Balloontourage: The Making of a Masterpiece
A mockumentary that takes you behind the scenes of "Balloontourage," the undisputed greatest film of all time, but the egos of the cast and crew are even more inflated than the beloved balloon himself.
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Melissa SahagianDirector
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Melissa SahagianWriter
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Jack GanleyProducer
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Sam WildsteinProducer
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Charlie GreenwaldKey Cast
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Trevor HowellKey Cast
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Emry RockenfieldKey Cast
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Ken GroutKey Cast
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Liz GettyKey Cast
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Taylor JarvisDirector of Photography
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Project Type:Short, Student
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Genres:comedy, mockumentary, student film
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Runtime:19 minutes 29 seconds
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Completion Date:May 6, 2016
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Production Budget:300 USD
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes
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Emerson College 2016 Spring Capstone ScreeningBoston
United States
May 6, 2016
Emerson College Premiere
Melissa Sahagian is an aspiring television screenwriter with a focus on comedy and animation. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Emerson College after graduating early in December 2016. She majored in Visual Media Arts with a concentration in Writing for Film and Television.
While at Emerson, Sahagian began her pursuit of comedy as a writer and performer in the campus sketch troupe, Police Geese. The troupe performed two shows per semester at Emerson and several additional shows as guests at other Boston area colleges. She also aided in video sketch production and served as Director of Marketing, managing the troupe’s social media and promoting shows. Sahagian performed with Police Geese at ImprovBoston’s 2015 Boston Comedy Arts Festival. In 2016, she was nominated for the Jess Ilias Clavelli Comedy Award.
Sahagian served as a writer on Emerson Channel’s Out of Bounds, a comedy sketch show based on sports news that ran during the fall of 2014. In addition, she participated in a month-long intensive writing program on the Greek island of Patmos during the summer of 2015, where she completed her first animated comedy pilot, Armageddon Old.
In 2016, Sahagian wrote, directed, and executive produced a twenty-minute comedy mockumentary for Emerson’s Bachelor of Arts Capstone program, an exclusive semester-long advanced study. The short film, Balloontourage: The Making of a Masterpiece, premiered at the Paramount Theater’s Bright Family Screening Room in Boston in May 2016. The film earned Melissa a 2017 EVVY Award nomination in for Outstanding Writing for Film.
Sahagian is based in Los Angeles currently works as a Public Relations Assistant at a firm representing several Hollywood comedians and production companies. She is continuing to pursue comedy as an improv student at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade.