Peripheral Visions recently had the pleasure of hearing from Garrett Dehart, a 2011 graduate of the GSU Film and Video program. Garrett’s thesis film is an incredibly unique retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s story The Tell-Tale Heart. One of the most impressive aspects of this film is the animation style – finely crafted alterations to real-life video mixed with full and lively virtual environments that create a world both recognizable and unreal.

The film is viewable below. Please watch the film and then hear some insight from the maker himself.

  PV: The film “If I Am Your Mirror” definitely isn’t your standard reproduction of Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart”. Tell us about how your film is simultaneously connected to Poe’s classic story and a brand new world in itself.
GARRETT: I started the project with an idea to depict Poe’s story through the lens of romantic painting. As the project developed I realized that the story had been done quite a few times and decided that it might be more interesting to take Poe’s story and it’s themes and let those inspire a story that might expand on who his characters were and the world they may have inhabited.  Poe’s story works really well in it’s minimalism and focus. He excludes all details that don’t lend directly to the development of the protagonist’s obsession and insanity. I thought it would be compelling to expand on Poe’s ideas and imagine circumstances that may have brought his characters to the situation Poe character’s  encounter in his story. 

  PV: How long was the process of creating the film?
GARRETT: It took about 3 years to compete the project from the start to screening. Although, that last year was clogged up with a lot of other projects that I was working on; so I wasn’t working on “If I Am Your Mirror” night and day like I had been for the first two years. I needed a bit of time to step away after I screened the film for my thesis and then come back fresh to jump back into it and find where I thought it could use a bit of work. The project was like a painting, or a book or any work really, in that, you’re never really finished, you just decide that you’ve given it all you can and you need to move on to the next project. 

PV: What was the most challenging thing about its creation?
GARRETT: I was planning on bringing a group of animators to do the post production on the project but as I jumped in after the production process, I kind of found a zen and really didn’t want to spend the time administering to others. There is so much that goes into producing and directing and I really just wanted to have the freedom to hide away and mold this world by myself. I also thought it would be pretty cool to have an animated film with a “Post Production: Garrett DeHart” credit. So I ended up doing it all myself. And I think I was maybe a bit ambitious with the project and as I went along I kept thinking, “Oh, wouldn’t this be cool, if I added a war scene here, or a battle scene there.” or “Maybe this should be at night” which would change everything, of course.  So it got bigger and bigger as I went along. It took a bit longer than had originally planned but I’m happy with the final product. 

PV: Did you receive any kind of advice or inspiration from the GSU faculty/staff while developing the film?
GARRETT: Niklas Vollmer was my thesis committee chair on the project. Nik was pretty much my graduate advisor throughout my time in the program. I really learned a lot from him and he was a great help in working with me throughout the project. Daniel Robin and Ly Bolia were also on my thesis committee. They were a great help throughout the thesis process as well. 

PV: What festivals/screenings has your film been a part of? How’s the film working for you and what’s next for it?
GARRETT: The film premiered at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival in September. After the festival I decided that I really just wanted to get it out in the world so that as many people as possible could see it so I put it on the web. I’m still planning on screening it for anyone who would like to. It also screened at the Little Five Fest in Atlanta, and the 6th anniversary of the Silver Scream Spook Show in October, and WonderRoot’s 10th Generally Local, Mostly Independent Filmmaker series in December. 

PV: What’s next for Garrett DeHart? Do you have any future films in the works? Are you working on anything right now?
GARRETT: I’m just finishing up a couple contract projects and have decided to spend the next year developing on as many small projects as I can. After working almost exclusively on post production for such a long time I really want to be out shooting whenever I can and experiment with a lot of new styles and genres. I’ve been shooting a few music videos and a Monster’s wrestling event. I’m really just out about town now looking for folks who want to work on interesting projects. 

This artist cultivation program is the brainchild of Erica Jamison, who founded Mint in 2006, the same year that she graduated from Georgia State University. Despite a busy schedule filled with a complete college courseload, a job, and an internship, Erica’s desire to fill a need in the Atlanta arts community did not waver. “I had fallen in love with the arts community” she says. The organization was birthed from a challenge posed to students of the Community Based Media class, housed in the Peripheral Visions lab: collaborate with local community members to discover a need, and work together to think about what can be done to meet that need. Erica explains that the course “directly led into the founding of Mint.”

At first, Erica began a project focused on interviewing artists and gathering statistics. Attending arts community meetings, she developed a greater understanding of the social landscape. And she started asking questions. “Are we helping anybody? Are we doing anything to help? What do emerging artists need?” In response to these questions, Mint was founded. And since 2006, the volunteer-run organization has been active in the development of artists’ careers.

7 years later, Mint hasn’t stopped growing and its programs have become an essential element for many artists. Erica is particularly excited about the Leap Year scholarship program. It aims to provide an opportunity for development and cultivation of artistic vision. “We should be concerned about the kind of artists we are nurturing. If money becomes the bottom line, you overlook good art.” The scholarship program receives funding or support from a number various local and national sources. Of special importance, Erica notes, has been the Goat Farm Arts Center. The Center donates studio space for each of the scholarship recipients, meeting a vital need.

Ask Erica what’s next, and she’ll have no trouble providing you with a list of upcoming programs enriching the community. An effort to develop artist-viewer feedback mechanisms. A process of cultivation and education of art collectors. A partnership with Trashwaster, a nonprofit bringing water filtration to needy communities in Nicaragua  by promoting ways to help empower and teach communities new ways to support themselves. The list could go on.

