Collegiate Times

A joint effort with his long-time friend and partner Tonito Santos, a junior Studio Arts major, Uni5ied already has three short films to enter into contests. ?I remember,? is expected in the Progeny Film Festival featured every April in Blacksburg.

Starting to work together in the summer of 2005, the duo bounces ideas between each other and provide different perspectives for scenes, positioning of camera, editing and artistic direction.

?We just feed off of each other,? said AJ Broadbent, junior communication major. ?We are a lot alike. It?s crazy. Our personalities are really similar. With his art background, he?s got a good sense of composing scenes.?

Broadbent?s adjustment to working with a partner forced him to yield some of his management, giving it over to Santos.

?Since working with Tonito, the biggest lesson I?ve learned is that I can let go of some control,? said Broadbent. ?It?s totally 50 percent each. For a while, it was hard because I?ve been working by myself. It paid off in the end, though.? Santos? diverse artistic background benefits the duo in producing creative, hilarious and intriguing works of art. In one short film, ?Caramel Delivery,? the spontaneous team decided at the last minute to have Santos play a double character.

?I had no intention of that,? said Santos. ?When we started filming I just went into A.J.?s closet and started throwing things on, and then said ?ready go.? I was talking to no one when filming.?

With the final touches being a voice-over of Santos in a four-part harmony (Santos used to dream of becoming the emcee rapper, Uni5ied; hence the name of the company), the film displays a few of the many talents Santos? transfers to film.

Growing up around an older brother who dabbled in film as a hobby, Santos learned a few tricks, but always leaned more towards his individual art. Now, an older Santos sees the potential of a film?s visibility and the many spheres of his talents he can draw upon. ?Film just seems to encompass everything that I like,? Santos said. ?I have so many facets and so many things that I like. There are so many things that I do and film is just this big orgy of ideas come into one. It?s all mediums: costume, photography, computers, whatever you want, it?s all there.?

One of the first films for them to work on as a duo, ?I remember,? is also one of their most prided pieces of work to date, due in large part for using black and white 8 mm film.

Unlike with current digital cameras, 8 mm film does not allow you to view shots just taken. Not knowing until the film is returned several weeks later what a shot looks like can be quite nerve racking when a director depends on the footage. Santos remembers one particular shot he filmed as, ?really hit or miss.?

?You say, ?I think this looks sweet? because when you?re filming you?re in the moment and saying, ?this is so cool, so cool, so cool? and then when it?s over you?re thinking, ?I don?t really remember what I just did, but I think it was cool,? said Santos.

Luckily, the footage returned as promising as they hoped it would, and turned out to be the shot that sparked the production companies? logo: a shirtless man (Broadbent) with a slightly bulging tummy.

Based on Broadbent?s recent breakup with long-term girlfriend, ?I remember,? speaks in its images and choice of music, rather than dialogue. Pairing footage of a recent Italy trip with his girlfriend to new footage, the piece is tracked by Damien Rices? ?I remember.? Listening to Rice at the time following the break-up, Broadbent found the song a perfect fit for the video.

?It?s all about remembering a past relationship with her perspective,? said Broadbent, ?and she?s a lot happier about it. She is saying ?we can work this out? and he?s very much saying the opposite, ?no? and ripping paintings off walls and things like that.?

A continual learning practice, Broadbent is only in the forming stages of film producing, but has the confidence of colleagues, professors and friends that Broadbent will be, ?very successful,? said Jerry Scheeler, Broadbent?s former film supervisor. ?What breaks he gets and route in which he goes, I don?t know, but I have confidence he will do very well.?

Broadbent, tied down to Blacksburg at the current moment, is not one to stay in the surrounding parameters only, but also expresses interest in filming documentaries in Latin America.

?In May, I want to go down to see this town. It?s a shantytown called Varone. No one sees that type of stuff in the United States. But if you put it in a context where Americans will actually be interested in seeing it, it can be very influential. Not one of those feed the children things where you just flip the channel,? Broadbent said. For the time being, Broadbent and his partner in crime are working on improving their skills on set and in the editing booth.

?I?ve gotten a lot better putting things together quicker,? said Broadbent. ?I can actually see scenes in my head now and what?s going to work versus what?s not going to work. Whereas before, I would just shoot and piece it together in editing, I now can see where it?s going before I go into editing.?

So which does the duo prefer: the shooting or the editing?

?It?s all got its kicks,? Santos says, ?and its pain in the ass.?

Broadbent agrees.

As the pair switches back to talking about ?Switch Mikey,? more to each other than anyone else, decisions on the script and extra crewmembers take them off on a tangent, and the rest is left to see on screen.