Short but sweet: film students share storylines and BTS of their films

By Olivia Turner | Art and life editor

Similar to the rest of the College of Arts and Sciences in October, the Department of Film and Digital Media is full of classes, screenings and filmmaking.

For those in other departments, filmmaking seems more fun than a hassle. But even a five-minute film can take weeks or even months of work, according to Waco senior Avery Ballman.

“You have to be creative all the time,” Ballman said. “It’s just difficult in a different way.”

“There’s a lot more to film prep than just lights, camera and action,” Ballman said. She explained that everything had to be thoroughly thought out down to the smallest detail, as if she were just imagining the entire film in her head before she could roll the camera.

Ballman, a film minor in Production Methods I, said her professor, Maverick Moore, encourages students to try out their own style of filmmaking in this course. Ballman’s short film titled “It’s Your Turn” tells the story of a meeting in a parking lot between two divorced parents who swap their child for the weekend.

“I’m a child of divorced parents,” Ballman said. “Once you’ve experienced it, it’s just strange to other people, but it’s not talked about much. I’ll drive by and see how it happens.”

Although the subject matter may be a bit dark, Ballman said she wanted to make the film a comedy where the parents outdo each other to try to appeal to the child.

In short film production, Lubbock senior Meredith Neeb said she is working on a futuristic short film called “Relight.” The plot concerns a solar flare that wipes out the world’s electricity.

“Basically it’s about this girl named Paige who owns an antique store,” Neeb said. “It’s full of lamps that don’t work, and this young Griffin comes into the store with a lamp. And through their human connection, the light turns on.”

Neeb said filming would take place at a Waco antique store called Show and Tell. Another antique store in Waco offered Neeb to use all of his lamps as props in the film for free. This will create the perfect glow when Paige and Griffin meet, she said.

In addition to its $400 film budget from Baylor, “Relight” has received an overwhelming amount of support from Indiegogo, a crowdfunding platform that allows filmmakers to raise money for their projects. For those who donate on Indiegogo, a digital download version of the film will be available once it is finished, Neeb said.

She also received support from other filmmakers in her department in the production of her film, she said.

“In the film department, I feel like we are all very close,” Neeb said. “My circle of friends that I have at Baylor are literally all film students, and we’re on each other’s sets all the time. So you just rely on your friends to help you.”

Although she has received several auditions from Baylor actors, Neeb said auditions for the film are still open.

Ballman said she will use actors from the Waco Civic Theater to play the characters in her film. Unexpectedly, several actors agreed to take part even though they knew they wouldn’t get any money. She said the shooting of the film would begin soon after returning home. The first draft will then be submitted in November before a final draft is submitted in December. Finally, the film is then submitted to local film festivals such as Black Glasses and the Waco Independent Film Festival.

With previous films like “Olivia” and “Going Up,” Neeb said she also signed up for Black Glasses. This year, she hopes to submit “Relight” to an Oscar qualifying competition such as the Austin Film Festival, she said.