Short Films

NOTE: These films are very large, high quality Quicktime files. They will take a while to download and play.
I would not recommend downloading them with a regular modem.

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Weekend Visit (2004)
length: 9.5 minutes

Starring:
Amy Rhodes
Mary Kay Shanley
Dennis Rhodes

Written, Edited, & Directed by:
Terry Jinn

The second film of the "suggestion" series, this particular film was based off the suggestion of "riboflavin" (which is one of the B vitamins), supplied by Jen MacNeil.

The suggestion reminded me of the multitude of vitamin bottles my mom had brought me during one visit to New York, which I never really used, and eventually ended up throwing out. Once the ball started rolling on the script structure, I remembered specific conversations I'd had with my parents (mostly my mom), and they are in the film (in a condensed fashion, of course.)

Regardless of whether or not the film itself is "successful", it was successful in that it was a lot of fun working on it with Amy Rhodes and her actual parents, who happened to be visiting. They were very excited to work on it, and they did a great job (especially since they didn't see the script until the day of shooting.) After the scene on the Coney Island boardwalk, Amy's mom, who is a published author, and who does not do a lot of acting, asked "Can we shoot the earlier scenes over? I finally get it now!"

Note: This has been re-encoded using H.264 codec. You will need Quicktime 7 to play it.

Deleted Scenes: (featuring Matt Pack, Robin Conley, & Andy Rocco) Some footage that I shot for this film, but didn't make it into the final cut, was a series of interviews with people talking about their parents. I was planning on putting this after the moment when Amy's character talks to the camera, but it didn't really fit, and was a jarring break from the narrative. However, they are amusing on their own, so I put some of them together for the website.

Quicktime Movie 320x240 (51mb)

Compilation (2004)
length: 6.5 minutes

Starring:
Will Hines
Shannon Manning
with
Leslie Meisel
Aaron Bergeron
Andrew Secunda

Written, Edited, & Directed by:
Terry Jinn

The first film of my "make a film in a week from a suggestion" experiment (I haven't thought of a more clever name yet.) I obtained a suggestion from Alex Marino (along with suggestions from Madalyn Mako and Lynn Bixenspan) on Friday (July 23rd) and finished the film before the following Friday (July 30th.) Obviously, with that kind of schedule, you cannot expect perfection, and this film is not perfect by any means. However, I was surprised at how much I was able to get accomplished in a week. Thought about the concept the same day I got the suggestion; wrote the script on Sunday, shot Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; edited on Thursday.

Anyone who knows me well enough can guess this film is of a personal nature. I feel that anything (be it film or improv or music, etc.) will be better when it is personal. Certainly it will be more meaningful and truthful.

One amusing story during the making of this film... on Tuesday, on the way to UCB Theater, I received a phone call on my cell phone from a "blocked ID". It was a couple of giggling girls prank calling me. (Which, in and of itself, is bizarre.) "Is your refrigerator running normally?" they asked. "Why do you ask?" I replied. "Because you better catch it!" The amusing thing is, earlier that day I had been shooting in my apartment and for noise purposes, turned off my refrigerator, and forgotten to turn it back on. So, thankfully the prank phone call reminded me to turn my refrigerator back on.

In any event, I am happy with how this film (and the experiment) turned out.

Note: This has been re-encoded using H.264 codec. You will need Quicktime 7 to play it.

Quicktime Movie 320x240 (80mb)

Best Friend (2002)
length: 13 minutes

Starring:
Andrew Secunda
Aaron Bergeron
Katty Biscone
with
Amy Rhodes
Eli Knowles

Written, Edited, & Directed by:
Terry Jinn

This film was made mostly because I had access to a dog suit. I had just been through a bad breakup too, and was kind of depressed, and I just wanted to do something with my time. It must have been Aaron who said "Make a film!" So I took the dog suit and went with it. I wrote a first draft (which, it seems, I don't get past when doing these shorts), but had Secunda and Bergeron really play with all the dialogue. I think it mixes the melancholy and the humor fairly well, and think that was part of why it was successful to me. It's interesting to note the influence of the comic strip Peanuts (which I love.)

Other things that were fun were being able to work with a kid and work with dogs. I ended up working with kid actors on a later film (which you will not see on this website, as it is too long, and frankly, turned out to be kind of a disaster), but this was my favorite experience with kid actors so far. He was great. The dogs in the apt. playing poker were somewhat unruly, but we had all night to get them to do a couple simple things, so it wasn't too tough. The dogs in the dogrun were great, of course. They just did great things automatically, just being the dogs they are.

Note: This has been re-encoded using H.264 codec. You will need Quicktime 7 to play it.

Quicktime Movie 320x240 (95mb)

Killing Time (2001)
length: 14 minutes

Starring:
Andrew Secunda
Aaron Bergeron
with
Doug Moe
Chris Fosdick
Ed Snible

Written, Edited, & Directed by:
Terry Jinn

I remember one of the reasons I made this film was just wanting to have a film where I could do the "looking through a gun scope" effect. As a person who likes watching (and can appreciate well made) action films, I've always wanted to do a film with some action in it. I can't say I really pulled off any decent action in this film, but I did experiment with some of the elements.

More so than some of the other films, there are glaring holes in this film. The first is Ed Snible's character, who gets away from the hitmen, but is eventually hit by a car. I never did get a Snible-hit-by-car shot. And the final scene was supposed to convey that Bergeron and Secunda both have contracts to kill each other, but that also wasn't communicated.

