"Pressed" | 2013 WINNER Evangelista Award, 168 Film Project

Completely conceived, written, and designed on a $0 budget in less than 168 hours, this short film was created entirely by just three people and filmed in the middle of a monsoon-like rain storm. Fun trivia: The final film is captured in just one, continuous shot. The method by which the film is captured is extremely technically challenging. The narration aligns with silhouettes that are projected live onto an alley wall during a live rain storm. The camera is attached to a projector, which achieves a very unique effect; wherever the camera moves, the projected silhouettes are aligned in front of the camera at all times. This creates the illusion that the only "thing" truly moving is the wall, which produces a mesmerizing effect that looks as if the projected silhouettes are interacting with an ever-changing landscape. Due to the several layers of the narrative, the entire project, from start to finish, was filmed, edited, and rendered 4 times: 1. First the story's 'landscape' was filmed. This allowed props from the wall, such as a window frame, to be extracted from the landscape to be used in the story and narration. 2. The story's narration was then recorded and aligned with the ever-changing landscape. 3. The silhouettes were recorded as they interacted with the landscape and narration. 4. And finally the silhouette-footage was projected onto the wall and recorded live, from start to finish. Completely conceived, written, and designed on a $0 budget within 168 hours, this project was filmed entirely by just three people; a husband/wife team and their 7 month old daughter, Lucy, who was toted around in a car seat and happily suckled on a roll of tape thus fondly earning her the crew role of Gaffer. The lead performer, Beau Chevassus, is a professional mime. The story is based off of actual real life events. ____________________ Logline: A prison preacher recalls a conversation with a past friend who pressed him into answering, "Am I going to hell?" Years later, this preacher meets this same friend. Assigned Verse: Hebrews 10:26 "Pressed" portrays a young man's struggle as he is pressured to acknowledge to his best friend the harsh reality of deliberately rejecting the truth. The consequences of forsaking the truth are manifested when the young man, several years later, is preaching in prison and stumbles into this very friend. Director: Beau Chevassus Narrator, Executive Producer: Ronald Montgomery Performer: Beau Chevassus Writer: Beau Chevassus DP: Beau Chevassus Prod Designer: Beau Chevassus Sound Designer: Beau Chevassus Editor: Beau Chevassus Gaffer: Lucille Chevassus Emotional Support: Elizabeth Chevassus Finally able to make this public! "Films may NOT screen in any other competition, exhibition, film festival, on the Internet or at any public screening BEFORE their premiere at the Festival." 168 FILM PROJECT, OFFICIAL ENTRY RULES AND AGREEMENT 2013 "The first thought I have when approaching anything, whether it's a film competition or university project, is, 'Has anyone else tried this before?' If I think it's unique enough to be one-of-kind, this excites me, and drives me to the end of the project. This can mean my projects can often be experimentally odd and very difficult to pull off. But I'd much rather risk that weirdness if it means giving the audience something they've never seen before." Beau Chevassus / Chevassus Studios, "Unduly atypical. Often irreverent." http://Chevassus.com