[vimeo 115489184 w=500 h=281]

Cast:
Roderick Cardwell III as Andy
Kelcie Dugger as Gaby
Xavier Reminick as Dan
Venchise Glenn, Sara Chapman, Jordan Thompson as Friends

Alec Battistoni as Camera Operator
Nathan Schuckman as Camera Operator and Assistant Director
Erahlea Haidet as Boom Mic, Gaffer, and Make-Up
Jon Poilpre as Overall Cool Guy
Connor Ling as Script Supervisor and Boom Mic
Adam Rawlings as Boom Mic
1. Could you briefly describe the films journey from conception to publishing?
ANDY: It took a long time. We have literally hours of unused footage, which is ridiculous for a short film! As a director, I was a bit aimless during this film. So much of my energy was spent organizing my crew, actors, scouting locations, etc., that I spread myself thin. So my direction was a bit weak, especially the first time around. We shot the film twice: once in winter 2013, and again in summer 2014. Among many other things, the movie was a during the winter because the plot was fairly complicated and people were fairly confused. We didn’t have enough actors, so I had to play the main role in the film in the midst of directing it. I had rewritten the script a few times every day during filming, so crew and actors were lost as to what was to be filmed. In the summer, it came back with more cohesion. I had actors I knew better, with more experience; I had written a simplified script; and all of the crew that had helped me with the first version helped me with the second, so everyone, including myself, on the production side of the film had more experience.
2. What inspired you to make a film dealing with this subject matter?
ANDY: The project emerged, strangely enough, out of a conversation with my mom. I had plans to go see a concert that night, like, I had tickets and everything, but we got into an extremely heated argument. I made her cry. When I was younger, I was kind of a jerk. I felt like, despite the progress I thought I had made as a person since those years, I still had that horrible capability to make my own mother cry. I felt nothing had really changed since then. At the same time, I realized that a lot of personal issues I was dealing with at the time were pointless to be worrying about. There are all these things in life that you have absolutely no control over, and for some reason I decided to worry about every last one of them. So originally I wanted this movie to have a very, very upsetting ending, reflecting the idea that there are so many people in this world you will care about and want to save and cherish and love forever but there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent them from being taken away. And, I would argue, it is still quite bittersweet. Andy’s inner conflict is resolved, but he doesn’t actually save Gaby. Nothing really changed. Just the way he viewed the world.
3. What was a Difficulty that you overcame?
ANDY: The difficulty of realizing it was not going to be perfect no matter how hard I tried. I learned that striving to create a perfect film is much like striving to create a perfect painting. If you realize, “Hmm… This little detail right here could be more pronounced.” you begin to take away from your original vision without even realizing it.
4. What did you learn from the experience?
ANDY: I learned that, as a director, I gotta take authority. Even if someone on the crew or cast makes a good suggestion as to what a subjectively better approach to take the scene in or angle to shoot from would be, I need to exercise my authority way more. Because I know what I’m doing. The movie becomes muddled because there were so many people trying to direct it at once