TFT): What did you major in at WM?

(DL):   I honestly don’t know what my actual degree is in.  I kind of took anything I thought was interesting (ex. Vampires, Myths and Legends).  Prof. Zuber sort of came to my rescue and helped me cobble together something resembling a completed degree, and the school graciously graduated me.

Prof. Knight and Prof. Zuber were both excellent film professors.  And Prof. McGovern’s, Prof. Kennedy’s, and Prof. Joyce’s classes on cultural analysis were all brilliant.

(TFT): Did you do a lot of filmmaking while in college?

(DL):  I made two movies in college.  A short film about a girl running from a murder which was just one big chase sequence.  We shot most of it in the Matoaka woods.  At like 10pm, the generator for the lights died. We hadn’t brought any flashlights, so we had to wander around in the dark till we found the parking lot, and were able to get some more gas for the generator.  Night shoots have never gone well for me.  The other movie was an experimental collage film.

Production still from Disney Shot Kennedy. Click for more stills.

(TFT): Did you have a budget for the feature?

(DL):   I was writing for Disney Studios when the economic collapse hit Hollywood and I lost my job.   The work dried up for everyone that was just breaking into the industry or getting close to retirement.  So, I started my own production company and set up this production as a co-op where each person involved owns a percentage of any future profits from the film.  It was enough to get some of my incredibly talented friends and colleagues to say “yes,” and I was able to put far more of the entire budget in-front of the camera.  We had a crew of about twenty, half from LA and half from the East Coast.

(TFT): What kind of equipment did you use?

(DL): We shot on a Sony Vericam and used 35mm Zeiss super speed lenses.  The color saturation with the Zeiss lens is very rich, and I wanted the film to have a brightness to it.  The vericam is getting to be a little outdated, but it is still a great camera and incredible for the money.

(TFT): Any particular reason for shooting in Atlanta?  Was it nice shooting there?

(DL): I’m from Atlanta, and the art community there is very supportive and fiercely local.  It opened a lot of doors for great locations that I wouldn’t have been able to pay for or get access to otherwise. R.Land, who is kind of a local counterculture legend, signed on to do our posters and inter titles which is a real coup for me since I’ve been a fan of his since I was 15.

Disney Shot Kennedy.

(TFT): What do you plan to do with this film when it is finished?

(DL): I have a festival rep for the movie I met through my cinematographer, and we have a track we think it will do well in. P.S.- Anyone thinking about making a film and duking it out on the festival circuit needs to see the documentary Official Rejection.

(TFT): So what do you think the future holds for you?

(DL): Well I’ve been working as a writer for a few years now.  Out of college, I toured the Southeast as a stand-up comic.  While I was in L.A., I was a story editor at Disney and had a script optioned by a producer at Dreamworks.  But Hollywood is kind of a weird animal for writers right now.

The WGA West just put out its numbers a few days ago and 50% of the members of the guild are unemployed.  That means that there are roughly only 2,200 entertainment writers, on the entire western half of the US making any new money right now (as opposed to residuals for past work).

A night shoot during production of Disney Shot Kennedy.

(DL): I got out of dodge just as everything was beginning to contract and I couldn’t be happier.  I’m making enough going the Woody Allen/Kevin Smith route, splitting my time between stand up gigs and personal projects.  It scary, but liberating.

I have my first headlining tour as a comedian coming up this Spring. I’m also currently working on my next feature, Utopia Cola Co.

(TFT).

******Become a fan on facebook for Disney Shot Kennedy.******

Alumni Spotlight: Muffin Hix ‘06

Muffin Hix '06

For the past year or so, Muffin Hix ‘06 has been living the film lovers dream.  She is employed by the short film festival and distribution company known as Future Shorts, and lives in one of the most exciting cities in the world, London, England.  And the crazy thing is that her interest in film did not take on an active role until she began taking classes at the College of William and Mary.  Muffin was kind enough to take some time away from watching movies and hanging out with international filmmakers to answer a few questions from The Film Tribe.

The Film Tribe (TFT): What did you major in at W&M?

Muffin Hix (MH): I majored in English and minored in Film Studies. I really loved all my classes with Prof. Sasha Prokhorov – he was always really enthusiastic and passionate about what he was teaching. His class on Film Comedy was fantastic.

(TFT): When you moved to London, you took a few filmmaking courses, specifically the 2Inspire Digital Film course and 16mm Filmmaking at City University.  What did you get out of those experiences?

(MH):  At W&M I only took film theory classes and none of the practical stuff. Then when I moved to London, I worked as a production assistant on a feature documentary (The Age of Stupid – see it!) and got more interested in making films.  [I am] thinking of perhaps going into producing. The digital and 16mm courses I took covered everything from pre to post production on a short film. I found that I love cinematography, and detest directing. There are several shorts that I made available online, but I hope no one ever sees them – sometimes first efforts are better left in the classroom.

