By Ashlee Larrison
GCU News Bureau
Elliott de Neve began working on his short film “Stop/Eject/Rewind” when he was a sophomore in the College of Fine Arts and Production.
It was a labor of love that would take years to bring de Neve’s vision to life.
Now, the 2018 graduate's film is continuing to garner recognition in the short film world. It recently won the Best Science Fiction Award at the Independent Shorts Awards, an IMDb qualifying film festival.
“It’s really special to be able to share these festival wins with the cast and crew,” de Neve said. “It’s nice to know that months later someone is appreciating all the hard work we have all put into the film.”
The film, which has earned the Best Science Fiction Award from the Independent Shorts Awards in its monthly category before being nominated and selected as the ultimate winner in the annual festival, also was the alumni winner for the 2019 GCU Film Festival.
The film is a science-fiction/dark comedy that tells the story of a man who builds a time machine to impress his female co-worker and take her to see her own future.
The film was not a class assignment; rather, it was a side project that de Neve and his crew spent three years perfecting on a budget of only $5,000. Having that flexibility of not having a set due date allowed de Neve enough time to cast the roles and obtain the permits necessary to film in a location that matched his vision for the film.
“This film in particular ended up carrying me through film school, in a way,” de Neve said. “I started it sophomore year and ended up finishing it a little after graduating, so it’s been a big part of my GCU film life.”
The film program, de Neve said, taught him how to work with others on a greater scale to achieve the results he was seeking.
“It’s fun to think back and look at how the film program has evolved me with ‘Stop/Eject/Rewind,’” he said. “This film in particular taught me how to let go of control and let people who are great at what they do, let them do those things.
“It was a really awesome thing to come to GCU and have all these creative people have all these different interests in a film, so ‘Stop/Eject/Rewind’ was kind of a process of me learning how to explain what I want as a director.”
The freelance filmmaker hopes that aspiring film majors can be inspired by the film and the lessons he learned along the way.
“Do not settle with your work,” he said. “Push yourself and try to really get what you want to get.”
He also recommends watching other short films for inspiration.
Contact Ashlee Larrison at (602) 639-8488
or [email protected].
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