Copious Notes

They were going with the rain plan.

With just five days left to film, the cast and crew of Unrequited faced something they have not seen much of in the previous three weeks of filming the teen psychological thriller in Central Kentucky: precipitation. But that meant they could easily adjust to shoot a key interior scene between troubled Ben Jacobs and his ex-girlfriend Jessica Morgan.

This didn’t faze actors Michael Welch and Sarah Habel.

“We’ve got some important stuff to do today,” Habel, who just came downstairs in the secluded Scott County home where they have been filming, cheerfully saids to director Jason Epperson.

Unrequited is an important film to most everyone involved.

For Kentucky-based Lucky Day Studios, it will be the debut feature that they hope will show they are capable of making high quality films.

For Winchester native Epperson, it will be his debut feature after making a name for himself nationwide as the first runner up on the Fox film director series On the Lot.

For Welch, it’s a chance to take the lead after getting on many movie fans’ radars with his supporting role in Twilight, and fellow actors such as Habel also hope to turn heads with their performances in the gritty drama.

And for much of the Kentucky-based crew, its a chance to put their best feet forward as brand new tax incentives could potentially start attracting more film work to Kentucky.

“The crew senses this is something meaningful,” Epperson says. “We want to all be successful together.”

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Fans exit Asbury College's Hughes Auditorium following the 2009 Highbridge Film Festival. Photos by Erika Sieg | Asbury College.

Asbury College has made the Highbridge Film Festival part of its Engaging Culture Weekend, and this year, the films lived up to the overall event’s title.

People in the area who know film know Asbury’s reputation both for sending students on huge assignments such as shooting the Olympic Games and for seeing graduates go on to major film and television careers. Outside of film circles, that has been a bit of a secret, but Highbridge is making some noise, particularly through its association with the Ichthus Festival. Winners at Highbridge are shown at the Ichthus Main Stage during the June music event.

Asbury College Media Communications department heads Greg Bandy and Jeff Day honor student filmmakers Benjamin Rogers and Leiza Palpant.

The fifth annual Highbridge Festival was April 25 at Asbury’s Hughes Auditorium. We didn’t get out there because of competing events that weekend, but one of the great things about film is that all of the primary content is recorded.

One of the goals of Asbury’s media communications department heads Greg Bandy and Jeff Day is for the festival to become more competitive, to make students strive to make great movies to get into the festival.

Last year certainly set a high-water mark in terms of wow factor.

Brock Smith’s Visceral was a bold piece of filmmaking in terms of style, editing and sound, not to mention that it has an edgy story. It virtually swept the awards, including best drama. Almost matching it in cleverness was the award winner for comedy, Pencil Me In, from Austin Brooks, Ben Corwin and Jack Brannen.

Interestingly, this year’s winners weren’t quite as eye-popping, but they excelled in an area where last year’s winners came up short: storytelling.

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