Current freshman Cullum Andrews had his 13-minute film, Track, screened at a high school film festival in Times Square.
Earlier this month, Cullum Andrews, a freshman studying integrated media, traveled to New York City to screen his latest film, Track, for his shot at fame and recognition.
Track explores the world of a teenager dealing with mounting internal and external pressures surrounding an upcoming track meet.
“It started as a story about perseverance,” Andrews said. “Then it just snowballed into a bigger project focusing around mental illness, mainly depression. I got really interested in that as we developed the story.”
After building up some hype at Cleveland area screenings, Andrews said he decided to go for the big time. He applied for a chance to screen the film at the AMC Empire 25 movie theater in Times Square for the All American High School Film Festival, as the film was shot in February while Andrews was still in high school.
While taking film at Cuyahoga Community College during his senior year of high school, Andrews also met his cinematographer, Brandon Tompkins.
The cinematography of Track is such an impressive element of the film that it even received an award for best cinematography at the 2015 Tri-C Private Screening.
“It’s not about the camera itself,” Andrews said. “It’s who’s behind it.”
Tompkins agreed and said the equipment isn’t what makes an impact on the film.
“It wasn’t the camera itself, it was all the hard work that went into lighting and setting up shots in exactly the right way at exactly the right time,” Tompkins said.
Andrews and Tompkins collaborated to plan out every shot of the film.
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“Working with Tompkins, being in close collaboration about the look of the film, we were able to dial in the exact feeling of the film,” Andrews said. “There’s very little in the film that is accidental, even the paintings in the room and the blanket on the futon. With film, it’s about creating a world.”
However, even with all the planned details of the film, there was one thing Andrews did not count on — Ohio winters. Two days before they began filming the climactic track scene, Andrews said it snowed two feet of hard, icy snow, forcing him and his assistant director to rewrite the script.
“We had already gone too far,” Andrews said. “Money had exchanged hands; we had hired out time and had already got permission from the school district to film at North Olmsted High School — there was no turning back. It’s not what I envisioned, but some people tell me it made the film stronger.”
Even with the dazzling picture, Track did not earn any awards in New York. However, Andrews said he is satisfied with his moral victory.
“We didn’t even get any nominations,” Andrews said. “But we were one of the few films to actually pack the theater full. A lot of people told me they were surprised that it actually didn’t receive a nomination.”
The 13-minute film, along with Andrews’ other works, are available for free on his Metis Films page on Vimeo.
Track from Metis Films on Vimeo.
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