Roll the Credits: Salt Lake’s Brightest Film Specialists

The time has come for the sun to dance. Wait, what’s the event about again? It’s the largest independent film festival in the United States, hosted in Utah every January? Oh shit, I might need another day to write this. I thought these guys just really loved movies when I interviewed them. Huh. Well, I hope you enjoy what they have to say about the local filmmaking scene (beyond the big screens at Sundance) and the individual part that they play in it.

Calvin Jackson

As precise and systematic as music itself, Calvin Jackson writes emails with a no-nonsense style that I appreciate. Jackson’s experience with sound production began when he started making music when he was much younger. He then began to produce videos to accompany the songs he wrote, leading him to become a music video director. Dabbling in multiple disciplines — including foley, sound design and even scoring short films — Jackson is well-acquainted with the processes and procedures of sound production. With further experience working as a boom operator, dialogue editor and post sound-mixer, he found joy in post-production audio. Due to his skill and affinity for the craft of creating sound for multimedia content, he has a clear comprehension of how critical quality sound is to a video or film. As he puts it, “The audio quality is a signifier of the quality, time and effort put into a film since — no matter how fancy the visuals are and what camera and lens and cool lighting setup you have. If the audio sounds bad, the film automatically comes off as unprofessional.” The clear passion Jackson has for the artistry of post-production sound is admirable. He understands how much detail and care goes into a piece of audio; how much clarity and exactitude in sound is necessary to not distract from the overall project. Check out Jackson’s surreal comedy short The Vents (about the video game Among Us) on YouTube at @calvinjacksonsound and follow him on Instagram @sound_guy_calvin.

Justis Aderibigbe

Justis Aderibigbe is filmmaking until he gets to make a Radiohead film. Based on his impressive portfolio, he has more than the potential to get there. Aderibigbe discovered photography as a child as a way to journal his life, an interest that later developed into working as a lighting technician on film sets. As a gaffer, he collaborates with the director of photography to generate the perfect brightness and shadowing for a given shot. With a brilliant knowledge of lighting on film and photography sets, Aderibigbe is able to create what is needed for the vividness of a visual project at the time of shooting. This is plain to see in his work — there is an unclouded luminescence to the way he places light sources in frame, resulting in a glassy, glowy feel to the way he captures moments. Citing music and art as his inspirations, Aderibigbe is an admirer of Francisco Goya’s work and, of course, the discography of Radiohead. These muses are transparent in his stylistic choices for photography, which he calls “naturalistic and surreal.” When asked what visuals he loves, he says, “So much of the art that I enjoy creates a feeling where the world is so real to you, but there’s these dissociating factors in the work that help you understand your connection to other things outside yourself.” Learn more about Aderibigbe’s recent short film Void Formula and follow his journey to make a musical biopic on his Instagram @junglebooge and on his website justisade.com.

Savannah Rose Coles

A born storyteller, Savannah Rose Coles has always loved the practice — starting out with making comic books as a child. During college courses, Coles found her admiration for the act of screenwriting and the collaborative effort of filmmaking. She explains, “Screenwriting, for me, is a way to deeply explore empathy, allowing me to step into the shoes of others and experience things I’ve never known.” For Coles, the process of bringing together a plot has its own impromptu path. By collecting notes of thoughts and ideas over time, she is able to make connections and bring form to a story in a serendipitous style. She calls this the “chaos of inspiration.” Through this process, the pieces of the plot fall naturally into place and the result is well-written characters, dialogue and storylines. When asked about her favorite elements of screenwriting, she says, “Dialogue has always felt like music to me. When it’s done right, it lingers in your mind long after the credits roll, much like a song you can’t get out of your head.” Although screenwriting is what she does best, it’s not the only skill she has tried her hand at. Having tried editing, animating, script supervising, assistant directing, directing and voice acting, Coles has a thorough understanding of the detailed work that goes into a film. Follow Savannah Rose Coles on Instagram @rose_memento and watch her latest short film Little Thieves on YouTube.

Patrick Charles

Propmaster Patrick Charles became obsessed with monsters after watching Alien and Creature from the Black Lagoon as a kid. Discussing his curiosity about the medium, he says, “I remember dressing up a piece of work out equipment with a latex mask and stretching a green sweater over it, thinking, ‘This can’t be right… How the hell do they make monsters?’” His desire to bring creatures to life did not stop there — Charles began to make masks and sculptures in art school which fostered his love for making props. Some of his favorite creations include an alien fetus for a short called It Came from Inside!, directed by Aura Martinez Sandoval and Jackson Rees, as well as tiny dragon-like stop motion puppets for a short called The Atomic Spawn. He believes that realistic and eye-catching props are paramount to perfecting a film’s visuals. Props are also essential for an actor’s performance: “There is a big difference between being able to hold a little monster fetus versus being told, ‘Okay, hold this green thing and act scared — we’ll add it in later,’” he says. Charles is not only a collector of Godzilla figurines and VHS tapes, but he is also the theater operations manager at Salt Lake Film Society and is currently working on pieces for an upcoming project called To Zion directed by Landon Adams. To see more of his outstanding work, follow Patrick Charles on Instagram @punkpat88.

Read more about local filmmakers:
Film Reviews: Utah Queer Film Festival 2024
Behind the Seams: The Weird and Wonderful World of McGrew Studios