Hey all,

I want to apologize for missing blog post last week. Due to the senior comprehensive exams for Film Majors taking place on Friday and Saturday, I was unable to post. This post is going to be short and sweet, as I don’t have much to talk about.

I’m still working on [WORKING TITLE]. I have no name for it yet, and am still piecing together different parts of the plot. However, I’ve come across a few issues. First off, I have writer’s block. I’m not sure what I want the utopian community to look like, and am trying to figure out a solution to this. I’ve been thinking about making a characteristics of the community document so I have a better idea of how to bring my vision of the community to life. Additionally, I think I need to rewrite the outline of the plot, as some events don’t really make sense. I’d describe the issues in greater detail, but due to the fear of not being to express my concerns with the story as it is, I won’t. In short, I just need to re-evaluate the story that I currently have. I’m thinking of putting different point of the story on notecards, so I can then piece the events of the story together, but have not done so yet.

In the end, I really need to thoroughly examine the plot of this story. I’m worried that the new story that currently exists in my head won’t translate well when I sit back down and tackle this writer’s block, but ultimately, I feel like I have plenty of options on how get around this impasse.

Hey guys, I’m [yet again] back with another update on the screenplay. I’ve started working on it, but have encountered some issues regarding the screenplay. First off, one of my issues relates to world building. Now this isn’t to say that this story takes place on a foreign planet since it doesn’t. What I mean when I say world-building is the world of the character, and with regards to the main character, Simon, I’m having trouble writing the commune that he’s a part of. The reason being is that there are MANY kinds of communes, and I’m having trouble deciding whether I want to create a commune that has elements of many others, or is based on one particular commune. I think that the former wouldn’t be too difficult, as many communes promote the ideas of gender equality, love for the community, and a nearly impossible goal. However due to the fact that many communes communicate the same ideas, where things get difficult is that the communication of these ideas differs across the board. This is one reason why I think it would be best to focus on particular community, and draw inspiration from that, rather than having to pick and choose from a smorgasbord of ideas and practices. I’ll be thinking about this issue more in the coming weeks as I continue to write, and once I’ve figured it out, I’ll be sure to go back and revise what I’ve written. As for the physical layout of the city, I envision it being very similar to the sketch of Christianopolis, a Christian utopia imagined by Johannes Valentinus Andreae, a German theologist.

Ultimately, I hope to emphasize the division between the commune and the outside world, in an effort to make it seem like Kallipolis is free from distractions and enjoys religious freedom. As for the leader of Kallipolis, a man named Jonathan Perkins, I intend to draw heavily upon the leader of the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, the Reverend Jim Jones (pictured below).

I hope to make Perkins seem as charismatic as Jones, in an effort to make the idea of people leaving their daily lives to follow a single man’s dream seem believable. Otherwise, the idea of a religious commune out in the middle of the woods just doesn’t seem believable, and the premise of this work falls apart.

That’s all for now, I look forward to once again updating you next week.

Hey guys, I’m back for another week of updates. I have some good and bad news to share, but first I’d like to follow-up on last week’s post regarding submitting HH to a film festivals. After looking at this website, I think that one of our best bets would be to submit to the Film Festival of Columbus, which has a submission deadline of April 19th. This allows for more time to tweak HH, should we need to.

Moving onto the bad and good news—it doesn’t seem that the Bachelor on the Hill will not be happening. However, as the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens. In lieu of the miniseries, I’ll be working on a screenplay that is centered around a teenager who lives in an intentional community that starts to see through the facade of the community, and seeks to escape it. The topic of intentional communities is of special interest to me as it’s been a topic that I’ve examined in another one of my classes where we study utopias in antiquity and how utopic ideas of antiquity have been applied to modern day. While it’s clear that many of these communities set out to create an ideal environment/community, there are many examples where such intentions have gone astray. In working on this project, I’ll be looking at the Jonestown community, as well as a French intentional community of the 1800s called the Icarian. As for visual references, I’ll be looking at Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master (2012) and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village (2004). I’m excited for this opportunity, and look forward to providing more updates.

Hello again, I’m with another weekly update. Getting back to Kenyon for the last stretch of the semester, I wanted to take a moment to let you all know what’s going on. First off, I’ll fill you in on Spring Break and what movie related tasks were accomplished. Over break, I went to go see Captain Marvel, the newest entry in the MCU, and I overall really enjoyed the film except for one thing. At the end of the movie, after 2 hrs and 5 mins, I still had no idea what exactly Cpt. Marvel’s powers were, and as a result, I find myself questioning how this galactic warrior will fit into the next installment of the MCU, Avengers: Endgame.

