My short film '10 Years Later' was shown at the Logan Film Festival! Here’s a recap of my experience.
(Again, if this is your first introduction to my blog and you haven't watched my movie yet, I strongly suggest (and request) that you watch it here here first. Please and thank you!)
Firstly, I can’t tell you how awesome it was to have my film shown at the same old theater that I grew up watching movies at. It was quite the surreal experience.
My family sat about in the middle of the theater but I sat in the very back because I wanted to watch the audience's reaction. One of my favorite things was seeing and hearing the audience laugh at all of the right moments of my movie. And I shouldn’t really be gloating about this (but I’m going to anyway) is that the other films shown that tried to have comedic moments didn’t really get the laughs that mine did. So not to toot my own horn or anything but... “toot-toot!” ;)
After the movie was done, the audience applauded and I went up on stage for a brief Q&A. This is one of the things that I was most looking forward to because I love talking about the filmmaking process. (Hence why I'm doing a thorough "making-of" series for ‘10 Years Later’, and will continue to do so for future projects on my blog here).
I was first asked to talk about why I decided to make this film. I said that it was based on a real story, where I went to a BBQ with friends from high school and that I felt like I hadn't done much with my life compared to all of them. I said that I then had the thought that I could keep feeling down about this, or I could do something about it. I told the audience that I had the thought, "I’ve always wanted to make movies, so why not start? In fact, why don't I make a movie about this?” After I said that, an unexpected applause came from the audience.
Later during the Q&A a lady raised her hand and said that she didn't have a question, but said that she just wanted to say that the movie made her feel something, that she felt for me as an individual in this story. I expressed my appreciation for that sincere comment because that's really one of the main goals when making a movie–to have the audience feel something and also to feel for the main character.
A cute little moment during the Q&A came from a young hispanic girl where she asked, “Is that really where you work out?” to which I answered, “Yep, that’s really where I work out–in my parents’ basement,” which got a laugh from the audience.
The last question came from my oldest nephew Dillon: "Where do you get your inspiration from?" I first jokingly responded that I get a lot of my inspiration from my nephew Dillon, which sparked laughter from the audience who could apparently tell that that’s who asked the question. Then I talked about some of the inspirations for making this particular story into a film because I assumed that the story was relatable, that most people often compare themselves and their lives to others. I also talked about that when I was younger and in high school, I was super skinny and scrawny; and that I would look at these other guys who were buff and athletic, and think that they had it all. That they got all the women, popularity, etc. So I (falsely) assumed that if I got all muscular, then that'd be my golden ticket to getting everything that I wanted out of life. So this movie showed my experience at least that my body may look decent, but I still am missing quite a bit that I want out life. So a hidden message of this movie to me is that we never know what someone else is truly going through–kind of a "don't judge a book by its cover" message. I then also emphasized to the audience that, even though I didn't focus the story on this, that the same message applies to my friends; that even though I focused on the positive stuff in their lives, that I'm sure they've got some negative aspects going on in their lives as well. (So I guess you could say that that's the hidden, HIDDEN message of the movie.)
After the Q&A, I didn't go back to my original seat but went and sat with my family for the remaining two short films being shown. When I did, my sister pointed to a lady sitting a couple rows ahead of us and whispered, "She really liked your movie," and said that she kept making a lot of positive comments about it to her husband during it. I recognized this lady as a professor at Utah State University, who teaches and does the costuming for the theater program there. So that felt good because I knew that she was a bit more knowledgeable and experienced in the arts.
One more positive note was when I was leaving the theater, someone stopped me to tell me how much they enjoyed my movie, especially because, he said, how “honest” it was and that you don't always see that in movies.
So to sum up, I had a good time! Even though there were no awards given at this festival, and anyone can watch my movie on YouTube, it felt good to watch random peoples' reactions and hear their positive comments in person. To hear reinforcing comments about my movie from the average movie goer, as well as from others who were maybe a little bit more knowledgeable in this field, was a real nice confidence booster!
