Local filmmaker hopes to take short movie to national festivals
Assistant Managing Editor
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| (Originally published by The Corning Leader on Sunday, September 26, 1999) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Corning Goes Hollywood Local filmmaker hopes to take short movie to national festivals |
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| By Jeremy Ehrenreich Assistant Managing Editor |
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| Smoke King Home | |||||||||||||||||||||
| CORNING - The DeLorean wheels around the corner and comes to an abrupt stop. The driver's side door pops open, and the driver emerges from a cloud of smoke looking like a space-age member of "The Wild Bunch." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In a beat he pulls a pack of cigarettes from a bandolier around his chest and stuffs the whole pack right in his mouth, cardboard and all. Then he reaches back into the car, grabs a blowtorch, lights up, dumps the torch, closes the door and struts away as he puffs away. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "Cut. OK. You're wrapped," says Dave Rochelle, who's been filming the whole scene for a short film he's written, which he's also directing and producing. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dave, Emrys, & Don (photo: Jason Cox, Leader) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| His two lead actors, Don Yearick, the cowboy of the scene, and Emrys Berkower, slap a high five to congratulate one another. "I'm a movie star!" Berkower says jokingly. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| It's the last scene to be filmed for Rochelle's "The SmoKing," an allegorical tale about a place where smoking is the cultural norm. Yearick, in the title role of The Smoke King, undergoes a strange transformation due to his excessive smoking. It's a transformation that has consequences for everyone in his circle of friends, including his best friend, played by Berkower, who serves as narrator for the otherwise silent film. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The movie is the first such project for Rochelle, a Horseheads native and Cornell University graduate now living in Corning. He's a veteran of TV commercials and news with WETM-TV in Elmira, who now teaches courses in television and film at Corning Community College, where he also runs the television studio. He hopes to create a finished film of about 20 minutes in length that he can enter in major film festivals around the country like Sundance and Breckinridge, and eventually use as a calling card for future projects, for which he already has scripts in development. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Shot on video, which he'll transfer to film stock using a special digital piece of equipment called a non-linear desktop editing system, Rochelle is aiming for technical as well as artistic quality. Both are equally important if he's to get the film in festival competitions or on cable TV channels that feature such films, like the Sundance Channel or The Independent Film Channel. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "These new processes computers are bringing into filmmaking give people like myself more opportunities," he said. "It's nothing Hoyt's is going to put on 35 mm and charge $7.75 for, but it?s a notch above a typical student project." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Rochelle has tried to make the film as professional as possible every step of the way. He set up his own company, Smoke King Productions, to handle the business side of the film. Pre-production was handled in the spring, with the assistance of co-producers Brian Kasonic, Tracey Mitchell, and Yearick. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| A film schedule was established for the summer. Most shooting took place in July on location around Corning at sites around Market Street, the Old Centerway Bridge, Lost Angel Glass, and the Glory Hole Pub and Eatery, which shut down on a Sunday evening to afford Rochelle the chance to shoot a critical scene. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The businesses have been really great," he said. "(The Glory Hole) closed down their bar for the entire night that they normally would've been open. People are really 100 percent behind me in being cooperative and being part of the production." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Yearick and Berkower decided to enlist because they thought the movie would be fun. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "Dave picked Don and I because he knew we hung out all the time," Berkower said. "I've always entertained the idea of acting or modeling." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "I just like to be busy," said Yearick of his reasons for joining in. "It seemed like a cool project to do. Something to keep the creativity flowing." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| With the real life friends portraying best friends on screen, filming was made a bit easier since the duo already had a certain chemistry, Rochelle said. "I told them, 'I'm not going to give you a lot of motivation.' They did great, and it looked more real." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Making the film silent also helped. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "It gives me and (the actors) a lot of freedom to act with gestures," Rochelle added. "We can concentrate on the visuals, which is one of my strong points." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Some of those visual elements will have a surreal style, relying on lighting and editing to achieve the desired effect while also telling the story, although Rochelle didn't want to give away too many specifics lest he spoil the plot. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Supporting actors were brought on board in Roxanne Jitomir, who plays the Smoke King's girlfriend, and Gerald Brown Jr., Vince Lisella, and co-producer Mitchell, who did double-duty in front of the camera, too. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Rochelle also rounded up about 20 people to sit around the Glory Hole acting like they were smoking and drinking for that scene. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The extras were required to make a "wild" clothing change for one scene, which helped them dive deeper into the film, Rochelle said. "It really changed their personalities. Everybody got more into their characters." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| With filming completed, Rochelle aims to edit the film and secure some extra money from investors for post-production costs throughout the fall so that he can get the film out on the festival circuit for spring. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "I've really been looking at big (festivals) since I have very high hopes." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In return for their investment, donors will get their names on a title card at the end of the film, Rochelle said. If the film makes any kind of money, he hopes to give investors a pro-rated return on what they put in. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Rochelle makes no guarantees other than these: "All I'm offering is a chance to be a part of the project and be recognized in the credits." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| And an invitation to a gala local screening, which still remains to be scheduled, Rochelle said. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| However, it's that low-budget feel that has made the film a rewarding experience. All the actors worked for free, and location shoots in Corning businesses were all donated. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| When he started out, Rochelle had nightmare visions of things spiraling out of control. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "I've seen 'Hearts of Darkness' about a dozen times," he said, referring to the documentary that chronicled the embattled production of Francis Ford Coppolla's "Apocalypse Now." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| "But it's actually been much more comfortable than I though it would be," he said. "I don't think I would've been able to pull this off in a major city with having to hire actors or rent locations. There's a close-knit group of creative people here, and it's been great getting to know them." | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Smoke King Home |
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