FILM
Katie Mae's first film class, Crime and Justice in American Film, launched an intrigue in the study and making of film that is unlikely to be satiated. Senior year of college, Katie Mae directed a 12 minute short film despite never having been on a set before, jumping head-first into production. Since then, Katie Mae takes as much film experience as he can get, hoping to jump into assistant directing or script supervisor roles soon.
Katie Mae directing a shot for the short film In Stitches.
Sections
In Stitches
Production Experience
Analysis/Classes
In Stitches
In Stitches was a dream project of Katie Mae's-- in that it came to him like a literal dream. From the idea's inception, Katie Mae has worked closely with primary co-collaborator Phoebe Lloyd. Katie Mae used In Stitches to immerse himself into every aspect of filmmaking; from incorporating the work he had done in film directing classes in pre-production to wearing many hats during in production to sitting in to watch editing sessions. In Stitches is in its final round of post notes and final drafts.
Poster designed by Keen @widdershining on instagram.
Writing/Pre-Production
One late night in April, Katie Mae had trouble sleeping when an idea came into his head: a standup comic getting stuck in a time loop movie. Katie Mae has always loved time loop movies, so he shot fellow CMU drama student Phoebe Lloyd a quick text and began working on the screenplay that summer. At the end of the semester, Katie Mae and Phoebe had a 35 page screenplay that they were really proud of. The screenplay was halved, then quartered, then went through many revisions until the team had a shooting script.
First semester senior year, Katie Mae focused on finding a production team, finding a venue, and budgeting with his film minor stipend. Winter break consisted of creating a shot list with the cinematographers, a shooting schedule with the assistant director, and lighting plan with the art director.
Production
For three and a half days at the start of January, Katie Mae and the production team shot the 12 minute short at Arcade Comedy Theater in downtown Pittsburgh. The process was a dream; the collaboration was smooth, the set was fun, and the shots looked great. For one of the scenes. The first day of production was just Phoebe (the lead actor) and the production team, allowing the team to figure out how they worked together. By the final half day, the whole team worked seamlessly while also incorporating many extras. One day on set, Phoebe and Katie Mae rewrote a scene and figured out how to shoot the new scene on the spot.
Production team included: Directors of Photography Zoey Lin and Jesus Padilla Munoz, Production Designer Sierra Young, Assistant Director Julia Levine, and Script Supervisor Lucia Shen.
Post-Production
Katie Mae had one request to editor and friend Luke Jennings: "Let me sit in on as many editing sessions as possible." Eager to learn the tricks and tools of premiere pro, Kaite Mae and Luke slowly but surely have been crafting the final product, always framing notes using the dramaturgy of the piece. Sound editor Emily Brunner and composer Michael Loguercio also did wonders in establishing the world of the film and tone of the scenes. Now that the three aspects of editing have all come together, Katie Mae is ecstatic to share their hard months of work.
Ungraded to graded shot.
Frames from In Stitches
Production Experience
Still on a high from the whirlwind production of In Stitches, Katie Mae seeks out to gain as many skills involved in film production as possible. After graduation, Katie Mae has taken various stagehand and sound recording gigs, from Pittsburgh to Youngstown to Columbus.
Next, Katie Mae hopes for experience in more creative and logistical roles, such as Script Supervisor or Assistant Director.
Katie Mae recording sound for a scene from Shredded with director Adam Michael.
Stagehand Work
Katie Mae got involved with Pittsburgh local IATSE - 3 after graduating college and worked load-ins and load-outs for various concerts in the Pittsburgh. He has worked at PPG Paints Arena, Acrisure Stadium, The Pavilion at Starlake, and the Ohio State stadium. Some roles Katie Mae has performed include: carpentry, lighting, pusher, back-line. Some artists Katie Mae did stagehand work for include Odesza (pictured), Stevie Nicks and Billy Joel, the Jonas Brothers, and Ed Sheeran.
Picture from Odesza's concert at The Pavilion at Starlake. Katie Mae worked carpentry at the load-in and load-out.
Sound Mixing Work
Katie Mae's sound recordist work began by helping drama grad student Carlos Martinez on his short film for a class. It was a windy, brutally cold day with lots of outside footage -- what better way to learn how to sound mix! From then on, Katie Mae has worked a few sound gigs, working with Zoom H6, F6, and F8 recorders as well as Sennheiser microphones. For Christmas, Katie Mae received a Zoom H6 field recorder and a mic set, so he's ready for the next project with his own equipment.
Katie Mae operating the boom mic for the short film Beating Hearts (dir. Ashlyn Boots).
Analysis/Classes
Katie Mae is a dramaturg first and foremost -- that does not change between the mediums of theatre and film. Katie Mae's favorite part of college were the constant discussions of films in an academic setting. Katie Mae took many film classes examining the film cultures of specific countries, which yeilded itself to complex sociopolitical analysis. Katie Mae is also an avid advocate for the study of film history, learning from both his classes and from research he did for the Cinema: Sounds & Secrets podcast.
Katie Mae's analysis is not limited to the sociopolitcal; he also focuses on the emotional dramaturgy of the piece, the camera as focal point and audience surrogate, and the technical choices. Katie Mae tries to watch films outside of his comfort zones often (one of his favorite aspects of letterboxd is the random movie roulette lists).
Cinema: Sounds & Secrets
In the final semester of senior year, Katie Mae has been working as a research intern with television writer Janet Dulin Jones in providing research for her podcast, Cinema: Sounds & Secrets. Katie Mae has found opening and closing quotes for episodes, written memorial episodes, and written some extra bits for episodes, including ones on Marlene Dietrich and time loop films.
Classes
A list of film classes Katie Mae took in college:
-Crime and Justice in American Film
-Intro to Film
-Advanced Film
-Russian Cinema
-LGBTQ Literature and Cinema
-Japanese Literature and Cinema
-German Film History
-Capitalism and Colonialism in Theatre and Film
-Directing for Film
-Arab Culture in Literature and Cinema
-French Film and Filmmaking
Picture taken during the editing process for Katie Mae's french film and filmmaking class.
Some Favorite Films and Why
It's hard to know an artist's relationship to film without knowing that artist's favorite films.
HOT ROD -- a tonal masterpiece. Surrealist humor, experimentation with the idea of straight man, exciting world-buliding, unexpected heart, and never fails to make me laugh. Feels both utterly original and an homage to every 80s comedy.
TAMPOPO -- strikes a brilliant balance between warm-hearted, simple laughs and complex sociopolitical commentary, all with the universal understanding of food.
PERFECT BLUE -- the rare combination of completely structurally unique and emotionally affecting. There hasn't been a movie otherwise that has made Katie Mae completely lose touch with reality.
BEING JOHN MALKOVICH -- delightfully queer, unendingly clever, and just as hilarious as it is thought-provoking (a common theme in Katie Mae's favorites). Admire the harsh dullness of an office contrasted with the unreality of the world.
S'n'Shakespeare
S'n'Shakespeare Festival was Scotch'n'Soda's December slot production in Katie Mae's junior year, when they were the Artistic Director for the organization. S'n'Shakespeare Festival consisted of 8 10 minute Shakespeare pieces, each with its own director, tech head, and set of actors. As Head Director, Katie Mae served as the director's voice on the production staff. Through this experience, Katie Mae learned how to navigate the logistics of a massive production.
For six of the eight directors, it was their first time directing. Therefore, Head Director was a large mentorship role that prepared Katie Mae for further directing mentorship down the line. Katie Mae created a google folder of docs with tips on how to direct, linked below.