MSU grad moving on to movies

By Amanda Dyslin
The Free Press

MANKATO May 09, 2007 12:12 am

— When Phil Warren was 17 years old, and most of his classmates weren’t thinking beyond plans for Friday night, he was in his basement building a green screen studio.
Big movie plans were brewing. There would be hundreds of special effects shots, CGI animation and a witty script that parodied “Star Trek.”
Warren made it happen, too. “Star Trek Ad Nauseum” was his first movie of many to come, including the first-place winning short film of last fall’s 48-Hour Filmmaker Festival at Minnesota State University. He also won various awards for MSU’s iFilm competition with his 10-minute dramatic short “Direction.”
Recently, however, Warren has been pursuing something bigger. No more shorts. No more college competitions for insignificant cash prizes. He decided last fall, on the verge of graduating in December, it was time to make his first full-length feature film.
Warren made it happen, too. After months of writing, filming, editing and polishing, Warren will premier his 92-minute movie, “Blue Earth,” in Ostrander Auditorium today. He already has submitted the film to the Milwaukee Film Festival and has plans to submit it to other festivals, including Cannes and maybe Sundance.
“I kind of feel accomplished,” Warren said. “I’ve kind of been walking around with a glow since I submitted it to the Milwaukee Film Festival.”
The movie is a fictional drama set in Mankato about an MSU student, Allison, who is raped by someone she knows. Her boyfriend, Chris, finds out, and though he tries to keep the incident a secret, he is overcome with rage and kills his girlfriend’s attacker.
Chris’ actions destroy his life, while Allison finds positive means of coping and begins to heal.
The plot was inspired by Warren’s experiences as a women’s studies minor and a theater major at MSU. He wanted to make a film that was both entertaining and that addressed a social issue.
Warren received $500 from the MSU Undergraduate Research Conference, which supports students pursuing projects in their fields of interest, and he provided $2,500 of his own money for the film’s budget.
“It’s a lot of money out of pocket, but anything less than $3,000 is considered a no-budget film,” Warren said.
As with his previous films at MSU, students in the theater department volunteered to play the parts in his movie. Micah Kronlokken played Chris, and Lucy Hinton played Allison.
Area businesses allowed Warren access for shots, and the police department allowed Officer Allen Schmidt to appear in the film in a squad car. MSU music majors and a musician in Canada, who Warren found online, are providing the score, which includes harp and violin music.
The sensitive nature of the film made some people shy away from being involved in it, which Warren expected. But he found ways to get the movie made the way he wanted and gain access to the places he needed.
“Sometimes I would lie about what the movie was about,” Warren said. “I told people I was making a fun, lighthearted movie.”
In the end, Warren accomplished what he set out to do. He made a movie that asked important questions, such as how society should react to sexual predators and how people, as individuals, should define good vs. evil.
“I think art shouldn’t so much make statements as it should ask questions,” he said.
Why was it important for him to take on such a big project now, fresh out of college and pondering his next move in the film or theater industries? For one, because resources, such as funding and friends who can act, were available.
And most importantly, this is probably the only time in his life when he’ll have complete creative control over a film. Starting out in the professional film world, he’ll play a very small role in the process. And later on, he’ll have producers and editors and funding people to deal with.
But that’s years away, yet. For now, Warren plans to enjoy his first major film accomplishment and work toward his goal of attending the film school in Poland where his favorite filmmaker, the late Krzysztof Kieslowski, attended. Kieslowski directed such films as “The Double Life of Veronique” and “Three Colors: Red.”
“I’d like to eventually follow in his footsteps,” Warren said.

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