Jodom in the News

Local Filmakers Polish Their Craft

        By Lisa Kocian, Boston Globe Staff Correspondent - June 10, 2001

It could be a scene from an independent movie. Michael Amato sprints across the commuter lot toward a newly arrived train, his lightning-yellow shirt picture-perfect against the slate-gray fog. In one seamless motion, he hops over a railing, opens the train doors, and, with no conductor in sight, locks the stairs into place.

But Amato isn't an actor, at least not today. He's the writer and director of "After Midnight," and through his quick maneuver, he avoided a two-hour delay in the shooting of a scene. Amato regularly takes the commuter rail from Franklin - on weekdays. So when he set up his film crew Sunday, he assumed the train's doors would open on the same side they always do. They didn't. If not for his quick fix, he would have been unable to film his actors boarding the train until everyone could set up on the other side of the tracks and try again when the next train came in. As amateur filmmakers, Amato and the members of Random Foo Pictures are used to the perils of an open set. They are the weekend warriors of filmmaking, part of an explosion of amateur groups who use the Internet not only to network with other moviemakers but also as a venue for their efforts.

C. C. Chapman and Dan Gorgone started Foo in 1996, around the time they were finishing up at Bentley College in Waltham. They blame Jason Santo, an Emerson College film graduate, for giving them the bug. They started with short "Foovies," the first of which ran only eight minutes. Now they've made about 60 movies of various lengths.

"After Midnight" is a dramatic thriller and Foo's biggest project yet. Amato began writing it in December, and now cast and crew are in the midst of a 15-week shooting schedule that will take them through early August. "After Midnight" will be a full-length feature film with a really creepy twist at the end.

"Amateur moviemaking is a movement," said Santo, particularly since the out-of-nowhere success of "The Blair Witch Project," the low-budget mega-hit that got noticed at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and was then released everywhere.

'Blair Witch' exploded things, and you got all kinds of people making movies," said Chapman. "And a lot of them aren't any good, but who cares? They're having fun."

Foo members say they are aiming higher than other amateurs, and most in the group are not content to call Foo's films just a hobby. Last year, Foo stood out at the REwind Movie Awards for amateur filmmakers, receiving 19 nominations and five awards.

The ultimate goal is to get the attention of people who have money. "Sooner or later, it's going to happen that one or some of us are going to have to go out to LA and kiss some serious ass," said Santo.

"After Midnight" will come in under $10,000, said Amato, who as the director foots the bill. Santo is hoping this movie will be the one he can take to investors for the million-dollar prize. That's the figure that Foo is fixed on, low by Hollywood standards but considered enough to hire a crew and attract attention, said Santo. "I think `After Midnight' is sort of the litmus test."

Luckily for Foo, everyone wants a slice of the limelight. Amato's brother-in-law loaned them an ambulance for the film's opening scene.

When they were working on another movie, Chapman and Santo met a Watertown police officer as they were being thrown out of a supermarket. They persuaded the officer to appear in a cameo in that film. "You just ask someone. It's amazing what you can get access to," said Chapman.

The crew films on digital video, which is ideal for the Internet but doesn't rule out other venues. In fact, the company presented six of its movies at Foo Fest III at Bentley College in March, and they screen regularly on their cable access show, "Fade to Black."

The team at the recent Sunday shoot was nine people strong, including two married couples and Amato's 7-year-old son, Joe. Just before filming the first scene, Amato coached his son. "Show me your sad face . . . no lip, no lip." That meant no pouting. The director was looking for a convincing brand of sad. "He gets paid in Pokemon cards," said Amato.

They all have day jobs. Amato is vice president of services for a software company, Santo makes promotional Web movies for a research and development company, and Chapman is a Web solutions manager for a telecommunications company.

Chapman even managed to squeeze some filming into a business trip to San Francisco in February. He gave presentations during the day and spent his nights shooting scenes with some fellow filmmakers he met over the Internet. In two nights, they got enough for a half-hour film.

Last month, about one week after his daughter was born, Chapman went to Vermont for filming, a trip his wife had previously OK'd. "She says, `You guys just better make it so it's all worth it.' "

For more about Foo, go to www.randomfoo.com.

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