Lee Cinema begins production on first feature film
All photos by Rhianna Barrow.
Under the tutelage of Lee Cinema faculty, students are helping produce Lee University’s first feature film. Beginning in January 2020, Matthew Fisher, associate professor of communications, and Beecher Reuning, assistant professor of cinema, began filming with a team of cinema students at multiple locations in town.
“Good People of Orphan Ridge” is the cinema program’s first experience filmmaking requiring more than five days on set. It follows an eccentric rock band made up of college-aged people who decide to record one last album in a haunted house before splitting ways and entering adulthood. It is full of comedy and music but also an edge of horror. Fisher wrote the screenplay, and Reuning is serving as producer.
“The first impulse was the thought of students being involved. I knew the film would be something with college-aged characters,” said Fisher. “And, we wanted to do it simply because students will be learning while working.”
Beecher approached a few students to work alongside him to help produce and earn class credit for Feature Producing. Corinne Lothers, a junior cinema major, works on the crew as an associate producer handling the planning for shooting dates. Filming took place over 15 days, beginning in January of this semester. Over spring break, the film crew set up to film over six days.
“My favorite part has to be the shoots that we did over spring break,” said Lothers. “It was a six and a half-day shoot, and it was so much fun,” she said. “We built a strong community and did so much amazing work. It will be something I won’t ever forget.”
Throughout their time on set, students had the opportunity to have hands-on experience and put concepts learned in class to practice.
“It is so great to see students find their lane. So many freshmen enter cinema excited about movies. They’re creative, and they have no idea what they want to do or what even is possible,” said Reuning. “To see students after a year or two, find the thing that just lights them up then also see them work in those roles is such a cool experience.”
“Good People of Orphan Ridge” will be in post-production phases over the next few months. Cinema students can take Advanced Motion Picture Editing in the fall, which will focus on editing and special effects for the film.
Reuning noted it will take time to finish the post-production phases, but “in a perfect world, we will be ready to screen it sometime next year.”
More information about the film can be found on Lee Cinema’s Facebook Page.
