Vanessa Barney and Dr. Darl Larsen, Department of Theatre and Media Arts
The goal of this project was to produce a short film on 35mm while providing practical field research opportunities for many students in the Media Arts program, including myself. I was initially responsible for writing and directing the film, but also ended up producing the film as well. There were many expectations that were fulfilled and there were also many expectations that changed during pre-production along with unexpected challenges that occurred during production.
The biggest change that occurred during the project was that we decided to shoot on a F900 digital camera instead of on 35 mm film. This decision was based on a conference with professors after our first pitch session. We were asked to rewrite our script in order to make it align closer with BYU’s aims and objectives. This caused new time constraints that didn’t allow for the film process. Thus, our goals of experimenting with bleach bi-pass turned into research about digital color correcting.
Another big change occurred when we were unable to find a suitable ghost town as a location due to traveling and permit restraints. Instead, we ended up shooting on the Heber Valley historical train and recreating a part of an old Utah western town. This ended up enhancing and widening our research because in addition to researching Utah historical ghost towns, we also researched historical trains and recreated the inside of a historical sheriff office.
As an art historian, it was an exciting opportunity to work with the Heber Valley Railroad. They were very gracious in taking time to teach us about the historical railroad and show us the different historical train cars from different time periods. In result, we decided to change our time period from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. This time period fit with our train location and also allowed us to research an exciting time period that is less commonly portrayed in films.
Our new set of varied locations provided a lot of research opportunities for the lighting department. Shooting on a historical train while it was moving provided many challenges because of the power limitations and space restraints. One of the problems that we encountered was how long it took to set up the lights and move them from one end of the train to another. In addition to shooing on the train during day and night, we also shot outside in the snow day and night, and inside a cabin. Our lighting team became very good at being resourceful and problem solving within our limitations. Another thing we experimented with is the color of light. Half of our film was shot with cool blue tones and the other with very warm tungsten light in order to set the tone for our movie and enhance certain thematic elements.
An exciting, unexpected opportunity that occurred was to have a professional costume designer mentor our project. She had many resources to aid in one of the most meticulous parts of our research. She was also able to teach our costume department a lot about working in the industry and applying thorough research. I learned a lot about how much classes affected the costumes of the time period and how to incorporate stylization within historical boundaries. I also learned a lot about how to successfully archive research in order to make it accessible to others and for future projects.
In order to write the film, I not only researched Utah history, but also genre blending within film history. Although having to rewrite the script caused a lot of setbacks for the project, it gave me the experience of working within a system similar to that of most industry working conditions. I also read other scripts and sought feedback from professors in order to learn more about communicating my ideas in script form.
Directing was a newer experience for me and any reading or class work could not have replaced the valuable, practical experience of directing this film. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have directed this film because it has been the single most important educational experience I have had at BYU. I could not have predicted all of the challenges that I faced as director or how much adaptability is required in the directing process. I learned more during the shooting of our film about directing than I have learned from all of my other directing experiences combined.
Finally, I ended up co-producing the film, which presented its own set of unique challenges. I was involved in everything from obtaining permits to negotiating business prices. Although overwhelming at the time, the experience was an exciting look into the possibilities of producing independent films in Utah. My experience has led me to believe that Utah has a lot of potential for filmmaking and contains a lot of value in its unique and beautiful landscape. On the other hand, I was also able to gain experience in organizing a non-professional crew and dealing with harsh climates while filming.
The film is currently in the process of fine-tune editing. The latest version has been submitted to different film festivals including the Sundance Film Festival. Research is still being continued on color correcting to obtain the specific stylized look that we are going for. Our editor learned the program Final Cut Color in order to work on our film and is now teaching a class on the program in the Harold B. Lee Library.