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The Suffolk Journal

Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Your School. Your Paper. Since 1936.

The Suffolk Journal

Suffolk alumni bring ‘Uneven Strings’ film to life

Photo+courtesy+of+Henry+Baker%2C+Baker+Studios
Henry Baker
Photo courtesy of Henry Baker, Baker Studios

A lively, enthusiastic audience filled Suffolk’s Modern Theatre the evening of Oct. 11 to welcome home 2010 graduates Matthew Fleming, Justin Callahan, and Joseph Serra, as they premiered their short film Uneven Strings.

Sponsored by the communication and journalism department, this event welcomed all Suffolk students, faculty, alumni and staff, as well as family and friends to the writer, producer, and director.

This was the first time Uneven Strings was shown since it ended production in 2012, as each seat in the Modern Theater was filled with family and friends. Prior to the screening, as the audience took their seats and socialized, a slideshow of production was shown, setting the mood for the film.

When Fleming, Callahan, and Serra were introduced, the audience erupted in applause, generating a proud and supportive atmosphere.

Serra, the producer of the film, took the stage and gave a short insight of what the film was about. Mentioning the process it took to set up the film, to shoot, and to fund it, he spoke to the audience with high admiration, stating several times how thankful he was for everyone’s support. During this time, he also mentioned how Uneven Strings was submitted into 25 film festivals, hoping for some form of recognition.

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The short film itself was about a boy, Andy (played by Eli Markos), who was undecided between two girls, Laura (Malgosia Tolak) and Sarah (Fernanda Vazquez). As Andy decides what to do, his friends Stacy (Kasey Brown) and Nate (Adam Lauver) guide him into making the right decision: To either stay with Laura after being together for two years, or to throw it all away and be with Sarah, a girl he met on a blind date.

After the film was shown, a short blooper reel was played before the scheduled Q&A session. The blooper reel was short, but enough to send the audience in hysterics of laughter.

Before the Q&A panel was introduced, an email from well-established producer, Tom McCarthy was read. In the email, McCarthy congratulated them on the job well done.

The panel of the Q&A session included the writer and director Fleming, producer Serra, director of photography Callahan, and actors Markos, Brown, Lauver, and Morse. The panel took questions that varied from how they raised the money in the Kickstarter program, to how the actors felt about the chemistry with one another.

“The whole process of the film was very professional,” Serra stated. He stressed how he wanted to make sure that the actors were comfortable with the filming crew, something that took seven to eight months to create. Serra said that he called in for a lot of favors and his connections with Suffolk University helped with the filming process.

Audience favorite, Adam Lauver, who played Nate in the film, reiterated on the professionalism of Fleming, Callahan, and Serra.

“A lot of care and thought went into this. It wasn’t just thrown together,” Lauver said when asked how he felt about the filming process as a whole. Kasey Brown also agreed, saying that the whole thing was “really fun to do”.

Originally, the film was supposed to be longer but after careful editing, the team decided to chop it to 15 minutes.

“Every scene had a purpose. We got rid of a lot of fluff. It was almost like we were spoon-feeding the audience,” Fleming said.

The team also mentioned that they did not give the audience enough credit, and that they are smarter than they thought, which explained why they left the ending open to interpretation or why they left out scenes that may have made the movie more fluid in understanding.

To end the night, Fleming, Callahan and Serra extended their thank you’s again, stating that the value of having Suffolk University’s resources was ‘invaluable’.

The night concluded with an after party at the Back Deck, located on 2 West St.

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Suffolk alumni bring ‘Uneven Strings’ film to life