The light from the big screen in the Shaffer Art Building tightly grabbed the audience’s attention. It created a blue-colored, melancholy world in which the audience followed the main character, Ford, on his journey to find the meaning of life.

“It is about a weird point in life. It is about selfness and irresponsibility. Decisions to grow up,” said Philip Steiger, a senior film major.

Shaffer hosted the independent film screening of “Pet Hotel” at Syracuse University Friday at 8 p.m. The film was produced and directed by three seniors in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Alexander Svoboda, Ford Bostwick and Steiger.

Although “Pet Hotel” is approximately 15 minutes long, Svoboda said the entire filmmaking process took four or five months, and then took almost one week to edit.

The story follows Ford on a “vacation” to find himself. In the film, Ford repeatedly shows a postcard of the Grand Canyon — the destination of his journey. However, the whole journey is a failure. The film highlights different American landmarks as Ford travels to the wrong places, finally ending up at Niagara Falls. There, Ford folds the postcard into an airplane and throws it away.

The film’s name, “Pet Hotel,” comes from the location of a rock music show in the story, which holds meaning to the protagonist.

“Ford deplores his life changes and finds out he has been gone too far,” said Svoboda. “He is supposed to be married soon and needs responsibilities, but he is away from that.”

Different from other narrative films, “Pet Hotel” starts and ends in the middle of the story — it doesn’t have the beginning and ending parts of a usual storyline. Svoboda said this challenges the idea of having a distinct ending in film.

“We want to question the beginning and the end of work of the cinema,” Svoboda said. “We try to use another beginning and end. We want to start in the middle and end in the middle. Switch, in a way.”

Instead of using digital techniques, the filmmakers used 8 mm-wide film. This type of film is commonly known as Super 8 film, which was developed in the 1960s, said Svoboda. The blurry and raw film effects give the story a sense of nostalgia. The film is expensive, and has to be sent to New York for editing.

“We try to explore different perspectives of, or new ways to tell a story,” Steiger said.

Around 60 students attended the film screening, and at the end, the room was flooded with positive receptions.

Amara Meru, a sophomore television, radio and film major, said she went because she is interested in a Super 8 festival that is coming to Syracuse. After hearing about the film screening, she said she thought it would be interesting to see something different from other student projects.

Sarah Whitehouse, a senior in VPA, is a classmate of the three student filmmakers. She appears in the film for about 15 seconds, even though the shoot took three hours. She said she admires the students’ dedication to the quality of their work.

Another classmate of the filmmakers who is familiar with their work, Kelly Cave, a senior fiber and textile arts major, said she enjoyed the film.

Said Cave: “I know what to expect, but at the same time they so surprised me. Camera works are really amazing. I am just getting more impressed.”

Published on January 21, 2013 at 10:05 pm

Contact Ruth: jli64@syr.edu