Filmmakers near finish with no plan of public showing for film

Adam Carroll and David Mickler now control their own graduation. \nAfter nearly four months, numerous weather and scheduling obstacles and a house fire that somehow left all five hours of tape unscathed, "Conversations With the Almighty" is almost finished. Director Carroll and screenwriter Mickler have spent more than three years discussing the film adaptation of Mickler's original script and spent their final semester forming the visual representation of those words, Mickler said.\n"Conversations" is in its second editing run, which aims to tighten up the transition between sequences and to correct some continuity problems between scenes, Carroll said. After hearing feedback from their professor, they will make final adjustments and turn in their 27-minute feature as their final project for graduation.\nThe film now lacks music, but Carroll and Mickler have debated adding it; they are waiting to see if the movie can flow well without music between scenes.\nPending completion, they plan to show the film to a collection of friends and the actors involved in the project before its finals-week due date. But Mickler said completing the film is a success in itself, even without having an audience to view their work. They have no plans to screen the film publicly, but they have not ruled out the possibility of entering it in a film festival.\nGiven budgetary constraints, Carroll said he plans to make VHS rather than DVD copies for everybody involved in the film. \nCarroll and Mickler make all post-production decisions; the actors involved in the film only hear about the decisions after they are made. \nSophomore Ross Matsuda, who plays the lead character Patrick, said he is content with the creative process out of his hands.\n"I don't really have much of a say in post-production," Matsuda said. "That's not really my business -- I've done my part, and now it's in their hands. After all, Adam and David are the heads of the project ... I trust them."\nThroughout the filming and post-production process, Carroll and Mickler said "Conversations" has been a learning experience.\nCarroll said disruptions and delays sometimes hurt the progress of the film.\n"The biggest frustrations we dealt with were time management and procrastination," Carroll said. "(The project) was eight times more rewarding than it was frustrating, though."\nMickler said watching his script become a film was a different experience than he had anticipated.\nThe film changed so much between the planning, filming and editing stages, it almost seemed like a different movie each time, Mickler said. \nCarroll and Mickler's partnership began in 2002 as freshmen, when they held the film idea as a collective goal. After striving to finish the project, they said working together has been just as rewarding as it has been stressful.\nMickler said he learned about working with film by watching Carroll turn his words into a visual representation of the story. \n"I learned to share control of a project," Mickler said. "(Control) was something I had never had before."\nSophomore Annie Kerkian, who plays the character Ghost, said although she has a limited role in a small number of scenes, she eagerly awaits the finished product.\n"As actors, the process was fairly laid back," Kerkian said. "We had fun just enjoying the script and playing around in Dagwood's diner at 2 a.m. I'm excited to see the final product."\nBoth Carroll and Mickler have worked on film projects before "Conversations." After graduation, Mickler said he plans to move to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting, and Carroll said he wants to find a job in television. Mickler said working behind the camera on his first feature will help his career as a writer.\n"When you are making your own mistakes and (conquering) your own obstacles, you learn much more about your creativity," Mickler said.\nWhen reflecting on their work during the last few months, Carroll and Mickler said they wish they had more time to plan and edit "Conversations," but they said the film has turned out well. It is not a career-defining project, but one they can look back on that will mean something to both of their lives.\n"This movie is like a thesis paper," Carroll said. "It's not published, but it's done to add to your résumé, to show it around."\nAt the same time, their film project, almost four years in the making, will send them into the real world with a 30-minute accomplishment under their belts. Carroll and Mickler said if the opportunity arose in the future, they gladly will work together again.\n"It's been a good experience, better than a normal group project," Carroll said. "We were two people who knew each other and knew what we were getting into, and we knew what we were getting out of this. (In other group projects), you might get stuck with people you don't like. This was more enjoyable with David ... When you work with someone you know, it makes things a lot easier."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Josh \nKastrinsky at jkastrin@indiana.edu.