For the first step on our adventure, let’s take a look at my Junior year silent narrative film “Dangerous Grounds”.
The film spins the ballad of Steven Starbuck, a young and gifted barista attempted to rise out of poverty in a society that has outlawed caffeine as a Schedule 1 addictive substance. The story came by way of my partner on the film, Evan Zazula, who while no longer at Freestyle is probably the best filmmaker I ever worked with.
Dangerous grounds really kicked off a new project based mindset for school work and individual creative projects. We spent long nights getting elaborate shots with complex sets and scenes chock full of extras, leading to a final product that after a 36 hour day of editing I was incredibly proud to put my name on.
Perhaps the aspect of the film that I am most proud of its soundtrack, the organization and editing of which was my primary responsibility during editing. I decided to score the film with a collection of somber and beautiful jazz ballads, lending the piece a sense of mystery and melancholy. Starting with the atmospheric “My Funny Valentine” to set the tone, the set gains excitement with Steven’s rise to prominence, highlighted by Stan Kenton’s “Journey to Capricorn”. When Steven is forced to compromise his morals to maintain his illegal business, the tense alleyway confrontation between he and a coffee dealer is punctuated by the drum solo from Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five”, and finally in a wistful and depressing conclusion as Steven makes his last latte before his arrest, I turn to the melancholy melody of “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face”. I felt that the absurd nature of the film required a depth of feeling from its soundtrack to lend its message gravitas, and I felt that I accomplished that feet very well with the songs that I chose.
The film, however, is deeply flawed. In brief, it’s too damn long. an easily 8 minute long storyline is stretched to a 17 minute snoozefest that is more a meditation than an active viewing experience. Evan and I were unfortunately blinded by our artistic aspirations, unable to see the error in our editing ways, and insisted the film remain its original length. Someday I may go back and cut the film down to a more reasonable scale, but I still feel that there is a sacredness to its flawed and boring nature. Every filmmaker has to start somewhere, and I couldn’t ask for a better first than Dangerous Grounds.