(TFT): So what exactly do you do at Future shorts?

(MH):  I first joined Future Shorts in May 2008 as a programming intern, and then was accepted for a full time position as a distribution assistant in November 2008. Future Shorts is still a young company, so what we do is constantly changing, but at the moment, I would consider myself to be a distirbution and festival assistant and filmmaker liaison. What does that mean? I am the primary contact for the filmmakers that we want to include in our worldwide festival, special screening events, youtube channel, and distribution label. I also manage online communication (twitter, youtube, facebook, newsletter, website news) and all incoming and current interns throughout the company.  By far, my favorite part of the job is working with talented, enthusiastic filmmakers and getting [their] films seen all over the world, and even getting them a little cash for it as well, when possible. It’s a lovely thing.

(TFT): How many short films would you say you watch in a given week?

(MH):  When i was a programming intern, I watched thousands of short films; more short films than I thought even existed. Some were amazing, some were home videos. But now, I just see the films that we show in the festival (10-12 per month), upload to youtube (4-15 per month), and distribute (a little more than 300 in the catalogue). Still quite a lot of short films.

(TFT): How long do you think you will stay at Future Shorts?

(MH):  I hope to be here, developing within the company for a few more years yet, and I’m comsidering going back to get an MA in Cinematography from the NFTS here in the UK afterwards. We’ll see. I’m just really enjoying living and working in London for now.

(TFT): What are your favorite short films?

(MH):  I’m constantly delighted and surprised by the power of animation, and a good twist in the end is always appreciated.

Some of my favorites are…

Overtime (Dir. Oury Atlan, Thibaut Berland & Damien Ferrié / Animation / France / 2004

Jojo in the Stars (Dir. Marc Craste / Animation / UK / 2004)

Bathtub IV (Dir. Keith Loutit / tilt-shift time-lapse / Australia / 2008)

Le Ceval 2.1 ( Dir. Alex Kirkland & Stephen Scott-Hayward / Comedy / UK / 2003)

Please Say Something ( Dir. David OReilly / Animated Drama / Ireland / 2008)

The Bloody Olive ( Dir. Vincent Bal / Film Noir Comedy / Belgium / 1996)

I Just Wanted to Be Somebody (Dir. Jay Rosenblatt / Documentary / Canada / 2006)

Photo by Muffin Hix '06

(TFT):  How do you like living in London, and what made you move there?

(MH): I love London. I was drawn back here after visiting during a W&M study abroad at Cambridge, and was just completely hooked. I moved here originally just for a gap year after W&M, but it’s just the city for me. I love that there’s always something to see and do, how each neighborhood is a little village in itself, and the film culture is amazing – there’s always a director giving a Q&A.

(TFT): When you graduated from William and Mary how many different choices as what to do next did you have/consider?

(MH): After I graduated I didn’t know what I wanted to do. All I knew was that I didn’t want to go directly into grad school and that I needed to get out of Williamsburg (after attending high school there as well). I stayed at home working for my mom (she’s an artist) for a few months, but I soon started researching new options in film, media, publishing and arts administration.

After a few months of applications, I secured an internship at Random House publishing in their marketing and publicity department in London, and came over. I worked nights and weekends at a cinema to support myself and fueled my film habit while interning at Random House, a small documentary distributor called The Film and Television Company, the British Film Institute, Circus Media, the London Film Festival and Future Shorts.

Basically, I expected to work for free for at least 6 months to a year and then hopefully have made enough connections and figured out what I wanted to do enough to get a job. And that’s exactly what happened.

(TFT): Did anything you do at William and Mary help prepare you for your current job at all?

(MH): While at W&M I participated in the Kimball Theatre internship, which gave me a good grounding in film research and how the distribution system works. Generally, all the writing I did was worth every late night minute. My professors always stressed the importance of careful, organized, clear writing and it has certainly come in handy.

(TFT): Any advice for someone wanting to get involved in the same work you do?

(MH): Anyone interested in working at a film festival or in distribution should see as many films as possible. Watch films until your eyes become little anamorphic rectangles! Also, get to know the personalities of different studios, production companies, distributors, festivals, and broadcasters. More immediately, if you’re interested in being a rep for Future Shorts Festival email our Head of Partnerships, Birgir Sigfusson (birgir@futureshorts.com). We’re looking for people who are passionate about short film, enthusiastic, organized, and interested in running festival events on a monthly basis. We provide the films, you provide the audience.

Click for Future Short's Youtube Channel

(MH):  If anyone is coming over to the UK and wants to work or intern in the film industry, just shoot me an email. In the past few years, I’ve applied just about everywhere and can probably provide some good leads. From an HR perspective, [here is] the best piece of advice I can give to any job seeker: Customize your cover letter to the specific company and role. The majority of letters I receive are so clearly just a form letter that someone has sent to 50 companies, so a well thought out letter gets immediate good attention. TFT

You can contact Muffin at muffin@futureshorts.com.

