Kimball is on its way to fame since Stephen Root shot a movie here in January. Root, a 1999 graduate of Kimball Area High School, chose Kimball for the location of his short film entitled, “Muffled.” He is studying film at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and this is junior project. Root had to do everything from writing the script to editing the final product. “Muffled” is a dark comedy that looks at the disastrous effects that result from living a self-absorbed life. The four-minute film has a shocking twist at the end. “I made a movie about one of my deepest fears happening,” Root said. The film was shot in Kimball Jan. 24-25 at the elementary school, high school and on the road. Most of the volunteer four-person cast and two-person crew spent the weekend with Root with his parents, Ned and Barb Root, at their home north of Kingston. Barb was the cheif “cook and bottle-washer” she said. “It was a really interesting weekend,” Barb said. “It was cool how the actors interacted with each other even though they all just met. There was a lot of camraderie.” “The actors were great,” Root added. “I found it amazing how hard they did work since I wasn’t paying them. They really listened to what I had to say and played the characters as best they could.” Chet, the older brother, was played by Paul Cram of Minneapolis, and younger brother Sam was played by Rey Khammavongsa of Rochester. Helane Gentz of Buffalo played the boys’ mom, and Sondra Norland of St. Louis Park played Chet’s prom date. “Stephen’s really relaxed and easy to work with,” Cram said. “It was a good experience.” Cram volunteered to act in Root’s movie because he needed more clips for is demo-reel, a series of clips which actors use to show their talent. “I want to show them that I can act and with Stephen’s project it showed a wide range of expression,” he said. “It was exactly what I needed.” The crew consisted of Brian Haugen, of Switzerland on cinematography, and Mongolia Xiong, of Minneapolis who helped out on the crew and with art direction. Root rented a car-mount camera from Cinequipt in the Twin Cities for a scene shot in a truck. “We got a really nice, still shot with it,” he said. “Everything went pretty smoothly.” One small concern was that one day the sky was clear and sunny and the other it was overcast. Since the movie takes place all in one day, it disturbed the continuity a bit. Another concern was the cold temperature while they were filming outdoors. “I was more worried about keeping the actors warm,” he said. Finished product Root is now in the process of digitally editing his film. “That’s really when you start seeing all this work you’ve done for so long coming together,” he said. “It’s also where you realize you made a mistake and have to figure out how to fix it.” Root next will work on the sound. The sound is recorded after the shoot so that the voices are clear and background noise can be added. “Muffled” will be shown in his college class at the end of the year. Root also hopes to get his movie shown at various film festivals. Getting started Root first became interested in film as a kid when he started hanging out with another area boy, Seth Johnson. Johnson and his friends made mock-movies for fun with a home video camera. “We made ‘Mission Impossible 2’ while the first one was still in the theater,” Root said. Then in high school Root took a photo and video class with Mr. Mike Linn. “I kind of started this ritual that after I shoot something I go home and show it to Mr. Linn,” Root said. Root wanted to be an architect when he left high school but decided on studying visual art at the University of Minnesota. While at the U he decided that he really wanted to study film production, which isn’t offered at the U. Root wanted to go to Minneapolis College of Art and Design, but was hesitant because it’s an expensive college. “Mr. Linn was the kind of guy that was like, ‘Don’t worry about the money, as long as you’re doing what you want to do. It will always be there no matter how insecure you get about it’,” Root said. “My parents have always been real supportive and never questioned what I’m doing as long as I’m doing what I love.” Root is in his third year at college and will graduate next year. He is learning how to make a movie from start to finish. “We’re excited for Stephen and the area he’s going into,” Barb said. Root is working on his first documentary about a young boy, Caleb, son of Seth and Janelle Hannon of the Kimball area. “A lot of my work is about being from a small town,” he said. “I plan on doing stuff here next year, too.” He doesn’t necesarrily have to go to Hollywood to work in the film industry. Root would consider working in televistion or broadcast news, but would eventually like to work in the independent film industry. He may try to get on a crew for an independent film after college. “You gotta be able to do things for little or no money,” he said. “If you’re a hard worker, they’ll hire you again.” Root said he likes the “artsy” stuff.
Root films short movie in Kimball, learns business
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