ISSUE #73
BEAM FROM THE BOOTH | GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY
[EDITED BY: GRIFFIN SHERIDAN & SPENCER EVERHART]
Hello and welcome back to an all-new installment of BEAM FROM THE BOOTH brought to you by GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY.
To begin, thank you to everyone who joined us for what has to be one of our favorite events of the past year with our prom night themed screening of Brian De Palma’s Carrie.
Truly, what a memorable evening, what an iconic film.
This week, we are offering up a special HALLOWEEN EDITION of our OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT event. You can catch an extended preview of the shorts featured in this special spooky edition of OPN further down…
OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT: HALLOWEEN EDITION 2024 PREVIEW
[BY: SPENCER EVERHART]
Here we go again! OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT is an event we continue to be absolutely thrilled to host, and we’re particularly excited for the return of our “Halloween Edition” of OPN centered around the horror and thriller genres. We highly encourage you all to join us on the evening of Wednesday, October 16th, to support and celebrate local independent filmmaking.
Our very own Spencer Everhart — who also helps in selecting works for the event — interviewed each filmmaker about their short film as a preview for you all of this spooky special edition’s lineup. Check it out...
Proteus (Tanner Hamilton)
Two stranded astronauts descend into paranoia and madness after a mysterious deep-space accident.
Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?
Tanner Hamilton: I started making hilariously bad short films in middle school with my friends, after growing up around my dad's DSLR cameras and watching behind-the-scenes DVD extras of my favorite movies. At the time, it was just something fun to do over the summer, but it soon transformed my life and I knew I wanted to do it when I grew up. I continued making films throughout middle and high school, and ended up pursuing a film degree at Grand Valley State University.
What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about
My favorite genres are science fiction and horror, and my favorite movies are Alien (1979) and The Thing (1982). I knew that if I was going to do a thesis project at GVSU, I wanted it to be a love letter to the movies that made me want to be a filmmaker. PROTEUS is meant to harken back to the days of practical creature effects and sweaty, wide-eyed astronauts being hunted in a claustrophobic space. I've always wanted to create an immersive world that didn't feel like a student film, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?
To get the claustrophobic, mechanical environment right, I knew I needed to find an existing space rather than attempt to build one myself. Years ago, I stayed overnight on the USS Silversides, a WWII submarine in Muskegon, as a Cub Scout. It's always been in the back of my head as an incredibly unique place. It took several months, multiple meetings, and dozens of emails, but we ended up getting permission to shoot the film on the sub. Due to it being an active museum ship, we were only allowed to film at night. Two back-to-back overnight shoots in a cramped submarine in February with no heat was probably the hardest part of the project, but I'm incredibly proud of our cast and crew who had a great attitude and really pulled the whole thing together.
What about this project are you most proud of?
I'm most proud of the constant problem solving of our crew throughout the whole shoot. Things inevitably go wrong on a film set, and it happened to us too. The final film that you're going to see is a combination of everyone's great ideas thrown together at 3:00am, and I think there's something beautiful about that. Everyone was on their A-game, and I'm so proud of what we ended up making.
Stag (Rachel Britton)
Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?
Rachel Britton: While I was in quarantine during the beginning of COVID, I explored the isolation through textural sound and channeling personas/environments that I resonated with. Now I create erotic films and have a lot of fun with them.
What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?
I was very into Nine Inch Nails at the time and (to me) that shows. During COVID quarantine, I had a period where I played around with sewing different masks and doing photo shoots with them. I found out about making leather out of SCOBY. I am resourceful, so luckily some childhood friends of mine run a kombucha business (Lively Up Kombucha) and gave me a few giant SCOBY to play with. I dried them in the sun and recorded the process of sewing them by hand for my video.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?
I am a single-person crew so the biggest challenge was juggling all the different components that go into cinema.
What about this project are you most proud of?
I am happy that I told a story of a really unique project in my career but also am happy that I get to share my work with the Grand Rapids community.
Milly (Hannah Scout Dunaway)
Consumed with the monotony of her domestic life, a lonely housewife is forced onto tranquilizers to survive her mundane routines and isolation.
Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?