Tribe Filmmakers Compete in the 48 Hour Film Project – Richmond

During the weekend of July 17th-19th, 3 different teams that included past and present members of the William and Mary community competed in a 48 hour filmmaking competition.  The groups met at the bar restaurant known as The Camel at 7:00pm on Friday July 17th to select a genre.  Other elements that were needed to be included were a tomato for a prop, the character Michael or Michelle Dooley, “Green” Expert, and the line of dialogue, “You can ask her yourself.”

The three teams that competed were:

Loose Ends Productions which was led by Ben Heller ‘09 and included Jonny Converse ‘10. There genre was Romance, and the film was titled Writer’s Block.

Part Time Box which was led by Steven Koernig ‘08 and included Zan Gillies ‘09, Thomas Baumgardner ‘09, Chris Manitius ‘09, Allison Schaeffer ‘09, Annie Lewis ‘09, Cole Grinell ‘08, Betsy Finch ‘08.  Their genre was Super Hero, and the film was titled Captain Greenlight.  Viewable below:

Monarch Productions was led by Kevin Heraldo ‘04 and included Zach Keifer ‘07.  Their genre was also Super Hero, and the film was titled Life After Breath.  Viewable below:

No Beginner’s Luck for Loose Ends Productions

Both Monarch productions and Part Time Box were veterans of timed filmmaking competitions, but for Loose Ends productions it was their very first experience.  And even though the group had trouble completing the film within the time constraints, they were still able to come away with a complete movie.  The film is currently still being worked on, as their main goal is to walk away with a polished product.  Heller said that the movie they “turned in is watchable, but there’s still plenty of technical flaws that need to be worked out before its Youtubable.”

Ben Heller explained that “the story is something I came up with. I wrote the screenplay with my brother, Seth. We wanted to go more in the Lost In Translation/Garden State direction than the Notebook/Sleepless In Seattle direction with the movie. It’s based loosely on relationships a number of people I know have had, including myself.”

Part of what added to the difficulty of this experience for Heller’s group was that they shot the movie in Richmond, but had to trek an hour  East to edit the film in Williamsburg.

On top of the distances traveled, they also ran into difficulty with receiving a Canon HD camera with 35mm adaptor that they had ordered specifically for the competition. They were able to work initially with a backup camera, Sony VX 2100, but were not able to shoot with the Canon until it showed up Saturday at 5pm, which was already 21 hours deep into a 48 hour competition.

More troubles occurred when the film was being put together in Post.  Heller explained, “we edited on three computers: two [for] video and one with protools for sound. When we tried to put the pieces together, the machine kept throwing the sound off and messing up the transitions. Which sucked, and ultimately set us back enough that we missed the deadline. Although we were done at 652pm on Sunday, we were in Williamsburg, and didn’t want to risk a speeding ticket.”

Despite all their difficulties, the group were still able to produce a film for their very first competition. Ben summed the experience up by saying that they, “were pretty happy with the final product- it is what it is, a 48 hour movie. The experience is the most important thing and we learned a lot. I feel there are quite a few missing ingredients in our final product, but overall, it is a cohesive story that I felt is well told and well put together.”

A Few Words with Seasoned Filmmaker Kevin Heraldo ‘04

The Film Tribe (TFT): How did you find your 2nd 48 hour film project experience?

Kevin Heraldo (KH): To answer the question bluntly: the experience was (and always will be) fun and life-learning. You run through different emotions in 48 hours (content, frustrated, angry, tired, hungry, etc) but the challenge is your ability to persevere. I was blessed to have a crew of 15-20 filmmakers and friends that, despite the gambit of emotions, are able to be critical without being “over the line.” When I say “life-learning”, I mean I always discover new things about myself (and even my film skills) that can be improved upon.

(TFT): Were you happy with the final product?

(KH): Moderately. And I say that because last year’s film Instrument of Choice is a hard film to follow. The more I watch Life After Breath, the better it gets. The film’s response has been warm. On another note, another W&M group headed by Steven Koernig had the same genre (SUPERHERO); coincidentally, we created characters that brought people back to life. I guess that’s a metaphor for W&M alums: we want to rejuvenate life back to people.

(TFT): Do you think you will do it again next year?

(KH): Actually, I’m helping my friend Adam Stackhouse ‘04 (1693 Productions, Williamsburg, VA) for the Hampton Roads edition of 48 HFP. Adam in the past competitions has been the primary technical guy in his group, so this will be a relief for him since I will be sharing the duties. We’ve done some film scouting and general prep work for this weekend.

