Alumni film on Vimeo homepage
A group of alumni filmmakers got quite a surprise when their low-budget independent film was recently featured on the homepage of the popular website Vimeo.
“To be able to share it with the world is so important and it was really inspiring to be singled out by Vimeo,” said James Cummings ’09, who was a Visual and Media Arts major.
Euphonia, a feature-length film, has little dialogue and is about a high school boy who lives a miserable existence, then becomes addicted to constantly using a sound recorder in everyday life.
“A lot of times, nowadays, we’re holding [electronic devices] in our hands and we’re not really engaged or listening to the world around us,” said Cummings, one of the film’s producers. “It’s amazing how these things are very new to us, and we shouldn’t act like we know what we’re doing with them.”
Euphonia was screened at this year’s South By Southwest Festival, which is where Vimeo producers first saw it. Cummings said it has been viewed on computers and mobile devices in 170 countries since it premiered on Vimeo’s homepage at the end of April.
Cummings said Vimeo was drawn to Euphonia because it was shot on a type of digital film commonly referred to as “7D.” He said Euphonia has an exceptional emphasis on sound, which made it unique from other independent films.
“It blends in with the Vimeo content, except the sound is so overwhelmingly produced,” he said.
Three other alumni worked on the film: Danny Madden ’09, writer and director; Benjamin Wieffner ’08, a producer; and Jonathan Silva ’10, cinematographer. The actors included two Boston University students, Will Madden, the brother of Danny Madden, and Maria Decotis. The film was shot near the Maddens’ home in Atlanta.
Founded in 2004 by a group of filmmakers who wanted to share their creative work, Vimeo is intended to build a supportive community of creative individuals with a wide range of passions, according to its website.
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