Hannah Scout Dunaway: Cinema has been a part of my life since I was a kid, horror films especially. I grew up on Universal Monster movies and was shown Alien far too young. I never pictured myself as a filmmaker and planned to attend college for acting until the end of my senior year of high school. To this day, I feel that going to GVSU for filmmaking was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I fell in love with the art department and special effects when I got to GV, and didn't take the leap to directing until I was a junior. I was fortunate enough to direct three short films while in school, Milly being my senior thesis project. I graduated this past April and now work as a freelance filmmaker.
What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?
I was scrolling on Pinterest for inspiration for a different project I was working on and saw an old advertisement for a medication called Miltown. It claimed to aid in pregnancy, which immediately made me suspicious. I fell down a research rabbit hole; contacting libraries throughout the states, reading archived journals from women of the time, and trying my best to decipher 50s medical journals. What I found was horrifying: that a generation of women was told a miracle happy drug would fix them, only to be reclassified as a sedative decades later. The idea of the ‘perfect happy housewife’ is a lie and always has been. Yet even when we see it portrayed in film, it often takes on a science fiction element, almost as a way to distance ourselves from the reality of what happened. Milly is my interpretation of the diary entries I read and the unseen pain these women went through.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?
By far the biggest challenge faced with Milly is that it's a period piece. Sourcing authentic 1950s set decorations and props is not an easy task, and having to do it on a student film budget makes it that much harder. Before I even had a script, I had a bin of 50s kitchenware in my bedroom. Hours were spent sifting through antique warehouses, flea markets, and every thrift store in the greater Grand Rapids area just to find something as simple as an iron. I have to give a special shout-out to a few crew members: Macie Huntoon, Kaylah Spangenberg, and Izaak Rosales were fundamental to pulling the production design and costumes together, and Milly simply would not have happened without them.
What about this project are you most proud of?
While there are so many technical aspects I'm proud of with Milly, the part I am most proud of is the research that went into this project. Countless hours were spent reading the journals of young mothers who were placed on Miltown, and even more, were spent angry with the fact that no one cared what happened to them. Milly made me see women in my life through a different lens. So often when we look at older women, we only see them for who they are now. We forget that these women were young once and that they experienced the same firsts we do now. We ignore the inherent pain of being a young woman in a time when marital rape was legal; when women didn't have a say in what happened to them medically. We forget that our grandmothers were traumatized into being the perfect woman.
“Burn Your Candle at Both Ends” (Andrew Prestler & Mark Powell)
Music video about a recently deceased musician who struggles to help the person he loves, but it's kind of hard to do because he's very dead; a spooky tale about love, overcoming grief, and everyday life as ghost.
Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?
Andrew Prestler: I’ve been making movies with Mark since I was in middle school which eventually turned into a career for me as a videographer and editor. Even though we have our own jobs and busy schedules, we still love to get together and create projects we are both passionate about.
Mark Powell: My love of movies goes back longer than I can remember. I started making videos with Andrew and our friends way back in 7th grade when analog video recording was still the only option, editing our first movie on VCR tapes. We’ve stuck with it ever since, trying to always improve but keep our core comedic and creative qualities intact.
What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?
Andrew: We’ve been working with Caleb McCoach for a while and wanted to make a music video for his album’s new single “Burn Your Candle at Both Ends.” Mark had a great idea of a ghost wandering around a house so we took that concept and wrote out a story for Caleb’s music video. We wanted to keep the cast as small as possible and so we landed on a love story where Caleb (the ghost) tries to help his love overcome the grief of his recent passing.
Mark: We had been trying to make a music video with Caleb for years now, first reaching out before COVID and planning an entire video around a song from his previous album. When that didn’t pan out we reached out again a couple of years ago and started writing a video treatment for a new song idea he had. Then once he had an album’s worth of songs we pivoted once more and all decided that his song “Burn Your Candle at Both Ends” was the one to move forward with. Initially the idea was spawned from the visual of a ghost playing the song to a loved one at the foot of their bed while they unknowingly live their life. Once we started asking why the ghost was there and who the loved one would be, the story started to write itself!
What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?
Andrew: The biggest challenge was the tight shooting schedule of only one weekend and...the ghost costume. It was super hard to make the ghost costume look ‘ghosty’ so we had to use a mask underneath the sheet to give it a somewhat face shape which made it a liiiitle hot for Caleb, our actor, who was sick during the shoot. Also, my partner’s mom helped sew the massive sheet fabric together to give it the long ghostly drape we wanted, which looked perfect on camera. Thank you, Kris!