In October, I may take part in the National Film Challenge (sponsored by the same group of 48 HFP). But definitely I will be a part of the 48 HFP Richmond, 2010. TFT

Kevin is also responsible for No Cell Phone Day, which one Best Holiday film in the 2007 National Film Challenge

(L-R) Thomas Baumgardner '09, Steven Koernig '08, Jonny Converse '10, Kevin Heraldo '04, Ben Heller '09 at the start of the competition.

UPDATE: Kevin Heraldo ‘04 assisted Adam Stackhouse ‘04 in the Hampton Roads 48 Hour film project.  Click America the Best to view their submission.  Their team 1693 Productions also included:  Hannah Ayers ‘08, Ben Kennedy ‘05, Liz Sykes ‘06, Brian Chiglinsky ‘08, Roshan Patel ‘08, Crystal Adams ‘07.

Josh Clayton ‘08, at it again…

Josh Clayton is no longer the Josh Clayton that directed the short film The Bull.  He is now: Josh Clayton the director currently in production on his first feature entitled The Virgins.  Josh is currently hard at work in North Carolina doing everything he can to make his film.  At this point in, he has ten days in the bag, and is looking to shoot 4 more this week.

Setup for a scene in an ice cream shop in The Virgins.

He explained that, “The Bull helped set up this venture in multiple ways. That I already had something out there helped legitimize me a little to the people looking at the project. The Bull also helped establish relationships in the area that I continued to utilize in The Virgins, especially when it came to crew.”

Josh also went on to pass on some good news about The Bull mentioning that “an international short film distributor from Toronto came across it in a listing at the Palm Springs Short Film Market and wants me to send them a screener.”

To support Josh in his filmmaking endeavors please join his facebook group for The Virgins.  And also follow his blog about shooting the film at: http://joshclaytonfilm.wordpress.com/

Tribe Faculty Explore Filmmaking in Cuba

New Media Workshop is the term to know. This course, cross-listed with Film and Hispanic studies, is what got the W&M into Cuba.  The project works with Cuban Cinema Classics which is an organization that brings “Cuba’s award winning revolutionary documentaries” to Universities in America for purposes of subtitling in English.

Troy Davis, Swem Library’s Media Center Director and New Media Workshop Co-Teacher, explained that “the course involved subtitling old and new Cuban films, so that they could be more widely distributed. One recent film the students subtitled Zone of Silencia has already been picked up at international film festivals b/c of the subtitles. The point of the class was to explore the contours cuban filmmaking (historically) but also to address this ‘unique’ contemporary moment in Cuban audio-visual culture.  [Cuban] filmmakers want to make films, but no longer have total govt. support to do it. But they make them anyway, by any means necessary.”

Prof. Ann Marie Stock co-teaches the course with Troy, and she has written a book that was key in setting up the course and documentary that will eventually be made.  The book is called On Location in Cuba: Street Filmmaking during Times of Transition.  In a review on ROROTOKO.com, it is explained that the book focuses on Cuba’s transformation in the early 1990’s after its loss of its “partner” the Soviet Union.  “The lens of cinema—defined broadly to include film, video and audiovisual art—permits an analysis of this pivotal moment in the island’s history, this “special period” of accelerated change and great uncertainty.”  Read the full review.

Below is a 2 part video about the New Media Workshop.

For the class, both Troy and Ann Marie travelled to Cuba for 3 whole weeks. Troy explained that, the trip “was focused on these ‘new’ filmmakers and how/why they make films without the promise of state funding.  The trip consisted of attending a film festival of “new” and “young” filmmakers (the films were awesome!). additionally we interviewed new filmmakers ([and shot] over 60 hours of footage).” The co-teachers plan to “make a more comprehensive documentary about this time of transition.”

Troy mobile with a camera on the streets of Havana.

Below is a video Troy put together about the trip to Cuba.

I asked Troy what he felt about Cuban cinema, and he responded with this:

Cuban cinema is rich and varied. When you walk down a Havana street and see 5 or 6 cinemas in a 6 block radius, you know you are in a place that values filmmaking and cinema. Historically, Cuban cinema has worked in the service of ‘the revolution.’However, visiting the ICAIC while in Havana (the govt. funded filmmaking org), it was interesting to see how supportive the govt was of filmmaking and cultural activities in general. The filmmakers we interviewed were very passionate about filmmaking and have learned to do ALOT with VERY LITTLE. They are the emblems right now of low/no budget filmmaking and i think we can learn a lot from them. In fact, maybe there could be some sort of exchange/dialogue between w&m filmmakers and cubans????????

Capturing the filmmaking heart of Cuban cinema.

He then went on to explain how he was effected by this trip.