Aside from Captain Marvel, I’ve been watching a lot of films in preparation for the film comprehensive exams in mid April. I still have a few more movies to watch, but with some review of notes from the various genre classes I’ve taken, and reviewing the textbook from Introduction to Film, I should be ready by the time comps roll around.

Next, I wanted to share with you that Kaylin and I are thinking about submitting HH to some festivals. I’m not quite sure which festivals we’ll submit to, but I’ll be doing some research in the coming week to figure out where we can submit. That also means that I’ll need to get back into the editing lab to make sure that there’s a finalized final copy to submit. This cut will also be the cut that’s shown at the Kenyon Film Department Film Festival later this semester.

Finally, work on the Bachelor on the Hill will be starting up this weekend. More details will follow next week, but feel free to check out the blog for the miniseries here. I look forward to providing you with more updates next week.

Hello again guys,

With one day left until Spring Break, I wanted to take this time to once again update you all regarding this past week. On Wednesday, I met with Professor Martha Gregory to go over audio in He’s Here. While production on HH is finished, it’s an expectation of the faculty in the department that everyone continues to refine their theses up until the Film department film festival in late April. Additionally, Kaylin and I hope to maybe submit the short to a few festivals, but I need to make sure I finish refining the film sometime tomorrow. While you’re at it, take a second to check out the website for the film, and see many of the (https://allshousek.wixsite.com/hesherefilm).

As for post HH projects, there are a few options. Earlier last week I mentioned exploring a project of mine for a film genre class I took last semester. I’m inclined to work on a screenplay for the pilot episode, but I’ll be thinking more about it over break. Secondly, Kaylin has come up with the idea of doing a Kenyon specific version of the reality TV show, The Bachelor. I’ll most likely be operating one of the cameras, and it seems like there would be an episode released each week. We’re still ironing out some of the logistics, but I’m excited to see how it turns out.

Other than that, I’ll be continuing studying for the film senior comprehensive exams which take place in April. It’ll be a lot of time, but I’m excited to demonstrate the knowledge I’ve gained during my time in the department.

Hey all,

While work on He’s Here is coming to an end, I’ll still be working on refining it up until the final screening in late April (4/21, for those who are interested in attending). This coming Monday, I’ll be meeting with Martha Gregory on Monday to go over audio, in an attempt to better improve the audio.

In other news, having officially passed all deadlines for the senior thesis project, it’s now time to come up with another project to work on the rest of the semester. I’ll have more to share a week from now as that’s when I’m supposed to pitch a few ideas in an attempt to have another project under my belt. Over the course of the next week, I’ll be watching shows to find visual inspirations on what the next project should look like. Alternatively, I may work on writing a screenplay for my final project in Science Fiction Film last semester, a project which is called Duplicate. The longline is as follows: When one of her sons dies in an accident, a mother is given the opportunity to replace him with a clone. To go into further detail, Duplicate is about Mary, a single mother of identical twins, suffers serious trauma after one of her sons is killed in an accident. During her grieving period, Mary, sees an ad in the paper for a company that has the ability to clone a loved one even if they’re deceased. Mary clones her deceased son despite knowing that there are strict anti-cloning laws. Not wanting the neighborhood and government to know of her crime, Mary forces Marcus and Cody to live Cody’s life.

I think there’s a lot that could be done with this, but I’ll be brainstorming some more.

Hey all,

I’m writing to you to let you know that I’m working on a new project. I’m not quite sure what the new story will be, or if it’ll be a screenplay or a short film, but rest assured that I’ll be doing plenty of video watching to try and find an answer.

In fact this process has already begun. Just this past week, I’ve finished the first seasons of two TV shows, both of which I really enjoyed. The first was Russian Doll, a series that follows Nadia, a single woman who dies one night only to be revived and given the opportunity to relive the same night in an ongoing time-loop. While the show can be amusing at times, there’s a lot to unpack as you progress further into the show. The second was True Detective, which until this past week, I had only heard of. Without going into too much detail, I was surprised by the nonlinear narrative and how it skillfully tells the viewer about two homicide detectives who work for the Louisiana State Police and tracks their careers from 1995 to 2012. I was hooked from the very first episode until the very last second of the season finale.

