KU Basketball Star to Film Star! Christian Moody and Jay Gray talk about their WWFF entry.
WWFF talks with Christian Moody and Jay Gray about their Scare Factor entry Hit And Run, now playing in the WWFF Virtual Theatre.
Jay and Christian, what do you do?
Jay: I work as the billing and claims administrator at the Heartland Medical Clinic, in the LEO Center organization. I also work as the video production guy at my church as well as other office administration stuff there. I wear a few different hats at both locations, so its kind of hard to say exactly what I do.
Christian: I’m working for the Leo Center as the P.R. Development Director. I am also assisting with some break through research at KU in the biological science department. I’m also a student. I like making short films. And I’m engaged.
Tell us about the Leo Center and its purpose in the community.
Christian: The Leo Center is here to serve Lawrence and the surrounding communities. Our mission at the Leo Center is to transform lives and give hope to those who need it most; hope for a healthier life physically and mentally.
Jay: The LEO Center started out as the Heartland Medical Clinic in the basement of Heartland Community Church. At the time, it was a clinic that mainly served homeless here in Lawrence. It was started by Dr. Dennis Sale who came to Lawrence from California, where he had a similar clinic. Since then, the clinic grew large enough and had enough support to move to its own building, where other Lawrence churches got involved and created what is now called the LEO Center. The Heartland Medical Clinic is now under this corporation, along with the Advocate Pregnancy Services, which helps women who find themselves in difficult situations choose life; the LEO Center Benevolence funds and Food Pantry, which supplies food and money to those in need, two programs funded by Americorps which give monthly supplies of meds to those who qualify, and free mammogram and pap smears to those who qualify. Finally, we have a Christian counseling service called S.A.L.T. (Seven Areas Of Life Training). The Purpose of the LEO Center is to transform lives and give hope. Hope for a healthier physical life, and hope for a healthier spiritual life.
Where are you from?
Jay: I was born and raised in Lawrence.
Christian: I’m from Asheville, NC.
How did you hear about WWFF?
Jay: I have heard of the film festivals put on in the past, but this year I saw a super tight flyer that I just couldn’t ignore.
Christian: My fiance found a sweet flyer at the Kansas Union
Jay, have you ever directed a short film before?
Jay: Not really. I’ve done a couple of shorts for class in high school and college. But everything else is just for fun. Nothing really with a plot. I’ve done a couple commercials for the LEO Center as well.
Christian, Have you ever acted before?
Christian: I was in a bowling commercial when i was 6 and i was in a commercial for the Leo Center 2 months ago.
What was the most difficult part of the film making process?
Jay: Getting people to shut up in the background.
Christian: It was hard to get good lighting or the right lighting. We wanted every scene to have an eerie look to it so we used the television screen lighting every where. We would have someone hold it up next to where light was needed to get the right affect.
How did you organize your team? Who were the actors?
Jay: We just made our fiancés do it. I don’t really know of anyone (other than Christian) that is a great actor, so we just did it ourselves.
Christian: Or team was made up of two couples. Jay is engaged and im engaged, so our babes were the other two in our team of four.
What software and equipment did you use?
Jay: I use the Adobe Production Suite. Mainly Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 and After Effects 7.0. I also have a Canon GL2 camera… well, it’s not really mine. I just steal it from work when I want to use it.
How many hours did you spend in production?
Christian: I’d say we spent close to 3 hours filming and Jay edited so that took more time than I knew about.
Jay: About 7.
Your film had a great look to it. How did you create the special effects with the glowing girl?
Christian: Jay is the mastermind behind the special effects.
Jay: Magic. Magic and After Effects. I used multiple layers and drew masks over the characters that I wanted to apply effects to. The masks would only display that character, so I could apply any effect I wanted to without it affecting anything else in the picture.
How did you come up with the idea?
Christian: I’m pretty sure Jay said he had a dream that the sequence of events from our show actually happend in his dream, and genius ideas come to people in dreams so we just went with it and were happy with the outcome.
Jay: This was an idea that I had a while ago, and it was just kinda in the back of my mind. We were having troubles thinking of an idea, so I just decided to use that one. It definitely came out different than what I had in mind… but it was still good.
Will you ever enter another WWFF?
Jay: I don’t know… after losing this last time, the hurt was just too great. But it would be safe to assume that we would.
Christian: Definitely, now that we’ve been in one, we know what we are up against and know what makes people laugh and what it is like to have a lot of people watching your film. Having the experience will really make a difference and hopefully help with future projects.
Other than your own, which movie at the WWFF was your favorite?
Jay: I really liked the funny one with the mad scientist that turned into the bug. That one was hilarious. The scariest though, was the one that won first place. That car horn was so loud, I about pooped.
Christian: I really like Missing, the winner. I thought it was well done. Great idea and story and perfect plot for the time allowed. I also like the one where the mad scientist turned into a bug and the assistant beat him up with a pipe. That one was halarious.
“What a great opportunity for young filmmakers to show their craft for good causes. Everybody wins!”
“The Wild West Film Fest has been bringing it to the Lawrence film scene. It is one of the best examples of what filmmakers are looking for in a festival.”
“The Wild West Film Fest puts filmmaking back into the hands of the people. It’s indy film in it’s purest, grittiest form. A great opportunity for local filmmakers to get their work seen by audiences.”
I’m the guy who submitted the Mad Scientist/Bug film and just wanted to thank these guys for the kind comments. I was unable to attend the show at Liberty Hall so I hope my film had some sort of effect on the audience…anyone out there recall the reaction?