afi thesis film

An AFI Conservatory Thesis Film

      On a Boy Scout camping trip in the 1990s, a volatile teenage boy, Scott, harbors secret feelings for another boy, Eddie. One day, when they’re paired up together for a scavenger hunt, Scott works up the nerve to express his feelings to Eddie...

      ...But when Eddie rejects him, Scott has to decide if he will risk letting his secret out to the rest of the Boy Scout troop, or if he will go to dark lengths in order to keep it hidden.

PrincipAL PhotographY

May 28–June 6, 2024 | Los Angeles, CA

DIRECTOR’s STATEMENT

Iron Lake tells the story of a closeted gay teenager, and the subsequent guilt that he feels when he finally acknowledges those feelings and lets them out. It was born out of my own feelings and experiences (not literally) as a teenager, feelings that still reverberate today. I was raised in a very religious and traditional household, and my first memory of learning about homosexuality—before I even knew that I was gay—was of a family member strongly telling me that it was wrong. Years later, when I realized that I myself was gay, I developed a deep-seated sense of shame, fear, and loneliness. 

With Iron Lake, I have tried to honor the feelings and fears of that scared teenager I used to be. Even if many in the audience cannot relate directly to the character’s shame surrounding his sexuality, the theme of the film resonates more broadly than just sexuality. Everybody—at times—is afraid to reveal their true selves to others, out of a belief that if others knew what they were really thinking and feeling, they would abandon them.

Why another closeted story? In Hollywood, there is often a sentiment that we’ve moved on from telling closeted stories. Many people, including many gay filmmakers, only want to portray gay relationships as if they’re happy and normal and common. And those stories are great. But it is a horrible mistake to only limit ourselves to those stories.

It is still illegal to be gay in one third of the world’s countries. There are numerous students even at the AFI Conservatory who cannot come out to their families back home. And even in the US, although the loudest people may have moved on, they’ve left behind so many people who have not. Around the country, yes, but also right here in Los Angeles. People who are not ready to come out, because of family, cultural attitudes, religious beliefs, or any number of reasons. I know many of them personally, and it is an awful error to silence their stories. Iron Lake is one such story.

—Grant Swanson Director, Writer

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5 Things I Learned While Making My AFI Thesis Film

Jeremy merrifield learned a lot while creating his award-winning film at afi. he tells nfs all about his process for his award-winning film, balloon..

I’ve been an avid reader of NoFilmSchool since its earliest days as a blog with only Ryan Koo posting. I’ve never tired of the film school debate this site was founded on. Anyone who knows me knows I have long been against film school -- I’m not one for traditional classroom learning. For me, I need to be doing it and I place a lot of value in seeking out and building my own miseducation. So, I don’t typically advocate an academic setting—that is unless there is a specific use. For example, I need a degree because I want to become a heart surgeon. And that’s exactly why I ended up at the American Film Institute. Not because I wanted to be a heart surgeon, but because I had a specific use. 

I went to AFI for two major reasons. First, I wanted the “four picture deal” (to quote one of my favorite AFI directing faculty members, Rob Spera). While at AFI, students make four movies -- three in the first year, and a thesis film in the second. Try as I might, I probably wouldn’t have made four films in two years without AFI -- and definitely not at the level I was able to make them. This is mainly because I needed collaborators to take my craft to the next level.

While at AFI, I had the great fortune of learning from talented filmmakers. This means faculty like Peter Markham, who teaches an incredible course on visual language. Also, Patty West, who manages thesis production with savvy, studio exec-style mentorship, and this guy, Chris Schwartzy … This also includes Q&As and master classes from visiting filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino, Barry Jenkins, and Asghar Farhadi.

But some of the best filmmakers I learned from are the ones I was working with on a daily basis. Attending AFI allowed me to join a community of filmmakers who I will continue to learn from and work with in the future.

