2B — Thursday, January 15, 2015
the b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
M-Agination Films President
Anna Baumgarten is not a film
buff.
“This is the most embarrassing
thing about my film major back-
ground because I don’t watch a
ton of movies,” she said. I have
more, since I’ve been at school, but
I don’t have a lot of influences that
I could pinpoint (as a filmmaker).”
That may seem odd, consid-
ering Baumgarten oversees the
annual production of more than
a dozen student films, but rather
than reaching her current position
because of an obsession with films
and directors, the Screen Arts &
Cultures senior was motivated by
a love of writing and performance.
“I always wanted to be a writ-
er,” she said. “When I was in
second grade, I wanted to be an
author … And also performance.
I acted throughout middle school
and high school, and (film) was the
combining of those two passions.”
Interested
in
screenwriting
from the time she arrived at the
University, and curious about
directing, Baumgarten submitted
a script to M-Agination, and the
club accepted it — an unusual but
extremely exciting opportunity
for a freshman. She would direct
that project and continue with
filmmaking from there.
“I was more writing initially,
but I fell in love with production
along the way,” she said.
Baumgarten is now in her sec-
ond year as president of M-Agi-
nation. The club has 16 board
members and is in its first year of
a restructured hierarchy. Instead
of two co-presidents and no other
leadership positions, like in years
past, the club now has a president,
vice president, secretary and trea-
surer, as well as marketing and
business sections. As leader of the
club, Baumgarten — who is also
on the sales career course track at
the Ross School of Business — gets
to oversee and manage both the
business and creative aspects of
the club.
***
Formed in 2000, M-Agination
Films is a student-run produc-
tion organization that accepts
scripts written by students and
helps those students find actors,
equipment and funding to film
those screenplays. Each semester,
around 30 to 40 eager screenwrit-
ers submit their scripts to the club.
Everyone on the Board of Produc-
ers reads the scripts, and then
the club meets to decide which
projects it wants to produce (usu-
ally resulting in around eight per
semester).
When describing what they look
for in the scripts, both Baumgar-
ten and LSA senior Anthony Kalil,
M-Agination’s vice president and
a SAC major, point to quality first.
“We’re looking for a good story,
strong voice, characters that are
likable and people want to watch,”
Baumgarten said, who also noted
that the club aims to produce films
in a variety of genres each semes-
ter.
But M-Agination also has to
look at which productions are the
most ideal for filming in a college
town with a very small budget,
and so both Kalil and Baumgarten
mention feasibility immediately
after quality. It can be challenging
to cast roles that aren’t meant to be
played by college students, or find
locations if the script calls for a
scene set somewhere that can’t be
found in the Ann Arbor area.
“Does it take place on the moon?
If it does, it’s probably not the best
material for M-Agination,” Kalil
said.
Working under Baumgarten
and Kalil is a group of produc-
ers who oversee the day-to-day
operations required to make sure
the films are made. LSA freshman
Max Doyle originally tried to sub-
mit a script to M-Agination last
semester. While the club didn’t
have the resources to produce it,
they liked his writing and told him
about an open associate producer
job, which he took. Doyle is work-
ing on a five-minute drama called
“Looking Back,” now in the final
stages of post-production.
“Most of my stuff, being an
associate producer, actually hap-
pens before we even get on set,” he
said. “We only really had one full
day of being on set, but I took up
my jobs a couple months before
that, like getting the location
down and finding all our crew and
making sure our directors like our
actors and everyone can meet at
the same time.”
“I’ve talked to a few real pro-
ducers in the industry, namely
Christine Vachon,” Doyle contin-
ued. “And she says that being a
producer is kind of like being an
executive babysitter. You just got
to make sure everyone has what
they need and is at the right place
at the right time.”
***
The culmination of M-Agina-
tion’s year is its annual film festi-
val. Held at the Michigan Theater,
this upcoming April will be the
14th time M-Agination produc-
ers and filmmakers gather to see
what they’ve accomplished in the
past two semesters. While many
of these filmmakers (the ones in
SAC, especially) may have pre-
sented their class films in Uni-
versity buildings at the annual
Lightworks Student Film Festival,
seeing their work projected onto
the screen at a landmark institu-
tion like the Michigan Theater is
an entirely unique experience.