So what advice does she have to offer to any students who get inspired? First, remain dedicated. Throughout years of community involvement, Mint has remained a volunteer organization. For Erica, it’s a labor of love. She made a choice from the very beginning to devote herself to the goals of the organization and to ensure its continuing growth. She even has chosen a career path that allows her to choose a flexible schedule, so she will always be there to help Mint grow. A second piece of advice: encourage yourself to emerge from the University atmosphere and enter the larger community. “It’s kind of insular” , she recalls. After spending many, many hours in front of University computers, working on projects with her classmates, Erica knew that it was important to broaden her experiences.

Peripheral Visions is glad to be a small part of Erica Jamison’s journey.

THESIS FILM:
TRANDROIDS

Britt Dunn is a 2011 graduate of Georgia State University, having completed an 18 minute film as his thesis project for the GSU Film and Video Production degree. Taking place in an alternate reality version of the future, the film presents a world reminiscent of science fiction films of the 70′s and 80′s – the future as envisioned by the past.
Since it’s completion, the film has been screened at festivals around the nation and has been enjoyed by many. It’s been shown at the Los Angeles Outfest, the LA Transgender Film Festival, and the Atlanta Shortfest. On top of those screenings, additional festivals are seeking more information about screening the film, including the Melbourne Film Festival and the New Zealand Film Festival.

Trandroids Still

At its very inception, the inspiration for the film was nothing more than a phrase uttered in a classroom. Britt recalls sitting in class, discussing gender studies, and hearing the word “trandroid” mentioned in an off-hand fashion. Despite its happenstance utterance, the moment that he heard the word, he knew it was perfect. “I wanted to do something that was gender-queer…I’ve always enjoyed sci-fi, and cyborgs are such a great way to reflect back humans own visions of themselves.”
Drawing from just that inspiration, Britt’s pre-production process began with lots of research. “I did a lot of trans and gender queer theories study.” In designing the fantasy universe, Britt crafted an environment that both harkens back to retro sci-fi films and that comments on society. The plot of the film touches on the idea of “living outside a gender binary.” In creating gendered androids or gendered cyborgs, the humans of the future are forced to delve into questions with no easy answers.

Stylistically, Britt recalls Terry Gilliam’s Brazil as a major influence – a dystopian future with pneumatic tubes for transferring material and tiny computer screens attached to typewriters. “There is always a challenge of creating this alternate world…. My decision was to use technology from the past.” Incorporating PCs from the 80′s, floppy disks, and large cathode ray tubes with flashing green text on a black screen, the universe of Trandroids both recalls the past and imagines the future.

After countless hours of hard work and perseverance, Britt is glad to see his film being seen not only at festivals, but also by those close to him. “I’m glad that I’ve been able to give it as a gift to friends… I’ve shared it with people that have inspired me, or were important in my life, or that I feel like would appreciate it, and that’s made me happy.”
And if Britt has any advice to offer fellow student filmmakers, he wants them to understand that things are never going to be perfect. “Let yourself go forward as you are. Don’t be afraid to recognize what you’ve learned.”

So what’s next for Britt? “There’s a lot of things in the pre-planning stage.” He’s going to be taking a break from big productions for the time being, and is looking forward to seeing Trandroids spread around the film community.

It is a film about the region of Southeast Oregon, an area populated by ranching and farming communities, in Lake, Harney, and Malheur counties.

Reviewer Mark Holcomb calls the film ““A brooding meditation on open space, forward motion, and the human impulse to make something out of nothing…” Check out the full review of the film on Village Voice.

Screening in D.A.E.L.’s theater on the first floor of One Park Place, the event will be free and open to the public. The filmmakers will be in attendance and answering questions during the event.

Developed during Nik Vollmer’s Experimental Film and Media Production course, the video presents a minimalistic black and white aesthetic that “takes place in a limbo state”, Alixx says. Flowing from one scene to the next in a dream-like fugue, drawing the viewer in with precision framing and purposeful action, it sets up a viewer for disorientation. It’s the kind of film that’s difficult to classify, leaving meaning open to interpretation — the way Alixx prefers. “I don’t like to say too much about what the film means to me”. He even had a tough time filling out the submission form for Wonderroot’s event — in the section that asks “What is your film about?”, Alixx wasn’t sure what to write.
 

After being introduced to experimental filmmaking during Laura Zaylea’s production course in 2011, Alixx found himself drawn toward that style of filmmaking. “I never even considered experimental before that”, Alixx explains.
 

Currently, Alixx is in the pre-production phase of his next short film Blue. Additionally, he has started writing ideas for creating two follow-up films to Violet that he would like “to be connected” in some stylistic aspects.

Violet from Alixx Covington on Vimeo.

The idea behind the workshop was to make the opening intros for the films showcased at The Tournées Festival of French Film at Georgia State University. The workshop started a hive of activity with creative folks from ASIFA-ATL and MINT in the mix!

Peripheral Visions was excited to host Craig Baldwin in the DAEL theater on the GSU campus for a hodgepodge of selected screenings and a Q&A session.

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When looking at a partnership with local community groups, non-profits, or external organizations, it’s important to set a clear understanding of purpose and direction. At the beginning of the partnership, both parties should be able to congregate under a project theme that is MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL.

In making sure that both parties involved are gaining a special transaction from the experience, longevity is encouraged, participation is ensured, and enthusiasm in the project is almost guaranteed.