WITH A HOLIDAY AFFAIR PROFESSORS PRACTICE WHAT THEY TEACH
STATE COLLEGE, PA - They say that those who can do and those who can't teach. But can you do both? This was the challenge facing Rod Bingaman and Maura Shea, director and producer, respectively, of A Holiday Affair, a low budget romantic comedy having its New York premiere March 11 at the Tribeca Grand Hotel Screening Room at 7 p.m. The film won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the 2000 Brooklyn Film Festival and will also show later this month at the FirstGlance Festival in Philadelphia.
Bingaman and Shea are both lecturers at Penn State University in Film/Video Production and after eight years as partners on various productions (they are also husband and wife), the two Boston expatriates decided to put their teaching to the test by shooting a feature with students as collaborators.
"It was a bit like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time," Shea notes.
"Insane was the word for it," Bingaman says. "Yet it was probably the most fun I've ever had on a set. In essence we taught the students how to make a movie as we made it."
A Holiday Affair started as office talk among Bingaman and a handful of his students, who encouraged him until he passed the point of no return. He and Shea forged on, despite the fact that they were expecting their second child in May, scheduling shooting for three weeks in August. This allowed the students to work all summer and return to school early for the shoot.
"I figured that with a newborn we wouldn't be sleeping anyway," Bingaman notes, "so why not do something constructive with the insomnia? As for the schedule, it was just the limit for us in terms of time and money."
"It was that or a minivan," Shea says.
The most difficult problem facing the filmmakers was to teach each crew member to do a job and keep the shoot moving. It wasn't unusual to see the director with his arms buried in a film changing bag, or setting a light or explaining to the camera crew how to measure focus. "I think it was good for them to see me outside of the classroom, actually doing something," Bingaman notes. "This was something I would have wanted to do when I was in film school. The downside was the brain drain brought on by constantly answering questions. I owe a lot to my assistants and to the cast for holding things together."
As insurance against their novice production team, Bingaman and Shea waded through 1500 head shots and settled on a professional cast, led by indy film veteran Dylan Hundley (Metropolitan, Last Days of Disco, Dangerous Game).
"Getting Dylan on board provided a level of professionalism that Maura and I couldn't have established alone," the director says. "Plus she's a terrific actor."
Robert Bagnell (Larceny and We Were Soldiers Once and Young) plays Blair's fiancé Lane, whose wedding plans are upset when Melanie, the maid of honor (played by newcomer Amy Brienes), acts on long-suppressed feelings for the groom. Blair's parents (veterans Ellen Day and Michael Bernosky) are making a rare visit over Thanksgiving weekend to meet their future son-in-law and complicate the situation by bringing their own marriage crisis to town.
"The students call it a light-hearted romp," Bingaman notes, recognizing that they are kidding him. "It's basically a sex farce about the battle between charm and vanity, where there's no clear winner."
When asked about A Holiday Affair's commercial prospects, Bingaman and Shea both remain optimistic, though the film that has no big stars.
"We love to dream, but we are realistic. If it plays well for audiences, then we feel like we've done our best." Shea says.
"Yeah, what kind of slogan are you going to use to market it? 'Refreshingly linear?' 'Daringly non-digital?'" Bingaman jokes. "Perhaps it's 'a rare glimpse into the world of heterosexual love?' We just hope it's entertaining."
"We just want to make another," his wife adds.
Would they do it again with students? They both smile, reflecting on the experience as a whole as they measure their response.
"We're getting plenty of encouragement," Rod begins, "but it would be nice to get back to working with a professional crew again."
Maura adds, "As a learning tool, it's great--as long as we've got the energy and the resources. We just don't want to get into the business of exploiting our students."