Jacob Schwarz and Professor Thomas Russell, Theater and Media Arts

I am so glad that I was given an ORCA grant because it gave me an opportunity to create a very original and new piece of film within our film department. The film, which is still finishing in its post-production stage with visual effects, became much more of a learning project then I expected. As we attempted to put together this film, we encountered numerous problems that none of us as students at first knew how to conquer, but through research and a lot of effort we were able to make our deadlines and get it shot.

The most important and most difficult issue I encountered in the project was writing the script. Although I had taken two screenwriting classes here at BYU I was not fully prepared for such a large task. Ender’s Game is such a great and detailed novel, and I struggled to bring the same aspects to the script. I studied book to screen adaptations and consulted with my mentor, and I learned a key detail: I could change pieces of the story as long as I stayed true to the characters. After countless drafts I came up with a satisfactory script.

I wanted the film to be the most professional and look the most appealing as possible. So I put together the most talented students I could find and created a great crew. I also negotiated early and was able to get the LDS Motion Picture Studio to allow us to use their facility to build a set and shoot on their sound stage. We started preparations early in the fall, meeting, planning, and drawing sketches of our sets. We took on a production designer who was also passionate about the subject, and he was able to collaborate and sketch out an amazing set, which was a control center set inside of a cave with removable walls, so that we could easily maneuver the camera and get the shots we wanted. This was the first time I was able to really plan out a set and decide what would be best for the story, and help the aid the overall feeling of the film. We had no idea how difficult this would be. Building the set became the most nerve racking and tiring aspect of the project. Each new piece we set out to build, we had to ask and learn how to use the specific tools and how to put the pieces together. Not to mention we had an extremely low budget, so we were learning to purchase materials as cheaply as possible. The construction continued through the night and up to the hour we started shooting.

Another big issue we encountered was casting the right actors. This was usually not a big issue for my student films, as there are wealth of great student actors. However, the role called for a 10-year-old boy. I was familiar with working with children, but never on such a serious level, and I knew I needed a lot of range from our actor to really sell this story. We cast for weeks and weeks, calling agencies and setting up numerous casting calls. After a long series of callbacks we choose our actor. After we choose our actors I made sure to set up a number of rehearsals so that I could work with the children because I wanted to leave a lot of time and room to work. I was surprised by how well our actor ended up working, we encountered some difficulty in getting him to keep in character over our extended shooting days, but I got a chance to learn some new ways to work with younger actors and how best to approach them.

The film is now in its final stages and it is scheduled to be done in the next month. We were hoping to have it done sooner, but the visual effects were much more difficult and time consuming then we expected. All of the other aspects have really come together to create a great piece. I am happy with the script that I wrote, and I think it flows nicely, the set looks incredible on screen, we had someone compose and the music is perfect. Once we finish the film, I will submit it to several film festivals around the country. I am really happy with how the film turned out, even though we encountered some huge obstacles, I feel like as a team we worked through them and created a great product. I am grateful that through the BYU ORCA grant I was able to create such a beautiful senior capstone film.