Sony, Local Business Help FDU Students', Filmmaker's Dreams Come True

Local college students saw their dreams of making a feature film on a veritable shoestring budget realized, thanks to some help from the pros and a new high-definition 35mm video camera that offers the classic look of film that is easy to use with just a few hours of training.

On Tuesday, about 40 members and new faces attended a meeting of the New Jersey Chapter of Media Communications Association Professionals (MCA-I) formerly ITVA, held on the Florham campus of .

The networking group, which is comprised of media professionals working in film, video, and television, meets on the third Tuesday of each month in different locations throughout northern New Jersey.

Following a pizza and soda mixer, the group was treated to a debut of a 10-minute trailer of what is destined to become a feature film, shot and produced in five days on a budget of $20,000 with the volunteer help of FDU students and two cutting-edge cameras loaned to FDU by Sony and ZGC Inc., a company specializing in film and video equipment sales and service located in Mountain Lakes.

The presentation was led by David Landau, president of the MCA-I North Jersey Chapter and a professor of electronic filmmaking at FDU.

It all began with a film script called ‘Stray’ written by Nena Eskridge, a friend of Landau’s. While it was getting the attention of a few producers, she wasn’t getting the script sold. She wanted to create a short ‘trailer’ to the film shot on 16mm film, but Landau suggested that they try the new Sony PMW-F3L Super 35MM Full HD Camera that promised the look and feel of film with a camera priced at about $25,000.

“I had established some relationships with people at Sony and found out that Sony donated one of its new cameras to New York University and UCLA and I said to them, 'Hey, they can afford to buy these cameras, we can’t,'” said Landau.

To further make his case, Landau told the people at Sony that FDU has more working professionals in the field that any college in the area. Sony agreed to lend the camera to FDU for a student project to produce the first 15 minutes of Eskridge’s film.

Shot in Chestnut Hill, Pa., at FDU and the Whippany Train Museum, the small crew of students and graduates got to experience 10-hour days of shooting and working with union actors.

The crew included Landau, who served as director of photography; Rob Lieberman, Kevin Lonano, Ryan Kelly, Shawn Kimball, Natalie DiNunzio, Kaitlyn Pickerelli, Thomas Magg, Isaac Leggett, Roxy Barrett, Carlin Canfield, A.J Chakravati, Jacob Cormier, Tyler Masterson, Eric Schroeter, Conor Stalvey, Bill Tunstead, and Megan Osborne.

The crew members said it was an invaluable experience and thoroughly enjoyed the great catered food that was continuously served to the cast and crew.

They also talked about some of the unexpected circumstances that they had to deal with at the last minute, like the sound of a radio that was continuously playing in the neighborhood where they were shooting and a car alarm that was going off every five minutes and, of course, the owner of the car couldn’t be found.

For Kevin Lonano, a senior at FDU who runs his own production company in New York City with his brother, the experience reaffirmed his belief in the power of a great team.

“I’ve always believed that if you have a crew that is totally focused and on the same page, anything is possible. When you have a common goal, you can produce a damn good picture,” said Lonano, whose films have been shown at the Cannes Short Film Festival in France and Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal.

He recently won a Telly Award for a short promotional video about the Boston Underground Film Festival.

“Whenever you're on set you learn a lot. It doesn't matter how many classes you take," said Robert Lieberman, a senior at FDU who served as first camera assistant on the film.

Lieberman, who hails from Monroe, N.Y. said he wants to work as a cinematographer and is currently freelancing as a camera operator and grip.

He said, “Hands-on experience can only be gained on set. It was invaluable.”

For more information about MCA-I in New Jersey, visit the Web site at: http://www.mca-inj.org/.