Monday, October 27, 1997
James Bridges winner hopes ‘Snow Child’ will lead to future
success
FILM: Award allows a graduate student to direct a
professional-quality film for his thesis project
By Lonnie Harris
Daily Bruin Contributor
Twenty-five thousand dollars can buy a great many things. For
some, it would provide a new car. For others, it might pay the rent
for an extra few months. For Marc Marriott, a Theater, Film and
Television graduate student, however, $25,000 bought a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to direct a 35-millimeter
professional-quality film.
Marriott was awarded the money after winning the 1997 James
Bridges Award in Film Directing for a previously produced 9-minute
student film, "Short Order." He then put the winnings into his next
project – his thesis project, "Snow Child," a 25-minute short film
based on a Russian folk tale by the same name.
"Making films is incredibly expensive," Marriott says. "Kind of
the running rule is about $1,000 a minute, even for a short little
student film. I was lucky for the ‘Snow Child’ to win the Bridges
Award in directing."
The Bridges Award for Directing was initiated three years ago by
James Bridges’ partner, Jack Larson. Larson remains involved with
the program to this day.
"James Bridges was always particularly aware that directors
didn’t want to work with professional actors," Larson says. "We
worked with several film students, who were trained in every type
of technique imaginable, but didn’t know anything about working
with actors. What I wanted to do was encourage performance in
film."
Winning the award itself is no easy task. A panel from UCLA
picks three finalists and then sends it to a committee from the
James Bridges Foundation, of which Larson is a member, who then
chooses a winner. Marriott was chosen mainly due to the quality of
performances in his film "Short Order."
"I saw ‘Short Order’ and read the script of ‘Snow Child’ and
they were first-rate," Larson says. "I think he’s very gifted and
has an extraordinary future. I feel he’s going to do work that I
will want to see and admire."
As would be expected, the competition to win the award is
enormous among seniors in the School of Theater, Film and
Television.
"For $25,000, as you can imagine, everyone in the school wants
to win it," Marriott says. "It’s the most money given away by a
university for filmmaking. I think the next closest award is
$13,000."
"Snow Child" follows the Russian folk story of an older couple’s
amazement when they discover that a snowman they built has
transformed into a real little girl. Marriott was inspired, in
part, by his own childhood experiences in Utah.
"I’m from San Diego, but my family has a cabin in Utah,"
Marriott says. "I just always thought of it as an amazing location.
I really wanted to shoot a film up there, but I could never find an
idea that could fit until ‘The Snow Child.’"
Making this particular film, however, proved to be more
difficult than anticipated. The cast and crew were faced with very
harsh weather, technical problems, and several other setbacks
during the course of the shoot. At one point, the sound recorder
even stopped working, forcing the crew to spend an entire day
filming shots without any background sound.
"I figured that if I could pull off this film, in nine feet of
snow with children and animals, I could do anything.," Marriott
says. "At least I could show that I can handle a difficult
production situation. I think producers are looking for directors
that can do a project on budget and quick."
As for the future, Marriott plans to use his exposure from "The
Snow Child" to work on more film projects, possibly including a
feature film.
"In the future, I’d like to get a feature going," Marriott says.
"I’d also like to work on some smaller projects or
director-for-hire things. I’m really hoping to use this film to
gain some more work in directing."
Courtesy of Mark Marriott
(Left) Millie (Kate Kittrell) and Mack (Sam Hennings) examine
the snow child (Alta Bastian) in "The Snow Child." (Above) Marc
Marriott shoots a scene of his graduate film thesis.
Marc Marriot
Marc Marriott, winner of the 1997 James Bridges Award directs
his thesis film "The Snow Child."