Mark: The biggest challenge was definitely the tight timeline of having to write, shoot, and edit the video all within about two months. We shot the entire thing in one weekend, and Andrew completed the edit a few weeks after that so things were quite rushed and hectic! Lots of (literal) running around to catch the sunset or fit in a shot before we were forced to move onto something else. Also, the ghost costume seems like a simple enough thing to make, but it was a real challenge to create something that worked for us practically and also maintain it throughout the shoot. Caleb is a tall guy, so throwing a single King sized bed sheet over him with some holes for eyes was never going to work and required a more custom-made solution that took weeks of effort to get right. Huge shoutout to those that helped with the costume design and build!
What about this project are you most proud of?
Andrew: It’s always tough to turn any idea into a video and this was no exception. We had a tight production time, no budget, and minimal crew, but we all worked together as hard as possible and I’m proud of everyone who helped make this video happen. Caleb and Keli did everything they could and they both gave maximum time and effort for the video too and I can’t thank them enough!
Mark: I’m really proud of the end result given the tight timelines involved, going from nothing at all to a finished project within 2 months. Andrew and I as well as Caleb and Keli all banded together over one weekend full of challenges to make this happen! Also, several people we showed it to teared up during the video which is a first for us, so I’m definitely proud of being able to make an emotional connection with people through our art.
The Hiccup Man (Nate Fischer)
Two friends, Sarah and Beth, rent a place to stay in the middle of nowhere to go see a concert. When Sarah reads a cryptic poem she finds in an old used jacket, she unleashes The Hiccup Man, a sinister and terrifying entity that won't stop until Sarah's hiccups are silenced.
Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?
Nate Fischer: This is a long story, so I'll try to keep it brief. I started making movies when I was about ten years old. I would film skits and phony talk shows with my neighbor using her family's Sony Handycam. Around the age of 15, I saw the movie Fight Club, and that was when I decided I wanted to be a filmmaker. I continued making movies with my friends throughout high school and participated in local film festivals. After high school, I attended film school in Tempe, Arizona. I moved to Grand Rapids in 2006 and have been making films here ever since. I've written and directed over a dozen short films, written several feature scripts, and produced countless commercials. Currently, I'm writing a feature with my friend, and we have just finished the first draft. I'm also sending The Hiccup Man to film festivals around the world and looking to shoot my next film soon!
What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?
Growing up, I read a lot of urban legends and really took a liking to horror and the macabre. About five years ago, I read a story about a man who had hiccups from age 22 until he died at the age of 80. I found this to be a nightmare scenario in itself, but I started asking myself, what would it look like if someone went completely insane from the sound of hiccuping? How can I create a terrifying and memorable villain? I also wanted to make something scary that has never been thought to be scary before, in this case, the hiccups. The idea rattled around in my head for around four years, and when an idea sticks around that long, that's when you know you need to make it.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?
Making a movie is difficult but rewarding. There were nonstop challenges along the way, but that's the fun of filmmaking. I would say the biggest challenge of this film was location and scheduling. The crew that shot the film was from Kalamazoo, so we had to pick one weekend to shoot the bulk of the movie. And as you can guess, there is never enough time. But I think the time pressure we faced really translated beautifully to the urgent tone of the film. The whole cast and crew rallied for this thing and I couldn't be more thankful for all the talent involved. It really does take a village.
What about this project are you most proud of?
I'm most proud of all the people I had on my side making this film. This isn't my movie, it's OUR movie. This was the most fun and exciting set I'd ever been on, and that is all thanks to the talent and positive attitudes that were involved. This was easily the best experience I've ever had making a film, and it reinvigorated what I love most...making movies with my friends.
Eye See What You Did (Matt Cunningham)
Jason Voorhees is dealing with a wardrobe malfunction that’s throwing a wrench in his deadly plans. As his ill-fitted mask causes chaos, the infamous killer struggles to keep his sinister stalking game on track while Ginny, the savvy camp counselor, remains blissfully unaware.
Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?
