Students show off SCAD Lacoste through short films
The SCAD Lacoste shorts, which screened Wednesday afternoon at the SCAD Museum of Art, gave viewers a scenic tour of the people and industries in the rural French town of Provence. Produced by Lacoste’s summer 2014 documentary filmmaking class, the topics they covered included soap, wine, lavender and a cat with a dark side.
“Cinema Is Art, Television Is Furniture” and “Finn” were interview pieces. The former explored the personal and social significance of film across the years and continents through the eyes of Oliver Roche, a French cinephile and filmmaker. In the latter, Irish poet and writer Finn McEoin recounted an autobiographical story about missed chances and lifelong regret. Both films chose effective subjects – Roche was an enthusiastic speaker and the emotion in McEoin’s teary confessions was unmistakable.
“Soap,” “Wine in the Land of Provence” and “Lavande” were about the ancient industries of rural France. Vivid colors and detail shots made these pieces gorgeous to look at, from the creamy liquid soap pouring into molds and close-ups of fat pink and yellow grapes on the vine to aerial shots of rows of electric purple lavender.
The sound on “Wine in the Land of Provence” could have been better, as the interviewee often had to shout over the sound of the wine factory working behind him, but considering the students had very little equipment to work with, it was still successful. The factory shots were necessary, anyway – the documentation of the product-making processes and interviews with professionals lent all three films authority and interest.
In a lineup of technical and straightforward documentaries, “Maurice: The Search for Answers” stood out for bringing humor to the table. The Dateline-esque mockumentary featured deadpan interviews and a stern voiceover regarding the secret criminal life of Maurice – a black-and-white cat. The ridiculous lines from the actors, delivered in earnest, and dramatic shots of Maurice – noir-like monochromes of him licking himself and slow-motion close-ups on his face, swinging around to stare at you with scary huge yellow eyes – kept the audience laughing constantly.
After the screening, 13 of the filmmakers came onstage for a Q&A. They gave advice to future Lacoste film students and talked about what they took away from the experience.
“Learn as much French as you can,” said Michael Caputo, a film and television major from Somerset, New Jersey, who directed the all-in-French “Cinema Is Art, Television Is Furniture.”
Film and television major Jeanine Hubbard from Evans, Georgia, advised student filmmakers to “expect the unexpected. Be prepared.” Curveballs can come at any time and ideas can come from anywhere, she said.
For example, Bree Doehring, a fourth-year film and television major, and her team already had a great, ambitious idea picked out weeks before they came to Lacoste. Then they arrived, saw a cat, and “Maurice: The Search for Answers” was born.
“I found it easier to take a simple idea and expand on it rather than taking on this huge idea,” she explained.
“You have to be really flexible,” agreed Jazmin Davis, a third-year film and television student who had to switch gears on “Soap” a few times when plans fell through and new opportunities presented themselves.
The students faced no shortage of challenges, of course. They had to expand their skills in shooting and editing and become better team players. Dedicating themselves to filming every day wasn’t easy, nor was taking charge of their projects, letting go of things that didn’t work, or, in Caputo’s case, translating all that French. But they all got great things out of their experiences – mostly friendships, they agreed – and learned valuable lessons.
“Definitely never settle, never give up,” said Erin Stapleton, a third-year from Knoxville, Tennessee, who worked on “Lavande.” “There is so much work put into these than you saw.”
Another thing they took away – getting to spend time in beautiful Lacoste itself.
“The environment that you’re in – you wake up to a painting every day,” said Alexander Dubois, a film and television major from Colorado Springs, Colorado. “The environment fosters a lot of self-growth and you learn a lot about yourself.”
