An Introduction

As October begins, I find myself realizing that I am already a week behind schedule.  When I started pre-production of "Pills" last year, I had originally planned to start my shooting tomorrow, October 2nd.  Yet, here I am, on a computer, not in the least prepared for a shoot tomorrow.  My equipment reservation has been canceled, and everyone that had planned to crew for me will have a nice, relaxing weekend.

Making a film is hard.

If there is one thing that I learned my first year as a grad student at RIT, it was that film school is very different from any other college experience.  I have friends in science degrees, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I am sometimes jealous of their schedules and set routines.  I haven't had a weekend free during the school year for a long time, and while entire nights spent editing could be comparable to spending a night writing a paper, it is somehow still different.  When making a film, my goal isn't to complete the project and turn it in.  My goal is to create something meaningful: to myself, my actors, and any audience that might happen to watch it.

The graduate program is somewhat limited in comparison to the undergrad program.  The range of projects we have is a bit smaller and more focused.  After two years in film school, I have only made two films, where the undergraduates seem to have a series of projects.  The "Freshman" year of the undergrad program is squeezed into one quarter of graduate, while the "Sophomore" year consists of the next two.  By the end of my first year of school, I'd successfully learned several cameras (Bolex, PD-150, PD-170, SR2, HVX-200, HPX-500, and DSR-300), as well as two editing systems (Final Cut Pro & Avid Media Composer).  On top of all of the learning, I also had to make my own One Quarter (Ten Week) Film.  There is certainly no rest for the weary in graduate film school.   

Now, two years later, I am embarking on my biggest project yet.  I have come far in my sense of technique in both story telling and film making.  As an added challenge, the film I'm making for my graduate thesis couldn't be further from the previous films I've made.  My One & Two Quarter films were both dramas, both shot in HD, and both crammed into just a few weeks of shooting with small crews.  My thesis project is not only a comedy, but a romantic comedy, and comes with all of the burdens of attempting such a particular drama.  I've also opted to shoot on super 16-mm film, which is a huge financial investment in hopes of better quality.  Instead of a tiny, thrown together crew, I have a handful of dedicated, very talented people helping me.  I couldn't as for a better situation to be in.

The film itself is titled "Pills," and tells the journey of an Obsessive-Compulsive pharmacist as he learns to go outside of his own constricting boundaries.  Marco works at a pharmaceutical distributor where he receives medications from the manufacturers, sorts them out for individual pharmacies, and then ships them out again.  One day, he meets Colleen: an impulsive, ambitious girl that he is going to have to train.  At 25 years old, Marco has never kissed a woman, or even held one's hand.  When Colleen flirts with him, it is entirely overwhelming, but reminds Marco of feelings that he's been forced to live with out because of his disease.  As they go on an adventure together, Marco is forced by circumstance to trust her, and to throw caution into the wind as they work together to achieve a peaceful result.

It is a story that holds a lot of weight for many people.  It isn't really about mental disorders and the pharmaceutical industry, it is about putting yourself on the line for people you barely know.  It is about opening yourself up to new experiences, because you never know what wonderful things they will bring you.  Most of all, it is about finding acceptance when we need it most.  It is about accepting yourself for who you are, and finding that through that, others will accept you too.

 I hope that you will enjoy reading about the process of this film as I go on the journey of making it.  And who knows? One day maybe you'll get to see it on the silver screen, too.

Until then, cheers! 
-Andrea