Trash Man: A Film About Trash by Eli Waldman and Thomas Standridge
The MBHS Film Festival is happening on Monday, May 13th. With it comes many amazing films created by you, the students of Morro Bay High. Two particular students, Eli Waldman and Thomas Standridge, have created Trash Man as a submission for their Advanced Film/Video class. Trash Man has also been selected as a finalist for the Film Festival this year in the miscellaneous category. This means that you will be able to watch Trash Man along with the many other incredible films at the Bay Theatre in Downtown Morro Bay.
As the title may infer, the film is about a trash man and litter. What makes it different from a traditional movie is the plot itself. Or rather, the lack of one. There isn’t a general story either. Waldman tells me “[Me and Thomas] got some random little clips [for scenes]”. It is primarily a passion project where the two have a fun time creating something. With just them working on it makes it very flexible to do almost any scene or idea. “We made a trash suit so we used a sewing machine and some old clothes,” he tells me. To film scenes, the duo went to the Rock, Turri Road and Ralphs. In all of these places they filmed a lot of short clips that all eventually form into a coherent film.
This is quite different from past years, when Waldman created horror films for the past two film festivals. They are named Snapshot and Roadkiller respectively. The former is about a movie crew who got ambushed by a creature only visible by camera, while the latter is about two friends running over a body that becomes possessed. I have helped in both of these productions with a large crew for all the scenes, with roles such as the boom mic or director. What made Roadkiller especially fun was the use of many different camera angles, settings, and the use of the DJI drone. I was also involved with creating the car mount for the side view scenes in Roadkiller. It was essentially two pieces of wood that can clamp onto the door and allowed for the mounting of a camera.
Trash Man has been selected as a finalist for the Film Festival this year. This means that you will all see it at the Bay Theatre in Morro Bay.