At Point Park, Cinema Production students will make a short film in their Production 4 class (P4), which will occur during their senior year. P4 is a year-long course in Cinema Production that prepares students for producing and releasing their short films.
One of these P4 groups is taking great strides in the production and advertising of their film.
“The B-Side” is an upcoming P4 short film being created by seniors Bayli Clack and Emma Crumling.
It has involvement from around 20 people, but Clack and Crumling are the producers of the short film.
“[The film] follows teenager Morgan W., whose life is flipped upside down when her father comes out and she’s sent on a trip with a possible new extension of her family,” Clack said.
Aside from the main story of the film, Clack and Crumling have some uncommon settings in The B-Side.
“We have a lot of interesting cool scenarios in the film,” Clack said. “We have a shop that’s on a boat, so we had to pay for a lifeguard and all that kind of stuff.”
The budget for the film comes from the semester-long fundraising efforts of Clack and Crumling.
Clack said they used Indiegogo, a crowdfunding website, as well as other means of raising money. This included a “Dine to Donate” night at Primanti’s, a craft and bake sale, a Millie’s Affinity night, a Sarris Chocolate fundraiser, a partnership with Moe’s Southwest Grill in Market Square and other business partnerships.
The B-Side’s desired budget is a little over $6,000. Crumling said they’re close to achieving their goal.
“We actually shot the film in Upstate New York,” Clack said. “That was where the hassle for money kind of started, because we had to get everybody up there, so that was where a lot of the funds went.
“As we raise more money, we just keep putting it back into the film.”
The film has also faced a multitude of problems, with one of the biggest being casting. Clack said they had to pay for travel since different roles had to be in Pittsburgh and New York.
Crumling said they also had to avoid copyright issues.
“We had a couple of prop things that I had to design,” Crumling said. “Obviously it’s a whole licensing issue, but I had a really fun time collecting and designing our own designs for the magazine.”
Clack also said weather was a big factor in the production.
“Most of the film, first of all, takes place outside,” Clack said. “So we definitely were up against that the one day [when] we were shooting most of the outside scenes. It was raining on and off all day.”
The B-Side will be shown at the P4 showcase on April 24, 2025 at the PNC Theater, where all six P4 short films will be shown.
“I feel like cinema is often the forgotten pillar of COPA and this is a really big deal that it’s going to be one of the first times all of our films are shown in the PNC Theaters,” Clack said.
