Chelsea Ryan, a film student at our very own university, directed a film titled “I Am Musical” for her capstone project. She took some time and answered some questions about her film for this blog via e-mail.
The film will have its theatrical premiere at Pollack Tempe Cinemas on Dec. 16 at 8 p.m.
Visit the “I Am Musical” Facebook page and view the trailer here. State Press Magazine: What inspired you to take on this project? Chelsea Ryan: I was inspired to take on the project of "I Am Musical" after watching one of my favorite musical films, "Meet Me in St. Louis." I thought, if Vincent Minnelli can take original music and make an amazingly entertaining film then so can I. I’ve always loved a challenge and making a 25-minute short musical film with original music, choreography, and story is a good definition of a challenge. It was just an added bonus that ASU’s School of Theatre and Film had never had a musical capstone.
SPM: Are you a big musical fan? CR: I am a huge musical fan. Theater or film, doesn’t matter. When I was younger my family spent most of our “together time” watching "Fiddler on the Roof," "Grease," "My Fair Lady," "The Sound of Music," "Singin’ in the Rain" and Annie. I was also involved in a couple musicals at my high school and am a Thespian Society card carrier. The stage was truly the first place I fell in love with the musical, but the screen has it’s own place in my heart as well.
SPM: How was the casting process? CR: The casting process in Arizona was tough. We knew we needed two talented ladies who held the triple-threat of singing, dancing, and acting, to fill our main roles, a charming and charismatic male heartthrob, and a washed up Broadway thespian as the school’s drama teacher. We went through several avenues to get the word out to actors and performers in the Valley and after two weeks and several auditions we settled on the wonderful and talented Lindsey Curley and Emily Price as our Lauren and Liz respectively. Lindsey came to us through the School of Theatre and Film and Emily belonged to the Ruth Leighton’s Talent Agency. For each audition, actors had to prepare a monologue of their choice as well as two musical pieces they could either sing a cappella or with a CD. In the beginning we had trouble finding our heartthrob character, T.J.. After two of our top choices dropped out due to scheduling issues we found Paul Savory who fit our description perfectly. For the role of Mr. Fountain we already had the thought of casting Mark Shannon, whom we had seen previously in an audition for another student capstone film we produced the semester before.
SPM: How was the filming process? CR: After five months of casting, drafting, and planning, 26 crew members and 7 cast members left Phoenix to film "I Am Musical" in a small town just one hour south of Las Vegas called Bullhead City. It rests right on the Colorado River directly across from Laughlin, Nevada. Since it was summer time we had access to the town’s high school Mohave High, where their principal, Michael Leuck, gave us access to the schools classrooms, hallways, theatre, and newly remodeled gym. Murphy’s Law paid us a nasty visit the day before we were supposed to head out there, when the school’s district office decided to deny us access to the school and after a few hours of pleading and negotiating and with Principal Leuck’s assistance we were able to convince them to let us continue. We spent seven days filming 31 out of the 32 scenes in the script, averaging twelve to fourteen hours each day. Cast and crew all stayed at the Hiltop Hotel/Motel (or as we nicknamed it the HoMo). Needless to say, it was not the ritziest of places but it fit our student budget and was just down the street from our primary shooting locations. After seven surreal filming days, we all left Bullhead City as a family and have stayed close ever since, knowing that we had accomplished something truly unique to student filmmakers in the Valley.
We still had one more scene to shoot for the film, which happened to be the final scene, and it took place at a bar/music venue. Having shot in June we had several months of cushion to work with and plan out this scene perfectly. All the pieces fell into place and the first week of school we shot the final scene in four hours. Proud of our accomplishments, we went to “dump” the footage onto our computer and begin the editing process, when we realized that the card from the camera was not giving us access to it’s data. Murphy’s Law had reared its ugly head again and we found ourselves with all of that final scene footage hijacked by a 64 GB memory card. Eager to finish this movie in time and not willing to surrender to the evil forces that make their way onto film sets, we set another date to reshoot the final scene. This time we had a more controlled location (courtesy of Pollack Investments) and time to set up a more complicated and visually stimulating scene. After November 12, we had officially wrapped production of "I Am Musical" and successfully re-shot our final scene. In total the film was shot over 11 days and involved over 45 filmmakers from ASU, Scottsdale Community College, Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences, and the Art Institute.
SPM: Has making this film been the experience you thought it would be? CR: Watching "I Am Musical" grow and evolve from the original short story my sister and I wrote one late night, when we both couldn’t sleep, to the completed film it is today has been a process I could have only dreamed about. I had made “movies” when I was younger playing around with a camcorder and Windows Movie Maker, but this was the first film experience where my crew was more than five people and budget was over $50. Also, as Producer/Director, I was able to be involved in all aspects of the film creatively and logistically, which was perfect for me as I am a business marketing and film production major. Knowing that I will be able to participate in something as radical, outrageous, and rewarding as "I Am Musical" has been, for the rest of my career completely blows my mind. The biggest reward, that I never expected to come from this film, was the family that was created between the cast and crew of "I Am Musical." I am definitely looking forward to our wrap party this December.
SPM: What do you personally hope to do with your film degree? CR: I am 29 days away from graduation and my first plan of action is to head to New York City. As a film major you are basically stuck with two geographical options to start your career, Los Angeles or The Big Apple. When I was twelve my family took a trip to NY and I fell in love with the city, the culture, the food, and the energy. With film degree in hand, I am hoping to start right away working on the sets of the city’s home-based television shows or try my luck with Broadway and work my way up from the mail room clerk or set PA to the creative producer. I am confident that my film degree will serve me well in the future because I have been equipped with the knowledge and professionalism required in the industry thanks to my professors in the School of Theatre and Film.
SPM: Would you like to tell the readers a bit about your film? CR: New school, new friends, new job, new problems. Liz knew she belonged on the stage but she soon realizes that the students of Bobby Kennedy High have a different way of running things. Will she impress the bitter Mr. Fountain and earn her place in the high school production or lose her heart to her enemy’s ex-boyfriend? The musical numbers are all original and written by Daniel Rojas (a recent graduate of ASU).
SPM: Anything else you would like to add? CR: Thank you to my family, my friends, my mentors, and my professors at ASU. "I Am Musical" would be nothing without all of you.
