‘Rural Revival’ tells the story of a century-old solution to a modern-day crisis

Written by Kaitlynne Rainne, Photos courtesy of Katie Bell and Harper Brock

One of the great things about being at SCAD is that students are presented with the opportunities to explore their passions and their roots through projects. For some graduating students, this process is a joy as it allows them to end their SCAD journey on a personal and impactful note. For recent SCAD film and television graduate Katie Bell, that was exactly how she came about directing her senior thesis — “Rural Revival,” a short documentary exploring “a century-old solution to a modern-day crisis.”

Bell grew up on a farm and has always been close to the farming world. As she learned more about regenerative farming with cattle, she became intrigued and wanted to dive deeper. Bell also spoke of reaching her third year at SCAD feeling a little bit disconnected with film. “When I started the process of creating this documentary, I was in a mini-crisis. I didn’t want to do film anymore. I was done with it,” Bell said.

The whole process of reconnecting and developing her thesis began in her documentary class. She had been doing some research on regenerative farming and came across White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA. She pitched the idea in her class. Originally, it was an eight-minute cut but Bell decided to turn it into her thesis and began a two-year journey with it thus far.

“When I went and did the scout, it always felt like I was going home. I’ve been passionate about climate change and the people at White Oak Pastures got that. They were very supportive.” Bell added that the farming connection she got through White Oak Pastures helped her feel more connected to the process in general. Thus, her story was born.

“Rural Revival” begins with the voice of our documentary, Will Harris. We follow Will through the town of Bluffton and its history where he and three generations before him grew up. However, this was not always how White Oak Pastures was run. Post-WWII there came an industrial revolution among the farming community across the country. The unintended consequences of this revolution fell back on the welfare of the animals, the health of the soil and our environment.

The community of Bluffton is a thriving one as we experience firsthand the lives of the people responsible for caring for the animals and playing a major role in the fight against climate change. We will follow Will and his team as they work to keep their farm relevant in the public eye. This is a two-sided battle. They will fight to continue raising their animals and growing food in the most humane and holistic way. It is now up to the public to vote with their dollar in stores carrying White Oak Pastures’ products.”

Her vision, though, was not going to come together without the help of a crew. Bell’s senior capstone supervisor, Professor Sedika Mojadidi, initially recommended film and television student Harper Brock, who became the film’s producer. From there, recruitment began by reaching out to people in their classes and clubs. Bell also had an internship with White Oak Pastures during the time she was getting her thesis together so, that connection paid off in being able to get the crew out there when needed and gather the footage they needed.

“We raised about $3,000 and because of Katie’s internship, we didn’t have to worry about much,” Brock said. “Really it was only our film fest submissions which is impressive considering we ended up with a 32-minute cut.”

For Bell and Brock, they’d never worked on a documentary before and took time to share their best and worst parts.

“It was my first documentary besides the rough cut I did in my previous class. And it was a lot to put together and bring to life. But it was great to meet and make new friends. Seeing other people passionate about something I thought I was the only one interested in, was amazing.” Bell said. She is forever grateful to the people over at White Oak Pastures for their hospitality and the connections she’s gained. “I’m really, really proud of my thesis.”

“For me, it was my first documentary, too, and I was only a sophomore at the time. We worked from September until the end of May. It was really a lot of work and trial and error. But the best thing was seeing the final and the end products of the process. It was also such a wonderful crew experience which is kind of rare to find.” Brock said smiling also very proud of the end result.

Bell and Brock have still been hard at work throughout the summer completing film fest submissions. Both are eager to hear back in the fall.

“As toxic as the film industry can be, some faith has been restored in me,” Bell said. “There’s a potential job opportunity I’m working towards which came from this and things have really started falling into place. I’m looked forward to doing things I’m passionate about.”

For Brock, she’s going to be a third-year student this fall and shared her plans for moving forward. “I’ve always been interested in writing and directing for narratives but I never got into documentaries until I took Professor Mojadidi’s class,” Brock said. “She’s the one who helped me recognize their importance.” Brock also shared her excitement for beginning her thesis this upcoming spring and already knows she wants it to be a documentary.

Overall, it was a learning experience for both and the crew. They wouldn’t have been able to put it all together without the wonderful work and dedication their team members showed and Bell and Brock wanted to take the time to shout out the rest of their crew:

Sam Derouen, Director of Photography/Colorist

Kate Baum, Editor

Sedika Mojadidi, Supervising Producer

Aaron Price, Assistant Editor/Script Supervisor

Jacob Oliver, Assistant Editor

Tommy Crosby, Assistant Editor

Tessa Kuhlman, First Assistant Camera

Grace Hodges, Production Assistant

Noel Thompson, Graphic Designer

You can find the trailer for Rural Revival here and learn more about the crew. Explore the gallery and more on their website.