1. You’re always pitching or “What’s in it for them?”

For my thesis film, I made a coming-of-age superhero short called B alloon . The story for Balloon started as a very personal one, based on a memory I had from my childhood: A massive balloon release at my junior high (before we knew the environmental ramifications of such an event). When I was putting together the team, I knew exactly which filmmakers I wanted to work with. I had some longtime collaborators from back in New York (producer Kate Chamuris, production designer Jerry Marsini, and line producer Alex Peurye) and I had met several new collaborators at AFI (producer Christina Cha, cinematographer Frances Kroon, editor Bowei Yue, and co-writer Dave Testa). It was a student film and none of us were getting paid, so I really needed to shape the project around what inspired all of us.

I wanted the team to feel as connected to the story as I felt. At the time, we were seeing the Harvey Weinstein story break and our nation’s gun violence problem reached terrifyingly high levels. And what did these incidents of mass shootings have in common? Guns, yes, but also boys. It was always boys pulling the trigger, never girls. The question we asked ourselves was, “why?” How can so many boys grow up to be men displaying toxic behavior? This question galvanized our team and really set our story development into motion.

2. Get the money — and get it on the screen!

At AFI, you’re in the heart of Hollywood. This means we have the opportunity to work with many union professionals in the industry, including SAG-AFTRA actors, DGA assistant directors, and Teamsters in the transpo department. But this also comes with a slew of financial commitments that an average short film doesn’t incur. This is both good and bad. It’s tough because you’re looking at having to raise a lot of money to make a fifteen-minute flick. The positive is you’re working with established talent on your project -- and experience counts!

You’re also getting a taste of how to tell stories within the myriad of production logistics that comes with making movies in the Hollywood landscape. 

Besides crowdfunding, one way we went about raising money was by going after corporate grants.

This is a big advantage to producing at a non-profit organization; this made up more than 50 percent of our total capital. We had a theory that if we raised the base capital on an AFI thesis film, we would have spent a lot of money to make a film that looks like it cost very little. But if we raised an additional 20 to 30 percent capital, we actually could get a lot more for our money. Because it was a student film, there were a lot of discounts offered to us, as well. So, a little more capital opened a lot more doors. This allowed us to work with visual effects and camera equipment that we wouldn’t have gotten at the base budget level. Those were all skills that excited the team to be able to learn and take with them into their careers. If a short film is a calling card, this allowed us (especially the producers -- see #1) to show we could do a lot for very little!

3. Great a great AD and learn how to work with actors

When you set out to make a movie, you’re often told “no kids, no animals.” This is because both of them need extra time and money to accommodate. Besides the fact that we had to have a wrangler to work with our caterpillar (spoiler alert!), we were also working with a cast full of minors. Though it definitely presented its challenges, I think a lot of this can be resolved with preparation (see a theme?).

First and foremost, get a great AD. We were fortunate to have the incredible John “Tag” Tagamolila step in as our first assistant director.

He felt certain that what we were attempting was impossible for a student production. That said, after we showed him the amount of preparation we had done, he came on board and took the whole operation to the next level. We also had the incredible Daphne Boelsma as our lead studio teacher. I’ve heard people groan about studio teachers and seen them treated like an adversary to the filmmaking process. But that’s not true. The right studio teacher will take care of your young cast and be a partner with your AD in helping to make your days. 

The other big challenge we faced with young actors was the material. Amidst this seemingly simple superhero origin story, there was a very raw and gritty look at what it was like growing up today. In order to get the best talent to come in, I had to pull a controversial scene out of the script and tone down the language. This was a big risk.

We still had people refuse to audition for the film and one parent protested the use of the word “bitch” (though, strangely, several other words which are not printable here were “okay”). Once we locked our cast, we used our table read to foster a conversation with the actors and parents. We told them how we wanted to change the script and why. It was really important to establish trust and to let our young actors and their parents be a part of the creative process. Language and certain themes can feel exploitative, but with this approach they were consenting because they believed it would better tell the story. 