Matt Cunningham: Oh boy, I don't think we have enough space in this letter to detail all of that! My journey so far would definitely fill a book. So, I'll answer the first part. I got into filmmaking when I was a kid. Movies like Star Wars, Night of the Living Dead, ET, Gremlins, Halloween, Elm Street, and the list goes on, are what changed me. I was so deeply moved by movies and obsessed with how they were made that it just took over my life. I've had the extreme pleasure of working with some amazing talent and legends in our business during my time in Los Angeles. When you sit back to think about it, it sorta blows my mind.
What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?
I love the Friday the 13th movies. I grew up on them and always found them oddly inspirational (especially because of the Tom Savini effects). ‘Sack head’ Jason in Part 2 was really fascinating to me. And I'm a huge Jim Henson fan. Since I build puppets and creatures it just seemed like an obvious marriage to me to make a puppet parody of the film. So I wrote the script, built the puppet, asked Haley and Keith to jump in, and we took it from there.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?
With most of the stuff I do, it's scheduling. Everyone is busy and finding those windows to film is usually the challenge.
What about this project are you most proud of?
All of it. It's a love letter to two of the things that have had a profound impact on my career. Scary movies and Muppets. To see it come to life as it was pictured in my head is such a rewarding feeling.
Stepped On (Caleb Francis Jenkins)
A man in 1959 stumbles upon something he cannot seem to erase from his mind.
Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?
Caleb Francis Jenkins: I think the earliest seeds of my now-passion were planted at a very young age; my family has always been incredibly handy, creative, and innovative. Growing up, I watched my dad build and work on cars, my grandfathers planted enormous gardens, prepared fish, built furniture & excelled at carpentry and woodworking. My mother and grandma were very thoughtful writers, too. My childhood friends were also highly talented and natural artists. Of course we’d play Legos and build videotape forts, but there was also a lot of time spent drawing monsters & original comics, writing short stories, and of course — watching and making movies. The tape camcorder was the coolest thing, the essential tool for our moviemaking adventures. We even hosted neighborhood backyard premieres for our parents. I loved to perform so I would often offer my acting talents to these early pictures. Those were wonderful summers.
There were many trips to the movie theater; like many who grew up in Grand Rapids, Studio 28 was the kingdom for moviegoing. I miss that place. I could draw it from memory. Seeing Peter Jackson’s King Kong at that theater was an epic, sense-overloading, absolutely fantastical experience for my 11-year old eyes. Movie theaters have always been in my heart...and also in my back, joints, and fingernails (8 years of working in them has given me that). Nevertheless, I love cinemas — the lit marquees, the feeling when the lights dim, the communal sharing of attention.
My best friend and I started making indie films together out of high school. Many of these were shot on our iPhones — including a cheesy superhero comedy called Loogie Lad...(don’t Youtube it. Or, do — we need the views). We wrote, directed, and shot these movies ourselves and would often cast our friends and family. Full premieres, week-long theater runs, the whole shebang for some of these movies too. These projects offered unbounded experimentation. We’re still doing this sort of thing, just under separate production companies and in different states...and now with better equipment, more skill, and less loogies. We miss our collaborations, there was something so magical about the uninhibited, committed, run & gun art-making we did then. We’ve got future joint project ideas, but I’m forever grateful for our never-ending deep respect and support of each other’s artistry. Derek designed the special edition poster for the movie.
What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?
I try to make a habit of recording my dreams in a notebook and I used to wander the streets of LA thinking of stories. I have a weird love of industrial towns, factory yards, and construction sites. I grew up around a lot of classic cars too. I wanted to explore the 1950s more, the way people dressed and talked, the way things looked as well. I think the seed of the idea sprouted somewhere from these realms.
This film came about from a deep fascination with horror and suspense/noir films, specifically of Hitchcock and Welles. I am enthralled by the long takes that feel like watching a play on stage, I am so struck by the beautiful contrast of light and dark. The works of David Lynch also inspired me, and I think his influence will always show up in my work. I should also mention I have been obsessed with The Twilight Zone since I was a boy. There’s something so eerie and also spectacular about the worlds of those episodes...so close to home, yet so far away...another dimension...a wondrous land of imagination. I think that’s what I tried to do with Stepped On, create another world and further — a descent into a man’s mind. There are definitely some personal themes incorporated in this story, a searching for...a moving away from...an infatuation...some ignorance...the old self/new self divide...relentless paranoia.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?