Well, first it boomeranged all the BS about Cuba [that] I was told. I went to a film festival, sponsored by the government, and I can say a fair number of the films would have been censored here in the U.S. The filmmakers I met were born after the revolution and one question i asked each of them was how has the ‘revolution’ impacted their filmmaking. They all lauded the “good things” of the revolution, universal health care, food rations, cultural emphases, a bad ass education system, but they were also eager to make stuff, of connecting with the world. The people in Cuba were so friendly, so giving, so curious about the U.S. I had a couple opps to talk about my experiences in West Baltimore for example, and this totally shocked my listeners. While in Havana, no one tried to pan handle, I saw no homeless people and everyone I met was a brainiac. Contrast this with West Baltimore and you get the picture.

Troy with Cuban filmmaker Fernando Perez.

And as for the future of the New Media Workshop course…

We got funding to teach another course, to continue the subtitling projects, to create a web site devoted to new filmmakers in Cuba, [and] to continue this documentary. We will visit Cuba again in December for another film festival, this time the biggest and most famous one in Cuba.

Just to get an idea of how cool of a course this has been for the College, understand that faculty of the University of Miami traveled to William and Mary to discuss collaboration on a Cuban Theatre Digital Archive.  That’s right, a university in Miami went to Virginia for support in Cuban art!

Subtitled: Cuban Television

Sgt. Cheerleader Screening a Great Success

I’ve always been surprised more movies aren’t made on campus. Swem Media Center has made getting the necessary resources as simple as a reservation. Professor Sharon Zuber’s Video Production class has taught the basics for years. And the Tribe film makers are definitely intelligent and, most importantly, passoinate. And yet very few serious film making efforts are made each year. The small number that have been made are normally always shorts as well, but this year a true undertaking took place: Sergeant Cheerleader, an hour and forty minute long feature film.

The Sergeant Cheerleader Movie Poster

You’ve no doubt heard about Sergeant Cheerleader already. Maybe you’ve seen the trailer on Vimeo (http://www.vimeo.com/2808853) or the facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14412144786). Maybe you stumbled on to the official website (http://www.sergeantcheerleader.com/) or the numerous articles written about it: Article 1 by The Flat Hat and Article 2 by the VA Informer.  And of course, there was even the W&M Alumni Association’s sneak peek of the movie on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnXB1Bthot4). Unless you’ve been hiding yourself in the stacks of Swem all year, you have heard something about Sergeant Cheerleader. We often hear about this Hollywood “buzz” that surrounds movies around their release, and here is our firsthand experience with it. The entire campus seemed to be in support of the production, a fact that is truly heart warming to Tribe film makers.

The movie premiered to a packed house in Commonwealth Auditorium in the Sadler Center. It was a pretty incredible night. And the greatest part is that not only were friends and family of the cast and crew in attendance, but there were regular students as well. Many people just chose to come out and support a W&M student film. The time and effort that Thomas Baumgardner (‘09) and his cast and crew put into the film was evident, and the film was clearly appreciated by College community. It was quite the experience to be in the auditorium with hundreds of others as they laughed and cheered throughout the film. There was even applause and cat calls whenever a roommate, sorority sister, or classmate appeared on screen. The lively atmosphere that was present during the screening is exactly what film making at William and Mary deserves.

Thomas Baumgardner '09 shoots a scene from the movie. Photo courtesy of The Flat Hat

As Zach has mentioned previously, there are quite a few more film making competitions on campus than has existed already. Clearly, many students at the College want to make movies, to get their stories out there, and Sergeant Cheerleader is definitely a great step towards that being more common place. The greatest part of the movie is not the technical or creative achievements of the film, although those are to be commended, but rather that Thomas Baumgardner and his crew (mainly Annie Lewis, ‘09) were able to create such a presence on campus. Sergeant Cheerleader had a serious following at William and Mary this year, rarely seen before. Hopefully, this is evidence that films of any length can succeed at the college, motivation for the upcoming Tribe Film makers to produce some movies. So get out there and film.

(Steven Koernig ‘08)

And just to give some perspective, more than 220 people came to the movie’s premier, and about another 50 came to the following 2 screenings. The show was screened during some inclement weather, so there probably would have been even more people going to see the film.

Matt Pinsker '09 (center) the Writer/Producer of Sergeant Cheerleader.

Matt Pinkser ‘09 the films writer and producer explained, “we will make DVDs to sell and distribute to help recoup the costs of production. I’ll enter it into some low cost film festivals to see the sort of reception it gets from outside the WM community.”

Pinkser will also be attempting to market the screenplay to some Hollywood studios; however, he will be pursuing a law degree next year and will be putting any film career plans on hold. In total, Sergeant Cheerleader has been a 15 month process and Pinsker explains that, “although exhausting, it has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had, and has been worth it. The story is close to my heart, and watching it being made has been like witnessing a miracle.”

As Tribe filmmakers, we are all proud of the achievements of the Sergeant Cheerleader group, and happy that the entire W&M community responded with so much support. The future of filmmaking at William and Mary looks like it will only continue to grow bigger and bigger. Go forth and shoot film.

