WATCH THE FILM
Written and Directed by Charles E. Sims
LISTEN TO THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
Scored by Crimson Dusk featuring songs by Lemon Demon
THE PROCESS
As part of Bullis School's Signature Capstone Program, the film was created in an academic environment and involved over 25 dedicated individuals - much larger than what is typically expected for capstone projects. Extensive planning and conceptualization were required to bring a new revised and abridged version of Part 1 to life on the big screen, much of which still draws directly from the same influences that inspired the original novella. You can explore some of this below. You can also find a presentation shown at Bullis' Capstone Symposium summarizing it here.
Major Tonal Inspirations
- On the surface, this film aims to replicate a slightly lighthearted high school slice-of-life, complete with mostly uplifting music (major inspirations being Love, Simon, Anna and the Apocalypse, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower).This aesthetic is mostly a guise for social messages, introducing and building upon the main character of Ross Parker, and setting up the end of the world.
- Musically, the soundtrack has a variety of influences with some of the heaviest inspiration coming from Rob Simonsen's Love, Simon score and Le Matos' score for Canadian indie film Turbo Kid. Some tracks have more specific influences, such as "Gregarious Demeanor" which draws from Toby Fox's Deltarune. "Incarcerate Confessions" builds eerily, similar to many tracks featured in Interstellar and The Handmaid's Tale. A more indirect argument can also be made for the full version of "Are You" sounding like an unreleased track from Minecraft's Caves and Cliffs Update.
- Why the 80s flair: a question some might start to ask after comparing many of the influences. While being the face of what we might typically think of when hearing “American culture”, which is generally flashy and optimistic, the 80s were also a time of continued and somewhat even worsened tribulation for marginalized groups and the working class; its influence still pervades much of modern society. This double-edged sword dominates the art and soundtrack and is another driving motif in the film. Pretense serves as a major theme throughout the earlier parts of the series. History repeats itself.
Album Cover Artwork Evolution
Original Compositions
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Spreadsheets. Lots of Spreadsheets
In order to keep informed and keep track of everyone and everything involved, several lengthy sheets were created to catalogue the process. These include a comprehensive schedule, scene master progress sheet, an availability index for cast & crew, and finally a shot list which details extensively almost every shot seen in the film. A public version of a document compiling most of it can be found here.
In order to keep informed and keep track of everyone and everything involved, several lengthy sheets were created to catalogue the process. These include a comprehensive schedule, scene master progress sheet, an availability index for cast & crew, and finally a shot list which details extensively almost every shot seen in the film. A public version of a document compiling most of it can be found here.
A Learning Curve
Throughout this 8-month process, I, Charlie, had to wear a great many hats, most of which I had minimal or no experience with but was passionate about regardless.
Throughout this 8-month process, I, Charlie, had to wear a great many hats, most of which I had minimal or no experience with but was passionate about regardless.
- The easiest part of this whole process had to have been playing a literally faceless character. Acting was one of the only fields I had significant experience in prior to beginning this project.
- Even though the same can be said for the writing aspect, the screenplay was a relatively new medium for me as a more traditional author. The script went through many iterations in order to both iron out a great many kinks that come with being a beginner film writer as well as to ensure major character and plot moments remained in the final product despite the context having to change due to obvious budgeting reasons and timing.
- What I consider to have been the most fun for me was surprisingly composing the original soundtrack. I had never seriously worked on any original music before that I was actually proud of. I had minimal experience with creating amateur mashups and crude edits of music I enjoyed prior to setting out to compose this behemoth of a project in October of 2021. But after some consideration, I scrapped the original plan of using the pre-established compilation soundtrack to Before the Unknown. Despite this, I knew exactly what it had to sound like considering the fact that Differences relied so much on the same media that influenced its older counterpart. I tried to keep the score as similar-sounding to Rob Simonsen's bright synths that made up the majority of the Part 1 catalog, while still creating an original sound in the process. When it came to the more popular vocal tracks, I opted to either replace them with a narratively-related Lemon Demon* song, or get rid of them completely as their segment would have not provided much purpose on screen. All of this was an attempt to avoid any copyright issues since I envisioned the final product not just being available to Bullis, but the internet as a whole on YouTube. This would also allow me to create a certified Spotify artist page (Crimson Dusk) and possibly earn revenue by turning the soundtrack into an official album.
- Directing came the hardest for me, and I didn't get to really explore it until near the end of the filming process because of how fast-paced many of the scenes are which involved minimal acting. The two scenes that focus on Ross and Demetri were where I really spent time working with the actors in order to ensure a genuine nature in their conversations which are an early, but very important part of Ross' character development. By the end of this process, I had only just begun my journey as an aspiring director.
- Editing also proved to be more interesting than I thought, as originally I was very excited to be working on a longer-length project whereas in the past I'd only gotten the opportunity to work on very short personal projects. But, as filming began I grew nervous of my editing abilities, namely the fact that I was forced to upgrade to a more complicated, unfamiliar editing software since my old source of movie magic had become repeatedly problematic. Eventually, I was able to quickly get the hang of the basics, and with the assistance of two other editors, the process was made very simple, despite still many long nights.
- Producing might have been my least favorite role to play as I can barely manage myself, let alone 30-some volunteers and others. But, after a while, the emails, scheduling, and promotion became streamlined and I can say now that I am more comfortable working on all of these things in a leading position.