SnapshotWritten, Directed & EditedByJosiah Miles Pitchforth Nick Hawthorne......................Josiah Pitchforth The Voice of “Naqua”.............Josiah Pitchforth
Flower Girl
Written, Directed & EditedByJosiah Miles PitchforthHarold............................................ Dave ColemanJennifer................................... Heather Guglielmo
In the Autumn of 2013, I embarked on what has been, to date, my most technicallyambitious project. With assistance of a few friends and family, I attempted to shootwhat I would later deem to be an “abstract horror” picture. More so than my previous work, SnapShot went through several drafts and rewrites. I know I was exploring fertile thematic ground but making the decision as to what themes I would allow to arise and what themes I would deem unworthy became a task in and of itself. Also, around this time, my cinematic philosophy began to grow in noticeable ways, at least to myself, the way I talked about film and the way I thought about film began to change from simply a narrative instrument to a more
artistic method. I began to think much more visually and what I wanted most from the project was the opportunity to exercise a sense of subversive tactics. The challenge I set forth to myself was to establish a kind of symbolic grammar in which I could tell two stories at the same time. Encouraged by these early efforts, I look back on my endeavors with this project as a crucial step in my own cinematic development. Aside from the material, what also proved challenging was the fact that this was the first time I ever really acted. Sure, a few shorts here and there but to be able to carry a feature on my own, which is essentially the role here, and to direct made it exceptionally unique in the editing process. The movie wrapped principle production in 2013 and the post-production I conducted on it was not complete until nearly three years
later in 2016. SNAPSHOT tells the story of Nick Hawthorne, a photographer who specializes in capturing urban decay. The movie opens with Nick experiencing a kind of epiphany of sorts, a kind of possession, a summoning, to go out and use his camera to photograph the great outdoors in contrast to his usual work. While exploring the woods, Nick steps on an abandoned Bear Trap. Once freed, Nick’s concerns for survival turn grim when it is discovered that the Bear Trap is actually alive as a Native American Spirit named Naqua. What follows is a kind of back and forth between Nick and Naqua that seeks to explore the very thin veneer between man and nature.
While I will never regret my extensive and rather rewarding career in broadcasting, there was, among a few, downsides. The biggest of which was the fact that during the annual 48 Hour Film Festival (a national phenomena in which participants in regional chapters set out to write direct and edit short films in just under 48 hours) I was usually working. Which meant I missed a lot of them and, more so, missed out on being a part of the filmmaking community. In the winter of 2011, I had written a play to be work-shopped by Acorn Productions in Westbrook Maine. This was a play written in three acts and took place primarily in just on location. Now, I have always heard that classic Hollywood legend of how notorious B-Movie Producer once shot a movie in under 48 hours. That movie was the comedy Little Shop of Horrors and it starred a very young Jack Nicholson. The movie became such a staple of schlock cinema that it was later reimagined as a campy musical of the same name before
the legendary Frank Oz brought it to the big screen. Anyways, it got me thinking “would it be possible to shoot my little play as a film?” in under 48 hours. This would be optimal because, at the time, I was still working full-and-sometimes-over-time directing live broadcasting for Scarborough Downs, a popular Harness Racing Track located in Scarborough, Maine. I knew if I was to pull this off, then it would have to be with a two camera set-up. So, with the usual assistance from the very supportive local cable access station SPC-TV, I loaded myself up with equipment and went to down and low and behold, wouldn’t you know, we actually pulled it off! FLOWER GIRL tells the story of a married couple whose wedding was marred by the tragic death of the ceremony’s flower girl... and because this is something that goes undiscussed between them, they each develop very different mythologies to suppress their grief and guilt. This was my first foray outside of genre pictures though it still attempts to explore the psyche in mystic ways.
While FLOWER GIRL never actually found a home with a distributor, it still remains my first official credit on IMDB for directing. And of course, there are a few screeners kicking around here or there, if you’re so inclined and you ask me nicely... More important than all of that is the fact that I really see this flick as my first real step towards becoming a director with a vision... even though it is technically my third feature. The experience taught me a lot and for the first time, I was willing to learn. Of course, if I had to do it all over again I would not attempt to shoot the picture in such a short period of time but I’m glad I did it, just to prove that it could, in fact, be done... however, the post production process was quite grueling to the hurried nature in which the shoot took place. There needs to be a fine line between staying on schedule and running off the reservation, as it were.
Gallows & BloomA Flower Duet
Written, Directed & EditedByJosiah Miles Pitchforth Sophia Bloom……………..Crickett Cote Deidre Gallows……………Amanda Flowers Professor Allman…………..Patrick Bonstandt Detective Bentley………….David J. Wallace
In the Spring months of 2016, the premise of this feature occurred to me while in talks direct a feature centering around the historic and marcarbe iconography of Lizzie Borden (a famous New England axe murderer from the late 19th century). Unfortunately, or perhaps by way of happenstance some rather ugrent and pressing matters caused me to abandon this project, still very much in its infancy with little more than a rough draft of a script, and to move out of state.
While away, I was able to finish a satisfying cut of my previous work and so when I did, in fact, return to Maine I was invigorated to march forth into a new endeavor. It’s funny, I often times know not why I pursue the filmmaking craft because of the many hardships it can entail but, sure enough, I remain ever vigilant and spilling over the brim with optimism at the start of something new. I am, perhaps, constantly turning the soil just to watch something grow. And grow this project. It is, undoubtedly, one of
my more ambitious projects, returning to a larger cast and crew, which I have not done since my first filmmaking attempt: Tell The Tale of Googley Knox. This gambit, I believe, paid off as the finished product will be yet another step closer to the summit of my ambitions, as both a craftsman and an artist. The story of this movie is very esoteric in its nature and so it is my hope that its boldness will pave the way for future projects which, while perhaps being slightly more edible to mainstream audiences, will establish my interest in presenting the compelling and the bizarre.