Photo courtesty of @lallorasangre_film
Senior year of college is typically an exciting time for students approaching their entrance into the real world. Long awaited projects and theses are finally coming into fruition, internships are in full swing and people are celebrating both endings and new beginnings. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has redefined what senior year looks like for many. Students pursuing degrees in the arts have faced particularly difficult challenges. The pandemic has forced them to reimagine projects, shows and even career opportunities as they adapt to the new normal. For many Hofstra film students, this means changing how they approach senior thesis films, an integral part of their college experience. Developing, shooting and fundraising for projects of this caliber during the pandemic has not been the easiest task.
Senior film and political science major Dejan Perich Soto is preparing to shoot his senior film, “La Llorasangre.”
“Right now, we’re in the preproduction process. We’re beginning the hunt for locations, film permits, all that stuff,” said Perich Soto. “[La Llorasangre] is a drama, and it’s already been cast. I don’t want to spoil too much about the film, but it’s very inspired by magical realism, which was a challenge in and of itself.”
Perich Soto is an international student from Lima, Peru, and due to travel restrictions, he took classes remotely last semester. Though he focused a lot of energy on getting his script written during his time at home, Perich Soto found it difficult to keep up his motivation at times.
“Before the pandemic I had planned a very tentative schedule. I wanted to film during President’s week, and that would have implied that everything like locations were already set up,” said Perich Soto. “The fact that I was remote last semester was sort of the first major blow. It’s hard keeping the motivation up when everyone is in the classroom and you’re Zooming in from your middle school bedroom.”
Perich Soto feels he may have fallen below his own standards while being remote, but he doesn’t believe he’s fallen behind his peers. As he and other seniors ramp up their preparation for filming, Perich Soto expresses his lingering fear that actually getting to shoot could be too good to be true.
“Though it’s dissipated a little after seeing a couple of people shoot without anything happening, there is always this looming fear that [shooting my film] is not really going to happen.”
Creating a senior film is a part of the college experience that many film majors don’t want to miss out on, and they are willing to adapt to ensure that their projects come full circle. Putting time, effort and faith in a project that could be taken from you in an instant is a stressful thing to gamble on. Filming during a pandemic requires very careful planning, and Perich Soto is going above and beyond to guarantee a smooth shoot.
“COVID has to be incorporated in all of your planning. For example, in the budget we have a special section for how much we want to invest in PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and all that good stuff,” said Perich Soto. “In the case of actors, something that I personally have done is cast two understudies for my leads. I know this is a very common thing to do in drama, but it’s not common in film at all. But I decided to do it. I’m basically paying a small fee to two actors to keep that weekend open in case one of my leads tests positive [for COVID-19]. If this happens, the understudy will show up instead.”
On top of accounting for PPE in production costs and making the choice to cast understudies, Perich Soto also explained how a party scene would be filmed in congruence with CDC guidelines.
“I’ve been working with my director of photography to kind of figure out a way to shoot it so that it looks like a regular party, but it will have way less people. So just for example, all of the scene is going to be shot from a middle close up to a close up. This way you only need one or two people in the background,” said Perich Soto. He also noted how any extras needed in scenes would be people already on the production team in order to keep the number of people they interact with while shooting at a minimum. Ideally, a safe shoot is a successful shoot.
As he prepares to finally shoot his film, Perich Soto is documenting his production journey on Instagram @lallorasangre_film. With all the obstacles the pandemic has created, it’s exciting to see students still getting the opportunity to create art.