So many. The locations, securing my Grandpa’s Studebaker, time & weather constraints, and lingering post-pandemic protocols. Perhaps the biggest challenge though was *SPOILER ALERT* designing The Man (in concrete.) Arie Antonakis & Jake Serra (Camera A/Camera 1, aka “Banana Boys”) and I spent a lot of time experimenting with different materials for the sidewalk including cardboard and foam board. Test footage exists of me screaming through a cut out hole in a piece of grey foam board just outside my apartment. We also thought of using green screen effects. I really wanted a lot of this film to feel organic (for the world) and also to lean into practical effects as much as possible. So, what we ended up with was a multi-section sidewalk hand constructed with wood, screws, and a top layer of concrete. We built the sidewalk off of an already existing loading dock and into a snowbank. A HUGE shoutout to my dad, Frank Jenkins (Set Construction), for helping make this happen. Actor David Brown and myself had to climb underneath to stick our heads into the hole in the sidewalk. Combine that with outstanding gory/edgy/dramatic special FX makeup from Noey Spriggs, too, who had to add new makeup effects for each new take...after dark...in the middle of winter. Brrrr-illiant.
What about this project are you most proud of?
I’ll pick 3 things.
The look. I’m really proud of it. We really went out of our way to nail some awesome props, costumes and gorgeous locations. I’m so grateful for my lovely partner, Kiely Lemmer (Production Designer) for all of her help incorporating these locales. From a Frank Lloyd Wright designed home to an old Shell Station — c’mon! Kiely kept this project true to the original vision. Full love and admiration for the entire art department, Bill Dunckel (Costume Designer), Ashley Postema (Graphic Designer) and Devin Boxey (Props Designer).
The collaboration. Diner Booth Productions sets are always about teamwork. From the cast and crew, I always welcome ideas and want people to contribute and be invested in what we’re doing. I’ve done it before where it’s all me with no help or anything and it’s a miserable, awful time. There was total collaboration on this project. I had a superstar cast, but I must rave a bit about the crew. Anna VanderLaan (Producer) always had my back and kept the show running. Nik Gnass (Sound Mixer & Designer) is a homie and understood me when I couldn't fully put an idea into words. We had some fun planning sessions. The same for Jake & Arie — we can meet and talk ideas and we always come together to find the best outcome. I love our flow, partnership, and friendship. Zach Avery (Script Supervisor) and Alexa Finkler & Eva Ramos (Production Assistants) are so loyal and always come in with the right perspective and hand when I need them. Colleen Horton (Makeup Designer) helped out majorly with early makeup tests for all characters and finished with really great hair and beauty looks for all.
The commitment. This was a little idea I scribbled on my notepad and dreamt about for many years...and it became this. Whether someone likes it all or only pieces of it or it doesn’t speak to them, I moreso lean on the side of being proud of following through and trusting myself, allowing myself to trust others, and just making it. And quite honestly, making this film helped me through a very dark, sunken, blurry moment in my life. I hope the ongoing journey can be apparent as I’m only realizing it more and discovering more with each new project. Stepping on...
The Count’s Kickflip (Aaron Voogt)
Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?
Aaron Voogt: I started making movies with my mom’s digital camera as a kid, probably 12-13 years old. After taking film classes in high school, going to college for film, and working on a few features/shorts, I learned a lot about the challenges and limitations of filming in live action. Depending on your story, you’ll need locations, equipment, a crew, and usually a decent amount of money.
Animation unlocked a world of story possibilities for me. No longer did a lack of money and resources restrain what I could put on screen. I could draw whatever location/character/action I wanted. It was liberating, and got me out of a creative rut I’d been in for years.
That being said, you pay for animation in time. A lot of time. My posture is very bad.
What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about
Everything started when I received a copy of Dracula by Bram Stoker as a Christmas present (thanks Maddie). It's a story that's defined much of the horror genre as we know it today, but also expresses a lot of dated and problematic views held by much of Western society at the time it was written. While it's a story I enjoyed reading, I don't see much value in accurately adapting Stoker's original ideas (I did give the Count a mustache, though, something most adaptations leave out).
