Jon Andrews, SM '96, first became interested in film by watching a variety-type show-one that always began with a Betty Boop animated short-after Sunday religious service. This apparent preference for entertainment over sermons turned out to be a lucky break for Yale's Film Studies Department, where Andrews is being hailed the next great hope. The culmination of Andrews' college efforts, his 16mm senior project Short Change, will be shown the at UPix film festival the weekend of April 27 in Davies Auditorium.
Andrews knew he wanted to major in film studies even before he arrived at Yale, but he soon discovered that Yale's small program (with only about10 majors in the class of '96) emphasized critical studies over film production. While Andrews believes that critical studies are crucial to the art, his interests lie more in film production. Unfortunately for Andrews, the Yale program's focus on critical study has limited its acquisition of film equipment. "I was taken aback by the lack of resources," Andrews said.
Although he has encountered many obstacles in making films at Yale, Andrews said the experience has been rewarding. "At times it's been really frustrating," he said. "It's been a big challenge, but in the end I think I've accomplished more here than I would have in a place with a bigger program," he added.
During his sophomore and junior years at Yale, Andrews was president of University Pictures (UPix), an organization of student filmmakers that is dedicated to film production. Since Andrews' tenure, the organization has continued to expand, has acquired quite a bit of 16mm equipment for filming and editing, and currently is finalizing its move into the Crown Street offices formerly occupied by the Film Studies department, which house a 16-mm editing room.
In addition to his study at Yale, Andrews spent his first term junior year at the reknowned National Film Academy in Prague, where he was one of about 20 international film students. "Prague is an amazing city," Andrews says. "The film students there were very professional. They were really dedicated to the craft of filmmaking."
While at the National Academy, Andrews filmed Night Tram, a 10-minute fictional short. which was nominated for a Student Academy Award and will be showing at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival next weekend. Night Tram was Jon's first 16mm project produced with a skilled cast and crew. Andrews came up with the idea for the film after spending time running around the city at night with his fellow students, when they familiarized themselves with Prague's tram system. The movie concerns lonely passengers on a tram that is boarded by rather frightening men; what happens next, Andrews says, is "exciting and twisty."
The 13-minute Short Change grew out of a screenwriting class assignment, and takes place in a small-town convenience store, where a robbery goes awry. The clerk and first-time robber start talking, and their conversation is crosscut with footage from a security camera; a strange bond springs up between them before the finalé.
Andrews' post-graduate plans are, like those of many seniors, diverse and tentative. His short-term plans partly depend on the success of Short Change, which he has submitted to the Student Academy Awards. He is currently working on a full-length film that would have a higher projected budget, in the $50,000 range. This summer, he will be working with Jay Craven, director of The Rivers Flow North, in his home state of Vermont.
Copyright 1996, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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