W. TRENT WELSTEAD

A bitter, young man procrastinates in his hideaway, haunted by dueling projections of his persistent obsessions.

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We created Affection as a personal project towards the end of Summer 2017, in the interest of producing more work for our respective resumes, but more so to simply feed our passion for student filmmaking! Amidst several other projects and commitments between our collective schedules, it was enjoyable work for everyone involved.   

Affection was shot in its entirety within 50 hours between August 21st and August 23rd, but edited several months later when schoolwork became slightly less intensive. The production was practically self-funded on a budget of roughly $200, utilizing most of my own personal equipment and props. The hybrid format was inspired by my interest in inconsistencies or fluctuations between human emotions and perceptions within the context of relationships; I wanted the film’s style to reflect these shifting modes of thought. Do we ever know somebody’s true character, or do they exist to us in contrasting fragments, in different circumstances? Furthermore, I was also fascinated by technology’s varying effects on these elements of human connection, with the distance that it already creates in our seemingly connected lives.

Though I usually resist the urge to re-edit older films, in favor of working towards the future as opposed to the past, I've strongly considered taking another look at this particular project. In the last year, I've garnered a considerably greater amount of experience with Adobe software, to where I could certainly heighten the chaos—the bombardment inherent to the fragmentary style I described above. The prospect of increasing the quality of this film far beyond arbitrary editing decisions, is what ultimately compels me to entertain that temptation. Time will tell whether or not I decide to embark on this endeavor, or if I will remain satisfied with this finished product.