Stephen Morand

Film & Television
Fourth Year

Stepping into our fiction production class for the first time, I think it’s safe to say that my class was very excited for what lay ahead. This was the course in which we would make professional-looking short films and premiere them at Magic Hour at the Loft Cinema. I, for one, was greatly looking forward to all of it. Not only was I partnered up with a super cool classmate, but we also had a very intriguing short film in mind. We got to work finding cast and crew, securing locations, and our shoot was only a couple weeks away when spring break started. Needless to say, things took quite a turn…

            When we all discovered that film production would halt for the rest of the semester, we were taken aback, to say the least. It seemed as though all the preproduction we did had been for nothing and we were left with only two options. We could scramble together a low-budget short film in quarantine or we could begin planning our senior thesis films for next semester. I decided to do both, and honestly, everything came together rather well. I think it’s important to reflect on what has gone right amidst all the chaos, and I can confidently say that quite a bit went right. Because of the global pandemic, I had the opportunity to find an internship, begin work on my senior thesis, and I got to shoot this short film with my brother and our good friend. It may not be the most polished video out there, but it was a lot of fun to make, and if it makes you laugh, then my mission will have been accomplished. Please enjoy Sodie Pop.