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Out of the classroom, behind the camera

Two teachers spend their summer shooting an independent film in New Mexico.

By LOGAN NEILL
Published August 30, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - For many teachers, the summer break is often a time to relax and unwind from the busy world of classrooms and lesson plans.

But for Hernando High School instructors Chris Fickley and Tony Miziko, summer brought with it the irresistible lure of lights, cameras and action, prompting both to head west to participate in the making of an independent film.

Fickley and Miziko spent 11 days in New Mexico's Rio Grande Valley working with a 12-member cast and crew on a film adaptation of a short story written by an actor friend of Fickley's.

But despite the glamorous perceptions that filmmaking may have, both men insist that the whirlwind project was no idle vacation.

"It was hard work," said Fickley, who directed and acted in the film, tentatively titled La Mesa. "We had a small budget and not much time to get the job done. We probably did the movie in about a third of the time that most filmmakers would do it in."

Fickley, who teaches social studies and drama at Hernando High, got involved in the project in May after receiving a call from longtime friend and actor Walker Haynes.

Haynes, who lives in California, had written a story about a Mexican-American boy who witnesses the murder of his family by gangsters and grows up vowing to avenge their deaths. He wanted to adapt the tale to film.

Fickley, who had done work in a few independent films, agreed to lend a hand.

Miziko, who teaches honors English at the school, and who has known Fickley through community theater circles, agreed to sign on as a technical assistant.

The film's meager $10,000 budget meant foregoing many of the luxuries enjoyed by more elaborate Hollywood productions. The entire staff, from actors to crew members, was made up of volunteers.

Props and equipment consisted largely of donated items and services. Even the New Mexico Film Office chipped in by making available a 500-acre horse ranch near La Mesa, N.M., which served as the backdrop for the film, as well as an abandoned 19th-century hotel for the shooting of several indoor scenes.

The cast and crew's work pace was grueling, often involving 16-hour shooting days, which were frequently done in 110-plus degree heat. Fickley's goal was to shoot between six and 10 scenes each day - a tough feat to pull off using just one camera.

In addition to directing actors, Fickley and the staff often worked into the wee hours rewriting the script for the next day's shoot.

Miziko, who was enlisted to play a minor character role in the film, said that while one scene was being filmed, he and other crew members were often busy setting up for the next one.

"Some days we all were operating on just a few hours of sleep," said Miziko. "The idea was to do as much as possible to allow time at the end to go back and do re-shoots if necessary."

Fickley, who has been directing high school drama students for the better part of the past decade, said that instructing actors for film required a different tact than directing for the live stage.

"The most significant thing is making sure that your voice and vision as a director makes it to the film," said Fickley. "A stage production changes every night depending on how the actors deliver their lines. For a film, you have to have more continuity from scene to scene because what's laid down is permanent. Going back to change things is more difficult, if not impossible."

Thankfully, says Fickley, the cast, which included Haynes and professional actors Kristin Proctor and Bruce Ladd, was up to the challenge of the demanding pace of the project.

The entire production was shot with a digital video camera that simulates a standard 24-frames-per-second cinematic camera and stores sounds and images onto a computer. Fickley estimates that shooting to video saved about $50,000 in production costs.

As it stands, the film is about 85 percent complete. Fickley plans to fly to California this fall to oversee the shooting of some final scenes and to take part in post-production of the film.

From the 20 minutes of edited footage he has seen so far, Fickley is pleased. His plan is to unveil the 90-minute movie next summer with a local showing at his school's auditorium.

Future plans also include entering it in national and regional film festivals.

Fickley and Miziko said that despite the often harried pace of the film project, both were thrilled to be given the opportunity to be involved with it.

"It was challenging, but fun as well," said Fickley. "A lot went into it, so hopefully a lot will come out of it as well."

[Last modified August 29, 2006, 22:37:39]