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McLean Film Club is giving students year-round opportunities to explore acting, screenwriting, directing and production by creating original short films.
The process often begins with several weeks of script development. Senior Indira Melvin, the club’s president and main producer, said members typically spend a month—or four to five meetings—finalizing a script before selecting actors, costumes and locations. She then creates a quick storyboard and shooting schedule.
Melvin also conducts what she calls “visual experiments,” testing camera lenses, lighting, rigs, shot composition and other creative techniques. But one of the club’s toughest production challenges is less glamorous: finding a time when everyone can film.
The club has completed a script for a sitcom requiring all its members and a school location, but those demands have made the shoot nearly impossible to schedule, Melvin said.
Its recent productions include “Fields Between,” “Short Dip” and “I Can’t Hear You,” three films that allowed students to experiment with different stories, languages and cinematography.
A friendship fractures in “Fields Between”
“Fields Between” follows two friends trying to repair their relationship after drifting apart. As they attempt to reconnect, they confront how difficult it can be to move beyond lingering grudges.
Melvin described the project as a dialogue-driven drama with a melancholy tone and occasional humor. Seniors Juliana Sanchez Halpern and Danneke Vazquez played the two friends.
Halpern said one of the hardest parts was pretending to be angry with Vazquez because the two are friends in real life, even as their characters experience a friendship breakup.
Vazquez said participation in the wider production helped her understand what her performance needed to convey. After receiving direction, she interpreted how the script’s lines should be delivered.
Junior Julia Cristo-Ezewoko and Melvin directed the film. Melvin also served as producer, cinematographer and editor.
The production was filmed in two homes and a cornfield at Cox Farms. Despite the coordination involved, the club completed filming within a week. Melvin then edited the footage and collaborated with junior Elias Newton, the club’s music producer, on a soundtrack matching the film’s atmosphere.
The public cornfield presented its own complications. Cast and crew members had to work around other people while trying to make the scenes appear authentic.
The shoot also generated plenty of bloopers, but Halpern described it as a quick and enjoyable experience. She credited the club’s writing and Melvin’s direction for helping the project come together.
At the film’s conclusion, the friends go their separate ways, reflecting the familiar experience of once-close relationships fading over time.
“Short Dip” dives into experimental filmmaking
The club took a more experimental approach with “Short Dip,” a French-language film about a young woman’s fear of drowning. Her struggle in a bathtub becomes a metaphor for entering a threatening or harmful situation and then feeling trapped.
The character imagines suffocation, immobilization and other forms of distress as the film explores her mounting discomfort.
The project gave Melvin an opportunity to try a different cinematographic style. Working in the confined space of a bathroom, she used a wide-angle lens to capture close shots.
Vazquez, who stars in the film, inspired the decision to write its monologue in French. Melvin praised her ability to communicate subtle emotions and said their collaboration has helped her experiment with new languages in her work.
Two characters find community through ASL
Released April 10, “I Can’t Hear You” is the club’s newest production. The story features two sharply different characters, Dusty and Mira, both played by Vazquez.
The awkward encounter begins when Mira, a young woman, asks Dusty, an older man, for directions. They eventually realize that both are hard of hearing and begin communicating in American Sign Language.
Their discovery unfolds in a deliberately silly way, adding comedy to the film. It also gives the characters an unexpected sense of community and excitement as they connect through ASL.
Vazquez said Mira initially acts somewhat superior to Dusty and is literally positioned above the other character during much of the film. Dusty, meanwhile, is sincerely attempting to communicate.
The production also allowed Melvin to practice filming in darkness. She incorporated firelit shots while developing skills she had not previously used.
Vazquez again helped inspire the film’s use of another language, this time ASL. Melvin said Vazquez’s openness to unusual, humor-driven ideas makes their filmmaking process dynamic, noting that the actor has appeared in nearly all her recent projects.
Across its productions, McLean Film Club continues to turn logistical obstacles and technical challenges into opportunities for students to expand their filmmaking experience.