Lastly, in regard to material, I was worried parents might over-rehearse their kids. So, I never gave the actors a scene with the actual dialogue in the film. What I really didn’t want was to have an actor roll up on set and do the scene without any life or spontaneity in it.

But, as a former actor, I wanted to give my cast a chance to prepare. I wanted to do everything I could to set my actors up for success, just like I wanted for anyone on my team. So, we crafted a version of the script with dialogue where every character was saying exactly what they were feeling. This subtext version of the script served as an emotional roadmap for the scene. Then, on set, I’d ask them, “would you really say that?” The answer would usually, be “no” or “actually, I think I’d say [insert line here].” And we’d go again and try that.

We had a great cast and all I had to do was create an environment that fostered authenticity. So, we often threw the script out and just let them talk (or not talk) to one another. For me, this yielded some really spontaneous moments that I was so happy we caught on camera.

4. “Set your team up for success”

I remember once seeing a trailer for Werner Herzog’s MasterClass.com course on filmmaking. In it, he said, “storyboarding is for cowards.” I love Herzog, but Fitzcarraldo  we were not. For a sixteen-minute short film with six shooting days, three major stunt sequences, two special effects sequences, over sixty visual effects shots, a cast full of minors, and more than a hundred volunteers, I think to not have boarded would have been reckless. Boards don’t just include traditional storyboards either; it also includes overhead floor plans of what every setup will look like. This is particularly important when there are many different equipment pieces in the mix. We had multiple cranes, jibs, scissor lifts, massive green/blue screens, and other major pieces across different departments.

Unless you want a traffic jam causing hours of lost time, they all have to know where they need to be in order to pull off every single shot. 

We found that the key to storyboarding is to start early and include your collaborators every step of the way. You don’t want to show up one-week out with some magical, micro-managed vision that no one had the time to prep for. You also want to give your team a chance to provide feedback on the boards. A movie can’t be made by committee, but it can’t be made without one either. That’s why they are your team: let them help you make the boards better! Your film will only benefit!

My iPad has become my single most valuable production tool. The massive binder I used to lug around has all gone paperless. I even use it as my director’s monitor now, paired with a Teradek Serv Pro .

I use an app called Shot Lister , which gives me an hour-by-hour shot list of how the day will go. In my production meeting, my AD and I will walk the team through every shot on the hour-by-hour and pair it with a storyboard and floor plan. If a location doesn’t have a blank floor plan for a set, we will create one with MagicPlan paired with a laser disto. Once I have a blank floor plan, I like to do my overhead layout in an app called Shot Designer , but it can be a bit time-consuming. So, in a crunch, I’ll bring the floor plan into my favorite sketch app and just draw right on it. For this, I really like Adobe Sketch  -- where I also do all my storyboards.

Here's the shot list for the gym sequence, which was both stunt and VFX-heavy.  

Above is an overhead floor plan of one setup using Shot Designer. The “onion skin” layers are overheads for the many other setups in this scene.

5. Festivals or “You’re not alone!”

We completed the movie in January 2019, a year after we had started pre-production. This is largely due to the kind of post-production time a movie like this requires. It was all-hands on deck in order to get this kind of film delivered within the extremely tight deadlines imposed by AFI. We could not have done it without the brilliant work of our post-production team, led by our tireless editor, Bowei Yue.

When we started submitting to festivals, it was kind of a dead zone in the festival season. We didn’t hear from our first festival for many months. And when we did, it was rejection after rejection! 

Then, out of the blue, we found out we would premiere at Palm Spring International Film Festival ’s Short Fest. If you can get your film into Short Fest, you are very lucky because they do a wonderful job welcoming their filmmakers and fostering community. Soon after our Palm Springs premiere, other festival acceptances followed. Now, here we are, a finalist for the Student Academy Award and we just qualified for the Oscars by taking home Grand Prix at HollyShorts ! 

It continues to astound me how audiences are moved by the film: laughing, gasping, and even crying as it comes to its final exhilarating sequence. But the point is no film is for everyone and it’s completely subjective who will respond to anything. So, research, research, research.

