My First Film Production

We didn't have a legit film school back at Bowling Green State University. So my friend Ed and I muscled this short out of whatever resource we had. To be accurate, I'd towed it together by spit and gum. It cost me, what I thought was a pretty heavy sum at the time of $4,000. Partially funded by sororities and fraternities I'd tapped danced to donate a few hundred. I spent months in the bell tower of University Hall hovered over a Moviola flatbed editor with a cracked screen, and trim bins of film, surviving on Coke and pizza.

Yes, film ran through a machine back then. Had to splice images from one strip of film to another. That was from the film stock to dailies (yes, they use to have to be printed) to the final answer print.

Which is what I recently rescanned nearly 20 years later to 2K resolution. Despite the awful exposures I did with the movie, as we didn't have a light meter at the time, it came out relatively well. I credit DuArt of New York to have finished it into a print. This movie can be played at the New Beverly if I wanted, since it is an answer print. Since it has an optical track on it. The mix, which I paid a guy named Jerry Frederick, who was had mixed "The Evil Dead" for Sam Raimi. He was based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan and was the closest thing I had to movie royalty. He was a flaming gay dude who had a basement of sound gear. Really proficient in what he did. But kinda' skeezy.

The only thing I remember from this movie is it was rainy and cold. And we took every opportunity for production design. Perhaps even some parade that was happening within the city. I don't recall.

I also had a really great girlfriend at the time. I remember seeing this at a packed Dorothy & Lillian Gish theater and she being proud of me. Accomplishments don't mean all that much if you don't share them. I also remember inviting local townsfolk to it. And to my surprise...THEY SHOWED! It was pretty amazing. I don't mean to make it sound like some Frank Capra moment, but it really was. Keep in mind, it was 1998.

This poster was unearthed by my friend from that era. We've know each other THAT long. What was really touching...all the principles in the cast STILL have this lame poster. I remember this was my first time designing a poster, so it's really rough. But, it's really amazing everyone kept a copy of it. My friend Eric even went as far as to have it framed (mine is collecting butter and grease stains on y fridge).

It was a very small moment, but I'll never forget the moment I got to screen a movie I struggled to have made be seen by complete strangers who wanted to see what a kid could make.

I'm not sure people fully understood the movie then. It was dark, shoddy acting (sorry guys, it's bad...bad directing too). But the core of the movie came across. We made a college drinking regret movie a few years before they became popular. I watched some of it while I was transferring and...a lot of it still cracks me up. The audacity of the topic. And the fearlessness I had back then. It's one of those feelings I hope everyone gets to experience at least once.