In Phases

One night, two best friends who haven't seen each other in a couple years get together to see if they can pick up where they left off.

  • Ian Mitchell
    Director
  • Ian Mitchell
    Writer
  • Andre Guima
    Producer
  • Adrienne Heckler
    Producer
  • Ian Mitchell
    Producer
  • Andre Guima
    Assitant Director
  • Yesenia Varela
    Assitant Director
  • Emma Trent
    Key Cast
    "Kathryn"
  • Valerie Stoffer
    Key Cast
    "Heather"
  • Carmia Lowe
    Key Cast
    "Waitress"
  • Larry Beck
    Key Cast
    "Homeless Man"
  • Jessica Jensen
    Key Cast
    "Coworker"
  • Austin Keough
    Director of Photography
  • Adrienne Heckler
    Gaffer
  • Elijah Brand
    Gaffer
  • Harrison Kern
    Location Audio
  • Justin Brown
    Location Audio
  • Adrienne Heckler
    Location Audio
  • Harrison Kern
    Post-Audio
  • Ian Mitchell
    Editor
  • Austin Keough
    Colorist
  • Harrison Kern
    Original Score
  • Austin Keough
    Camera Operator
  • Christopher Anderson
    Camera Operator
  • Ben Yonker
    Drone Operator
  • Gwyn Hultquist
    Makeup
  • Erik Fedje
    Grip
  • Project Type:
    Student
  • Genres:
    Drama, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    20 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 7, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    170 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
Director - Ian Mitchell
Director Statement

I wrote the short film, In Phases during the summer of 2019. It was the summer where I was preparing to enter my final year as an undergrad and put together a plan for an exciting and simultaneously fright-inducing, ambiguous future.

A few years before, I took a year off after high school and was exhaustingly unsure of what the correct choices were to give myself the best possible chances of becoming successful as a filmmaker. While it felt like all my friends were moving on with their lives, I seemed to be stuck at home, in limbo, working jobs that only a high school diploma could do for me. Personally, this was an effective wake up call.

The following year, I put my stubbornness and predispositions about what a college education could offer aside and went. In my (near) 4 years, I've met equally ambitious, like-minded students who push me to bring the best to whatever my position is on set. And now, once again, I'm approaching a goodbye to what I've gotten used to, am entering yet another permanent change in my life, and placed with another opportunity to figure out those "correct choices."

I wanted to write a film that doesn't necessarily provide the answer, since there doesn't seem to be a definitively distinct one, but a film that emphasizes the importance of holding onto ones personal connections that make the uncertainty a little more tolerable. Especially, when one is close to entering that unclear change that will soon catch up with you.