Spring Break
SJSU associate professor's creativity on display at Cinequest
Stephanie Vallejo
Issue date: 3/4/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Steven had the brilliant idea to write a play based on his close friends. The only problem is, the actors don't want to cooperate and a killer is on the loose.
Steven is the main character in "Generic Thriller," a movie written and directed by SJSU Associate Professor Scott Sublett. It premieres at the San Jose Cinequest Film Festival this week.
"Generic Thriller is a farce about the inner-life of a writer cracking up," he said.
Sublett said it first started out as "a real, straight-forward sincere thriller," but became "a finished, straight-forward murder thriller."
The idea for the script came to Sublett in the early '90s, when he was in graduate school at UCLA. He said he didn't go back to it until he re-wrote it five years ago as a "modernist self-reflexive film about a film."
Brad Kranich, who graduated from SJSU in 2005, acted in "Generic Thriller," playing Peter.He describes Peter as "the frat boy in a strange world that Sublett had created."
This was the first feature film he was involved in. He said he's glad he was able to work with Sublett.
"Every day we worked on set it was fun," Kranich said. "(Sublett) had such a great attitude about everything and everybody felt that."
The film takes place in an empty theater, which represents the mind of the writer. Backgrounds constantly transform because the writer is always inventing new locations, he said. Sets appear, sets disappear, sets are right next to each other, Sublett said.
Sublett used the television, radio, film and theatre department's facilities to film his movie. He said that the department supported his efforts.
"Generic Thriller" is not the only movie Sublett is involved in at this year's Cinequest. He was also executive producer for "All About Dad," a film written and directed by SJSU alumnus Mark Tran.
Tran, who graduated in 2007, wrote the script in Sublett's screenwriting class when he was a sophomore at SJSU.
"All About Dad" is a comedy-drama about a Vietnamese-American family.
Steven is the main character in "Generic Thriller," a movie written and directed by SJSU Associate Professor Scott Sublett. It premieres at the San Jose Cinequest Film Festival this week.
"Generic Thriller is a farce about the inner-life of a writer cracking up," he said.
Sublett said it first started out as "a real, straight-forward sincere thriller," but became "a finished, straight-forward murder thriller."
The idea for the script came to Sublett in the early '90s, when he was in graduate school at UCLA. He said he didn't go back to it until he re-wrote it five years ago as a "modernist self-reflexive film about a film."
Brad Kranich, who graduated from SJSU in 2005, acted in "Generic Thriller," playing Peter.He describes Peter as "the frat boy in a strange world that Sublett had created."
This was the first feature film he was involved in. He said he's glad he was able to work with Sublett.
"Every day we worked on set it was fun," Kranich said. "(Sublett) had such a great attitude about everything and everybody felt that."
The film takes place in an empty theater, which represents the mind of the writer. Backgrounds constantly transform because the writer is always inventing new locations, he said. Sets appear, sets disappear, sets are right next to each other, Sublett said.
Sublett used the television, radio, film and theatre department's facilities to film his movie. He said that the department supported his efforts.
"Generic Thriller" is not the only movie Sublett is involved in at this year's Cinequest. He was also executive producer for "All About Dad," a film written and directed by SJSU alumnus Mark Tran.
Tran, who graduated in 2007, wrote the script in Sublett's screenwriting class when he was a sophomore at SJSU.
"All About Dad" is a comedy-drama about a Vietnamese-American family.
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