Indie Dreams – Three Local Filmmakers are Part of a Trend

Written By Kimberly Liddick-Byrnes

Jonathan Slade’s “real” job is as a professor in the communications department at his alma mater, McDaniel College. A Carroll County native, his passion, and what he considers his work, is film making.

“I just love to tell stories on a large canvas,” he said. “I’m really into the collaborative aspect. I would rather be outside shooting a film with people I enjoy, than sitting inside watching movies all day.”

Slade, 44, who earned an MFA in Cinema-Television Production from the University of Southern California, has had plenty of opportunities to collaborate in film making. He earned five Emmy Awards during his 11 years at Maryland Public Television where he created, wrote, directed and produced children’s programs. And when he is not producing films for his day job or teaching college students how to make films, Slade is working on his own movies.

In that respect, he represents a trend. The independent film industry is booming. With the advent of cutting edge technology, an environment that allows small-budget filmmaking and festivals to promote them, the art of making movies has become available to anyone with an interest. And independent film makers in Carroll County are taking full advantage of the art form’s accessibility. They are living their dreams of telling their stories through movies.

But unlike many of today’s “micro-budget” film makers, Slade uses 16mm film rather than digital technology. The approach presents its own challenges. It is not only very expensive, but requires equipment and processing that digital has virtually done away with.

“I love the look of film,” said Slade. “It’s more tactile. Cutting and pasting and splicing requires actually handling the medium. It also forces me to be more prepared and to plan ahead. I like the challenge.”
“It’s all about the process, there’s an art to it. I don’t call myself an artist but I do consider myself a film maker.”

In 1988, Slade premiered his debut feature film, “Forest for the Trees”, which showed at a dozen theaters, including the Senator and Charles Theaters in Baltimore.

“It took me two years to complete “Forest for the Trees” and when it was done I told myself it would never take me that long to finish a film again,” said Slade. “My second movie took me five years.”

Slade’s second feature film, “Cinder” is expected to premier in early 2010.

Although he is as passionate as Slade about the art of making movies, 27-year-old Westminster native Charlie Ruckus, has embraced digital video and says that without it, he would not be able to make movies. Referring to himself as a “self-taught” movie maker, Ruckus formed his own production company (Ruckus Productions) in 2007 in order to write and produce horror films.

“I love film,” said Ruckus. “Most of my free time is spent watching films, trying to learn all I can and see all that is out there,” Ruckus said.

Ruckus and his collaborators have produced numerous “shorts,” several of which can be viewed on their website and YouTube. As a result of becoming semi-finalists in a film competition, one of their shorts was shown on ChillerTV. They have also had their work featured on BBC Three, a channel operated by the British Broadcasting Company.

“We just want to do our own thing,”said Ruckus. “Everyone thinks it’s going to be a lot of fun but it’s a lot of work, we’re go-go-go. It’s difficult to do without a budget and even more difficult to find people who are dedicated enough to stick with a project. We are perfectionists, we don’t want horror that looks and feels fake.”

Susan Thornton, 50, who has been producing video for the Carroll County Board of Education’s Channel 21 for five years, initially approached the medium from in front of the camera: as an actor. Originally planning to become a performer, she was a theater major with a B.A. from Wright State University’s professional actor’s training program. She said she learned filmmaking by taking classes and utilizing the resources at the Community Media Center.

“Seeing ÔThe Year of Living Dangerously’ [Peter Weir’s 1982 movie about a reporter in Indonesia, starring Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver] was a turning point for me,” said Thornton. “That was when I knew I didn’t want to just perform, I wanted to tell the stories. I continued on my path to become a classically trained actress, but I knew at that point that I would also learn the technical aspects of being behind the camera.”

Thornton, who has lived all over the world and finally settled in Carroll County when her husband got a job in the area, has produced a handful of short films of her own. She produced an 8-minute documentary showcasing a D.C.-based dance company. The film was screened at LUNAFest, which bills itself as “a festival of short films by, for, and about women.”

Although Thornton says that she enjoys creating documentaries, she said her heart’s desire is really to work in features films. A finalist in the Baltimore Screenwriters Competition, Thornton said she has already completed three movie scripts and regularly submits her work to contests with hopes of “getting noticed.”

Even though Slade, Ruckus and Thornton come from different backgrounds, have different levels of training and have access to different resources, they all have some things in common.

First and foremost is the understanding that funding for these projects is nearly impossible to get. Slade says that his second feature film took him five years to create because he ran out of money and had to shelve the project until he could raise more by freelancing.

Moreover, all three of the film makers confess that they are completely driven to create movies, to tell their stories. They each feel that creating movies is a part of who they are. It is their creative outlet.

Thornton tries to describe the passion: “There are moments that make you realize it’s all worth it, like the first time you capture something compelling, when you see something coming together. You are capturing a story, there is all this raw footage going into your mind and the camera, the screen is like an empty palette for you to tell the story. Even if just one person is moved by it, I feel have achieved my goal.”

For more information about Jonathan Slade’s work, visit www.jonathanslade.com; for more information about Charlie Ruckus’ work, visit www.ruckusproductions.com. Susan Thornton can be reached at smthorn@carrollk12.org.