W. TRENT WELSTEAD

A pensive young man experiences a memorable series of moments, discovering that the smallest of interactions have the potential to affect us the most. 

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Years after A Grey World (2014) came Momentous for my Intro to Cinema Production class at Virginia Tech, in which I was paired with a partner from a different section—a two-man team, so to speak. Amidst several other projects and commitments between our collective schedules, it was enjoyable work for everyone involved.  The film was practically self-funded a budget of roughly $100, utilizing most of my own personal camera equipment and props. In regards to location, Momentous was filmed in my own studio apartment, and the nearby borders of campus. 

This project was a series of firsts in terms of my student filmmaking endeavors. At this point, although I now desired a career in filmmaking, however wishful that may have seemed, I hadn't legitimately worked with student actors, nor had I concerned myself with lighting setups. These were elements which we expressly sought to avoid in my previous film, which was deliberately designed as a feasible project for amateur filmmakers with zero experience in directing and cinematography. Now, thrown into the waters via our introductory crash course, I also needed to learn, or at least practice principles of screenwriting. How do you build character? How do you satisfy an audience's expectation for dramatic structure within a narrative? Fortunately, I had a wonderful partner who was ready and willing to embark on this journey with me. 

In terms of the story, I was simply interested in exploring empathy between two people. I wanted to test my abilities to write and direct connection at a fundamental level. Can we find human qualities in those who deviate from our culturally accepted standard of norms? The final film—the pure product of a novice student filmmaker working with some wonderful actors—contains vestiges of earlier drafts of the script. Momentous was definitely ambitious for an Intro class, but I'm nonetheless satisfied with the final product. If anything, it gave me the confidence to look towards the future. I vividly remember walking out of our end-of-semester showcase, still jittering with excitement and lingering nerves after having just screened a project in front of my peers. What should I make next?