Two Ballard film students, Leo Pfeifer and Coleman Andersen, won Best Drama in the junior division at the CineYouth Awards on May 9, at Columbia College in Chicago. Their short film, “Stolen,” won the prize.

The film portrays a man seeking revenge after his wife died from a heart attack after a conman tried to steal from her.

Both Andersen and Pfeifer are third year students in the BHS Digital Filmmaking Program. 

“It’s always great to win awards and have your films appear at festivals. … It’s really gratifying for people to recognize the film after all the editing and work you put into it. To be able to connect with people and share a story is the best part of making a film,” said Pfeifer.

The two developed the concept and wrote the script over the summer and filmed it over winter break. The film explores ethical issues by revealing that the conman was making his cons in order to support a family.

“I think this film is an improvement from our other movies because it has two main characters, and it’s kind of morally ambiguous as to which one (character) is the good guy or the bad guy. They both have motive for doing what they are doing,” said Andersen. “There’s not a definite bad guy and the audience doesn’t know what the right choice is for the characters. … We took the idea of the conman not being as bad as he seems and ran with it.”

Andersen said that the inspiration came after a conman posed as an Internal Revenue Service agent called his mother and told her she owned them money. They figured out it was a con, but Andersen started thinking about the conman’s motives. Andersen was in London at the time.

“I was just sitting on a tour bus when my mom called and told me. We were waiting, and I was bored and started thinking ‘what if he had a family?’

“ The process for developing all of our films together has started with a very small -- a very basic idea,” said Pfeifer.

On the technical level, the two tried different styles of lighting and camera lenses to visually communicate the themes of the film. In previous films they used Panasonic fixed lens camera, but for “Stolen” they rented a better camera and tried different lighting techniques. Pfeifer did the camera work for “Stolen.”

“A lot people get really obsessed with what equipment they are using, but in this case it allowed us to be more expressive in the camera work and the lighting and really led us to be able to tell our story in a better way. We basically approach every film and every aesthetic choice for the film thinking about how to best tell our story.”

The two said they try to communicate the mood they want the audience to feel as they witness each scene. Costume, sound, lighting, camera angles and frame are all arranged to communicate their vision. The two said that the “showing” aspect of each film is what they aim for, rather than “telling.” One example of this is that scenes of “Stolen” are shot in bright and sunny settings at the beginning , but as the story unfolds scenes become dark and rainy. They also use harsher light and shadow to depict the emotion of the characters as their conflicts and motivation emerge.

“The program at Ballard really emphasizes telling a story visually. So even though there is some dialogue in the film, the key moments are told visually.”

The two also thought that music would have been good element to the film. They said they searched for the right songs, but it was difficult to find the right match for the themes and tone of the film. They decided to use a synthesized hum.

“Music is kind of out of the realm of reality and ‘Stolen’ is a very realistic movie, so it made sense not to include it,” said Andersen.

Andersen and Pfeifer have been working together for the last three years and have produced other films that have gained recognition. They had three films in this year’s National Film Festival For Talented Youth, which took place last month in Seattle.

Their film, “Clipped Wings,” tells the story of individuals affected by Boy Scouts of America ban on gay scout leaders and won an audience choice award in the screening category it was in. The film is posted online and has over 200,000 views.

“Air Pressure” also was shown and is about a man who makes balloon animals who struggles with guilt after burning down a theatre.

Andersen is a senior and will be continuing his film education at NYU next fall.  Pfeifer, a junior, also plans to study filmmaking in college.  

“Film is a collaborative art so when you find someone you work well with, you kind of want to keep that going,” said Andersen.

“The most important thing about making film is to surround yourself with people who are passionate about it and who are putting the effort in. That will always result in a better film,” said Pfeifer.

CineYouth is a project of the Chicago International Film Festival.  Its an annual event and celebrates short films by filmmakers 21 years old and younger from around the world.  As winner of the prize for Best Drama, “Stolen” will screen in the CineYouth “Best of the Fest” at the 51st Chicago International Film Festival next October.
 
 For more information on the BHS Digital Filmmaking Program, visit www.bhsvideo.blogspot.com and www.vimeo.com/bhsfilmprogram