Blane North
Director Blane North used stop motion and live action techniques for directing
Most student filmmakers dream of their work being showcased at a film festival, but NE Campus student Blane North took a different route.
His debut short film, “Mood Ring,” premiered this summer at a private art show in Mansfield. The film played on a loop via projector, accompanied by a sound system and surrounded by artwork created locally.
The short blends punk music, live-action visuals and hand-drawn animations into a 10-minute experimental piece that explores emotions through color and sound.
“Mood Ring,” which is free to watch on Vimeo, ignores traditional storytelling altogether. It utilizes the symbolism of shifting color filters, surreal visuals and a soundtrack comprised of local punk bands such as Hate Your Friends and Mount Righteous to guide the audience through the abstract journey.
“When you don’t explain a film, the viewer is able to come to their own conclusions and kind of create their own narrative,” North said.
The project features a small cast of three: his girlfriend who comes from a theater background, her friend and North himself. “Mood Ring” was filmed primarily in Denton with most of the locations scouted by his girlfriend.
“She knows locations better than I do, kind of like hidden gems, and I think one of the most memorable spots is probably the post office up there,” North said.
The idea for “Mood Ring” sparked after North saw rings which caught his eye while on a trip with his mother. Some of the symbolism anchoring the loose plot of the short is inspired by other movies such as the mood ring from the 1991 film “My Girl” and the color filters used in the 1966 Czech film “Daisies.”
“A lot of it came in post-editing,” North said. “The storyline kind of came together.”
Post-production was where “Mood Ring” truly took shape. Despite being new to filmmaking, North handled all of the editing in DaVinci Resolve and took an unconventional approach to animation: printing individual frames, coloring them by hand, scanning them back in and compositing them manually.
“I use a lot of handmade animation, so there’s no stock things,” North said. “That was tedious work, but it adds this fun to it.”
NE student Bryce Ditslear is currently taking a film appreciation course. He recently watched “Mood Ring” and observed a contrast between North’s film and the current state of Hollywood.
“I could see that he had a lot of fun and passion working on this film,” Ditslear said. “There’s not a lot of passion in these big projects that Hollywood is putting out.”
North is part of a growing wave of creatives emerging from TCC’s radio, TV and film programs at NE Campus.
Darryl Hoelting is a full-time faculty member of this department which is helping lead students on a path of practical and hands-on production. His instructing style is reflected in the DIY attitude North took while crafting “Mood Ring.”
“It’s easy to assign projects and have everything there for them, but in real life that’s not going to happen all the time,” Hoelting said.
Students are finding space to develop their ideas and contribute to the local arts ecosystem.
“We’re in this field and into these things for a reason,” North said.