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FilmMates
Local 'indie' 'Halfway Point' premieres Saturday at Westwood Cinema
Wednesday, January 5th, 2005
By Michael Joe Krainak
The City Weekly
(published on roommateproductions.com with permission)
They heard it all through school while growing up together: "Paint what you know!" "Write about what you know!"
Local filmmakers Chad Bring and Eric Dwight, both in their mid-twenties, must have learned their lessons well. After graduating from Lincoln high schools in 1996 where they became fast friends, they attended Wayne State College and were “roomies” for three years.
Not having a TV, they spent a lot of time writing stories and even attempted a film script which went nowhere. But, being communications majors, they never lost their desire to "tell stories that everyone can relate to at some time in their life." And the story they eventually concluded that Hollywood seemed to avoid most was their own.
"There is a lot of films being made about high school as well as college," Dwight said, "but very few about college grads or college age struggling to find their niche in the real world."
In other words, films about themselves, Gen Y, fresh out of school, starting a new career, often in a new location and putting down roots. Chad and Eric parted company for awhile after graduating, the latter marrying and moving to South Dakota, but when the couple moved to Omaha they ended up living in the same apartment complex with Chad.
Reunited, they discovered they still wanted to write a successful film script, but this time they had a few good stories to tell, their own. The result is a script begun in 2002 which will premiere as a digital film called “Halfway Point” this Saturday, Jan. 8, at 7 p.m. at Westwood Cinema at 125th and Center. Is it auto-biographical? "Everything in this movie is about our selves,” Dwight said. “My mom watched it and totally saw me in it."
Bring believes anyone can relate to "Halfway Point" though because it is "a rite of passage," a sort of quest film in which the lead character, a recent college grad, makes a real leap of faith and leaves his small town and his girl friend of seven years and comes to Omaha in search of his first job…and of himself.
How he adjusts to the "Big O" and whether his long distance relationship with his steady survives is at the heart of this film, and his epiphany in conclusion is akin to the quote Dwight found while doing background: “In spite of cultural changes from town to town, people are essentially the same.”
Written, acted and directed by both Dwight and Bring, the roomies realized they would have to produce their first independent feature themselves so they organized their own film company, Roommate Productions. Its two-fold motto is also a strong motif for their first film: "You must create your own opportunities" and "Dreams are goals with deadlines."
So far, Dwight and Bring have made the most of theirs with “Halfway Point.” Shot over a 26-day schedule in Mini DV and edited on Final Cut Pro via hardware used in a video production class at Metro Community College, the film was made on a budget "just a shade over $1000." This was accomplished because of the contributions of cast and crew, who worked for free, and its sponsor, MJ Java, which provided the video projector for the premiere.
A major contribution to the "look" of the film comes from its director of photography and editor, Kevin O’Neill, who Bring says "doesn’t get enough credit. I don’t know where we’d be without him." In addition, all the music in "Halfway Point" is original, created and donated by such local musicians as Three Day Meat Sale, Mr. Hand, Icares and Echo Bliss.
Overall, the quality of "Halfway Point" belies its budget. Bring, Dwight and O’Neill have collaborated before, principally with a short film “Aisle to Aisle,” a recent winner in the 2004 Hot Shops Film Festival. Consequently, their feature is not amateurish. It could easily become their calling card as they pursue their film career. They clearly demonstrate that they know how to write, direct, shoot and edit a movie.
And, they know how to act, acting being one of this film’s strong suits. Dwight and Bring play two supporting roles, Sean and Cameron, characters straight out of a Kevin Smith film, and they give this “dramedy” much of its comic relief. In portrayals as comfortable as the sweats and T-shirts they sport, these roomies welcome the male lead, Andy, to Omaha and teach him his first rite of male-bonding with, "Beer me." Although most other roles are played by professionals, Dwight says they took their biggest risk with first-timer Josh Ames in the role of Andy.
"You know, Josh just had the look we wanted," he said, "and no one worked harder at getting his lines and cues right." Ames does have a screen presence befitting an idealistic newcomer to town. Although not completely comfortable with either his voice or body, one could actually see him grow into the role as the film progresses. His climactic scene with girl friend Emily works on an emotional level for both of them and, easily, is one of the film’s strongest.
Andy is torn between the two female leads, Emily and a new friend, Tia, played by Sarah Klugh. Jackson and Klugh give the strongest performances as they effectively symbolize how Andy is caught between his two lives, past and present, clearly at a halfway point in his life.
How this conflict is resolved is a bit pat and predictable, yet the confrontational scenes between Andy and Emily have a quirkiness and righteousness somewhat similar to "Chasing Amy" and "Garden State." A little more Smith and Zach Braff and a little less "Friends" would help tighten up the script while helping to build suspense. The film uses montages and musical interludes fairly well, but at other times, as in the denouement between Andy, Sean and Cameron the scene is just too talky. Let the audience figure it out…sometimes, less is truly more.
Speaking of more, if you can’t make this Saturday’s premiere, you will have at least two other opportunities to catch it. “Halfway Point” is one of five features chosen to be shown at the first Central Nebraska Film Festival later this month in Kearney and the MJ Java Film Series will screen a weekend of Roommate Productions in February. For more info go online at www.RoomMateProductions.com.
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