Shifting Lives: A short film by Mount Allison students
For the past few weeks, a group of Mount Allison students has been taking over the sidewalk in front of Tidewater Books and Pickles. Every weekend, they set out with their filming gear to produce a short film called Shifting Lives.
This production came together by a rather funny coincidence. Vivi Reich, a fourth year German major, woke up one morning and realized she wanted to be a screenwriter. Reich explains the story in the following words: “I was like, 'Whoa, I think I know what I want to do with my life!' So I went on Facebook and made my status something like 'Vivi Reich wants to be a screenwriter.' My friend Jean-François Arseneau commented and said, 'Do you want to make a movie?' And the answer, of course, was yes.”
By posting this little comment in her status, Reich made both her own and Arseneau’s dreams come true. Jean-François Arseneau, a fourth year History and Japanese student, has always wanted to shoot a movie. “I had been looking around for a script to shoot for a while,” explains Arseneau, “and then one day Vivi posted that she wanted to become a screenwriter. I sent her a message basically saying 'I have a camera, sound recording equipment, and editing software; if you get me a script I'll make it into a movie.'”
Reich, who had taken screenwriting workshops in Colorado, had been working on a story about a homeless woman for her creative writing class here at Mt. A. She noticed that it would make a really good screenplay, so she then transformed it into a script that could work for a short movie. The story, called Shifting Lives, is about a young woman (played by Mt. A student Juliet Manning) who becomes homeless because she fell into a deep depression after her fiancé passes away. One day, as she is playing her guitar on the corner, she is approached by a man who works for a record company. He wants her to sing for his boss, thinking he could climb up the ladder in the company and help her out, too.
With Reich’s story and Arseneau’s equipment and research, the two set out to make Shifting Lives happen. They recruited twenty-two people to help in the production and with the acting, mainly students, but also a faculty member and some of their friends from Moncton. They were able to find people to fill every position ranging from sound designer, prop master, accountant, caterer, hair and make-up, to actors.
The film is still in its production stage, but Reich and Arseneau hope to have the filming done soon so the film can be released by the end of April. The film will be released on Vimeo, a video streaming site like YouTube except it allows for longer videos, under the name Shifting Lives. “We'll also be releasing DVDs,” says Arseneau, “and potentially a soundtrack CD that people can purchase online if they wish. We don't really expect to make any money from it, but it can be a nice memento for people who were part of the production.”
Reich and Arseneau have also received financial support from Leadership Mt. A.
Next time you see them blocking off the sidewalks downtown, just stop and say hello. You might even be able to play an extra and see your name in the credits!
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