Last semester’s Motion Picture Production class’s movie, “At the Tracks,” makes its debut Monday, March 2.
Seniors Danny Brown and Chloe O’Connor directed the film, and other members of the class were the actors, actresses and crewmembers.
The movie is filmed from a script O’Connor wrote in Script Development class after she witnessed the ill treatment of the homeless in New York City.
“It is about a film student who is about to graduate,” Brown said, “and he has to complete one last project, which is a documentary and … he doesn’t get to choose his subject. It is given to him by his professor. He gets the local homeless as his project, and he doesn’t like it.”
Junior Greg Schwartz plays the film student, and his character seeks out the homeless people for his film at the train station in his town.
“Whenever I go out to film people who are at the tracks … I meet Trey [Baldwin]’s character,” Schwartz said.
“He becomes the main guy that I focus on. Trey’s character has a strong effect on my character and ends up changing his life.”
Brown said the impact on Schwartz’s character happens because Baldwin’s character slowly reveals an interesting story behind how he became homeless.
“My goal was to show that these homeless people are actual people who have stories,” Brown said.
Baldwin said Schwartz’s character is also changed by an unexpected plot twist that he thinks will surprise the audience.
“It’s always interesting to see a student-made film,” Baldwin said. “It’s really well made.”
Brown is excited about the premiere and the reactions the audience will have.
“I feel like this class … has worked really hard for this one project,” Brown said. “It would be nice to see people show up to see the final product. Seeing people who want to see what you’ve done is kind of like the payoff for the hard work you’ve done.”
The movie will premiere for free March 2 from 9-10 p.m. in Young Auditorium in Hickingbotham School of Business. If that showing fills up, there will be a second showing of the film around 10:15 p.m. the same evening.
