Barstow resident’s film, career all a matter of ... ‘SURVIVAL’ BY MIKE LAMB STAFF WRITER BARSTOW — Coming to a theater near you — “Survival.” If it all goes to plan, this suspense and science fiction film will be playing inside the Barstow Theater sometime in late 2015. The plan started when Barstow resident Alysse Stewart “made the irresponsible choice” to abandon her pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in facilities engineering and take up filmmaking. She is now months from graduating with bachelor’s degree in filmmaking from the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. That plan also took her and her fellow classmates and friends to a remote area of Yermo last week to finalize her final film project. And like the title of the film — “Survival” — Stewart is hoping its success will launch her career in a “cutthroat” business. “This is the last-ditch effort to mark yourself as a filmmaker,” Stewart said of her final school project. “This feature will not only give myself employment but that of the talented individuals that help me bring my story to life.” Stewart and her crew used special effects to bring her science fiction horror film to life. The five days of filming focuses on a special tag line: In a war torn world, two brothers await the return of their father when a stranger comes along and exposes them for what they truly are. S h e’s h o p i n g t h at tagline will be the hook to get people excited to watch the film. A series of film festivals, like Sundance and Cannes, will determine how successful the film becomes, according to Stewart. “The festival tour will last a few months and due to premier exclusivity required by certain festivals it will not be available for viewing until 2015,” she said. “After that I will put it online and submit it to more smaller festivals and get as much publicity and press as possible. “However, when it is completed I will bring the film back to the city where it was birthed into existence, my hometown Barstow.” Barstow is also is where Stewart received lots of support to make “Survival.” Her family owns Stewarts Business and Tax Service. The support of her family developed despite her decision to go into filmmaking instead of engineering. “My parents have a very successful accounting firm. I could have graduated from high school and college and then become an accountant. Skate on the coattails of their success,” Stewart said. “Then engineering came along. I was really good in math and science. I would have been good at that but incredibly unhappy.” Stewart is thankful to her family and other financial backers of the film, such as United Agencies Inc. Insurance, Furniture Outlet, Barstow Senior Citizen Thrift, A to Z Lock, Cathy’s Copies, Foster’s Freeze, Del Taco, Wal-Mart and the San Bernardino Film Commission. It also helps, according to Stewart, to be already working in the film industry. “After working in the film and music industry for just over two years I have made a few working connections,” she said. “My continued hard work along the ‘no job too big or small’ (line) combined with the ‘pay or no pay’ tactics. Now I am working part time as a production manager at Simon West Productions and The Graphic Film Company. I usually claim to a lot of people that I was lucky when it came to finding jobs. However, I have to admit that I worked hard at every turn and I believe to have earned my current rising status. “Now that I (am) steadily paid in a job I know I can do well I am moving on to more ambitious goals. My next step is to participate and progress in the more creative aspect of story telling and filmmaking. With my thesis now shot I am gearing up for 16 weeks of editing. This includes special effects to make a festival- worthy film for my name and those of my crew.” Mike Lamb can be reached at 760-256-4127 or mlamb@ desert dispatch . You can also follow him on Twitter @mlamb dispatch.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 12:35:45 +0000
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