You'll notice that one scene was shot at the World Trade Center. Strange that we were brandishing a prop sniper rifle only a few months before those buildings were destroyed.

You'll notice the film has a blueish tint to it. I semi-purposefully altered the white balance in my Sony VX-2000 to give it a cool (as in blue) look to it. I thought it might look more like film (I had probably just watched Soderbergh's Traffic.) I'm not sure if that worked, but I do have to say that like the overall look of it.

Overall, the film was not a success, but there are a lot of fun things in it.

Quicktime Movie 320x240 (97mb)

El Bocadillo (2001)
length: 12.5 minutes

Starring:
Jessica Chaffin
Aaron Bergeron
Sarah Landes
with
Katty Biscone
Jackie Clarke
Tara Copeland
James Eason
Shannon Manning
Christine Walters

Written and Edited by:
Terry Jinn

Directed by:
Terry Jinn & Christine Walters

I remember seeing the film "La Jetée" by Chris Marker in college, and also knowing it as the inspiration for the Terminator movies, as well as being remade by Terry Gilliam as "12 Monkeys". I really liked the original film, and at first, decided to make a highly comedic version of it for the next "Leche Magica". ("Leche Magica" was a loose filmmaking collective I was a member of.) What I loved about the original was its use of still images and the general mood it conveys. I was definitely going to mirror that (as it was perfect for low-budget filmmaking, too.)

Originally I had asked Christine Walters to shoot this film, but after many discussions, we decided to co-direct it. One of the first decisions was to make more of a strict remake of the original film (and not go for too many obvious jokes.) We chose Spanish instead of French because Christine knew Spanish quite well, so I didn't have to find a French speaking narrator/translator (which I planned on doing originally.) I wrote a complete script, which Christine took and translated into Spanish. She is the narrator, and speaks the translation, while the exact text of the script appears as subtitles.

The film, with all of its still images, text and sound, was more of an editing exercise than a directing one. I had hundreds of still photos, which were very hard to keep track of in the editing bins of Final Cut Pro. Typing in the subtitles for almost every shot was tedious. It was a tiresome process, but quite rewarding. I think the fact that we didn't have to worry about some of the normal problems of live action filmmaking made it easier to give this film a polished look and feel. I think the end result was pretty successful.

Quicktime Movie 320x240 (115mb)

Blue Harvest Special Edition DVD (2002)
length: 14.5 minutes

Starring:
Amy Rhodes
Oliver Ralli
Marc Liepis
Doug Moe
Shannon O'Neill
Mike Ludwig
Aaron Bergeron
Andrew Secunda

Written, Edited, & Directed by:
Terry Jinn

When I first started shooting DV shorts (after a long period of not shooting anything, which was since college), I vowed not to make any more parody films. The easiest kind of film to make, in my mind, is a parody film (esp. a parody of a documentary.) It's good to get that out of your system and move on.

Of course, I broke that vow by making this film, which is a parody of DVD commentary tracks. Not sure why I broke the vow, but I think the main reason was there was a deadline for the next (and final) "Leche Magica" film screening, and I had to get something done.

I had no script for this film, only 4 sets of two actors each. The actors and I (along with a sound person) went out and improvised scenes as if they were part of a larger (ficticious) film. Later, after editing those scenes, we improvised commentary over those scenes while watching the footage.

It didn't go over that well at the screening, and I think the reason was that DVD commentary (real DVD commentary) is not something you watch at a screening. It's something you watch in the comfort of your own home, at your own pace. I think this film is better when you watch it at the comfort of your own computer. (Unless your computer is in an uncomfortable place!)

Note: This has been re-encoded using H.264 codec. You will need Quicktime 7 to play it.

Quicktime Movie 320x240 (126mb)

Terrible Criminals (2000)
length: 16 minutes

Starring:
Doug Moe
Chris Fosdick
featuring
Mike Ludwig
Jennifer Wolfe

Written, Edited, & Directed by:
Terry Jinn

Silent (for the most part) and shot in B&W, this was the first short I made on DV. I hadn't shot anything since 1993 (college), so this film was a first, small step in the long (neverending?) process of learning and training myself how to do this stuff. (And I am definitely still in the middle of that process now.) One thing I clearly did not do...was to make things tight! This film is too long. Way too long. (One thought was to re-edit it, but I am ok to just let it be what it is now, and concentrate on new projects... like watching television.)

On the other hand, there are some jokes and gags in it that I really enjoy, especially the "heist play". I also like the "form" of the B&W silent movie, although I admit I chose it partially because it would be easier not to have to worry about location sound and lighting issues (in relation to color.) I was a bit nervous making a film after many years of not making films, so I tried to make it easy on myself.

By the way, I think Doug Moe is perfectly cast in this.

Quicktime Movie 320x240 (42mb)

A Little Respect (2003)
length: 4 minutes

Starring:
The kids of P.S. 62

Shot and Edited by:
Terry Jinn

Directed by:
Terry Jinn & Amy Rhodes

This was a fun project to do. Amy Rhodes, a friend and fellow improviser, teaches an afterschool program for NYC schoolchildren, and one of her groups of kids had plans to make a movie. It was decided to make a movie to teach kids how to show each other respect.

The kids were a lot of fun to work with, and I was able to try some amusing things, like mixing black & white and color, doing a lot of cheesy wipes, and a Jackie Chan-style outtake reel during the end credits.

Apparently this movie went over really well at the school. They ended up showing it to quite a few different classes.

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