Choose festivals that program the kind of film you made. Be honest with yourself. Where does your film fit in the festival circuit and the greater market as a whole? I think the best stuff always has some heartstring buried inside of it that drove you to make it and will drive the right audiences (and festivals) to see it.

Walt Disney said, “we don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.” The goal is to keep making movies and to tell the stories you would want to see -- and you will find you’re not alone. You will find your film playing somewhere...but also budget at least a couple thousand dollars in festival submission fees!

These are just a few of my takeaways from the process of making Balloon . Some of these might seem obvious, but I had to experience them in order to really educate myself. However you choose to learn moviemaking, there really is no better way than to be doing it. For me, that meant film school, but for you it may mean some other journey. And whatever that journey is, I wish you well! 

Feel free to comment below if you feel I’ve left something off or completely disagree with something I learned. I want to learn from you!

And also, find me on social: @jeremydirects. For upcoming screenings of Balloon , visit balloonmovie.com and sign up to be notified when screenings happen in your area.

Jeremy Merrifield is an award-winning writer-director who has worked on stage, screen, and in commercial advertising. While studying directing at the American Film Institute, Jeremy made four films. His most recent film, BALLOON, stars Paul Scheer (BLACK MONDAY) and Jonah Beres (Hulu’s PEN15). It won the Grand Prix at HollyShorts and is a finalist for the Student Academy Award. His production company,  DREAM THREE FILMS , is currently developing a slate of projects including a feature film version of his short, LINE, based on his experiences growing up in a southeastern commercial fishing community and the devastating effects of climate change. In New York’s Broadway theater community, Jeremy worked on such projects as MISS SAIGON, CATS, LES MISÉRABLES, and MARY POPPINS. Prior to that, Jeremy provided consulting and creative direction for Fortune 500 companies such as Lucent Technologies, Canon, and Pfizer. He can be reached at jeremymerrifield.com | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook .

Do You Know All These Film and TV Lighting Terms?

We go deep into how you can control a scene with illumination..

Lighting plays a pivotal role in shaping the mood, atmosphere, and visual narrative of films and television. From the soft glow of a romantic scene to the stark shadows of a suspenseful thriller, the way light is manipulated transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Understanding the various film and TV lighting techniques is like learning the vocabulary of visual storytelling.

So let's go into some of the most popular ways to light your projects.

Film and TV Lighting Dictionary

Basic Lighting

• Key Light : The primary light source focused on your subject. It determines the main direction and feel of the lighting in the scene.
• Fill Light : A softer light placed on the opposite side of the key light. Used to reduce harsh shadows and add dimensionality.
• Backlight : A light positioned behind the subject. It creates a rim of light that helps separate the subject from the background.
• Three-Point Lighting : The standard lighting setup using a key light, fill light, and backlight.
• Practical Light : A light source that exists within the scene itself (lamps, candles, streetlights, etc.). Can create atmosphere and a sense of realism.

Lighting Styles

• Hard Light : Light that produces distinct, sharp-edged shadows. Creates contrast and a sense of drama.
• Soft Light: Diffused light that produces softer shadows. Can create a flattering effect for portraits or dream-like sequences.
• High-Key Lighting : Even, bright lighting with minimal shadows. Often used for a cheerful, optimistic mood (sitcoms, commercials).
• Low-Key Lighting : High-contrast lighting with deep shadows and dark areas. Used for a dramatic, mysterious, or suspenseful mood (film noir, horror).

Specialized Techniques

• Bounce Light: Light bounced off a surface (like a wall or reflector) for indirect, soft illumination.
• Chiaroscuro : Extreme use of high-contrast lighting for powerful dramatic effects.
• Motivated Lighting : Light that appears to come from a realistic source within the scene, adding to the believability.
• Colored Lighting : Using colored gels or filters to create a specific mood or effect (red for danger, blue for sadness).
• Silhouette : Subject is lit from behind, appearing dark against a brighter background. Can be used for mystery or a dramatic emphasis on shape/form.

