Missing Him
I created this film for the 48-hour Central PA Film Jam.
It centers on two siblings and their relationship with each other after the death of their father.
We wrote, shot, and edited the entire film within the 48-hour time limit and won three awards from the festival. “Best Acting” “Best Directing” and “Judges Choice”
It all started with coming across a notice for a local filmmaking challenge. This was the perfect opportunity. I recruited two other local filmmakers for the project with an idea in hand and the three of us got to work.
This is a picture from my “Location Scouting” document. When I lived in Pennsylvania, I made a collection of interesting nearby locations that I could reference and use for filming.
When the theme of “Lost Opportunities” was announced I knew immediately that the “Oak Knoll’s Abandoned Italian Water Garden” would be the perfect spot.
Armed with a location and an idea, I began writing the script.
We worked late into the night to be ready to shoot the short the following morning. We have only 48 hours to complete the challenge and no time to lose.
My dad builds WW1 replica airplanes as his hobby. Inspired by him, I challenged myself to make this short set in 1915.
With the time constraint and budget, our costumes look pretty passable and add so much to the story. We were also lucky that Wulfgar had an old camera that matched the aesthetic. With a combination of raiding our collective closets, scouring the thrift store, and borrowing a few props from my dad, we brought these characters and this setting to life.
Our greatest challenge was our chosen location.
As you can probably tell from the Google Maps view of our filming spot, the ruins were located right next to a massive highway. Additionally, the ruins could only be reached by hiking through a trail. It was a hot summer day, and we had a decent amount of equipment!
The highway made the process of getting good, clean audio nearly impossible.
Despite these setbacks, and our race against sunset, we managed to get all the footage we needed to finish the film.
Judge’s Choice - Best Directing - Best Acting
The festival was a great success. We went home with three awards under the group name“Rosegarden”. We were thrilled to have our work recognized by our local community of filmmakers. The three of us went on to make two more films as a team, “ASH” and “The Fae Folk”. Overall an incredible experience.
