Content warning: This article contains discussions of suicide
As midterm season comes and goes for many people, for seniors, it’s just the beginning, especially for film and cinema students, who have begun their capstone project called P4.
P4, or Production Four, is a capstone course that prepares seniors for the workforce. For the projects they produce, they must write, direct, and edit 12 to 15 minute films. These films will be the work of a team of students guided by professors.
This year, there are six P4 student films. Those include “Forest of the Marauder” by Charles McDonald and Alexander Hatt, “Andromeda” by Baylor Brooks and Jack Ruzanic, “Bones in the Ocean” by Emily Lopez, “The Space Between” by Dayanara Rodriguez, “Roach” by Christian Wedge and “Portraiture” by Graham Zemke.
Rodriguez, a senior cinema production major, shared insights on her film and the behind the scenes of her film “The Space Between”.
Her film follows art student Evangelina Roman. After a failed suicide attempt, she finds herself between life and death, a liminal space. In that surreal space, she meets a 17th-century girl named Evi. Evi helps Evangelina rediscover her will to live and passion through self-acceptance and art.
Rodriguez credits her idea to her Hispanic heritage and her own difficulties fitting in as a person through her heritage and sexuality.
“I let people make these molds for me to the point I became everything I wasn’t,” Rodriguez said. Art was her form of expression during that time, and because of that, she found herself just like Evangeline.
Rodriguez also shared the production side of it. She wanted a beachy look, so she gravitated toward Lake Erie, the setting of the film. Rodriguez and Lena, her co-writer, also researched a lot about women in the 17th century, drawing on this research and their own lives for inspiration for paintings that will be in the film.
“A lot of the production and filming itself is taken from surrealism to help add to the liminal space,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez’s completed her first week of filming, and she’s now moving on to the important scenes.
“I have no doubt we will get it done,” Rodriguez said.
Charles McDonald, also a senior cinema production major, shared insights about his film “Forest of the Marauder”.
The story follows Norris, a Great War medic. He is pulled into a hunt for a creature by some of his old war comrades. But his crew is the prey for this monstrous creature. The theme of the film is obsessive hate and how that can destroy someone.
“Obsession can lead to destruction, and the only escape is through the release of these feelings,” Charles said.
Charles is the producer of this film, so he works on a little bit of everything. He talks to the director and cinematographer, he works with costume designers and production designers, he finds the actors and locations for the film, and he completes all the paperwork for the music involved.
They are currently two weeks away from their first shoot day, though everyone came together in April. They still have six days of production and most likely around two to three months of post-production.
The P4 showcase will be held in April, and all Point Park students can walk in and watch all the films at the showcase for no cost.
