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Brettler Captures Introspective Tone and Child-Like Whimsy with "Levin": Genuine Characters Trump Student-Level CGI
By StudentFilmmakers Magazine
posted Nov 30, 2008, 04:22
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Featured in StudentFilmmakers Magazine, September 2008 Edition, Page 30.
Christina Kolozsvary stars in Levin. Cartoons drawn by Michael Brettler.
Levin: Maladies of Death wins
second place in The Edgewise Media
and Panasonic Digital Media Film and
Video Shorts 2008 Awards Competition
featuring �AMQ�. The short film is
written and directed by Michael
Brettler, a young filmmaker currently
based in New York. The five-minute
dark comedy stars Christina Kolozsvary
and co-stars Justin Liang. Plagued by
the rules and warnings of her obsessive
mother, a young girl (Kolozsvary) lives in
fear of virtually everything surrounding
her.
Storyboard and scene comparison. Bathtub scene in 'Levin'.
While going into pre-production on
a new project, Michael Brettler takes a
moment to talk with StudentFilmmakersMagazine. He shares some of the
challenges he faced and overcame
during the making of his winning film,
Levin: Maladies of Death.
Storyboard and scene comparison. Kolozsvary and Liang in 'Levin'.
Did any challenges come up while
you were writing Levin: Maladies of
Death?
Michael Brettler: I think that one
of the largest problems I faced while
writing Levin was the conceptualization
of its very tone. The film is very
introspective, sometimes more like a
short story, novel form rather than what
one expects from a film. You have this
character, you display a world from her
point of view, she reacts, learns, and
hopefully changes. But it�s all thought
and voiceover � two techniques that
any film professor would hang you for
even striving to use. My own professors
did nothing but discourage me once the
film was shot. �It�s too childish!� they�d
say. �It�s a weird narrative!�
But I persisted, probably because I
knew that this was the first thing I ever
made that really expressed my own
artistic intention and personality. The
voiceover, the thought process � it all
worked wonders in the end because
Levin was so surreal and childlike.
Opposites attracted to formulate a
distinct tone and environment. One that
would end up working wonders. I guess
this proves that while writing, your best
judge really is yourself. Experienced
professionals, professors, can give you
loads of advice. Mend you. Break you.
But in the end, you create your themes,
the tones and style you work off of so
well. If you think something is good,
go for it. Use the techniques you�ve
been told to trash. Break the rules.
Your project will end up much more
interesting. And most importantly, it�ll
end up much more, well, you.
Could you share a tip or technique
in relation to writing for the short
form?
Michael Brettler: Working at
various production companies, entering
dozens upon dozens of festivals, I can
honestly say that I�ve read a countless
number of scripts, both feature length
and short form. The problem with most
short length films or screenplays, a
horrible thing that everyone falls victim
to at the start of their career, lies in idea
rather than execution. People attain
gigantic budgets, unbelievable FX
work, costumes that would make your
head spin � but most of them, or a fair
number of them, seem to think that a
good short story or short screenplay is
merely made up by a good twist.
Although many films have
succeeded based off of a wowing
ending, every great story starts with
great characters. The people that make
up your world must go on some sort
of emotional journey � both physical
and mental � even if your film is only
two minutes in length. This may seem
like quite the burden, but festival juries
usually appreciate and prefer interesting
characters over student-level CGI.
Present your readers, your eventual
viewers, with something captivating, a
journey of any sort, and no matter your
likely budget, you will already have a
head start over most other filmmakers.
Did any challenges come up in
regards to camera work?
Michael Brettler: There were a lot
of issues when it came to camera work.
Sound work. Oh boy. We were using
a pretty cheap Sony camcorder to film
most of the project. It scared the hell out
of me because many of my classmates
had the money to shoot roll upon roll
of super 16, project their images onto
the largest of walls without even the
slightest worry. I wasn�t so lucky on the
technical end. My budget was around
fifty dollars. Unbelievable, right? And
most of the pocket cash was spent on
random costume decals from the dollar
store. Fun times! As far as the camera
work goes, however, our technical
limitations made us that much more
persistent on getting the perfect angles,
the perfect framing for every shot. If you
notice, everything you see on screen
has something to do with Levin � who she is, where she came from, who she
becomes.
Instead of merely shooting for
beauty, we shot, again, for character
� that most important detail. Cleaning
products, childish drawings abound �
we hoped that without words, without
sound, every potential viewer would be
able to understand who our heroin was,
what her journey comprised of � even
by a simple close-up or PAN.
Sound was also an interesting thing
to discover. As I made this film, I was
really just learning the ins and outs
of different modulators, editing bays,
programs. It�s hard, because in any
film, sound really is just as important
as the image you are trying to convey.
Especially for Levin. Her tone of voice,
her sense of concern and fear � it was
all very hard to discover and portray.
Christina and I spent hours in the
recording studio getting the voiceover
set and pat. We worked things out in
dozens of styles and abnormalities �
gave me many choices, workable parts
to cut up later on in the editing stage.
Finding the right ways to manipulate
her voice, environmental background,
through digital means was also quite
the project. When entering film school,
I never would have believed the ways
you have to change a simple phrase
to fit room tone point of tell. It�s quite
interesting, actually.
What challenges came up in the
editing room?
Michael Brettler: I�m not a big
editor. Hell, I�m not even a little editor.
My problem is that I fall in love with
what I work with. I cut my film up,
throw everything together to create a
relatively good product. I�m not bad at
editing, but at this point I lose all sense
of meaning and creativity. I know that
I have to go farther � rip shots apart,
throw sequences out of order, pace
things up. It just scares me, unnerves
me to go the full distance. I think a lot
of people have this problem.
Luckily, I have some good friends in
my department, mates who helped me
take my first step towards the complete
mangling of my product � Maisha
Baddoo, Brittany Bolger, I love you
guys. Once there, I found it much easier
to shift things around, build and rebuild
a beautiful piece that went exactly
where it needed to go.
Don�t get me wrong, though. As I
said above, there are always people
that try to discourage you. Professors,
a few students tore me up for each
consecutive draft of feed I turned in
to portfolio review and critique. Their
words scared me, sometimes pushed
me away from running the full distance,
so to speak. But in the end, I just had to
ignore them. Sit in a dark room. Me and
my product. Hack away and create, not
what made them happy, but what made
me content.
In the end, every part of production
� writing, development, production,
editing - they all converged to create
the ultimate learning experience for
me. Because of this, I look forward a
great deal to future projects.
Watch Levin: Maladies of Death at: www.studentfilmmakers.com/edgewise-media
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