Fault Line Film Festival allows filmmakers to explore their craft

To area filmmakers, the annual Fault Line Film Festival represents an opportunity, but that chance looks different depending on the director.

The festival features short films created by students around the Cape Girardeau area and beyond, with a $1,000 grand prize for the winner and smaller prizes for category picks.

But because the films are necessarily short, for co-directors Tiffany Wofford and Sierra Carter, that means focusing on set, aesthetic and feel.

"We focused more on the style and look of the film," Wofford said.

The pair's film, "The Brownie Strikes Back," is only 7 1/2 minutes long, so developing a complicated plot wasn't really feasible, they said. Instead, they opted to make their story's strangeness its own dynamic element. The female protagonist falls asleep, finding herself led by a costumed figure through a domestic dreamscape.

Tiffany Wofford, left, and Sierra Carter pose for a photo Wednesday in Carter's home, where their short-film, "The Brownie Strikes Back," was filmed.Fred Lynch

Carter said the pair used colored lighting and shooting angles partly inspired by '80s movies' visual cues to create the mood.

Another director, Larry Miller, doubled down on narrative, seeing the short-film format instead as an opportunity to see how succinctly he could tell a more conventional tale.

Miller's film depicts two brothers struggling with the murder of their father and the younger's mental illness.

The original idea, he said, came from a story written by one of his fraternity brothers.

"I'm a writer as well, so I tend to take a little bit [more] time on writing my screenplays," he said. "But there are so many things you have to think about. Themes, subtext, character motives."

Once the writing's done, he said, the actual filming process can begin.

Miller, Wofford and Carter are all in the same film class at Southeast Missouri State University, and their assignment was to enter the festival.

That served to motivate them, they said, but also meant they had less time than they otherwise would have.

The filming and editing process, Miller said, took about two weeks and wasn't easy.

First was casting, using mostly actors from Southeast's River Campus, whom he said were eager and good to work with.

"Once you get them on set, since they're already wanting to act, that helps a lot," he said.

Next was the logistics of filming, which included some scenes at Saint Francis Medical Center.

He, Wofford and Carter did the editing for their respective films themselves.

"After those two weeks of just working hard, staying up all night getting the footage, once you're finally done, it's such a rewarding and fulfilling feeling to have," Miller said. "All the sleep you lost, it doesn't matter once the movie's made."

He said one of the most valuable aspects of the experience was getting more comfortable behind the camera.

"I think we learned a lot about directing," Wofford agreed. "We got out of our comfort zones and especially figured out how important planning is."

It's exciting, she said, even if the end result was too ambiguous for her mother.

"She didn't really get it until the end," Wofford said. "But I definitely want to make more."

The Fault Line awards show will be at noon Wednesday at Bedell Hall on the River Campus.

The films will be screened at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 in Rose Theatre on Southeast's campus.

Both events are free to the public.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627

Pertinent address:

518 S. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Normal Avenue and North Pacific Street, Cape Girardeau, Mo.