Let's Be Friends

Let’s Be Friends is a personal examination of masculinity and child development through the lens of fantasy horror. Beadie, a boy’s doll that becomes a monster, represents a sensitive emotionality that many boys learn to hide when coming of age. I wanted to use an absurd concept, a fantastical world, to explore the destructive social expectations put upon men and boys, and the complex decision to label some childhood emotions and behaviors as dangerous.

Horror is a genre that is especially ripe for cultural critique and subtext. My favorite examples in film are Raw, A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 and Get Out. Raw is a story about cannibalism, that serves as a metaphor for a young woman’s sexual awakening and loss of innocence. Nightmare on Elm Street 2 is famous for its 80s-set gay subtext, and using the horror of Freddy Krueger as an allegory for teenage sexual identity. Get Out examines black identity and the current state of racism in the United States through an absurd and thoroughly engrossing horror concept. Through researching these films and their writers, I became fascinated by the idea of telling an important and personal story in the context of the absurd.

For the production of Let’s Be Friends, I led a group film students in an independent study at the University of Connecticut in Spring 2018. The film involved a crew of fifteen people, a main cast of four actors, and twenty-five extras. One difficult part of this project was working with a cast of primarily middle-school-aged children. I gained the skills to overcome that challenge by working with and teaching children over many years in positions at UConn's Community School of the Arts, Manchester Community College's Excursions in Learning Program, Mansfield Parks and Recreation, and the Neag School of Education.

Another challenge associated with this project was the use of puppetry and practical visual effects. The natural movement and ratty, sometimes gooey texture of the creature was inspired by The Thing, Pan’s Labrynth, Little Otik, Alien, and Evil Dead. The design of the puppet was a multi-stage process: from the initial design, to fabrication, to detailing. Every movement of the puppet and other practical effects were tested on camera before the shoot. Four versions of the puppet were built to achieve the different movements needed for the production. This film required an intensive shoot, taking place over three weekends in Connecticut. I was awarded the Marks Family Endowment in Fine Arts to create this film.