Student Perspectives – Storytelling

Keisha Davis on figuring out which story to tell:

“When it was time to decide what my thesis film would be, my process was very simple: I considered what story was banging the loudest on my chest, declaring that it should be told, and then I factored in what would be attainable with my budget, time constraints, and resources.

From there, this striking story about my grandmother losing her mother young and having to fend for herself, along with the fact that my mother also lost her mother relatively young, began to develop. Burnt Roux took ten drafts to get just right, but the shooting process was the easiest and most magical I could ask for. I was blessed with an amazing location in St. Bernard, Louisiana, and a great local crew and talent.

Being on location (which in this case meant being home) really helped bring this story to life. We were in a secluded area and had the entire house and property to ourselves. I had a lot of quiet time in the morning to think and think again about my shots and put myself in Amelia’s shoes.

It led to some really powerful and beautiful moments in this film that I’m still very proud of.”

• Film Title: Burnt Roux
• Logline: In 1968 rural Louisiana, a young activist gets a disturbing interruption as she struggles to finish her speech and make the perfect roux before leaving for her first protest.

Tapio Tokunaga on tackling the same subject matter in two different films:

“1446, a three-minute documentary film about my experience during the 3.11 Earthquake in Japan, was one of the first films I directed at film school. In it, I tackled the fragility of life with a simple narration of what happened to me and my family members on March 11th, 2011. My goal was to demonstrate how vulnerable our “ordinary” lives are and how precious spending time with those who you love is. Normally, a talking head of me with some B-rolls of the actual footage of the earthquakes would have been a go-to method for making this kind of documentary, but I figured out that would not be enough to express the emotion I felt on a day that traumatized me. Due to the covid restrictions that at the time had me stuck alone in Japan (and some amazing feedback in class), I came up with a bold idea — I did not use any actual footage of the earthquake but instead employed LEGO blocks to re-create the experience and destruction. The child-like LEGO blocks, often associated with happy memories, contrasts with the heaviness of the film’s topic to accentuate the traumatizing fear during the earthquake. The lack of actual footage stimulated the imagination of the audiences and invited them into the raw emotional experience more deeply. The use of slow-motion, contrasting the stop motion often associated with LEGO movies, also “froze” the emotional momentum to soak audiences in this extreme experience. This creative process pushed me to challenge my creativity and taught me the value of juxtaposition and metaphor.

My 15-minute senior capstone film, MINIFIG, also tackled a similar topic of familial bond and loss, based on my own experience. Aside from the obvious difference in genre and duration of the film, my first question was very similar to 1446 — how do I maximize the emotional experience in the story? Inspired by 1990s-2000s anime films that I grew up with, I decided to use a juxtaposition of happy childhood memories and realistic moments, intertwining timelines and fantastical elements, and again featured LEGO as a key prop of the narrative, like 1446. The biggest difference from 1446, however, was how collaborative the creative process was for MINIFIG. The most valuable lesson I learned from MINFIG was to count on, and believe in, my crew and cast members. As a director, I was certainly responsible for the final product, but it was crucial not to dictate every single creative choice. I invited my cast and crew members, producers, DP, PD, and sound designers into the early stage of the screenwriting and pre-production to have everyone dive into the emotional journey in the story. While 1446 was certainly directed by and 99% made by myself in all aspects, MINIFIG is not just my film but our film. The immense collaborations and integration of different creative ideas gave MINIFIG a huge emotional impact on audiences, signified by the sobs of most of the attendees at my screening.“

• Website: www.tapio-tokunaga.com
• Film Title: 1446
• Logline: A documentary short film that examines the fragility of life against the backdrop of the Fukushima earthquake disaster.
• Password: shindo7

• Film Title: MINIFIG
• Logline: Haunted by his life changing familial loss, a boy ventures into escapist childhood memories while chasing his missing, cherished LEGO minifigure.
• Password: suomi-perhe