Over the summer Alex DeFelice (‘18)  and her friends Seth Pollock, Evan Bailey, Molly Broughton, Sigourney Weaver, Jen Frisch- Wang, and Jamie Hassle created a short film called “Post-Life Crisis,” where she was an actor and the producer. “Post-Life Crisis” is the story of a ghost mother and ghost father each fighting for the ghost custody of their live daughter. This short film is quirky, funny, and unique— something only a group of high schools could have come up with. Alex has been involved in many productions at Berkeley Carroll including last year’s productions of Blood Brothers. She was also be in the musical 9 to 5 that took place from December 7-9.  She is very interested in film and theater and will be studying theater next year at Bradley University.

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Alex made this short film as a part of the film and media camp at the University of Texas at Austin. It was a 2-week program where you could work on your filmmaking skills with a group of high school students with the same interest as you. Alex explains, “There was an instructor there named Artemis and her helper named Isaac and they were kinda just there to teach us the basics and then we took over it by ourselves… you really get into depth with all the techniques.” After learning the basics of filmmaking, each group was told to write and produce their own short film giving each student the opportunity to develop their skills by producing their own film.

Although Alex enjoyed creating and developing her skills in this film, there were many challenges. Alex admits when the group was discussing ideas, “There were some tense moments where we were kinda like arguing and not getting along but … we had a good time and we got the work done that we needed to get done.” In addition, to some tension between group mates, the length of their film was also a challenge. Alex admits, “You’ll notice.. the gates of heaven is a light looking into a door. That wasn’t the initial plan but we were running out of time and we had to hurry up and finish filming.” “Post-Life Crisis” was much longer than the films other groups in the program made even with some scenes admittedly rushed towards the end.  Although Alex enjoyed the process of making this film, discussing ideas and filming everything in the given time was a challenge.

To help alleviate the stress of making a film for the first time, Alex gave some advice to other young aspiring filmmakers. Her first piece of advice is to be organized. This means having a complete script prior to filming, shot lists, and calendars. She also advises aspiring filmmakers to stay focused on the task at hand. Although there will be distractions, it is important to be efficient. Alex admits, “We got distracted a lot.” She says this with a smile, reminiscing on the filming process with her friends.

Watch the trailer to “Post-Life Crisis” here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpx5kdZV-RY

Watch “Post-Life Crisis” here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I73qFrD5-bk

Watch the bloopers to “Post-Life Crisis” here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoO0d7fwkEU