‘Fish Out of Water’ (2024)
Directed by Sophia Bruno
Produced by Braelyn Turek & Sophia Bruno
Written by Braelyn Turek & Sophia Bruno
“An experimental short film following Ali as she navigates a way through her subconscious mind to over come her struggles with mental health”
Watch the film here:
https://youtu.be/nRTFs8MuFKs?si=PXnIvB32ovDPpvnb
Producer, Writer, 1st Assistant Director
‘Fish Out of Water’ dives into the untold side of struggling with mental illness and the ways in which an individual can feel as though they are drowning with the weight of their uncontrollable thoughts and emotions. This project was filmed over the course of two weeks, partially done underwater, and based off of my own personal writings which are told in the voiceover of the character’s conscious. I helped my director scout locations and obtain the contracts for shooting, as well as oversaw multiple creative aspects of the film and worked on set to help with lighting and set design. I also created the final design for our film’s poster.
Recognition
‘Fish Out of Water’ was awarded for Best Cinematography and Best Overall Film at the Flash Film Festival held at Kent State University (May 2024).
(behind the scenes & stills of short film pictured below)
‘Rotten Lovers’ (2023)
Directed by Dean Tunberg
Produced by Braelyn Turek
Composed by Sharon Walsh
“A motley crew of ghost hunters explore an abandoned, haunted house in the hopes of waking up the undead witch, Emily . Unbeknownst to them, Emily is looking to deem one of them as her undead lover by killing them off one by one until the final ghost hunter remains”
‘Rotten Lovers’ was my senior capstone short film project, and was the first ever student-produced musical to be done at Kent State University. This project required months of dedication and planning between all members of the cast and crew. I was present for multiple meetings with both the director and composer, cast auditions, studio recordings for the three songs within the musical, location scouting, costume and makeup selections, around thirty hours of filming, weeks of editing and corrections alongside our postproduction sound team. This project challenged all of us in a completely new way between all phases of production, and proved the creative abilities and ambitions of myself and everyone I was fortunate enough to work with.
Producer, co-writer, director of photography
(behind the scenes & stills of short film pictured below)
‘Christmas Tree’ (2022)
Directed by Dean Tunberg & Isaac Hamilton
Produced by Braelyn Turek and Vanessa Crano
“Upon the disappearance of his girlfriend, Lisa, Sebastian becomes desperate and seeks the help of a medium. Sebastian soon learns the answers, but with a supernatural twist”
Co-producer, co-writer, co-director of photography
Working in multiple different positions throughout the entirety of this project challenged me both as an individual and as a team member. Communication for both creative ideas and deliverance, as well as technical aspects and paperwork was key in getting ‘Christmas Tree’ completed between myself and my group partners. I aided in scriptwriting, completion of documents such as call sheets and shot lists, arranging shooting schedules, prepping and tearing down of multiple sets, and ensuring that the directors’ creative visions were accomplished through all stages of production.
Recognition: ‘Christmas Tree’ was selected by university staff as one of four short films from the semester’s Production I classes to be screened publicly on campus.
(behind the scenes & stills of short film pictured below)
Cinematography (2022)
Created by Braelyn Turek & Alicia Cleveland
Co-writer, co-director of photography, camera operator, editor
During my time at Kent State University, I was enrolled in a cinematography course in which I worked alongside my fellow classmate, Alicia Cleveland. We were given multiple, unique assignments for which we were expected to film projects with an emphasis on different lighting setups and intermediate camera techniques. We were also expected to prep these assignments with lighting diagrams, and edit the final product.
Below are two assignments from this course.
This assignment was conducted as a mini narrative in which Alicia and I worked together to create the short story. Alicia starred in this project, and I worked as the grip, camera operator and editor.
We were tasked with creating a themed montage for this assignment. Alicia and I chose ‘Serotonin’ for our theme, and the visuals were a combination of both of us working independently as cinematographers and camera operators. Voiceover written and narrated by me, and editing was done by me.
‘Werewolf Cop’ (2023)
Directed by Vincent Throckmorton & Trenton Camper
Produced by Rebecca Balistreri & Cress Waldrop
“Richard Wolf was a young detective in the streets of 1970s Chicago, now he uses his badass cryptic abilities, and his nose for justice to keep the streets of Chicago clean. He is the Werewolf Cop”
Key grip
This project was my first time working as key grip, and I was tasked with multiple duties in order to keep set moving along with the DP’s vision that fit the unique style of a 1970s action-packed television episode. I was the main mode of communication for the DP as I was in charge of light placements and using bounce boards, filters, and other equipment in order to get the exact look of shot that the DP and director had envisioned.
(behind the scenes & stills of short film pictured below)
‘The Man Makes the Title’ (2023)
Directed & Produced by Kyle Nenadovich
“Adam Hancock, the champion of an independent pro-wrestling company, must learn what it means to be the champion as his personal life threatens his career”
Assistant Director
Serving as the assistant director on this set, I was tasked with working alongside the director to make sure his vision was communicated thoroughly and correctly with the rest of the crew and cast. I kept track of time following our call sheet schedules, assisted with gear, and slated before each take. Additionally, I helped both the director and DP find new, creative solutions to a few challenges which arose with shot setups, set locations and set design.
(behind the scenes & stills of short film pictured below)