I took a scene from the book where Jonathan Harker, imprisoned in Castle Dracula, sees the Count climbing the side of the castle wall like a bat. It's a striking scene, and one of the best in the book. I simply improved it by making Count Dracula climb to the top of the tower, and perform an impassioned high dive onto a skateboard several stories below.
The music, Bach's “Prelude in D Minor” performed by organist Paul Fey, was what really gave the animation its life. This project wouldn't be nearly as watchable if Paul hadn't let me use the recording, and I'm incredibly grateful he did. Starting with just the music track, I storyboarded and animated everything in time with the song. It was probably more foundational than Dracula itself.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge was simply animating it. I’m still very much a beginner in a lot of ways when it comes to drawing, especially drawing people. So getting the anatomy and movements right (or right enough) took a lot of trial and error. I shot a lot of reference videos of myself, as well as watched this skateboarder on YouTube do kickflips at 0.25 speed.
What about this project are you most proud of?
I’m very proud that it actually got completed. I think the only thing harder than starting a project is finishing it. I'm sure every filmmaker (or any artist for that matter) understands how much work it can be to take even a seemingly simple project from start to finish. It's a success for the entire film community when any project is released at all.
I'm also very proud of the way Count Dracula's limbs mutate into a swarm of bats, and then mutate back into his limbs just in time to catch his amputated body. I think it turned out pretty alright.
Breach (Cam Layson)
A man searches for his brother in a locked down school.
Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?
Cam Layson: I first fell in love with filmmaking when I was in high school. When I was a freshman, my best friend and I just decided to film a little parody slasher video just because we thought it would be fun. It was dumb and very obviously just him and I with his iPhone camera, but I feel like it really showed me the very barebones basics of the filmmaking process and I fell in love with that. After that first video, we just kept making more shitty no-budget videos with friends and I loved the process. So, after graduating high school, I came to Grand Valley to be a film/video major, and I’m still in the program today. Every experience I’ve had at GV where I’ve gotten to be on a set during a production has made me more and more confident that it’s what I want to do.
What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?
Without a doubt, my biggest inspiration for Breach is the movie Skinamarink. I have always loved horror movies, and I feel I’ve gotten to a point where I’ve seen so many that I can still watch and enjoy a good horror movie, but I don’t really get scared from them anymore. I know, big tough guy over here. I went and saw Skinamarink in theaters for its limited release, and holy shit. It’s the scariest movie I have ever seen. I was sitting in that theater doing breathing exercises trying not to freak out. Breach came about in my ‘Fiction Filmmaking I’ class at GV where I pitched the idea to the class and was voted to direct. I told everyone “guys, this movie Skinamarink is horrifying, let’s try something like that.”
What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?
I would say the biggest challenge in making Breach was trouble with our filming location. I probably shouldn’t give too many specifics, but I have a close connection with someone who had access to our location, and we figured we were totally in the clear to film there. Then, one week out from filming, I get a call and I’m told we absolutely cannot film at that location. Well...we were a week out...we were filming there at night...so we filmed there anyway! Oops.
What about this project are you most proud of?
I’m insanely proud of my Fiction I crew that made Breach possible; Jacob Lapa, my DP; Irene Kuperus, my production designer and editor; Jamal McClung, my producer; Jake Morgan, my sound recorder and mixer; and Alliyah Masterson, my production assistant. And of course, anyone else in or outside of the GV program that helped us make this movie. Breach would not have been possible without the incredibly talented people I was surrounded by, and they helped my goofy little horror idea come to life. For Breach itself, it went through many rewrites and had some massive story changes. Despite all the huge changes, I knew that I wanted to create something in a specific experimental style. And I feel that we clung to that silly idea from Breach’s conception through to the final product.
The Beguiling (ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby)
What seems to be a burgeoning romance between two Indigenous people takes a sinister turn as one grows suspicious of the other. When confronted, deceit turns their romantic evening into a darkly comedic nightmare.
