The short film ‘Alchemy,’ recently shown at Bijou Cinemas, was directed by Eugene-based filmmaker Craig Mahaffy.
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Digital technology frees filmmaker
LOW PRODUCTION
COSTS MEAN LESS POWER
for Hollywood
By Biyan Petersen
Oregon Daily Emerald
There was a time, not all that
long ago, when making any
kind of quality film took qual
ity cash, and a lot of it.
Well, chalk up another victory
•for modern technology. Now,
thanks to huge advances in digital
technology, one can make a high
quality film for next to nothing.
Craig Eugene Mahaffy is a 37
year-old filmmaker who found his
way to Oregon from Lynchburg,
Term. He is somewhat of a rebel as
far as filmmakers go, a man who sees
importance in artistic individuality
and expression in a field that, for the
most part, encourages anything but.
“My favorite filmmakers,” he
says, “are those who express a
strong vision in this incredibly com
petitive and divisive field, without
sacrificing their artistic integrity.”
Mahaffy is the director of
“Alchemy,” an oblique, surreal
short film that recently played at
the Bijou. He is also the director of
Zapadak Productions, a collabora
tive group of actors, writers and
filmmakers based in Eugene."
The film includes two charac
ters: Anna and Victor, played by
Barbora Bakalarova and Richard
Leebrick of Eugene’s Lord Lee
brick Theater Company.
Once, the two were lovers.
Now, however, Anna is alone, and
she summons Victor to the seclud
ed cottage she has isolated herself
in. She seems desperate to regain
some kind of connection with
him. But after a night of rehashing
hostility and confused passions,
the two end up alone.
The striking thing about “Alche
my” is its symbolic, dreamy surre
alism. It’s hard at first to tell that a
story resides in these thirteen min
utes of psyche
delia.
Mark, who de
clined to give his
last name, is an
employee of the
Bijou who agrees
that the film is somewhat dense.
“It was very intriguing. It seemed
like there was a lot in there that I
wasn’t quite picking up on. ‘Artsy’
is the word that comes to mind. I
walked away thinking that it was a
well-made film, production-wise.
As far as story, plot and character, I
felt it was a little difficult, but it def
initely had lots of potential.”
Mahaffy and Zapadak Produc
tions are currently working on a
new feature-length film, which
should thrust this potential way
into the realm of artistic reality.
The new film, which is current
ly in pre-production, will be titled
“The Day Bloch Died.”
The story takes place at a party
that is going on in a huge artist’s
loft in the industrial section of
Portland, Ore. As people arrive at
the party, news reports are coming
in that race riots have broken out
around the country in several ma
jor cities, and martial law has been
imposed in these places. While
the race riots have not spread to
Portland, the police and the city it
self are in a high state of alert.
“The Day Bloch Died” will be
shot entirely in digital video and
then will be transferred to film.
Mahaffy is enthusiastic about
working with this new technology,
which he hopes will take some of the
power away from the Hollywood
movie moguls, whom he described
as having dollar signs for eyes and
discouraging original ideas.
“What we have in Hollywood is
an industry which seeks to reflect
back to viewers what analysts and
test-data tell them people want to
see,” Mahaffy says. “This may be
entertainment, but it is not art.”
Digital technology now allows
filmmakers to produce high-quality
films for little money, he adds,
widening the field for those who
consider movie making an art form.
“As the medium becomes less
and less expensive, we are going
to see a huge upsurge in films
which represent the artist’s
unique vision rather than an at
tempt to cater to a studio’s idea of
what will sell the most. ”
Oregon native premiers film at Bijou
The L.A.-based
FILMMAKER COMES HOME
TO MAKE MOVIE
By Biyan Petersen
Oregon Daily Emerald
Iook out, Hollywood, here
comes Oregon. More and more
filmmakers from this fair state
are hoping to bypass the South
ern California film capital and bring
productions and premiers home.
One example is Oregon
writer/director Kevin Hageman,
who will premier his short film
“Dawn of the Dwellers,” a teen
age comedy thriller, at the Bijou
on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Hageman conceived the idea for
“Dawn of Dwellers” while attend
ing Loyola Marymount Film School
in southern California. Instead of go
ing with the traditional Hollywood
production scheme, he returned to
Oregon to shoot the film.
The cast and crew was com
posed of more than 200 students,
most attending the University, as
well as young, up-and-coming
professional crew members and
three Oregon production compa
nies: Alcala Music Publishing,
Tektronix and 245 Media.
Alcala Music, based in Eugene,
provided audio postproduction,
the music soundtrack and the
score for the film. In doing so, Al
cala recorded Oregon’s first or
chestral film score.
The film was edited on equip
ment provided by Oregon-based
Tektronix, and Eugene’s 245 Me
dia will handle marketing.
Hageman’s brother Dan, who at
tends the University, says while
they were growing up in Lake Os
wego Kevin was always interested
in making films, although direct
ing is somewhat of a recent twist.
“He and I did a lot of acting, but
then as a career move he decided
he wanted to go into directing in
stead of acting. He’s a really good
actor, but he doesn’t really expect
to become an actor in Hollywood.
He really wants to direct. ”
“Dawn of the Dwellers” has in
spired “The Dwellers,” a feature
length version of the film that will
be shown at the Bijou, which is
only about 45 minutes long. The
brothers Hageman will work to
gether on “The Dwellers,” which
will span more than two hours.
What 'Dawn of the Dwellers’
When: Premiers Saturday
at 3 p.m.
Where: Bijou Cinemas
“We’ve been working on the full
length script for over two years, re
vising it over and over. Some of the
same characters are in it, but there
is more of a distinct plot. The peo
ple who have been reading it in
Hollywood have been really im
pressed, and it’s looking more and
more like it will be made.”
While Kevin is still based in
Southern California, Dan says his
brother hopes to return to Oregon.
“He wants to work in L.A., but
eventually he wants to move up to
Oregon. He hopefully will make
enough of a name for himself so
that he will be able to work in Ore
gon, and people will be calling him
with work no matter where he is. ”
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