Junior Dan Battistone and Miami alumnus Stephen Murray act as first assistant cameraman and director
Three years ago, JC Schroder, Miami University student and president of the Miami Association of Filmmakers and Independent Actors (M.A.F.I.A.), began brainstorming an idea for a new film that he never imagined would become what he calls the largest movie production in Miami's history.
With a cast and crew of more than 100 people, comprised of students, alumni and film industry professionals from all over the country, thousands of dollars are being spent to ensure the success of this film.
The product of Schroder's imagination, The End of All Things, a film that began production about three months ago, conveys the story of an explosion that occurs on a crowded college campus, the aftermath and how the characters of the film react to their situations, according to Schroder.
"The film takes a close look at the lives of nine different characters that experienced the disaster firsthand," Schroder said.
Originally, when the concept of this film was thought up three years ago, Schroder put his ideas for this disaster film on the back burner.
"I realized my idea was not plausible, because of how big it would be, let alone, how expensive it would be to film," Schroder said.
However, Schroder decided he was ready to make this movie when he saw the success of his film Freedomland at last year's first annual Oxford International Film Festival. Freedomland has been critically acclaimed at many global film festivals, such as the Lite Brite Film and Music Festival and the Oxford Film Festival, and was awarded four stars by filmthreat.com, one of the leading independent film companies in the world.
According to Schroder, the money for the film came from the profit of his other films, and the use of the actual camera equipment was funded by Associated Student Government (ASG). The success of Freedomland made it possible.
"Anyone who attends the 2008 Oxford International Film Festival (OIFF) that will take place from April 10-13 can see this film," said Darren Bailey, one of the leading roles in The End of All Things and a Miami alumnus. "The film will then go on to a national film festival circuit, where it can be seen by thousands more."
Schroder used the profits made by the success of his previous films to fund his new project.
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"The money is coming from the director himself," Bailey said. "While ASG funds the actual equipment to shoot the production, but not the production itself, such as food for the cast, wardrobe, etc. The director's actual job is making films for MAFIA, StarCom Productions, a company founded by Schroder in 2000, and heading up the Oxford International Film Festival. He gets paid for that stuff and puts his money right back into his productions."
For Schroder, the idea of making an explosion film was revived soon after the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University last year. After that incident, Schroder decided it was the right time to start writing the script for his film.
Schroder said when he first thought of the story, he intended to make a science fiction film, but when these events occurred, he developed a new story, where he wanted to capture the perspectives of college students who live in similar times to what we live in today.
"I wanted to film a serious drama to do something different for a change. This film is not like my personality at all, I usually do comedy pieces," Schroder said when asked the reason for creating a film on this topic.
Although the storyline of the explosion at the school is not supposed to mimic the events of Virginia Tech or September 11, Schroder realizes that viewers will naturally draw connections between his film and events relating to terrorism and violence.
When Schroder said that when he sat down to write the script he did not want the movie to be solely about the event of the explosion, but instead about the characters, and what struggles and feelings they were going through in response to the catastrophe. In fact, the cause of the explosion is never revealed in the film. Each member of the audience is left to draw his or her own conclusions about the cause of it.
Instead of first creating the characters, then casting people to fill the different roles, Schroder cast people, then went back and rewrote the script based off of the cast.
"The characters are modeled off of the real people, for example two of the characters in the film are supposed to play a recently graduated newlywed couple and they are actually played by a recently graduated newlywed couple," said Olivia Otten, a Miami sophomore and casting director for the film.
The End of All Things will be shot largely on Miami's campus, with some scenes being shot at the actors' actual apartments, at Kofenya and mobile camera work on different streets around town, Bailey said.
Nov. 16, 17 and 18, Irvin and McGuffey halls will have parts closed off for some effects concerning the explosion itself. Filmmakers plan to use fog machines, flickering lights, broken desks and shattered glass to create the image of the explosion. Officials from the Oxford Police and Fire Departments have been notified about the filming this weekend and some of these officials will actually appear in the film.
"It sounds like it's a very creative and compelling idea that conveys social awareness on a sheltered campus," sophomore Chris Kelleher said. "It may sound very controversial, but bombs going off in school buildings are an everyday thing for some people."
The process of getting everything approved in order to film was enormous, according to Schroder. As the writer and director of the film, Schroder had to contact dozens of people to make filming a reality.
"The film had a lot of support from the faculty," Schroder said. "We also got everything approved to let people know ahead of time what to expect with the filming in order to avoid panic."
Although many people have been warned that a film is being made, Schroder is expecting someone to call 9-1-1 when they see 100 extras running away from a smoky Irvin Hall.
This weekend will be the last two days of filming and anyone who is interested in being an unpaid extra should contact Otten at ottenok@muohio.edu to get the times and locations in which they can participate.
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