There's nothing like the sound of rushing air, the rhythmic beating of a heart and the alluring sigh of echoes to usher moviegoers into an almost otherworldly experience. Brown Television screened its first student-made feature film, "Two Hearts," Friday at the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts. The film, funded by a grant from the Creative Arts Council, took about a year to produce and involved over 100 Brown students from many artistic disciplines.
To summarize the complex plot of "Two Hearts" would be akin to summarizing the Bible. The film follows a dancer named Vesper, played by Madeleine Heil '13, who struggles to fit in with her peers. Vesper happens across a very cute and very bloodstained angel, played by Christopher Fitzsimmons '13.5. Heil brings pitch-perfect strength and vulnerability to the lead role. She has the ability to hypnotize a crowd, conveying a breadth of emotions in split seconds.
The film is infused with haunting music and beautiful cinematography, a testament to Brown's student talent. "It was shot amazingly well," said Will Vinci '11, a former BTV member. The film uses close-ups and odd angles, playing with soft and harsh lighting that manages to tint the ordinary so that it seems a dimension or two off. This is a movie that asks viewers to go along for the ride - it includes mean dancers, ticking clocks, frolics in the rain, alleyway encounters and knives wet from murder.
While the film is not specifically set in Providence, the Brown community will recognize some city and University haunts. There's a fair share of partying in the Delta Tau fraternity basement, as well as a breathtaking dance scene showing just how magnificent Salomon Center looks on camera. The team also filmed at city spots such as Hotel Providence, St. George's Church and Weybosset Street.
Dorothy Thurston '13.5, the film's executive producer, wrote the screenplay. Thurston, a student in the Department of Theater Arts and Performance Studies completing the "Writing for Performance" track, only had playwriting experience before writing the script for the film last September. The 22-year-old submitted it to BTV's screenwriting competition last fall, won and ended up filming during the spring semester, shooting five to seven hours per day, she said - making her schedule "absolutely wild." Thurston also took part in a group independent study project titled "Character: Script to Screen" with other students working on the film.
The entire project was a learning process, from the original screenwriting, to the GISP, to making the movie. BTV provides "good hands-on experience for people who are also learning, so it's a combination of teaching each other and learning from each other," said producer and actress Alexis Aurigemma '13, who plays Vesper's roommate. "It made me fully realize that I want to do producing rather than acting," she said.
Several student groups contributed to the film's creation. The Fusion Dance Company choreographed and volunteered dancers to be in the movie, the Brown Madrigal Singers submitted music and the Brown Music Co-op helped provide other musicians.
"Two Hearts" was director Calvin Main's '12 third time making a film at Brown, allowing him to solidify his experiences. "I did it as a passion project," he said. "I really wanted to utilize all of my film knowledge."
The actors, who had worked primarily on stage, faced new challenges that accompany screen work. Fitzsimmons, who plays the angel Gabriel, said some scenes required as many as 50 takes. The film dwells on imagery and slow motion with a good dose of action. It merely puts up with dialogue, instead lending greater emphasis to silence. "I wanted to write something that was very visually image-oriented," Thurston said. In writing the screenplay, she said, she wanted to find a way to bring Brown arts groups into a project. By setting scenes at a dance academy, she gave herself "a world to play with."
The Granoff Center also provided inspiration. "I went in there, and I was, like, what an incredible space - we need to feature this." The production team recorded music at the center and filmed in and around it. The space inspired the music with its "artistically clean look" and "classical vibe," juxtaposed with the "grungy" building materials, Thurston said. Such a combination called for music that falls somewhere between dubstep and classical, reflecting an upper-class dance world that contrasts with the grunge and darkness of the city, Thurston said.
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