GVSU Summer Film Project underway

The Grand Valley State University Summer Film Project 2008 is underway with the dark and highly visual tale, "Walter's Wife," about a crumbling marriage as seen from the perspective of a young boy.

The script was written by Joshua Kinne, a senior film and video major and creative writing minor at Grand Valley. More than 20 students are enrolled in the six-week practicum course that will shoot the short film in late July. Post-production is done during a 15-week fall course, with a premiere screening in the spring.

Grand Valley faculty members Scott Vanderberg and Jim Schaub are co-executive producers of Grand Valley’s 14th Summer Film Project. The film is a collaborative production of Clear Vision Films in association with Grand Valley Pictures and Orange Chair Productions. Also working on the project are summer film veterans Andy Fortenbacher as director, John Otterbacher as producer and Michael Bosman as director of photography.

“All of these instructors have worked on past summer films and are very committed to the students gaining valuable experience,” said Anthony Thompson, director of Grand Valley’s School of Communications. “They have also planned workshops and field trips that will expose all crew members to the complete process of pre-production and post-production roles as they work on making this film.”

Crew Biographies

Director Andy Fortenbacher is a Grand Valley alumnus and Summer Film Project veteran. He was first assistant director on the previous project, the feature-length film “To Live and Die in Dixie,” and worked on the GVSU short “Story Time.” Fortenbacher started his filmmaking career by directing the award-winning short “Delirium” in 2004. His “Rose Colored Glasses” was screened in more than 15 film festivals nationwide and has won multiple awards. He will be attending the graduate film program at Columbia University in New York this fall.

Executive producer Jim Schaub has worked in film and video production for more than 16 years as a producer, editor, writer, camera operator and technical adviser and has produced corporate, documentary, non-profit, educational and film work. Schaub has a bachelor’s degree in business from Michigan State University and both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in communications from Grand Valley State University. He is co-owner of Clear Vision Films, teaches film and video editing and effects at Grand Valley and is a technician in the School of Communications.

Co-executive producer Scott Vanderberg has been a staff member in the School of Communications at GVSU for nearly 24 years, teaching film, video and broadcasting classes for the past 19 years. Vanderberg has been involved with Grand Valley’s Summer Film Projects since the program started, and has served as director of photography, second unit director of photography and production coordinator.

Producer John Otterbacher is an independent filmmaker in Chicago where he operates his boutique production company, Orange Chair Productions Ltd., which specializes in independent film projects and assisting non-profit organizations. Otterbacher also teaches at Columbia College Chicago and Grand Valley State University, where he received his master’s in communication in 2005. “Walter's Wife” is his fifth Summer Film Project.

Director of photography Michael Bosman is an alumnus of Grand Valley State University and has been working as a professional filmmaker in Los Angeles for the past three years. Bosman has worked on a variety of films, including camera operator on “The Morgue” (2007) and director of photography on the feature length documentary “Citizen Lane” (in production).

Scriptwriter Joshua Kinne has written and directed several award-winning short films, including “After a Gentle Rain” and “Amelia’s Haunting,” both of which have been screened at the Waterfront Film Festival.

NOTE:
Dante James was previously reported as the director and producer of this year’s project. Due to a variety of circumstances plans have changed with hopes for a future collaboration.