More Techniques

• Hair Light: A light placed behind and above the subject, aimed specifically at their hair to add separation and a soft glow.
• Kicker Light : A light placed behind and slightly to the side of the subject that creates a sharp outline and adds dimension.
• Eye Light: Small light source used to add a catchlight in the subject's eyes, making them "pop" and appear more lively.
• Background Light: Illuminates scenery or objects behind the subject, adding depth or highlighting specific background elements.
• Cameo Lighting: Creates a soft pool of light around the subject, fading gently into a dark background for a more isolated feel.
• Negative Fill: Using black flags or objects to block existing light and create even deeper shadows.

Additional Considerations

• Tungsten lights: Warmer tones
• HMI lights: More daylight balanced
• LEDs: Variable color temperatures and effects
• Color Temperature : Measured in Kelvin, refers to the warmth or coolness of the light, impacting the overall mood.
• Flags and Gobos : Black fabric (flags) or patterned cutouts (gobos) used to block or shape light.
• Diffusers : Materials placed in front of lights to soften their output (gels, silks, scrims, etc.).
• Reflectors : Bounce existing light for fill or indirect lighting (can be professional reflectors or makeshift like white boards).

Let me know what you think we missed in the comments!

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an AFI Thesis Film

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AFI Thesis Film 2101-THE BASICS OF LOVE

AFI Thesis Film 2102-SHEDDING ANGELS

AFI Thesis Film 2103-BLACK WHOLE

AFI Thesis Film 2104-WAITING FOR SPRING

AFI Thesis Film 2105-BEFORE YOU

AFI Thesis Film 2106-SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

AFI Thesis Film 2107-MOXIE

AFI Thesis Film 2108-MY LIFE STOPPED AT FIFTEEN

AFI Thesis Film 2109-TO THE DUST

AFI Thesis Film 2110-FIVE

AFI Thesis Film 2111-CURE

AFI Thesis Film 2112-SUCK HARD

AFI Thesis Film 2113-AND I MISS YOU LIKE A LITTLE KID

AFI Thesis Film 2114-SOREDIA

AFI Thesis Film 2115-CHILDREN OF CHANGE

AFI Thesis Film 2116-ONE MAN BAND

AFI Thesis Film 2117-FIRE BORN

AFI Thesis Film 2118-CARRION

AFI Thesis Film 2119-DESERT DREAM

AFI Thesis Film 2120-THE ERL KING

AFI Thesis Film 2121-LANE FIVE

AFI Thesis Film 2122-COWBOY PECAN PIE

AFI Thesis Film 2123-FINDING VEGA

AFI Thesis Film 2124-THE PORTRAIT

AFI Thesis Film 2125-CHORUS

AFI Thesis Film 2126-RITMO

AFI Thesis Film 2127-TIAN HEI HEI

AFI Thesis Film 2128-MAGDALENA

AFI Thesis Film 2129-CAIRN

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May 2003, Beijing, China. Under the pressure of WHO, the Chinese government announced that the SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak is real. The city is closed. Most students have been sent home. During a lock down inside a private boarding school, three eight-year-old girls have to find a way to make sense of the world.

PRINCIPAL TEAM

• Director : Haohao Yan ,
• Producer : Xiaoxiao Li ,
• Production Design : Menghan Qi ,
• Writer : Haohao Yan ,
• Editor : Luqi Zhao ,
• Cinematographer : Anton Shavlik ,
• Cast : Briana Liu , Todd Lien , Harmonie He , Gloria Xiong , Chedi Chang ,
• Production Designer : Menghan Qi ,

Technical specifications

• Language: 中文 / 汉语 / 漢語
• Release: November 25, 2019
• Duration: 25 min

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From Mentorships With Comedy Veterans to Golden Globe-Funded Scholarships, These Film Schools Are Championing Underrepresented Filmmakers

By Abbey White

Abbey White

When California State University Northridge’s head of film production Nate Thomas came to visit one of his first students, Paul Hunter, on the set of the new David Oyelowo-starring Apple TV Plus series “Government Cheese,” the Northridge alum and show co-creator could be heard boasting about his time in the program.