Though Lightworks is more
casual, Baumgarten and Kalil
shoot to make the M-Agination
Film Festival a special occasion.
The festivalgoers dress up for the
event with a formal dinner this
year at Sava’s beforehand. In addi-
tion, Baumgarten and Kalil hope
to include intermission perfor-
mances by ComCo, the Michigan
Pops Orchestra and other student
groups that share a residence in
the University Activities Center.
One of this year’s filmmakers is
LSA senior Jameson Duggan, also
a SAC major. Duggan’s M-Agi-
nation project in the Fall 2014
semester was “Babysitter,” a short
comedy sketch about a couple’s
over-the-top interview process in
their search for someone to care
for their child.
“Last semester I was doing
television production, which is
mainly in the studio, but I didn’t
have a production class that really
allowed me to create a film,” Dug-
gan said of his decision to produce
the film through M-Agination. “I
had always heard about M-Agi-
nation but I had never tried it, and
it seemed like a cool way to make
a movie without having the class
restrictions on content and time.”
During the production of “Bab-
ysitter,” Duggan worked with two
M-Agination producers, who set
up and recorded auditions and
provided equipment. The club also
hosted a writers’ workshop to help
the directors rework their scripts
to accomodate their relatively lim-
ited resources.
“In the original script, it called
for a live dog,” Duggan said, “And
I was like, ‘I don’t actually want to
work with a live animal,’ so I talk-
ed with them about how we could
still incorporate that aspect of it
without having a live dog.”
While Duggan said that his own
production went fairly smoothly,
he mentioned one possible pitfall
that out-of-class filmmakers can
face.
“Since it’s not for class, since it’s
for a club, people don’t really need
to commit,” Duggan said. “On one
hand it’s great because they’re just
passionate about the project and
they want to learn, because it’s not
all film students, but then, on the
other side, there’s nothing really
deterring people from, on the day
of, being like, ‘Oh, just kidding. I’m
really busy.’ ”
Duggan said he was luckily able
to sidestep this problem because
of his easy-to-shoot script and his
interested and committed core vol-
unteers.
Doyle, on the other hand, had
his shoot pushed back a month
when one of the project’s main
actors dropped out.
“That’s what being a producer
is,” he said, “Finding sudden hur-
dles and having to get over them.”
However, working outside of
class can also be a change of pace
for SAC majors that can give them
diverse viewpoints and take off
some pressure.
“Having that extra mile outside
the course work is really what lets
us work outside of the pressure of
working for a grade and also allows
us to work with a lot of people
who aren’t SAC majors, so we get
a wider range of people to collabo-
rate with within M-Agination,”
Kalil said.
***
The SAC major officially began
in 2005, when LSA’s Film and
Video Program was transformed
into a new department. While
M-Agination isn’t just a club made
up of SAC majors, many of its core
members and participants wish
to work in the industry in some
way after graduation.
Baumgarten is currently work-
ing on her Honors Production
Thesis, a 30-minute sitcom called
“Co-Education.” She would like
to go into producing, and she’s
planning to move to Los Angeles
after graduation.
Doyle is undeclared, but is cur-
rently taking SAC classes. He
would like to move up in M-Agina-
tion and said he “definitely” wants
to work in the film industry.
Meanwhile, Kalil said that
entering the film industry is “kind
of a crapshoot,” but he’s looking
to build his portfolio and take his
skills into the advertising indus-
try.
Duggan also hopes to enter the
industry. With the fast approach-
ing Jan. 25 deadline for submis-
sions for M-Aginations winter
productions, he’ll likely offer
assistance with camera work or
other jobs, rather than directing
a production.
When describing what kind of
film he would like to make, Dug-
gan said, “I want to make a movie
that people enjoy. There are plenty
of movies that I would say, ‘That
was a great movie. I really appre-
ciate it, but I don’t really have any
interest in watching it again.’ So, I’d
much rather make a movie that was
less critically acclaimed, but that
people like to watch over and over
again, and people like to quote.”
