Film students Griffin and Large release independent films

Kaitlyn North / Arts and Entertainment Editor

At the end of a major year for filmmakers at Elon, senior film student Patrick Griffin will premiere his first film “Sex, Drugs and Hit Men,” Tuesday, May 11 in McEwen 011 at 8:30 p.m. Preceeding this release was the debut of senior Rady Large’s film “How to Carve a Pumpkin” Monday and Tuesday night.

“My main influence for this film was Pulp Fiction,” Griffin said. The film was a part of an independent study, during which Griffin said he “wanted it to be a culmination of my four years here.”

“I did the independent study to hone my skills as a filmmaker prior to graduation,” Griffin said of his project.

The film is a parody of student films; “sort of poking fun at them and all their clichés,” he said. The plot deals with drug dealers, escorts and hit men, and “sort of flows from one character’s story to another like in the movie ‘Go,’” Griffin said.

Griffin chose to do the film with professor John Duvall, “because it is his last year here since he was denied tenure. ”

“Duvall has overseen the film every step of the way,” Griffin said.

“He helped with script revisions, gave me advice on shooting, viewed my dailies with me and gave me feedback on those and has overseen my editing. He has really been great and I am sorry to see him go.”

“In terms of productions, I had a really great cast that was more willing to put up with my ideas, no matter how weird or bizarre they were,” Griffin said.

The cast consists of freshman Pete Howland; juniors Amanda Tylor, Preston Ellis and Dan Belmont and seniors Matt Fiander, Pat Williams. Griffin also received filming assistance from freshmen Chris Disher and seniors Lix Bradt and Anne Bronsveld.

The thirty-minute film will debut in much the same way that Large’s film “How to Carve a Pumpkin” was premiered. Large produced the independent film to fulfill requirements in his senior seminar class.

Large’s film, which premiered Monday, is about two young people who deal with the emotion of loss and a lack of emotion.

“The whole project came about when I was in one of Drew Perry’s creative writing classes,” Large said. “I read a short story by Liz Wimberly (“How to Carve a Pumpkin,”) and it brought visions to my imagination. There were elements of the story that I couldn’t help but bring to the screen.”

Large said that he took many of the storyboarding concepts used by Alfred Hitchcock to produce the film. “I have a pretty good idea of what I want in a shot before I go out,” Large said. “Yet, I never limit myself to that; some of the best shots that you can get are right there in the moment, no planning necessary.”

The film stars freshmen Pete Howland; sophomore Katie Hilliard; junior Dorothy Cowan, and seniors Angie Blocher and Mario Gallucci.

The student crew for the film consisted of sophomore Dan Venti; juniors Margaret Wicht, Blake Hinton, Marc Steele, Kyle Ostendorf and Alex Sneed and seniors Josh Morin and John Kernodle. Alumnus Josh Ball was the head production assistant and alumnus Kevin Pace did the soundtrack for the film.

“Everyone has a busy life, especially in college, so getting the cast and crew together for the actual shoot was the hardest part,” Large said. “The rest was a mixture of hard work and lots of fun.”

“Jay McMerty of Elon Television gave me some sage-like advice during the [filmmaking] process that was crucial,” Large said.

Large also credits professors Duvall, Johnson and Frontani of the Communications department for their influence on the making of the film. “They know their stuff and have made major impacts on the lives of their students,” Large said.