REEL LIFE
Reel Life is a film inspired by the mentality of three slackers as they are faced with a proposition that could inevitably end in a student’s worse nightmare: failing out. Although the film has no direct correlation to us as the creators we felt it would be an interesting twist to try to incorporate multiple ideas into one film. The premise of the film simply arose from our everyday discussions about what type, or genre, we should enter into the film festival. Our inspiration for creating Reel Life came naturally to us because it used what we were good at: coming up with ideas and not necessarily picking one. We constructed tens and tens of movie ideas, but there was always one of us who just didn’t not believe the proposal was adequate. Therefore the film was very simple: create a film about the concepts we think about, and then after each one rip each others ideas apart ruthlessly. As we began to brainstorm we had a sudden realization that in fact the most superlative idea would be to combine the different options into one film, and basically document the journey of how it is we came to our final decision.
The process was difficult. Three different minds with fairly distinct ideas made the process longer than expected and at some points very trying mentally and physically, but the excitement and enjoyment every day on set was well worth it. None of us had very much knowledge about the process of filmmaking nor had we been involved with film production, however through the development of the project we began to understand, respect, and appreciate the effort it takes to bring a creation, from just a concept to and on-screen production, into fruition. We approached our film in an unusual manner because we wanted to investigate what creating a film would be like if we shot, came up with ideas, and constructed as we went. Overall our experience with this filmmaking process was exactly what we were hoping for; to entertain ourselves while trying to create something that would entertain those who watch.
Matt Kiel,
Co-Director
