Student films to be produced during fall semester
August 30, 2016
This summer, six crews of Point Park cinema pro- duction students prepared for their upcoming Production 3 (P3) films they will be making this semester.
P3 is a cinema class taken after P1 and P2 in which students are put in a more real life filming situation. “Soup or Salad,” “The Elephant in the Room,” “Doll Face,” “The Avant Guard” and “Happy Hour” are some of the six films that are being created by cinema production students during the Fall.
“In P1 you learn the im- portance of collaboration,” said junior cinema production major Mina Hoffman, director of “Soup or Salad.”
“Once you get to P2, you have a more solidified crew and you really gain an understanding of why it’s not just one person making a movie. P3 is about combining the skills you previously and really getting more of a feel for what it is like to film in the real world,”
According to Assistant Professor of Screenwriting Steve Cuden, scripts are selected every spring in a screenwriting competition that is open to any student in the cinema program. Cinema students who want to participate submit up to two screenplays that can be shot in two to three day weekends on a budget of a few thousand dollars.
At this stage in the process of creating a P3, the crew of Soup or Salad has so far fundraised their film and are currently location scouting. In the next couple weeks, they will cast their actors.
“Soup or Salad is a kookie crazy comedy about our protagonist Rob and his girlfriend Amber, and they have an evening of craziness,” said Olivia Shipman, producer of Soup or Salad. “Rob decides that he needs Amber in his life to keep him focused. He’s got anxiety and some issues that he really believes she helps him deal with, so Rob decides he wants to keep her in his life forever and proposes to her.
“She reveals to him that she is already married to somebody else who happens to be named Rob. After this part in the film, even more craziness ensues.”
On the opposite side of the genre spectrum, political drama “The Elephant in the Room” is about conservative candidate Frank, who mirrors Donald Trump to an extent, running for senate and is faced with the choice of continuing a steady campaigning career or sticking up for his son.
According to director Max Cianci, Frank is a few days away from locking in his general election when he and the people he is working with during his campaign discover a video of his son kissing a man, and Frank has to decide to stick up for his son, who helped him through the campaign, or lose his successful campaign.
In order for the crews to be chosen, each of scripts go through a judging process within the faculty. All of those screenplays then go into a pool, and the six selected producers decide which scripts they like.
“We give students a $2,000 budget, but they can go out to raise other monies through Kickstarter, Go Fund Me and parents and friends and relatives,” said Cuden.
Starting in May, Cuden got together once a month with the director, producer and screenwriter of each of the six films to revise the screenplays before production time. Although there is more freedom in P3, Cuden says that it is still a class and meets with the students periodically in school.
After completion of pre-production with scripts, casting and location scouting, the six films will start to shoot at the end of September, then afterwards edit for post-production.
Producer of “The Elephant in the Room,” Zach Brown is looking forward to the challenges of shooting the film, along with both actors and students who are respected.
“I’m looking forward to getting to shoot because there is so much anticipation and getting ready for it, that when the big weekend of shooting comes, it’s the best feeling,” Brown said. “After that first shoot, when the whole crew is working at what we’ve started, we’re motivated to do the best that we can with the limited time that we have,” Brown said.
There will be a group screening for all six films in early December.
