Sunday, May 3, 2009

By KIM BARTO - Bulletin Staff Writer

Local amateur filmmakers got a chance to show their work on the big screen Saturday afternoon at the Rives Theatre's first Open Projector Day.

 

Several films, ranging from a few minutes to an hour and a half long, were screened in what theater manager Ben Williams hopes will become a regular event. Films had to be original, filmed without breaking any laws and be 20 minutes or shorter, he said.

 

However, the final rule was bent to allow the first public showing of "Vanguard," a full-length science fiction movie written and directed by Sean Klisiewecz of Meadows of Dan.

 

Klisiewecz began shooting his film last summer and did not finish editing until February.

 

However, Doug Williams, who directed "Moonlight Bowling," decided just three days before Open Projector Day to make his 12-minute film. The editing was not finished until "4:19 this morning," he said Saturday.

 

"It's about three people who for different reasons hate their lives, and the only thing that gives them joy is Saturday night bowling," he said.

 

Williams enlisted friends to act in it, including his wife, Telisha, Bernadette and Eric Moore, and Becky and Andres Vasquez. They spent a night filming around Martinsville, including at Sportlanes, on a small Flip digital camcorder. The Williamses performed the original music for the soundtrack.

 

"It's fun, it's exciting," Doug Williams said of the event. "I think it's such a cool idea to get people in the community involved."

 

Two small groups of video production students from Martinsville High School also screened their creations for about two dozen people attending Saturday's event. One was a documentary of the Martinsville Speedway directed by senior Caleb Knighten.

 

It took two months to shoot the movie on location at the speedway and edit it using iMovie. Luckily, the video assignment coincided with the spring race, "so we were able to interview fans from all over the country," Knighten said.

 

"I'm excited, very excited" to show the film, he said. "I'm going to JMU (James Madison University) next year to be the cameraman for the football team, so this was good practice."

 

The other film, directed by student Blake Collins, showcased uptown Martinsville and included interviews with city staff.

 

Klisiewecz and his wife, Rani, said they were nervous and excited before debuting "Vanguard" to the public.

 

"You don't know what to expect when it's people you don't know," he said. "If anything else, it'll be so cool just to see it on the big screen."

 

The movie takes place on a resort island, where characters encounter supernatural and apocalyptic events. For some scenes, Klisiewecz filmed actors against a green screen in his barn, then spliced them in against a background of footage shot at a resort in Germany.

 

Klisiewecz first tried to bring his movie idea to life a couple of years ago, but it was postponed when the lead actor dropped out.

 

This time, several relatives and Patrick County residents acted in the film, which had a budget of "a couple hundred dollars," he said. His wife and father-in-law did the original music.

 

After seven days of shooting in late July, Klisiewecz picked Feb. 14 as the deadline to finish the film, editing "just about every night" after work as the deadline neared.

 

"Vanguard" is the first in a planned trilogy. Klisiewecz will be working on the script for "Demon God" this summer and plans to film it in 2010. In his next work, he said he wants to "work on pacing, developing the characters" and "telling a lot more of it visually."

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