"The Day Job"
Western Michigan University’s Filmmakers Association has made production history on campus by creating the first full-length movie done by students. The film The Day Job was filmed over the summer of 2011 and completed early December. It had its premiere at The Miller Theatre. WMUK’s Jared Johnson reports:
[Movie audio] “The big news is at least one good thing came from putting our real name on the resumes. They hired us.”
The Day Job was written and directed by two Western Michigan University students: Alec Robbins and Daniel Kawka. Robbins says the story involves a crime that does not go quite as planned:
[Alec Robbins] “The story is about a bunch of bank robbers who go in to rob a bank by doing fake job interview and they mess that up and get hired there instead. So now there working at a bank and another team of bank robbers comes in and they have to fend them off. It’s a comedy.”
Robbins and Kawka knew each other before starting work on the film. They had already worked together on short films but decided it was time to tackle a full-length movie.
[Daniel Kawka] “The idea of the movie spawned off a series of short films that Alec and I had worked on for a while, we did a miniseries for a while when we first met each other called Roomhates.”
[Alec Robbins] “A little YouTube video that deleted from YouTube afterwards.”
[Daniel Kawka] “Yeah, don’t look for it, but after that we started doing some other short films, and the idea of a heist comedy.”
By the spring of 2011 the duo had a 20-member cast and a crew of at least 30. All were Western students or recent graduates. Despite a budget close to zero, the directors had to find a convincing location to shoot the film. Efforts to do that in a real bank went nowhere so they headed instead to Western’s Valley dorm complex. Cast member Jessica Parson says finding a location wasn’t the only challenge, though.
[Jessica Parson] “We were all doing this for the first time, we got lucky that we all ended up friends in the end and not ripping each others heads off”
[Crew member] “You ripped a door handle off.”
[Jessica Parson] “That’s true.”
Despite the obstacles, The Day Job was completed last summer and recently premiered at Miller Auditorium. Mike Lopetrone, one of the graduate students who worked on the film, has also worked on other more professional projects. He says the relative inexperience of the cast and crew made the film better.
[Mike Lopetrone] “We were so passionate and I think that’s been the biggest difference. Going back to making the day job everyone was just so passionate because we’re students and it’s what we wanted to do.”
Robbins and Kawka say the future of their movie is uncertain – but Robbins has high expectations.
[Alec Robbins] “We want to get it into festivals but we have no plan yet and we want to get it on DVD eventually but like I said no plan yet.”
Robbins says he and his colleagues are already working on the idea for their next project.
[Alec Robbins] “We’re working on a TV show called Schemers about a group of Western students trying to get better grades or tuition paid through things like getting hit by a Western vehicle. Stuff like that. So, that’s the current project.”
"When Hope Hatches"
Another local film still in the making is the documentary “When Hope Hatches.” The film is about a family of osprey living in the most unlikely of places, the site of an old paper mill near the contaminated Kalamazoo River. Independent filmmaker Matt Clysdale says the return of the osprey might be a sign that the river is coming back to life. Clysdale is trying to raise $25,000 by March 1st to finish “When Hope Hatches.” WMUK's Rebecca Thiele sat down with Clysdale to talk about his goals for the documentary. Click here to find out more about Clysdale's documentary and how you can help him produce it through Kickstarter.
UPDATE: Though eggshell thinning is a possible result of PCB contamination, WMUK was informed that eggshell thinning is a very small portion of what PCBs do to hinder osprey reproduction.
Other Events:
Browse the art submitted for the Multicultural Medley Contest tomorrow at the awards ceremony at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek. The contest’s goal is to increase awareness about the different aspects of diversity. The event will be held at 10:30 a.m. in the college’s Ohm Information and Technology Center, rooms 107-109.
Alice R. Beard will be doing a dramatic reading from her book series Walker’s Web tomorrow night. Walker’s Web is about a slave in the 1800s who escapes capture. The reading is at 7 p.m. in the Kalamazoo Public Library.
The Adult Softball League in Portage will be having an informational meeting tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the Portage Senior Center. Come to the meeting if you want to join a team or register a team of your own.
Take a free public tour of the Kalamazoo Institute of Art’s collection of works from African American Artists. The tour starts at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Pianist and composer Deborrah Wyndham will be performing at Foundry Hall in South Haven Friday. Wyndham plays traditional jazz as well as a mixture of modern jazz and classical music. Doors open at 7 p.m.
If you prefer classical alone, the Hagen Quartet will be at the Dalton Center Recital Hall on Western Michigan University’s campus Friday at 8 p.m. The quartet is renowned for how they draw listeners in to the classics.
