If asked, any filmmaker will tell you that filmmaking is a collaborative process; in order to succeed, filmmaking has to rely on teamwork and dedication.
Undeniably, the students working on Lucifeatures can testify to this universal truth.
Lucifeatures is one of three organizations of MDIA 419 Productions, an all-year advanced production course in Ohio University’s School of Media Arts & Studies that gives students experience with multiple phases of film production.
Lucifeatures offers opportunities that only a few projects before have been able to, including shooting a film on-site in Nashville, Tenn., and working with Tennessee State University students. The film, titled How John Boscoe Outsung the Devil, is based on a short story of the same name by Arthur P. Davis.
The collaboration between TSU and OU sprang from Joseph Richie, a former OU professor who now teaches at TSU. As the story centers in Tennessee, MDIA 419 Productions Professor Frederick Lewis contacted Richie and set up the project with students of his own to work together.
“I approached Joe (Richie) and Melissa (Forte, OU alumna and current TSU professor) with the idea, and they responded with great enthusiasm,” Lewis said. “The OU students involved have already made two trips to Tennessee to cast the movie and location scout. Students from TSU will work with our OU students during the production phase.”
Working the pre-production phase from more than 400 miles away has proven tricky, though, said Chelsea Kardos, the film’s producer and an OU junior studying video production.
“…Because we are filming this on location in Nashville over our spring break in March, I’ve had to rely a lot on technology to do a lot of the roles that my job entails,” Kardos said. “For example, location scouting and auditions for our principle roles. I’ve created a very good relationship with the location specialists at the Tennessee Film Commission as they give me people to contact for ideal spots for our film, and my director Jessica Rovniak and I have had to rely on Skype auditions.”
Location hasn’t been the only difficulty, though, Rovniak said.
“This film is completely different from anything I’ve ever done before,” she said. “It’s completely taking me out of my comfort zone. Artistically, I plan on having a lot of fun with this film.”
The story focuses on how one of Tennessee’s best African-American bass singers, John Boscoe, must choose between fame and family.
“Being that it involves characters such as angels and demons, I’m really making the story my own and trying to portray those characters in a different way that makes it a lot of fun for the audience,” Rovniak said.
Lucifeatures has a Twitter account, @Lucifeatures, which they have been using to reach out and narrate their process making the film. The film was funded through an Indiegogo campaign, which has closed after it raised $2,180, surpassing its $1,500 goal.
wa054010@ohiou.edu
