Narrative Video Project - Poster

West Race Video Art Show

CALLING ALL IUSB STUDENTS OF VIDEO ART - You could have your work exhibited alongside the River Bend Film Festival at Century Center. Here's what we need: an email from you, sent to artscodec @ gmail.com by March 31st. Include a link to the piece you're submitting. This is a fantastic opportunity to put your art in front of the community! Help us get the word out!

Wonder Women (Roller Derby Documentary)

Wonder Women from Bridget Johnson on Vimeo.


Producer/Director: Sky Santiago
Director of Photography: Mark Sniadecki
Editor: Bridget Johnson

Diegetic/Nondiegetic Video

Diegetic/Nondiegetic Sound from Mark Sniadecki on Vimeo.

"The Interview" (a screenplay)

1    INT. LOBBY – EARLY MORNING

Christina, mid-twenties, sits alone on a leather sofa. She seems rigidly tense, but is absorbed in a game on her smart phone. A door clicks open, startling her, and she rises nervously as Tobias enters.

CHRISTINA

Listen, I’ve been thinking, and I really don’t think I need to do this.

TOBIAS

(interrupting)

You need to do this, Chris. There are options and then there are requirements. This is a requirement.

CHRISTINA

(walking to the window, fiddling with the phone, agitated)

I don’t get all these stupid rules. Aren’t there enough already, out there? Why here, too?

TOBIAS

(leaning calmly against the wall)

It’s everywhere, you know. There is always something. Life would just fall apart if they took it away. You don’t have to believe in it, you don’t even have to like it, but... well, time’s up. Do you have your portfolio?

CHRISTINA

(retrieving a small black folder from the couch)

I pieced it together last night. At first I thought hand-written was best, but then I started typing, but then I typed too much. So I started cutting things. It’s not much. It’s not enough!

TOBIAS

(putting a comforting hand on her shoulder)

You have done plenty, my friend. Your record will speak for itself. Now, it truly is time.

CHRISTINA

(looking towards the other door with trepidation)

How do we do this? I mean, will you come with me?

TOBIAS

Of course.

2    INT. WIDE SHOT – A LONG HALLWAY

The hallway is richly carpeted and wallpapered, lit by ornate sconces. A dozen uniformly sized and framed portraits line the wall. They all seem to be glaring sternly. Christina enters first, clutching the portfolio against her chest with both arms. Tobias walks a step behind her, keeping pace. When she pauses halfway down the hall to look back, he pauses as well but does not react. They continue until they reach the door at the far end.

CHRISTINA

I wish the walk were longer.

TOBIAS

(sympathetically)

No, you really do not. Already the sun is setting out there. Birds are flying south for the winter. And your phone is obsolete.

CHRISTINA

(after a brief, nervous laugh at the phone comment, she hands the device to him for safekeeping)

Help me, Tobias. I’m nobody yet. He will SEE that.

TOBIAS

(waving away her fear)

Like we practiced before, look him in the eye, arms straight at your side, and tell him who you are.

CHRISTINA

(following Tobias’s suggestion, she gathers herself up, and opens the door)

3    INT. WIDE SHOT – A WALL WITH A DOOR

We see Christina enter from the perspective of someone sitting at a desk. The room is brightly lit and featureless. The door softly shuts behind her, as if on a pneumatic hinge, as she approaches the camera.

CHRISTINA

(wide-eyed but stoic)

Hello, my name is Christina Blanchard. I was born in Union City...

Overheard

"The house smells like bacon. It'll be okay."
My wife, reassuring me.


"Finer than frog hair."
My aunt relayed this phrase to us one evening, it was something someone had said to her in response to the question "how are you doing?"


"Well, you know Tyler--he's charming, and he likes the pretty girls."
Random comment overheard at work, spoken by an older woman to a younger one. The inflection made it sound so matter-of-fact, like a basic statement about the weather or something.


"The jampire, feeding on the pectin of the living."
My friend Dan, during an evening of random conversation with friends. I offered that this creature may be related to the ghastly Toastferatu.


"Greased-back hair, pencil mustaches and tommy guns."
My coworker John, describing what the overhead music was making him think of.


"I don't like Carmex no more, that shit tears my lips apart."
My friend April, talking to my wife and the rest of the girls.


"Did he just rhyme 'cougar' with 'schoolgirl'?"
Random comment overheard at work, from a young male customer to the person he was with, apparently mishearing a lyric.


"I think Katie's afraid of the baby."
My wife, speaking to her brother about a mutual friend.


"Just wait, one day I will take out a table, and what are you gonna do about it?"
Source withheld to protect my income--but it was hilarious.


"Like we practiced before, look him in the eye, arms straight at your side, and tell him who you are."
A father, a customer, instructing his little boy how to introduce himself to me in the store. He was a very shy boy and his dad was being very encouraging, very deliberately trying to teach him a simple social interaction.