COLLEGE STUDENTS WIN FIRST PLACE AT MAY FILM FESTIVAL

Publication: THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE
Published: 06/14/2001
Page: 11
Headline: COLLEGE STUDENTS WIN FIRST PLACE AT MAY FILM FESTIVAL
Byline: MARY E. SANSOM, METRO STAFF

Part eros with an undercurrent of Kubrickesque edginess, "Unexpected Aphrodisiacs" won first place in the independent film category for college students at the West Virginia International Film Festival in May.

Marlette Carter of Poca, Sam Holdren of Scott Depot and Nicole Pridemore of Logan collaborated on the eight-and-a-half-minute film, which was a requirement for Steve Gilliland's filmmaking class at West Virginia State College.

Contest judge Jacob Young, the filmmaker who gained national attention for "Dancing Outlaw" about the life of Jessco White, called "Unexpected Aphrodisiacs" an "excellent effort" in his written critique.

While Young thought there was a problem in interpreting the filmmakers' meaning and apparently didn't care much for the end of the movie, which parodied of the Energizer battery commercials, he did praise many aspects of the production.

"Since such a stylistic arthouse approach was taken on the production, the film's meaning may have been unintentionally unclear. In any case, there was a lot of interesting work put into this project. There were several good decisions made in constructing the music track, and music was even used to provide occasional sound effects to back the film. Careful lighting helped to create the soft dreamy look of the piece. Overall the production was stylistically bold and completely transcended the little joke about the batteries that it seemed to be centered on."

Pridemore, in only her second acting stint, portrays an innocent, white-clad woman who finds herself in a hell-like underworld populated by beings with mask-like faces and lights in their chests that glow red whenever they're feeling amorous. Pridemore's heart doesn't glow like the others, until one of the beings discovers that the batteries that power her heart light are dead. With replacement batteries, her heart glows. The movie ends happily ever after with Pridemore frolicking with a white-clad man who makes her heart shine.

And then, in print, comes the Energizer bunny punch line: "And they just kept on going and going and going."

The movie was filmed entirely without dialogue, one of the restrictions imposed on the project, and the filmmakers did double and triple duty, with all of them doing time behind and in front of the camera. Pridemore came up with the original concept, while Carter did makeup and costumes, and Holdren did the treatment, composed the film score and did the bulk of the editing.

"If any one of us had faltered, it wouldn't have been as good," said Holdren.

They filmed the movie last fall in Kanawha State Forest using a 16 mm camera, which they said was more difficult to work with than the Super 8 format that most of their classmates used. For one thing, the 16mm film was more difficult to obtain than 8mm film and more expensive. They had to special order it from California at a cost of about $17 for a 100-foot roll, plus $25 to develop it. They used seven rolls of film altogether, which along with other incidental costs such as costumes, heart lights and gas, put the cost of the production between $500 and $650.

They can't even tally the time they spent working on the movie. Holdren and Pridemore spent countless hours in what Carter called "massive battles" and in what he called "constructive debates" as the three decided the course of the movie. For their first-place effort, they won $400, which went for a thank you pizza party for all the people who helped them with the production.

While none of the three plans to become a filmmaker, all three communications majors want to pursue a career in the arts. Holdren, 22, earned a bachelor's degree in May, and plans to attend State for one more year to get another degree in English before going to graduate school.

After Carter and Pridemore graduate in August, the 20-year-old Carter plans to move to Chicago to work in the theater. She recently starred as Lucy in the Charleston Stage Company's production of "Dracula."

Pridemore, 26, plans to take another year of art classes and then to attend graduate school.

Reporter Mary E. Sansom can be reached at 348-4840 or by e-mail at putnam@cnpapers.com.