"A four-year-old girl that we had to film having a tantrum refused [to make noise], so I ran off camera making baby noises as she kept her mouth open in the carriage," Snyder-Spak said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "The entire store looked at us like we were crazy."
The screaming child joins other characters including a "Dog-House Husband," "Coupon-Hoarder" and even a "Russian Ogre" as one of the many annoying customers encountered by the protagonist in "The Day of the Rice Cake Coupon," a short, semi-autobiographical film that Snyder-Spak is producing and directing for her senior thesis in film, according to the film's official Facebook page.
"It is basically every horrible interaction I have had working at a Stop and Shop in high school rolled into 15 minutes," Snyder-Spak said.
The idea for the project had been in the back of her mind for some time, Snyder-Spak said. She originally wrote the screenplay in professor Bill Phillips' Screenwriting I class her sophomore Winter, and felt it was natural to produce the film for her culminating experience.
There are roughly 11 seniors graduating this year as film and media studies majors, according to film professor Amy Lawrence. Some make films for their culminating experience, while others complete digital media projects or write scripts or theses on an aspect of film, television or new media.
According to Snyder-Spak, her script has evolved significantly since she wrote it for her class, although the theme has stayed consistent. One major change involved cutting a scene set outside the grocery store in order to limit the shoot to a single location for practical reasons.
Snyder-Spak shot the film on location at a grocery store in her hometown of Derby, Conn. The production had a cast of 14 actors ranging from "age four to age 74," a crew of eight Dartmouth students, about 30 extras and seven local high school kids who served as production assistants, Snyder-Spak said.
Among the production crew was photography director Eric Schwager '10; assistant directors Lior Bassell '10, Katie Lindsay '11 and Janill Espaillat '10; and costume designers Tess Mattraw '10 and Lauren Dowling '11.
According to Snyder-Spak, many of the costumes were borrowed from the theater department and assistant directors were also in charge of tasks from props to production photography. Brendan Lynch-Salamon '10 will score the film.
Lynch-Salamon is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
"Everyone except for Eric are theater people, so not many of them knew what they were getting themselves into with 15-plus hour work days. We would be filming when the store was closing and still filming when the store was reopened the following morning," Snyder-Spak said.
Even with a lot of help, filming 18 pages in three days is no small feat nor is editing down the six hours of material filmed, the next step towards completing the film. Snyder-Spak said her biggest concern for the editing process, especially with working in one location, is ensuring the continuity of the final, 15-minute cut. Filmed during both business and non-business hours, the short is supposed to be in real time but was not filmed in succession.
Film professor Peter Ciardelli, one of Snyder-Spak's advisors, emphasized that only one other person is working on short films in the department this year, due to the difficulty of producing such films.
"The students certainly do the heavy lifting on these projects, from writing the scripts, securing and rehearsing actors, scheduling the shoots and crews, managing the footage that comes in, and editing it all in time to be shown by the end of the term. It's a lot of work, not unlike an endurance race," Ciardelli said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
Snyder-Spak was in charge of organizing everything from casting to shoots. Almost everyone worked for free, except the four lead actors, who were paid with small stipends, she said. The main character, however, played by Snyder-Spak's close friend from home Jenna Krasowski, worked for free as the character Frances, the cashier, whom Snyder-Spak loosely based on herself.
While the actors' pay was not a major financial burden, Snyder-Spak found most significant costs came from providing food and constant coffee for the actors and crew. Snyder-Spak did not have to include location fees into the budget because the grocery store the local chain Adams Super Food Store did not charge Snyder-Spak to use the space.
All other finances were covered by grants Snyder-Spak earned through awards for her script, including the Class of 1961 Short Script Award and the Senior Scholars grant from the Office of Residential Life, Snyder-Spak said.
"I am extremely grateful to everyone that helped me out in this project, from my friends who gave up an entire weekend to the grocery store mangers who gave us so much leeway while filming during their business hours," she said.
Although no date or location has been set for the film's premiere, it will most likely be screened along with another student's project in Loew Auditorium toward the end of the term, according to Snyder-Spak.
Snyder-Spak said her first experience working on the production of a film was during high school, when she assisted a New York University student without pay for the student's thesis.
"It has come full circle now," Snyder-Spak said.
