In April 2024, Some friends and I got together to make our first film for the video production class. Little did we know that while working on the movie behind the scenes would be some of the most fun and bonding experiences that you don't usually hear about when making a film.
Synopsis:
In a world where murder is legalized for entertainment purposes, Eyes without a Face: A Real Documentary follows two film students; Jamie and Ricky as they get the opportunity of a lifetime to film the comeback of a has-been serial killer celebrity; the Beggar, who has yet to live up to his father's name, but things don't go as planned, leading the group on a journey of self-discovery.
I originally came up with the idea back in 2022, What I had planned then was a little too ambitious to complete with a small budget, so it just kind of sat on the back-burners. But during my second semester, second year at Iowa Central Community College, My roommates (who were freshmen) were still in the video production class, where the final is to make a movie. I was in another class that the same professor taught and allowed me to collaborate with them to make the film for the final. We wanted to play into that found footage aspect which is very easy to pull off with a small budget. So I finally thought it would be the perfect time to make "Eyes without a face."
With a smaller budget, I thought we could play more into that aspect by giving into the absurdity and making the main character "The Beggar" look more pathetic by not putting the money into a larger budget since he's such a cheapskate. Thus "Eyes Without a Face" had a whole new vision for it.
Over the course of a month, we wrote, shot, and edited the film and was able to premier it alongside the other classmates projects. But afterwards something felt like it was missing. The last week, we had to sort of rush the ending to meet the final deadlines, and I also didn't want to promote the movie to overshadow everyone else's projects.
So later in October, we decided to reshoot a couple scenes and officially publish the film. Considering the theme of the movie, we thought it would be the perfect idea to released it on Halloween. So on the 30th of October, we hosted a premier that took place after the school's halloween photography event And it was quite the turnout! Quite a few people showed up, With about 35-40 people attending!
With zero dollars, a potato sack mask, and a dream, we successfully made the film. and at last we could finally let "Eyes Without A Face" rest.
I encourage those to check it out on the Blankscape Studios youtube channel, making for a fun and somewhat profound halloween watch!
