Shot on location

Sunday, July 17, was bright and sunny like many other days this summer. Inside an unassuming building on Capitol Hill, however, the scene was dark and bloody. Skeletons hung from the ceiling while bodies and beer cans littered the floor.

As sinister as it all might sound, the corpses were the victims of a movie shoot, not a mass murder.

Novice director Rebecca Pauline Johnson was making her second foray into filmmaking with a short film called a subtitled ending, aided by Gregory Wylie, senior in cinema studies and development director of the UW Film Club.

Wylie and Johnson's first collaborative project, Candy Apple Red, was shown at the Lake 2 Sound Film Festival and The 7th Annual UW Student Film Festival. It also made the second-round cut for this year's Seattle International Film Festival.

In addition to a fast-paced filming schedule, in which the crew shot two of the primary scenes in one day, much of the movie was improvised.

"It was a very collaborative effort," said Johnson. "We came in with the gist of a script, but everyone contributed some ideas."

After finishing a subtitled ending, Johnson and Wylie plan to make a third short film later this year. Like many low-budget filmmakers, they hope to gain exposure by submitting their works to various film festivals. Wylie also hopes to raise awareness about the state of film education at the UW.

Earlier this year, the UW Film Club submitted R-11-41 to the ASUW Student Senate. The resolution, passed on May 24, calls for increased film education funding as well as the creation of a new faculty and program adviser position. Members of the Film Club hope to work with and expand other film-production resources on campus.

Like many students interested in the industry, Wylie is enrolled in the cinema studies program offered through the department of comparative literature. The program focuses on film theory and history, but neglects hands-on production practice. Students who seek production experience must look outside their cinema studies classes.

Shawn Brixey, associate director of the center for digital arts and experimental media (DXARTS) department, however, is surprised at the discontent surrounding UW film education. He points to cutting edge techniques that have been offered through DXARTS courses since 2001.

"I lecture all over the globe and the UW DXARTS students are applauded for the rigor of their film work, and envied for the type of phenomenal program we have and the resources students have access to," said Brixey.

"Traditional film schools might initially seem the logical way to investigate what you think you have to express or contribute filmically, but DXARTS is challenging all previously held assumptions about the digital arts, and charting a very different and rigorous new course."

DXARTS reserves half the space in its courses for non-majors. Part of the department's goal is to foster interaction and learning between students from different disciplines. Additionally, this summer premiered a film production course, which immersed students in the process of creating a feature film from scratch. DXARTS also offers undergraduate and doctorate programs focused on advanced techniques like digital video and media art, computer animation and mechatronics.

Other options for production experience are offered through the ASUW Experimental College. Some courses cover the basics of what an independent feature filmmaker needs to know, while others jump right into filming TV shows and movies. Although many students take these for the acting experience, the entire production process is open to student involvement and learning.

Nils Osmar, an Experimental College instructor, points out that even the best education won't guarantee great results.

"I've known people who graduated from film school, after having spent tens of thousands of dollars on tuition, and didn't have a clue about how to make a film once they got out in the real world without the school's resources available to them," he said.

Wylie and Johnson's experience shows how important networking is in independent filmmaking. The storage space they filmed in was available through the Cascadia Film Collective, a group which plans to film there, but has allowed other groups to access it until then. Johnson found a makeup artist and principle actor through online resources, like craigslist.com and myspace.com.

Even more important, though, are the connections to friends and family.

"Probably 80 percent of the people here are longtime friends of Rebecca," said actor Adam Amundson, referring to the swarm of busy cast and crew working on a subtitled ending. "They're all here because they love her and know she has a vision for a great movie."