Popular on Variety

“We have a very large student population in our film department and we pride ourselves on looking for those individual voices and promoting them,” says Jared Rappaport, chair of the Department of Cinema and Television Arts.

Students’ film studies can also benefit from coursework within other schools, including Northridge’s expansive Humanities department, whose American Indian program recently co-sponsored an evening with “Reservation Dogs” writer-director Tazbah Chavez. With degrees around disability, queer, Middle Eastern, and more cultures, students can diversify or laser focus their storytelling skills and expertise.

“We’ve had students that take our Chicano and Film curriculum in Chicano studies,” says the film production head. “We’ve had a Holocaust love story period piece where they spoke Yiddish, and [the students] took classes with the Jewish Studies department.” 

Thirty minutes away in L.A., two postgraduate programs from the AFI Conservatory — the Directing Workshop for Women and its Cinematography Intensive for Women — have supported underrepresented gender identities for years. At the four-day workshop for DPs, fellows are pivoting into the below-the-line role, working on a set where they’re “dealing with everything from what it means to be a woman in that department to what it means to be a great cinematographer,” says AFI Conservatory Dean and Executive Vice President Susan Ruskin.

For DWW+, which is celebrating its semicentennial this year and boasts alums like Oscar-winner Siân Heder and Pulitzer-nominee Maya Angelou, the two-year, tuition-free intensive is open to those already familiar with the business and interested in making a short film. Once funded — a process that’s guided, and in certain circumstances of need partially funded by AFI —  directors build among an array of skills ways to “find common ground and learn about story[telling] from other points of view,” while mentors offer analysis to help fine-tune the film.

“It’s not about learning to be a director. You should already know what it means,” Ruskin says. “It’s to open doors, and to be a part of the community. Those are the two things that matter the most.”

At Brooklyn College’s Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, that kind of approach is not limited to a program. Built specifically to create a diverse pipeline of talent for the New York film industry, the only public graduate school in the country integrated into a working film lot (Steiner Studios) is home to a student population that’s two-thirds people of color. Ethan Hawke, Franklin Leonard, and Steven Soderbergh sit on the advisory board for a school with student groups dedicated to BIPOC, women and queer filmmakers.

“These are major filmmakers in the world … and [our students are] seeing people that look like them, and stories about them, on screen,” says executive director Richard N. Gladstein. “We do have to change the way that we’re educating people, so you have to decolonize the curriculum. The canon has to change a little bit.”

At Scottsdale Community College’s School of Film + Theatre, where 42.6% of the entire student population is BIPOC, it’s more than a difference in canon for students. Being the only public community college located on sovereign Native land means “there’s a real partnership and reverence,” says department chair Bill True, for the community being able to tell its story and “have its voice heard.”

In support of that philosophy, students have access to education and cultural support through the American Indian Program, in conjunction with free tuition for Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community members. A career camp launched two years ago also works through the production process to teach high schoolers and prospective students from SRP-MIC the basics of production in just a week.

Before students articulate to top four-year programs like USC, UCLA, Chapman, Columbia College Chicago and AFI, they’ll have the chance to participate in six to 10 shorts using the school’s equipment warehouse, which features an inventory worth $2.5 million. Those looking to start work right after the associate’s program can tap into the school’s partnership with Film Commissioner Matthew Earl Jones on the Arizona Film Office’s Film Ready Initiative, becoming one of the 2,000 across the state within the next five years trained as industry-ready production assistants.

“Filmmaking is a craft — an occupation — and we’re an occupational program. But within that, we still celebrate the uniqueness of perspective,” True says. “That’s why people are drawn to us. They find that this is a friendly yet challenging place.”

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