Behind the scenes of a student short film

By Adriana Rangel

You don’t have to be in Hollywood to make movies. Montevallo has a film making minor that has students creating their very own films on campus.

Yasmin Nearor is a senior and is creating a short film for her capstone project. The movie is entirely shot in Montevallo and by using resources from Strong Hall.

Her film “Still Waters” follows the journey of Aria, a struggling writer looking for a job after declining an offer from a movie company after they wanted to change the heart of her script.

She is offered the job of writing for a church by a childhood friend. Unsure, Aria reluctantly takes on the job and we follow her journey of her reconnecting with her spiritual beliefs that she had left behind.

“She’s trying to figure out her way in the world.” Yasmine says, “She’s trying to find that identity that defines her.”

When asked what inspired this movie, Yasmin explains how she can relate to the character of Aria herself.

“Like most authors and novelists the protagonist definitely influences a lot of what the author believes. I feel like I’m very connected to the character Aria because there are times in my faith when things cause me to question it and have doubts sometimes.” Yasmin said.

Filming for this movie took around 3 days, but before that there are many steps that must take place. A large amount of work when making a movie is pre-production. This is the big planning stage.

After Yasmin finished her screenplay, auditions were held to cast actors and flyers were put out to find a crew.

Over the span of the few weeks before filming, rehearsals and production meetings were held. These meetings were to discuss any equipment that was needed and create shot lists. Shot lists is a list of camera shots that need to be captured during filming.

Yasmin said her favorite part of pre-production was rehearsals because she got to “interact with the characters on the page as well as the actors portraying the character.”

When shot lists are made, actors are casted, and equipment is checked out; Filming can begin.

The film had two main locations. A chunk of the scenes were recorded in Montevallo’s Baptist Campus Ministries. The other scenes were recorded in the Montevallo First Baptist Church.

“If I weren’t a student then I would have to think about and consider where would I shoot and how much would it cost me to rent that space out.” Yasmin says, “Fortunately for me as a student I didn’t have to pay anyone to use the locations, everyone was pretty willing to let me use it and they were very excited about the film.”

There were 2 cameras used throughout the week along with lights and mics. Yasmine says as a student “it’s just really great” to make the most of all the resources on campus.

The final stage is editing. Yasmin calls the editing process “tedious”.

“…You have to take all the footage you recorded and watch all of it. And sometimes that footage can add up to be hours long. And you just piece the story in the way you see it.”

Making a film isn’t all smooth sailing though. Every movie runs into roadblocks.

“It’s always hard to get participation at times because everyone has their own thing going on.” Yasmine says, “Some may be involved in other projects and you’re having to seek out people that are available. Also time conflicts- sometimes the scheduling does not pan out the way you think it would.”

But after long filming days, camera problems, and any other hardships that can come up that day; it’s always worth it in the end.

“The most rewarding part is not even getting accepted into a film festival, it’s just literally getting done with the film and literally having something to be like: I made a film.” Yasmin said.

Yasmin would still like her film to get into film festivals, with SideWalk being one of her top picks. Students interested in SideWalk can check out their website for more information.

This film was entirely student made. The actors, crew and equipment were all from the university.

Students who want to become film makers don’t have to look far to create heart warming stories.

Yasmin encourages students to join the minor.

“Don’t be afraid to jump on a project.” Yasmin says.

“Even if you don’t know anything, or you know very little, I’m sure if you go talk to the director or whoever… they would be more than happy to have someone help you with this film or have someone teach you how to work certain equipment. Essentially just do it. Just do it. Have fun. Make a film. Be bold.”