He named “Mean Girls,’ “The
Perks of Being a Wallflower” and
“She’s the Man” as examples of
these kinds of movies.
Even if they don’t want to go on
to work in the industry, the passion
that these students bring to the
film projects is invaluable. “With
M-Agination, there’s a lot of differ-
ently skilled people coming togeth-
er to collaborate,” Kalil said. “A lot
of people who aren’t studying film,
but have a lot of experience in arts
or in camera. There’s a lot more
perspective collaborating on some-
thing through M-Agination than
there is just doing it by myself.”
M-AGINATION
From Page 1B
VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily
M-Agination holds its annual film festival at the Michigan Theater.
TRAILER REVIEW
The camera pans down the
barrel of a sniper rifle until it
meets the eye of Chris Kyle, the
most
lethal
sniper
in
U.S. history.
He’s got his
finger on the
trigger, peer-
ing down the
scope; it is
he who must
watch
over
his brothers in arms on the
ground. In his Texas drawl he
informs his superiors that he’s
spotted a woman who appears
to have handed a grenade to a
child, not 10 years old. He asks
for confirmation, which his
superiors cannot give — “It’s
your call,” they say. It is Kyle
who decides who lives and
who dies, it is Kyle who must
play God.
This trailer for Clint East-
wood’s (“Jersey Boys”) lat-
est proves the perfect teaser,
expressing the soul of the
film without giving away
any of its action. We sense
the intensity of not just this
particular scenario but the
intensity of Kyle himself, this
guardian angel, this angel of
death. Resurrected by Brad-
ley Cooper (“Guardians of
the Galaxy”), this version of
the American war hero, tragi-
cally gunned down in 2013, is
stoic yet sincere, brutish yet
caring. “American Sniper”
looks to be a return to form
for Eastwood and another
critical success in the blos-
soming career of Cooper. Not
since “The Hurt Locker” has
a film about Iraq seemed so
urgent, and equally timeless.
-JAMIE BIRCOLL
WARNER BROS. PICTURES
SINGLE REVIEW
Canadian duo Purity Ring
released the single “Begin
Again,” in anticipation of
their
newest
album Anoth-
er
Eternity,
set
to
drop
in
March.
The
group
released
“Push Pull” in
2014, then just
a hint at their
latest project.
“Begin Again” gives fans a
much clearer taste of what is
to come, as well as showcasing
much of what the duo is gen-
erally known for. The sound
is oddly celestial, building to
multiple instrumental breaks
with full, potent sounds – the
kind of thing best listened
to loudly, in dark, crowded
spaces. Layers include ring-
ing bass, sparse piano and
crisp down beats throughout
the chorus.
The vocals, as always, are
haunting and slightly creepy.
Megan James’s delivery is
calm and delicate, entirely
contrasting the more force-
ful and wobbling beats of the
track. Lyrics draw on oth-
erworldly imagery, likening
a lover to the moon and its
lunar orbit. The track itself
seems to be traveling along
its own circular path, as it
both begins and ends with
the same lyrics. This affect is
enhanced with astrologically
charged lyrics and a round
sound, not to mention the
title itself.
While the track closely
adheres
to
the
standard
sounds of Purity Ring, it
is neither predictable nor
stylistically overdone. The
track is dynamic. The layers
of sound seem to be in con-
stant motion, making “Begin
Again” a strong and seam-
less addition to Purity Ring’s
small but impressive body of
work.
-CARLY SNIDER
4AD
A
‘Begin
Again’
Purity Ring
4AD
A
‘American
Sniper’
Warner Bros.
Pictures
WE KNOW
KANYE WEST
AND
PAUL
MCCARTNEY
@MICHIGANDAILY
WHAT’S NEWON
FOR THE LATEST ENTERTAINMENT
NEWS, READ THE DAILY ARTS BLOG
“Film combined
two passions.”
The passion that
these students
bring ... is
invaluable.