With the semester in full swing, midterms completed and Thanksgiving break fast approaching, many students are getting busy with class projects and assignments. Film students in particular are filling their time fast, spending their creative energy making movies and working collaboratively to complete personal documentaries and even feature-length films by the time they graduate. Three senior film students shared what they currently spend their late nights and early mornings creating.

Compiling speech therapy documentary

Morgan Lott is a senior production emphasis and an art minor working on his senior media project — a requirement every CMA major must complete before graduation.

“It’s pretty broad as far as options, but you can do your own film, you can work on someone else’s film, you can do something as simple as writing a screenplay, even making a website for a film,” Lott said. “Every senior has to have a senior thesis project.”

For his project, Lott decided to put together a documentary titled “thisisstuttering” telling his story of going through speech therapy.

“I was in speech therapy this summer for my stutter, and the speech therapy involved everything being filmed; so all of the sessions were filmed, I did weekly video journals, and I did some hidden camera type things in the open with strangers,” Lott said.

He is in the process of compiling this footage together to create a story that is raw and genuine.

“I figured this would be a cool, current, realistic account of a speech impediment,” Lott said.

In looking forward to the days post-graduation, Lott sees that time as an opportunity to walk his own unique path.

“I’m not a conventional film major and I’m not a conventional art major, I’m in this weird middle ground,” he said. “So I guess, as an encouragement to artistic people or not … if you are passionate about something, go for it.”

Lott’s movie will premiere on campus next semester.

Finishing up short film involving LGBT community

Senior CMA screenwriting emphasis Andy Motz is currently in post-production for his senior thesis film “Whiter Shade of Pale.”

The short film is about a married Christian couple faced with a great challenge. One morning the wife finds out she’s HIV positive and it leads her husband to confess he’s been living an unsafe gay double lifestyle, as Motz described.

In regards to the heavy subject matter of his movie, Motz emphasizes the struggle to portray real life in a short film.

“While it does involve the LGBT community and issues of sexuality, it also is about people struggling to find some kind of purpose or some kind of safety or connection to hold onto amidst chaos,” Motz said.

When asked what was most rewarding about his experience, Motz immediately acknowledged the positive community on set.

“All these people are so loving and caring for one another but also really good artists,” Motz said. “It was definitely a spiritual experience.”

Motz’s movie will be ready for viewing early next year.
 

Preparing for student-run feature film

Chris Koeppen is a senior production emphasis who is directing Biola’s first student-run feature film.

“A feature film is what you’d see in a movie theater, and it’s about 90 minutes to two hours … a lot of work, and Biola has only done it once before and it was led by a professor for class,” Koeppen said.

The film is called “Clandestine” and was written by alumnus Nicholas Ahern.

“It starts off with a lot of action but it kind of mellows out into this more personal story of two people on the road crossing a cultural and linguistic barrier since she can only speak Spanish and he can only speak English,” Koeppen said.

With the filming still several months away, the crew has been busy preparing for the busy time ahead.

“It’s already been a challenge, but we’ve had so many things go right for us so far, such as we are almost fully casted. A lot of people have jumped on board for the project and been really enthusiastic about it; we have a great team,” Koeppen said.

The team will be shooting for a month straight in January.

“I’m really excited for the project and can’t wait for it to happen,” Koeppen said.