-The Film Tribe

Competitions Galore

For the longest time (and by longest time I mean 5 years), 24 Speed has been William and Mary’s sole video competition. But all that has changed in one semester. Spring semester 2009 saw a dramatic increase in filmmaking competitions by 400% (I think that is correct math?). Yes, 4 video competitions will have occurred in total this semester.

CONTEST #1: THE BILL LAWRENCE FILMMAKING COMPETITION

In addition to the now classic 24 speed competition, the school introduced the first ever Bill Lawrence Filmmaking competition. The school’s admission office teamed with the student activity group called AMP (formerly UCAB) to bring to the campus a new competition that required the following elements: a shot of the Admissions office or pamphlet, inclusion of a day dream, and use of the line “I’m overdue for a dream come true”. And of course, the coolest thing about the competition being that Bill Lawrence (the creator of Scrubs and Spin City and Clone High) got to view the top 5 films. The top 5 films were:

• Group: Just Blueberries and Chad and their film Short Straw (or Little H)
• Group: One Way Productions and their film Sunny Side Up
• Group: Part-Time Productions and their film Sean Hits His Stride
• Group: Team 1693 and their film Magic Dream House
• Group: Vagabond Anarchists and their film Hark Upon a Tale

And honorable mentions include:

• Group: 7th Grade Sketch Comedy and their film Five Dollars
• Group: Ellipsis and their film Love Me…Please
• Group: Team Mermidon and their film The Red Pill

All of the filmmakers were invited to a special screening of the top 5 films with Bill Lawrence (W&M alumni ‘90). The extremely successful t.v. show creator discussed and appreciated all of the films one at a time. It was quite a unique experience for the students to not only have such an esteemed judge, but to also get to meet him and casually discuss their films with him. This truly was a great opportunity and one that was unique to the college. The winning film, picked by Bill Lawrence himself, was Magic Dream House by Team 1693.

The film was awarded prize money, as well as screened at Bill Lawrence’s talk to the campus at the Sadler center (ex-University center) main auditorium. Note: The place was beyond packed. It was a great competition, a great visit by a wonderful alumni, and an all around success for everyone involved.

Bill Lawrence poses with some students after his Conversation with the Campus in the sadler Center

Other Bill Lawrence competition films online and available for viewing:

The Dream Factory by Rifthead Productions

Ventisize me! by Team Cougar

Dream Date Dream by Kite Flying Society

CONTEST #2: 24 Speed

24 Speed was the competition that dominated February, and since there is already a post dedicated to that, I’ll move on to the competition currently going on in March. Go here for the post.

CONTEST #3: THE MORE THAN BRICKS CHALLENGE

For the first time ever, the College (and by the College I mean the Admissions Office) is running a competition to create a commercial for W & M, called the More Than Bricks Challenge. The best commercials made will be shown during the admitted students events for the Class of 2013, which could give a potential filmmaker a very strong freshman fan base. The commercial will also be featured as the easter egg on the main W&M website in April (meaning if you click the College emblem on the home page, the video will appear) Winning commercials will also “receive feedback from a blue-ribbon panel of judges” (not quite sure what blue ribbon means…ice cream?). The commercials are to be only 30 seconds long and are due March 30th. I think this is a really cool contest that helps both filmmakers and the college, a nice give and take relationship. It also marks the school’s recognition of the usefulness of filmmaking as a resource, and it gets students involved and thinking creatively about their college experience. Now all we need is for teachers to trade papers for films.

CONTEST #4: THE RECYCLED VIDEO CONTEST

The 4th and final competition of the year is ongoing but will be ending in April and used to celebrate Earth day. It is the Recycled Video Contest sponsored by the Swem Library, the W&M Film Studies Program, and the Mercury sGIG. It is a video editing contest that challenges students to take a 50 minute tape of old footage from the Prelinger Archives (online and downloadable public domain footage) and edit it into something new. Students are not allowed to film any new content to include in their films. “This contest will showcase the creativity of the W&M community and promote an awareness of the rich resources available for content creation and distribution.” The deadline for submissions is April 10th with the screenings occurring on Earth Day. Here is a link detailing the various clips that were put on the tape: Films Used. A couple examples of the work that can result can be viewed here:

Ted Hogeman ‘09 Recycled Video set to NIN music: 16 ghosts II

Zach Keifer ‘07 Recycled Video Did it just for fun, not eligible for contest.

As these other competitions come to a close, I will definitely keep everyone posted. And since we are in the spirit of film competition, I will again share a link to a cool website that stays up to date with all the current filmmaking competitions around the country.

Competition Website.

So, if you think you want to make a living just entering film competitions, there certainly are plenty out there.

Also, do not forget about William and Mary’s own student film festival WM Cans. Check out their website here. The festival will screen films on Friday, April 24th at 7:00pm in room 120 of Tucker Hall. Go forth and shoot film!

