So I know that in my first SFF post I promised that these films would not take up much more than 10 mintues of your time. I guess I lied. Because here the other day I stumbled upon a film called Arnold and the Alps by Drew Mylrea, which I really have to share. It’s 40 minutes long. This story of a young man’s desire to go ice climbing can best be described as quirky and weird, and if there is any doubt, I mean that in a good way. The film also contains one of the best sex scenes I have seen for quite some time. 
The internet is a medium of short attention span and constant tempation. So the fact that this film managed to keep me interested for 40 minutes is nothing short of impressive. Whats even more impressive is the fact that if you watch the end credits you will see that this was pretty much a one mans job.
So I decided to get in touch with man behind the film, Drew Mylrea, and ask him some question on process of making a film by yourself.
1. Can you give a short introduction of yourself?
I’m 22 – dropped out of ucla with a Spanish requirement to go after finishing a theater directing major, been making movies since I could think (or trying to!) – started with stop animation then action films.
2. From the end credits it seems like this was pretty much a one man job. How much time did it take to make it? Were there times when you just wanted to give up?
One man job. Took four months of filming when we could because people were working or in school etc. I absolutely almost gave up after the first rough cut. The pacing was off, it was 1hr long and had all of these scenes we came up with on the fly, which ended up being nic Charachter accents but not driving the story. That, combined with terrible sound led to a test screening that had a horrible reaction and left me bummed about this thing I had worked so hard on.
It took a while to finally find the right rythm. Then came more frustration when inhad to record all of the sound effects because that proccess is just a lonely trek out with a micraphone which I fin laborious unlike lighting a shot or wiling with actors.
3. What was the budget on the film? And how did you finance it?
No budget at all. I spent under 5k on the camera, borrowed all props, had to pay 150 to rent a segway and a couple key antiques like the spear. Asher bought me the sound recorder, I had the mac to edit. Everyon fed themselves bless there hearts.
4. Technical aspects: camera, lenses, editing software?
Camera hv20
Brevis 35mm nikon mount
Nikon 50mm, 17-35mm and a funky telephoto zoom
Redrock follow focus
Battery and LCD screen
2 stolen 2k lights
1 legally obtained Arri light kit consisting of 2 650watt 1 300w lights
Final cut pro, shake
(Stian: I’ve sent him a follow up so hopefully we will get the story on the two stolen 2k lights:)
5. What was the hardest part of making the film?
Hardest part was editing it down
6. Where there any funny, weird or interesting things that happened while you were filming it?
It was all fun and funny to make – cast was unbelievable and I love them too much.
7. What is your next project?
Next project is a feature don’t want to say anything until Im 100percent sure I can make it. Scripts ready if anyone who is interested in helping wants to chat please do! (Mylrea at gmail dot com)
So go and watch the film here at: http://www.arnoldandthealps.com/watch.htm
I’m already looking forward to his feature, and I’d love to see what Mylrea could do if he had a real budget to play with. No matter what happens I do believe this man has a great future ahead of him.
ester I’ve probably said the word more times during the last six months than I will do for the rest of my life. In addition I will for always be associated with the subject, and forever be that childish guy who at the age of 23 wanted to make a movie about penises. But my oh my how it was worth it. As you can see from the bloopers at the end of the film, we had so much fun creating this short.
