Film professor lights up the screen
What if there was only one language in the world?
This question is the basis of the suspenseful mystery film “Rune,” which was filmed locally last fall.
Los Angeles-based film-makers Aryana Thomas and Seth Kenlon, also known as Isis Productions, directed the film with the help of a few locals, namely OCCC Adjunct Film Professor Peter Hermes.
The film's executive producer is David Veloz. Veloz wrote the screenplays for “Behind Enemy Lines” and “Natural Born Killers.”
This semester Hermes teaches a film and video production lighting course, and a Final Cut Pro editing class at OCCC. It is his second semester as an adjunct professor.
For “Rune,” Hermes served as the film's director of photography.
“The director of photography is hired as the head of the technical crew and the right hand of the director,” Hermes said.
“My job was to help turn the director's ideas into reality,” he said.
While filming “Rune,” Hermes served under the movie's co-directors Thomas and Kenlon.
“They were open to everyone's opinion which is a luxury to the crew,” Hermes said. “It was nice because it doesn't always happen.”
Thomas had good things to say about her experience with Hermes.
“Peter has a lot of experience and is very creative,” she said. “He added to the scenes.”
“Rune” is the story of a linguist who uncovers the secrets of the universe; namely a common code between the world's languages.
Kenlon said the idea for the film came when he and Thomas were at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.
“We talked about the difficulty in communicating due to the language barrier,” he said.
Kenlon said “Rune” is akin to the Biblical tale of “The Tower of Babel,” and recent movies such as “Pi” and “A Beautiful Mind.”
The Isis Productions team was attracted to Oklahoma because of its architecture and landscape, Thomas said.
“The buildings looked like a non-descript European city and the landscapes were great for the scenes in Mexico,” she said.
Hermes said all but one scene was shot in Oklahoma City. The exception was a cave scene, which was shot at the Old Spanish Treasure Cave near Sulphur Springs, Ark.
Kenlon said the filming was spread across more than a dozen locations in the Oklahoma City area. The locations included: Zorba's Restaurant, Bearz 3020 club, Rick Eager's Motel, the First National Building, Taft Stadium, Bednar Law Firm and the Oklahoma City Religious Studies building.
Hermes said the film takes place in Europe and Mexico.
“It's interesting to see Oklahoma turned into someplace else,” he said.
“That is just a part of movie magic.”
Kenlon said the film currently is in post-production. He said it would be submitted for consideration in this summer's installment of the Cannes Film Festival.
For more information about “Rune” and the filmmakers, visit www.isisproductions.net.
Staff Writer Matthew Caban can be reached at StaffWriter3@occc.edu.