Something which I think would be cool would be to adapt a favorite book or something into a movie, or at least to write an original narrative which is heavily influenced by a work of literature. This is only an idea, and I’ll be sure to update you on my progress next week.

Hey all,

There’s a lot to talk about in this post. First things first, post production on He’s Here has wrapped, and I want to take this moment to thank a few people. I want to thank my thesis partner and great friend, Kaylin Allshouse, for putting up with me. While we originally had hoped to work together to make a documentary, going so far to even take a documentary camera course in Maine, I’m glad we were encouraged to make a narrative. Had our professors not encouraged us to do so, the story of Lane, David, and Will would have never come to. We’ve spent a lot of time this past summer corresponding with each other, and workshopping ideas left and right until we finally found the right story. Secondly, I’d like to thank the crew and actors for giving up part of their day just to help us out. Even though there were hiccups that came up while shooting, they were always ready to help resolve the issue if they were able to. Finally, I want to thank our professors and film seminarians for their feedback during class both this semester and last semester. Without their help, He’s Here would not be what it is now.

Over the past week, Kaylin and I have been toying around with the audio of HH. While it’s been challenging, I’d like to think that the progress we’ve made has made a world of difference in making sure that the short is coherent and void of any audio issues. We’ve been trying to build a soundscape for each scene, in order to better unify the individual shots within a sequence. Additionally, we’ve been working with our Sound Designer Ethan S. to try and find music that fits each sequence within our short.

Overall, it’s hard to believe that deadline for HH is finally here. It has been an incredibly rewarding experience to assemble the footage that we shot and watch the entire short come together. I’d like to take this time to address the future of Savagely Rad. In the coming weeks, I’ll be working on various side projects, in an effort to expand my portfolio/reel. I have no idea what these projects will be, but rest assured, I’ll keep you updated on this blog. Thank you again for following my blog, and I look forward to communicating any updates to you in the future.

Hey all,

As I write this post, I’m currently exporting what will be the penultimate cut of He’s Here, which will be shown in class tomorrow. While I’m not done yet, it’s crazy to think that this project, something which Kaylin and I have been working on since the summer, is almost over. However, now is not the time to reflect (hint: that’s next week’s post). The cut that I show in class tomorrow will be the photo lock of He’s Here, which means that all the visuals will be final. That being said, next week is sure to be a busy week as there is a lot to be done with audio.

Although my main goal this previous week was to mainly focus on editing the video and fiddle around with volume levels on the side, as well as throwing in music, this upcoming week will be my and Kaylin’s last chance to toy around with audio before we submit our thesis for review. Though we may be submitting a “final” cut to out Professors, it’s important to note that it will be something that I intend to revisit in the future. Even though I feel like I’ve been able to incorporate useful bits of feedback over the past couple of weeks, I’m sure there are multiple ways that the story of Lane, Will, and David could be told.

All in all, while this short may not be winning any Oscars or other awards, at least not yet, it’s been a rewarding process to see an original story that Kaylin and I began workshopping almost 6 months evolve into a short. I look forward to writing to you all next week.

Hey all,

First off, I hope you all have had a great 2019 so far. I know I’m excited to see what this year has in store. One of these things is that He’s Here is in the middle of post production. This afternoon, I’ll be presenting the second rough cut of He’s Here, and I’m excited to show my class how the film has changed after they saw the first rough cut during last week’s class. When I was working on the current cut, I tried to incorporate some of the feedback the class had to offer. One of the biggest questions was: “Whose story is it?” During the pre-production and even production periods, I had always considered the story to be Will’s. However, after showing the class the first rough cut, they all seemed to agree that Lane was more intriguing as a character, due to the fact that she has the audacity to call her boyfriend for lying, and even goes so far to sneak into his room to find the truth. Additionally, the actress who plays Lane is incredibly convincing, and everyone found themselves focusing on Lane rather than on Will. As a result, this past week has been spent down in the editing lab clicking and dragging different clips around to support the idea that He’s Here is Lane’s story.

Other than that, I spent time looking for music to include in some of the scenes of this cut, as it can tie a scene together. When compared to the first rough cut, which didn’t have any music or sounds effects, this cut makes a lot more sense despite only having 2 music clips.