Not only did Kate Regan inspire so many of us to pick up a camera, phone, or tablet and make something, but she also encouraged us to try new things and explore crazy ideas. One of those crazy ideas happened a week before this year’s film festival. The first ever 24-Hour Film A-Thon started on March 19, 2015 in the library’s Digital Lab with a script written by UP Physics instructor Sean Yeager and headed into uncharted territory for its maiden voyage.
Freshman Mechanical Engineering student Noah Webster wanted to find out about editing video and wound up playing the part of “BC” in Yeager’s take on Plato’s Allegory of the Caves in which all of the characters appear in silhouette while playing a game of charades.
Tera Earlywine contributed a soundtrack while sisters Krista and Julia Simonis both took the parts of Candace and Deb respectively. Yeager stepped in front of the camera with his long flowing hair to play the part of Abe. Because the audio was recorded separately from the actors onscreen, a separate set of performers played the “voices” of the characters. Earlywine found she was a natural for the part of Candace, the mathematician. Christian Chase, who did most of the post production editing on the film, loaned his deep vocals to the part of smarmy BC. Lauren Gaskill, a UP Spanish instructor who has several screen credits of her own, added a dramatic flair to the character of Deb’s lines. Yeager played Abe both onscreen and in the audio booth.
Yeager told the audience at the 2015 Kate Regan Short Film Festival he never expected to play such a central role in the Film A-Thon but that it was a fantastic experience from beginning to end. The 5 minute film “ABCDZ – An Introduction” represents the first scene (or first five pages) of Yeager’s 20 page script.
Not only does it take a cast of talented performers to produce a film, but there are lots of roles behind the scenes that are just as crucial. Camera work by Leah Walters, production assistance by Nicole Benavente, and lots of project management by organizers José Velazco and Maria Erb rounded out the production crew.
The Film A-Thon will be a regular event on the UP campus, occurring each fall and spring. It’s truly a unique experience depending on who shows up and wants to be a part of it.