-The Film tribe

The 5th Annual 24 Speed Filmmaking Competition

This past weekend the school held another successful 24 Speed competition, and as a special treat we had two alumni give a talk about the film business as a way to kick things off. Kevin Williams ‘07 splits his time between working as an assistant director on independent films and with working production on reality shows (the latter only because the pay is decent), and he traveled all the way from New York city. Gustav Lindquist ‘07 works as an assistant to the Creative head at Dreamworks studios, look for his name to be among those credited at the end of Monsters vs. Aliens. He made the trip all the way from L.A.

L-R Kevin Williams '07 & Gustav Lindquist '07

The two gave a casual talk to a small audience about the film business and life in the big city. Due to his work at Dreamworks, Gustav also discussed the new 3d technology that is becoming so prevalent; he even passed out a bunch of 3d glasses and played 3d movies off the internet. Gustav explained that 3d seems to be the next big thing, so much so that we could be having football games broad casted in 3d to our homes in the not too distant future. Gustav also brought along a Monsters vs. Alien poster which he signed and gave to Prof. Sharon Zuber.

Alumni back for 24 Speed Weekend (L-R Zach, Gustav, Kevin, Jeremy)

The 24 Speed contest then began soon after the talk (6pm Friday February 20th). 12 teams were present for the delivery of the requirements, which were as follows:

PROP: an old photo from special collections

LINE OF DIALOGUE: “what, you thought you needed another challenge or something?” (line taken from that classic action flick known as Speed, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock).

GENRE: RANDOM: pulled out of a hat.

24 Speed Participants just before the start of the contest

The genre’s pulled and used were as follows Buddy film, Biography, Heist, Chick Flick, Disaster, Film Noir, Gangster, Sci-fi, and Action/Adventure. Only 9 genres are listed because by the end of the contest at 6pm the following day, only 9 teams had successfully completed a film. Out of those 9, only 6 of the films made it in at the 6pm deadline meaning that three of the films were not eligible for the judges’ awards. Time, of course, was one of the biggest challenges of the contest, and participants had to make sure to finish early enough to account for rendering and the printing of films to a mini-dv tape (which was the contest’s only acceptable format).

Team Rifthead Productions in the editing room.

As for the judging this year, we had a real celebrity judge in the form of the two time Oscar nominated documentarist Nathaniel Kahn. The two films getting the nod being My Architect and Two Hands: The Leon Fleischer Story. Mr. Kahn is also a member of the Academy board meaning that he votes for the films that are Oscar nominated, so we did indeed have an official judge of the highest distinction.

The Oscar Nominee Nathaniel Kahn

The great thing about Nathaniel Kahn was that his passion and love for filmmaking really showed through in both his judging of the contest films and his interaction with students. I was fortunate enough to attend a small lunch with Mr. Kahn and was quite impressed with his eagerness to advise and motivate anyone to pursue their dreams in film production, and it was great to see and hear him discuss and judge the 24 speed films with such care and interest. Mr. Kahn was quite an addition to 24 speed, and certainly made the event even more special than it already was.

Also judging this year we had Prof. Arthur Knight, Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Film Studies program, Steven Koernig ‘08 alum currently working at the Colonial Williamsburg Studios, and myself, Zach Keifer ‘07.

(L-R Zach Keifer, Nathaniel Kahn, Prof. Arthur Knight, Steven Koernig)

It was certainly a tough group this year, with all the teams putting together wonderful films. The Judges Award was given to “Escape from Vesuvius,” a Buddy Film by One Way Productions. The Rifthead Productions team also scored big with their biographical film “Shadows of Shadows” which won the Audience Award (an award open to all 9 films), the Excellence in Sound Award, and the Xanadu Editing Ignited Award. Special Mention for Outstanding Cinematography was given to “Lockdown” a Heist film by Lock/Load productions. Also, a Special Mention for Makeup was given to “Bleeding Hearts” a chick flick film by South of Somewhere Productions. Lastly, the best use of prop award (given by representatives of the Library’s special collections) went to “Pizzapocolypse” a disaster film by team Zarklis, Trick My Fritzl Productions.

Team One Way Productions poses with their Judges' Award for Best Film

Both Shore Productions and Kite Flying Society each successfully completed their films before the 6pm deadline. The first team’s submission being a film noir entitled “Hollow Heroes,” while the second team’s film was a Sci-fi titled “Listerine & Oreos.” The two other teams that screened were team Amor de Rey with their Gangster film “Slippery Bridge,” and Team Flipper with their Action/Adventure film “Run, Banana, Run.”

All of the 9 films were very entertaining, and quite an achievement for the 24 hour time limitation. They are all available for viewing at this website: 24 Speed Films . Please check them out and support W&M filmmakers.

