Developing Glen Lake’s film people

By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor
As Hollywood embraces northern Michigan for the second annual Traverse City Film Festival on July 31-August 6, the Glen Arbor Sun profiles two local residents who are developing their chosen crafts in acting and production in LA’s legendary movie industry.
Budding filmmaker Lark Arrowood vividly remembers the thrill of sitting in a dark, encompassing theater at age five, as an Indiana Jones movie thundered across her consciousness. “I was in awe and totally drawn into the experience,” of the lively drama unfolding on the huge screen, relates the college student from Maple City, now working and studying cinema at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She cites other film influences such as The Last Crusade, The Crying Game, and The Princess Bride as crucial in her growing awareness of the passion that has directed her career choice to someday become a movie director.

She asserts, “I’m drawn most powerfully to fictional stories in film. I want to explore themes of love, alienation, fear, jealousy, rage, hope and any other condition that flew from Pandora’s box. I don’t want to limit myself to one genre; I’m all about the stuff people really watch. In the right circumstances, a trash flick might send just as powerful a message as a classic story like Romeo and Juliet.” She continues: “For me, filmmaking draws together so many disciplines, like composition, acting, photography, and music, into one physically huge, stunning work of art. I love the sheer magic of it.”
At Glen Lake High School, Lark’s passion for movies took on a sharper focus, with mentors that included The Leelanau School teacher Cindy Leo, director of GLHS’s drama productions. As a young actor in musicals and comedy improv during this time, she was able to observe the director’s many roles that make a show successfully come together. ”I realized what directors do, and began to analyze the creative choices they make to get the results they want,” choices that include casting the right person for a role; blocking out the physical placement of actors and props on stage; lighting; and choreography. She was also impressed with Cindy’s handling of her young thespians and technical crew.
“A good director helps the other people feel comfortable. The way she ran rehearsals was hard work, but fun, too. She talked to you in ways you could relate to about acting, and to get the best performance from you. She always encouraged us to do well, and we always felt comfortable telling her if something wasn’t working, like an awkwardly staged kiss,” or a dance move that needed fixing.
Another important figure was Patrick Niemisto, vocal teacher at Glen Lake (as well as a seasoned musician with the popular group New Third Coast). Lark’s four years as a member of vocal ensemble North by Northwest gave her stage confidence and an enduring love of choral singing. Pat also teaches broadcasting and drama, and in Lark’s senior year, she approached him about taking an independent study class, in order to learn camera work and editing software. This extraordinary teacher agreed that she could put together a set of curriculum goals for the year based on the State of Michigan’s educational requirements; facilitated her tutorials with students who had previous broadcasting experience; and gave her free rein to write, produce, edit, direct, cast, and act in a series of videos.
“I remember the first time I picked up a video camera and tried to find a close-up object with the viewfinder,” she recalls. “It sounds trite, but you have to learn to see how the camera’s seeing,” quite a different experience than looking with the naked eye. “It took me eight weeks to shoot and edit my first project, a music video of Weezer’s ‘Hash Pipe,’” starring fellow students Brandon Peplinski and Brian Rademacher. “I learned to draw my first storyboards — visually laying out the shots like a large comic book, so you know what images you want to capture.” She also discovered the limitations of a set or location, and how factors like continuity — for example, an annoying picture that appears on a wall in one shot must remain in all the shots, or be entirely refilmed — can cause production headaches.
After graduating from Glen Lake in 2002, Lark chose to attend Lansing Community College, one of only a couple of colleges in Michigan that has its own filmmaking department. There she immersed herself in classes that included screenwriting, film history, making documentaries, after-effects, and editing on Avid software (the film industry’s prevailing standard). At LCC she made friends with others who were passionate about cinema, and discovered the intense camaraderie that bonds fellow filmmakers, who must rely on each other for everything from camera work, to lighting, to acting in each others’ productions, to sharing the cost of 16 mm film, bought in bulk. Another advantage of the two-year college was its temporary nature. “I knew I ultimately wanted to be in Los Angeles, where the movie industry is,” she stated, “and transferring to a school out there seemed the best way,” to make contacts and learn more.
In August 2004, Lark drove out West to continue her schooling at USC, whose vibrant, multicultural campus sits in mid-town Los Angeles. Despite the huge changes from a university town like East Lansing and rural Leelanau County, she immediately felt comfortable in the sprawling hurly-burly. “My first impression of LA was rush, rush! This is exactly where I want to be.” At USC, intensive filmmaking classes complemented one-of-a-kind gems such as “History of International Trash Cinema,” Russian, Japanese culture and salsa dance. She also joined the USC Fencing Team, earning a spot on the Women’s Sabre Team.
In addition to school, where she’ll be a senior this August, Lark works as a production assistant at Deluxe Digital Studio in Burbank. She found the job through Craig’s List last summer and started as an unpaid intern, where she worked 16-hour days on the special-edition DVD of the horror film Saw. “I love everything about production!” she exclaims. Work included making a sculpey clay model of the evil puppet in Saw, building sets, filming behind-the-scenes interviews with actor Cary Elwes, Lee Wanel, and others, and creating the “Easter eggs”: hidden bonus features on the DVD and on the Internet. Over the winter the Deluxe crew worked on the Date Movie DVD, and this summer just completed filming on another special-edition DVD for Lion’s Gate Productions. Confidentiality agreements prevent Lark from naming this most recent project, but she was able to expand her skills with work as prop master, costumer, script supervisor, location scout, and talent wrangler. Other chores included getting permits from the city, renting equipment like cop cars, securing a police officer for location scenes with guns, and “many trips to Lowe’s and Home Depot,” she laughs. The rest of the summer will be spent piecing the pastiche into a coherent and entertaining presentation, in time for the DVD’s autumn release.
Recently Lark discovered she now has her own entry page on the Internet Movie Database (www.IMDb.com), the result of last summer’s endeavors at Deluxe. Production work is part of the dues-paying that a future film director must go through, but Lark doesn’t mind. “This is a sign that I’m on the right track,” she says happily. “I’ve always visualized myself here.” However, she plans to someday return to northern Michigan to premiere a film of her own at the TC Film Festival, and meanwhile, hopes they’ll expand to include student entries.
Andrew Evans of Empire, a 2001 Glen Lake High School alumnus and star of some of its most memorable musicals, has also determinedly followed his dream to Hollywood. After a short stint as a theater major at Alma College, Andy took acting classes in New York City, then moved to New Orleans for four years, where a significant film industry had developed before Hurricane Katrina took its toll. This talented and charismatic thespian also sings, dances and studies Shakespeare, making him a versatile and hard-working performer. He has acted in several major venues, including an ABC movie, Campus Confidential, which aired last summer, and the soon-to-be-released Jude Law film All the King’s Men. Reached during a break on the set of Desperate Housewives in Los Angeles, where he was playing an extra, Andy discussed some of his past projects and future plans.
“I started as Jude’s stand-in on All the King’s Men, then got the part of playing his double,” he says of the period 1940s piece that was filmed in the Big Easy. The director liked him so well that he gave Andy a further role as a reporter, “just a couple of lines, but it was great. And I loved wearing the vintage-style suits and fedoras!” He also met actor Lawrence Fishbourne in New Orleans, who urged him to go to LA and study with an acting coach who had been a protégé of the legendary Stella Adler. In addition to his acting and dance classes, Andy has won many auditions, just one part of a grueling process that actors must face in their quest for work. His newest project? “I’m one of two finalists for a main character on a new soap opera pilot that will begin shooting this fall,” he says excitedly. Andy’s cinematic progress can be tracked on IMDb.com by Leelanau residents who will say proudly, “We knew him back when.”