The Music Inside is an independent feature film directed by HSU professor David Scheerer, which the public will see for the first time in two sneak preview screenings on Nov. 13 and 14 at the Van Duzer Theatre.
About a third of the movie was filmed at HSU and on the North Coast, and it was completed with the participation of HSU students and faculty. “These scenes comprise the part of the story that takes place in the present,” director Scheerer explained, “but like movies such as Slum Dog Millionaire, much of the story is told in flashbacks to the past.”
The flashback scenes star Amy Redford, daughter of Robert Redford, who has acted in a number of independent films as well as television series episodes. The scenes shot here star Theresa Ireland, known on the North Coast for community theatre and local commercials. Award-winning San Francisco actor Kurt Kroesche stars in both time periods as a young mental patient who becomes the middle-aged professor.
“Thematically, this film deals with the stigma and prejudice associated with mental illness,” Scheerer said, “and how love can be a source of strength in overcoming that stigma.”
The HSU Connection
When his HSU faculty colleagues in the Theatre, Film & Dance department said they wanted to include a film screening in the year’s production schedule, Scheerer saw it as a way to take care of some unfinished business, as well as to provide some unique opportunities for HSU students.
The unfinished business was a feature film, shot in 2005 when Scheerer taught film at Montana State University. Using professional actors, some of whom he’d met during his years working on what became the Sundance Film Festival, he directed the script of a former screenwriting student, Michael Van Wagenen. But test screenings revealed some problems, and the project was shelved.
Scheerer and Van Wagenen discussed a solution—a different way to frame the story of a mentally ill young man and his relationship with a young woman who was interning as a social worker. But the new version required a new character, and new scenes amounting to about a third of the complete film.
So Scheerer asked his HSU colleagues “if they would be willing to support me in shooting these new scenes. Much to my joy, the season selection committee agreed.”
So last fall, students who took a pre-production workshop became involved in making what essentially is a new movie. “They looked at the first cut, and helped me identify what worked and what didn’t work. They helped me in rewriting the script, casting the new scenes, and doing all the pre-production work.”
Students helped build the set, which eventually became something of a community effort. “Since our professor’s field is theology, we wanted to have artifacts from all religions in his office, so a lot of people across the campus helped to collect them,” Scheerer said. “These artifacts are important to the story, because part of his mental illness had been his belief that he was a prophet.”
Students returned between first and second semesters to work as the crew on the January shoot. Among guests on the set was HSU president Rollin Richmond, who “directed” a scene. “He called ‘Action!’” Scheerer said, “and ‘Cut!’”
“To do the shoot, I brought in Brian Wilcox, a professional cinematographer and a friend of mine,” Scheerer said. “And Panavision gave us the Super 16 film package, so our students got experience working with a high-end professional film package, and with a professional cinematographer.”
Other interior and exterior scenes were also shot on the HSU campus (“though we never say in the script what university it is”), and the crew journeyed up U.S. 101 to Trinidad to film a key sequence—in fact, the first scene of the movie.
“We were going to shoot the opening on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, because of its iconic quality,” Scheerer said. “But Luffenholtz Beach in Trinidad turned out to be so beautiful and so appropriate. We filmed at sunset on a gorgeous January day—it’s such a striking and impressive opening sequence that it won out over the bridge.”
HSU students then helped edit and finish the film in a post-production workshop last spring.
Theatre, Film & Dance faculty also participated in the new scenes: Jody Sekas designed the set, Rae Robison designed the costumes, and James McHugh worked on the lighting with cinematographer Wilcox.
Scheerer also enlisted Music Department professor J. Brian Post to write new score elements. Art Department Professor Wayne Knight created the storyboards for the new scenes, and designed the titles and poster elements. Knight died in October of complications from the H1N1 virus. “We’ve added a title to the film,” Scheerer said, “dedicating the screenings at HSU to Wayne.”
HSU Students Have a Piece of the Action
The participation of HSU students and faculty who worked on the film doesn’t necessarily end with the sneak preview screenings. While in Montana in 2005, Scheerer had created a cooperative ownership of The Music Inside, with the help of lawyer John Frohnmayer, former director of the National Endowment of the Arts. Essentially, everyone who worked on the film owns a piece of it, and shares in any future profits.
“The reason I’m pioneering the cooperative approach is because of my background at Sundance,” Scheerer said. “I really believed in the independent film movement in the 80s, and I could never find a way that the producers didn’t end up owning the work and making all the money. We’d rather divide the profits with the people who made the film.” Because of the North Coast shoot, HSU students are now among those people.
Profits could come from television and DVDs, perhaps after a tour of international film festivals. “If it works,” Scheerer said, “it could change the way independent films are made.”
The two sneak preview screenings at the Van Duzer Theatre are part of the process of getting The Music Inside ready for its future. “This is still a work in progress,” Scheerer said. “Since we are still able to change things, we are eager for audience feedback.” Those who attend the screenings will be asked to fill out questionnaires.
The Sneak Previews of The Music Inside are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13 and Saturday, Nov. 14 in the Van Duzer Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. Tickets are $10, $8 students and seniors, with a limited number of free seats to HSU students for each performance, from the HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. http://HSUStage.blogspot.com.