In total, 39 people were officially signed up to participate in the competition. With somewhere around 115 people attending the screening. And so, a very special thanks goes out to the group of people who were responsible for making this event happen. Additional Special thanks goes out to Prof. Dan Cristol whose good friendship with Nathaniel Kahn was the reason he came to be a judge.

L-R Adam Stackhouse '04, Prof. Sharon Zuber, Kevin Heraldo '04, Erica Westmoreland '07

For more info on this event, please check out this website: 24 Speed. And to view past films of previous competitions please go here: 24 Speed Archive.

Alumni Spotlight: Josh Clayton ‘08

Josh Clayton directs his cast on the set of The Bull

Josh Clayton graduated from the College of William and Mary in May 2008 with a B.A. in Film Studies and English. And just half a year later, he successfully wrote a script, raised money, hired a professional crew, and directed his first (non-student) independent short entitled The Bull. This is, to say the least, quite a feat for a recent college grad, particularly one who majored in English (and don’t forget in this economy.)

After a messaging back and forth a few times, Josh shared with me the long version of how the film came about:

I came up with the script idea in April and wrote it in May. In June I visited a producer up north to see if he would help me out. He is a family friend because when he was just starting out as a car salesman, my grandfather was one of the first people to buy a car from him. His business expanded, and now he owns a ton of car dealerships in NJ, as well as some independent baseball teams (i.e. he is very rich). He also produces/finances films (mostly shorts and documentaries). I sat down with him and gave him the script and he said he would finance half of the budget (up to a point) basically as a favor to my family. I would have to secure the first half of the budget, and then he would drop in his money halfway through production.

So I went back to Durham and tried to fish around for some investors (hard to do because you must have a prior relationship with the investor otherwise the SEC gets involved and it gets sticky – so no public posting on craigslist for investors, if that even works). Found a possible investor, a local film producer down here, but he was busy trying to get a previous film he had produced ready for the American Film Market, and then became really sick, so he was unable to help me. So I decided to procure the money through a more traditional route (my family and my own pocket) and with that in order I started casting and getting crew.

I sent out crew and cast ads to the raleigh/durham craigslist and also posted on tarheelfilms.com (a NC film website). I got talent responses and auditioned them and picked out the two I wanted. I got crew responses, but once I chose my DP, he basically picked out people he had already worked with, so I just had to okay his choices and rates (so I ended up not hiring anybody, other than the DP, who had contacted me through Craigslist).

Finding a location was a trying process that deserves its own section. I had written the script based on a location in NJ that I thought I could use, but was later told I couldn’t. So with a very specific setting in mind, I talked to the NC Films Commission. They didn’t have anything for me, but they suggested I look at real estate websites. So I perused real estate sites, looking for a house with the look I wanted (and then google mapping the address to see if the surrounding area was what I wanted.) Finally, I did find a location only 3 weeks before the shoot date (which was set in stone basically because it was the only time my DP wasn’t busy), and arranged everything through the real estate agent (who was actually pretty pumped to have a film shooting on one of the properties he represented).

On location for the Bull

To see more pictures of the shoot click here.

To find out more about the film and to view the trailer please checkout the film’s website: www.thebullthefilm.com

The film’s synopsis from the website:

The Bull is about a newly married couple who have moved to the country to start out on their own. While unpacking, they have to react to the dynamics of their suddenly new relationship. They move around their new house, yard, and the nearby field, as well as the metaphysical space of their marriage, aware of their new freedom and physical confidence. They come to realize that marriage was supposed to be more than this lustful discourse of their own power and they become uneasy and distant, yearning for something that still must be beyond.

After successfully completing the film, Josh has sent it out to several festivals including Tribeca, Athens (OH), Toronto, and Seattle. He has also submitted locally around N.C., and even internationally, having successfully shipped the film off to a festival in Germany.

While Josh most likely won’t hear back about the festivals until sometime in March, he isn’t waiting to start the next step. He has already written a script for a feature length film, The Virgins. He hopes that his short The Bull will help build a base for him to market the financing of The Virgins while also looking to family, friends, colleagues and anybody else for potential support. Even though a feature length film will be a good deal harder to produce and much more expensive to finance than The Bull, expect Josh to find a way.

Please support Josh and his film making pursuits by checking out his blog at: http://joshclaytonfilm.wordpress.com/

Josh Clayton is a Tribe Filmmaker.

We Are The Film Tribe

This blog is for all filmmakers past, present, and future at the College of William and Mary. The goal is to share adventures, perspectives, and tribulations of all Tribe filmmakers. For a school that emphasizes film studies over film production, there are still many students and alumni aspiring and working in the media production field. And hopefully, to some degree, this blog will shed some light on how present the Tribe really is in film and media production across the country.

If you are an alumni of the College of William and Mary working in media production please feel free to contact Zach Keifer at CHUMAIO@gmail.com to start sharing your experiences.

Also check us out on facebook.