Spencer Everhart: How did you originally get into cinema and what has your journey been as a filmmaker up until now?
ishkwaazhe Shane McSauby: I’ve loved movies for as long as I can remember. My dad used to take me to Alpine 4 Theater every weekend, sometimes twice, because tickets were only $2. If we didn’t catch something in theaters, we’d go to VideoMaster, where I’d spend hours browsing the shelves, captivated by the VHS cover art and picking out whatever caught my eye — usually from the horror section. On top of that, my aunt had this dual-deck VCR that could record tapes, and she’d send us boxes filled with VHS tapes, each with two or three movies on them.
It’s been quite a journey. At first, I wanted to be an actor before I even knew what directing was. I made my first short film in my senior year of high school, and that’s when the spark really ignited. From there, I took every film class I could at GRCC, then transferred to GVSU to study film/video. After that, I moved to NYC, where I wrote a short that was supported by Sundance, and it pushed me to enroll in the graduate film program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. That’s where I made Happy Thanksgiving and The Beguiling, which became my thesis film.
What was the primary inspiration behind your film? How did the project come about?
As I was preparing to graduate from NYU, I had a feature script in hand that touched on the same themes as The Beguiling, but it had been a couple of years since I directed anything, and I started worrying I might’ve forgotten how. That’s when I decided I should make another short and graduate with that instead of just a script.
My last short, Happy Thanksgiving, was an incredibly complicated production — produced from NYC, shot in Michigan on 16mm film, in the winter, with a bank robbery scene, and a cast made up mostly of non-actors. Honestly, it was the hardest shoot I’ve ever done.
For my thesis, I wanted something much simpler: two characters and one or two locations. The themes were already in my subconscious from my feature script. And that’s how The Beguiling came to life.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while making this movie, and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge I faced was my own self-doubt. I was so nervous going into the project because, like I mentioned, I hadn’t directed in a couple of years. To overcome that, I assembled an amazing team of producers — Savannah Romero, Frisly Soberanis, Génesis Mancheren Ab'äj, and Fran Zayas — who took care of everything behind the scenes, allowing me to focus entirely on directing.
I prepped like crazy for this. I had a lot of conversations with my DP, Shaandiin Tome, from early on. We brainstormed ideas, broke down the emotional beats, built a shot list together, and worked on storyboards and overheads. She flew in to NYC early, and we prepped in person and went over everything at the location (my living room.)
Script analysis is one of my favorite parts of pre-production, so I really dove into that, which helped me when working with my actors, Benairen and Kim. We had two full days of rehearsals before the shoot, and because of all the prep, I had a detailed plan for every minute of those rehearsals.
When we got on set, all that preparation paid off. Shaandiin and I had such a clear vision that I was able to focus completely on Benairen and Kim. Thanks to the groundwork we laid, everything went pretty smoothly.
What about this project are you most proud of?
I'm really proud of the team we assembled, who made it possible for everything to come together so smoothly. We had such a talented and fun crew, and the memories we created on set are something I’ll always cherish.
I’m especially proud that we were able to craft a visually and emotionally compelling story that mostly unfolds on a couch. The performances were incredible, and when we screen the film and see people squirming in their seats or gasping, it makes me feel proud of what we accomplished.
UPCOMING EVENTS
OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT: HALLOWEEN EDITION
WHAT: Highlighting short films specifically of the horror/spooky genre from independent filmmakers with a Michigan connection!
WHEN: Wednesday, October 16th, 7:00pm
WHERE: Wealthy Theatre
NOSFERATU (Murnau, 1922)
WHAT: PRESENTED ON 16mm FILM and FEATURING LIVE SCORE ACCOMPANIMENT! This special screening of a pillar of horror cinema will also mark the two year anniversary of the GRFS!
WHEN: Monday, October 28th, 8:00pm
WHERE: Wealthy Theatre
IT FOLLOWS (Mitchell, 2014)
WHAT: SPECIAL 10th ANNIVERSARY SCREENING! After a carefree teenager sleeps with her new boyfriend for the first time, she learns that she is the latest recipient of a fatal curse that is passed from victim to victim via sexual intercourse. Join us for this contemporary classic on Devil’s Night!
WHEN: Wednesday, October 30th, 8:00pm
WHERE: Wealthy Theatre
And so we’ve arrived at the end of another BEAM FROM THE BOOTH! We appreciate you taking the time to read it and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to get each issue in your inbox every week, and stay up-to-date on all things GRFS.
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Until then, friends...
