It isn’t every day a person gets to rub shoulders with a bunch of movie directors, or attend an invitation-only screening of their latest work.
Never mind that their latest work is pretty much their only work — so far.
"This was my first time directing. It was crazy, nerve-racking," said Kathleen Savery, 30, a student at Henry Cogswell College in Everett.
"This little five-minute clip took about 20 hours," added Susan Kraemer, 49, who co-directed a scene titled "Saved By the Bell" with Savery and another Cogswell student, 23-year-old Laura Triplett.
They were enrolled last spring and summer in Cogswell instructor Hank Isaac’s film directing class.
Weeks ago, I visited the class in Peed Hall on Colby Avenue, where Cogswell’s school of digital arts and administrative offices are located. Established in 1979 with help from the Boeing Co., the private, independent college also has a school of business and a school of engineering, technology and science at its Wetmore Center in downtown Everett.
Sitting in darkness in the screening room, I saw samples of three works in progress, and heard fledgling filmmakers describe unexpected challenges.
There were high winds the night directors Jeff Wright, Aratana Nualkhair and Diego Thor shot a scene called "Lizzy." The moody little drama, involving an 11-year-old actress and a burly character in overalls named Bubba, was filmed on the Boeing spur railroad tracks that run from the Everett assembly plant to the main Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail line in Mukilteo.
Through a friend, Isaac arranged use of the tracks.
"Saved By the Bell" was filmed in the historic home at 2130 Colby Ave. that Ed and Betty Morrow donated to the city last year. Set in a dining room, it involves a bigoted father waiting to meet his son’s fiance.
A third scene, a comedy of shoplifting and trickery, is called "Shooting Gallery." Directed by Camille Hansen, Paul Ehreth and Chris Goad, it was shot at the Everett Mall Sears store.
"They only had from 8 to 9:45 a.m. to set it up, shoot it and take it down before the store opened," said Isaac, a native New Yorker with a screenwriting background.
Isaac, whose father was a Metro Goldwyn Mayer executive, wrote the three pieces for his student directors. To find actors, he spread the word in area theatrical circles.
"We had 14 actors in all. The directors got to go through an audition process," Isaac said.
When the term ended in August before all the work was done, Isaac pushed his students to complete their mini-movies. "He’s not a 9-to-5 teacher," said 20-year-old Ehreth. "Hank is 24/7."
With the actors in attendance, they’ll screen the short films next Saturday night at the college. Actors will get copies of their films for professional portfolios.
"It definitely gave them a real look at what can take place on a set during a shoot," said Joe Andolina, 47, an Everett actor who’s in the mall film. "It was a great experience for them, and a great experience for the actors.
"They’re learning. They have a ways to go, but the atmosphere was purely professional," said Andolina, who worked on the CBS drama "The Fugitive" during shooting in Snohomish County.
I was invited Thursday to see two of the pieces while directors ironed out bugs. Filmmakers gasped at flaws I’d never notice — tiny variations in light, a continuity glitch when a character wears a jacket in one shot and then doesn’t, a glimpse of a microphone.
"It was a lot of work. Everybody met the challenge," Isaac said. Moviemaking, he said, "is a difficult business. Talent is only part of it. It’s really who you know."
That left me wondering what in the world these students plan to do. It’s as varied as the plots of their directorial debuts.
Savery, who comes from Los Angeles and lives in Monroe, is in the Cogswell bachelor’s program in film and video. Her goal is admission to a UCLA screenwriting program.
Ehreth hopes to get into video-game production. With little direction after high school, the Everett man has found it in digital arts studies at Cogswell, a college of only about 250 students.
Kraemer of Mill Creek has been at the school since 1999. That’s when she "saw it coming," a layoff at Boeing. After 15 years in tool design at the company, she lost her job a year ago.
"It’s like a divorce. But I’m not alone," she said.
Kraemer has no illusions of Hollywood fame. She does believe she can earn a living shooting video, from weddings to creating streaming video companies need for Web sites. She has invested in a camera and other equipment, and works to keep up with technology.
At almost 50, she’s starting over. Her movie is fine and dandy. It’s her tenacity I applaud.
I’ve driven past Peed Hall in downtown Everett a thousand times, often wondering what goes on inside. Great things go on in there.
Little movies, big dreams. All they need is popcorn.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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