THE RENAISSAUNTS REACH HOLLYWOOD! WIN ‘BEST ROMANCE FILM’ AT CINEVERSE!
(Left to right) Amari Esco, Darius Spencer, and Olivia Toussaint
Last Saturday, September 14th, three of our Renaissaunt crew members flew to LA for the Los Angeles International CINEVERSE Film Festival. There they accepted the studios first award for their in-house production of ‘Viola & The Painter’ which received ‘Best Romance Film’ at CINEVERSE. This was the studios first award nomination for an in-house production. While the film has been selected for various festivals since its release, this is the first category for which Renaissaunt has won outright. Our Renaissaunt members were excited by this landmark.
'Viola and The Painter' receives 'Best Romance Film' at CINEVERSE.
Opinion: The difference between our film and the others shown at CINEVERSE was stark. Camera movements and color palettes showed how much hardware we were truly lacking at the time of production, in comparison to what Hollywood was clearly expecting from us. After the screening for our film, they held a Q&A where the festival director asked several questions, none of which stand out to me at the present moment. I did however take the time to reflect (in front of a theatre full of millennials and gen Xers) on one of my core beliefs when it comes to the industry of independent filmmaking: self sufficiency. It’s a rule of thumb that has simplified my experience as a student filmmaker and my existence as a Director/DP. The concept is simple: use what you got, till you get something better. For example, I painstakingly edited that entire film on my 2017 MacBook Air, (a process I DO NOT recommend). You’ll be surprised how often people, including ourselves, allow something arbitrary or inconsequential to stop our vision or the fruition of a creative endeavor. Sadly, this feeling doesn’t necessarily fade, you rather learn to ignore it as best you can. For instance, virtually every penny I’ve made has gone into some aspect of my filmmaking over the last half decade, including last years top line MacBook Pro Max out of spite for my past editing experience . This shows that no matter where you are on your equipment journey, you’ll either feel like you have all the gear in the world, or like you’re just missing that one teeny tiny piece. The great lie in this cycle is the notion that eventually this piece will be the one to finally complete the journey, thus making every other purchase worth it.
At Howard, this sort of film-gear journey is overkill. Most of the students don’t have the proper exposure to film gear to know what they truly need to make certain shots, at least for now at the undergrad level. I’ve worked with and supplied most of the Howard MFA students, who’ve been exposed to more affirmed and clinical concepts of filmmaking. Most of the undergrads who approach me for work are grossly misinformed as to how much effort film truly takes. As such, it’s hard to find clients who can understand, let alone afford what Renaisssunt Studios can offer, which makes it a pain to work with those who don’t know how to care for gear, since they’ve never saved up to buy some for themselves. Few undergrads are truly self sufficient with respects to filmmaking; those who take time to invest in their own industry knowledge in production. These are the films that have ended up being successful in the festival circuit, including ‘Sincerely, Jonah’ by Cyan Shreve, and ‘Viola and The Painter’ by yours truly.
These sort of projects highlight the passion that we Howard artists have, but also the difference between these outliers and other undergraduate films because of our adequate equipment and knowledge to properly use it in service to our vision. This was the point I made during the CINEVERSE Q&A. We’re always proud to represent, because: there’s so much creativity and passion at Howard, but the resources there are limited, severely.
Director Darius Spencer stands with 'Best Romance Film' laurel next to other festival Directors.
I used to believe it was my duty to lift all of Howard cinema up, gear by gear, for any production that needed me. To display the abundance of substance and depth that creatives have at Howard, and other HBCU’s. A substance that I’ve been able (and honored) to capture and display for the world time and again. I’ve come to realize and accept that not only was this unsustainable, but it’s not beneficial. People need to decide for themselves if cinema is worth to them what it is to me. That answer doesn’t have to be yes, in fact it most clearly isn’t, simply looking at the Renaissaunt arsenal. But one thing was clear when we went to CINEVERSE, we most certainly weren’t chosen for our access to gear.
It’s funny, the contrast between my production gear and the entirety of Howard’s tech center is pretty comparable, which is sad given they’re tasked with supplying all the undergrads and MFA students with rental equipment (sometimes all at once during thesis season). I’ve seen the Chapman University rental warehouses, which makes our tech center look like a concession stand next to a Costco. But at a proper film festival, like CINEVERSE, we’re boiled back down to our most basic elements. Not just ours, but every film there. There’s a deflation of ego in front of a live audience. You’re stripped of the self protective, slightly defensive shell of approval you’ve built around yourself during editing, and you simply start to laugh at your short comings like crunchy audio, or the continuity of the champagne glass is slightly off. Our production quality had an amateur polish to it, and almost halfway into my own film, I thought, why would they choose this to stand next to these industry level indie films? Then I realized what they were seeing in our film, and by extension, the whole Howard Film program. Something that most of those other films were trying to replace with fancy gear, but no amount of gear could possibly make up for: Substance. I was suddenly reminded of the agreement I made with myself so long ago when I began this journey of self-sufficiency. To use whatever I have, and to let that be enough. This is the key to substance at any level, with any amount of gear.
