Carmichaels student overcomes pandemic challenges to direct short film
Carmichael’s graduate Calyssa Lavery’s 5-year-old brother, Daveren St.Martin, acts in her film, “To Bring You Back.”
Carmichael’s graduate Calyssa Lavery’s 5-year-old brother, Daveren St.Martin, acts in her film, “To Bring You Back.”
Carmichaels graduate Calyssa Lavery shoots a scene in her film “To Bring You Back” with her 5-year-old brother, Daveren St.Martin.
A scene from Carmichaels graduate Calyssa Lavery’s film, “To Bring You Back,” is shot during the pandemic.
For creators in film and theater, time seemed to stop during the pandemic.
Now, even with a sense of normalcy slowly returning, the virus continues to put barriers in front of creators, as Calyssa Lavery of Carmichaels will attest.
Lavery, a senior film major at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., has had several bumps in the road creating her senior thesis, a short film, she wrote and directed.
“To Bring You Back” portrays the grief of a 5-year-old boy experiencing the recent loss of his mother.
Everything was running smoothly to begin filming in February, Lavery said. Scenes were scheduled, equipment had been signed out and travel plans were made. The preparations took months.
The day before they were to start, however, Lavery and her assistant director, Hannah Tuel of Pittsburgh, received a call from one of their crew members. He tested positive for COVID-19. They all had to quarantine, and the filming schedules were turned upside down.
“We didn’t even know if we were going to be able to film again, because my school had a deadline for getting film equipment back,” Lavery said. “But we got all of the equipment reserved again and we had our new filming dates.”
She and Tuel worked hard to schedule new dates for filming and make sure they would have the equipment they needed. The wrench the pandemic put in their plans put them a month behind schedule.
But the delay also brought a silver lining. Lavery and Tuel used the extra time to start social media pages for more publicity.
The rescheduled filming dates also meant finding a new actor to portray the father in the film, as the one originally cast was no longer available. The women had to search for another actor, using websites and social media.
They quickly found him.
Curtis Caldwell of Pittsburgh found the casting call on social media. He said he knew he wanted to be involved in the film once he read the emotional piece of work.
“I liked the premise of the story, so I thought I’d submit and throw my hat into the ring,” he said. “I gravitate toward more somber stories. … I can embody that easier than other types of characters.”
The role enabled Caldwell to portray deep emotions, he said.
“It gives me a way to explore other areas that I don’t get to explore in my real life, at least not to this extent,” he said.
Playing the lead in the film is Lavery’s 5-year-old brother, Daveren St.Martin, which brought its own unique hurdles to overcome – albeit unrelated to the pandemic. Being such a young actor, it was difficult for him to stay focused throughout the filming.
“It was a new experience for everybody,” Tuel said. “Every break between shots was 10 to 15 minutes. It was really hard getting him in the groove of things once we started, but he stuck with us.”
Lavery said they had to be creative with their editing and combine shots. For one scene, they pieced six shots into two to keep the film smooth without taking an excessive amount of time refilming scenes with St.Martin.
Despite the bumps, filming wrapped up in mid-March. Lavery guessed they put more than 1,000 hours into the project by the time they finished.
“(The challenges) were a good opportunity for us to adapt,” Tuel said. “As much as you plan up to the day, it’s not until then that you’re like, “OK, this is what we have to do.'”
Lavery and Tuel are crowdfunding the film, with a goal of raising $2,500. Anyone who would like to donate can find the project by searching “To Bring You Back” in the search bar on Indiegogo.com. More information on the film can be found on Instagram under to_bring_you_back_film.