The Candidate
A cautionary tale about ambition and the perils of the corporate ladder that would have fit right into an episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery. A young office drone, consumed by jealousy and spite, is visited by a representative from a bizarre secret society.
Filmmaker: David Karlak
Age: No thanks!
Hometown: Ann Arbor, Mich.
At SCAD: Graduated spring 2010 from Film and Television
About the film: “I was Visual Effects Supervisor for Marcus Dunstan on his film The Collector, and I guess to pay me back he wrote The Candidate for my senior project. And he produced it as well. It’s based on a short story he came across at his literary agency. I fell in love with it the instant he pitched it to me over the phone.”
Where was it shot? “I knew that the location was going to be very important, because it sort of describes what’s at stake. I wanted it to be a movie about businessmen, and these silent, gladiatorial fights between men in suits. I shot it in an advertising agency in downtown Los Angeles, when I couldn’t really find the location in Savannah I was looking for.”
What do you hope comes next?: “I love directing, and hopefully this will lead to more opportunities – hopefully the fallout of The Candidate is maybe I’ll get to direct a commercial, or some music videos, or maybe a feature–length film.”
Focus
In this brief, charming computer–animated short, a man walks – then he runs – through a beautiful natural setting, snapping photos with his prized camera. Then something unexpected happens.
Filmmaker: Stephen Camardella
Age: 22
Hometown: Cockeysville, MD
At SCAD: Graduated with a BFA in Animation 2010
About the film: “The overarching message of Focus is that we’re constantly bound up in the technology that aids us, and we’re rushing through all of our experiences because of it or missing the experiences altogether. Like a photograph, we attempt to capture our experiences so as to enjoy them at a later time, instead of actually living in the moment of the experience itself.”
Was it easy or hard?: Making a short film of any kind is certainly a difficult and arduous task. Essentially, every object seen in the film has to be created and accounted for throughout the production pipeline. Initially, concepts for the story, characters and sets must be designed. Then, 3D digital models must be modeled (constructed), textured (colored), rigged (prepared for animation), animated, and rendered (final visual polish). There are many steps within each stage of production, all with their own technical and artistic limitations which must all be taken into account. Fortunately, I had some of the best, and most talented, colleagues at SCAD to help with the completion.”
Samsquatch
A documentary–style narrative short in which a direct descendant of Bigfoot (his mother was a human), living in obscurity in a small town, is discovered and pursued by a relentless hunter.
Filmmaker: Trevor Wild
Age: 22
Hometown: Johnson City, Tenn.
At SCAD: Current Film major
About the film: “I had watched a short called Rare Exports Inc., which is a Finnish film about the origins of Santa Claus. I loved the realistic, yet tongue–in–cheek style that made it really funny. I thought ”If Sasquatch existed, what would it be like today, realistically?”
Logistics of the shoot? “It was shot on a 300–acre farm in northeast Georgia, extremely rural. Sam Eidson stars as Samsquatch. Not a lot of guys could take that role and be believable, but Sam was phenomenal. The hunter’s role fell into my lap after my actor couldn’t come out for the shoot.”
Your aim? “The documentary tone of the film comes from my desire to give the film a realistic weight. I want people to empathize with Samsquatch no matter how ridiculous the premise is.
“Also, when people watch a documentary, it’s not just to be entertained, but to learn something. I suppose it’s my commentary on mankind and how we all basically want the same things, no matter what our backgrounds are.”
