While shooting his senior thesis project, first-time filmmaker Mitchell Brown encountered a problem no screenwriting class could have prepared him for. Brown’s story — a psychological thriller about a father trying to reconnect with his family while coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder — relied heavily on windows. More specifically, the character’s compulsions to fiddle with and adjust the windows. However, when the team arrived to shoot at an Airbnb in Malden, the windows had been sealed shut by the owner.
“And I didn’t know that until the day before we started shooting,” Brown said, explaining that it threw out a big part of his script.
The Tufts senior from Minnesota wasn’t always set on being a filmmaker. While short-lived, he started as an engineering student before switching into Film and Media Studies.
Brown notes that he “always liked films and TV.” His brother, who graduated from Tufts, was also a Film and Media Studies major.
Even so, the transition from scriptwriting to directing a senior thesis project was significant for Brown, who describes himself as someone who had fun on others’ sets but was anxious about coordinating a set alone. Brown credits his director of photography, Marco Steel, for pushing him to create his senior thesis and step out of his comfort zone.
“Marco’s been easily one of the biggest helps,” Brown said. “I kind of only committed to doing the thesis knowing he would be my DP.”
For Brown, the narrative he chose to tell is personal, even though it isn’t an autobiography. Brown was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder as a kid. Though it wasn’t a large part of his life, it nonetheless impacted the way he thought about certain ideas. While he doesn’t know exactly why he wanted to create a psychological thriller, he sought to showcase a perspective that isn’t frequently shown in mainstream media. He credits much of the plot to his interest in the genre.
From the beginning of his filmmaking process, Brown tried to get ahead of all the on-set issues to minimize changes to his script. He ensured his Airbnb owner gave him permission to film and booked it over the summer. With the sparse student budget, this was a vital step in his production, allowing him to write with the set in mind.
Still, Brown ran into a problematic surprise with the sealed windows, which were shut since the film was shot during the winter.
Working with Steel and his team, Brown stresses the importance of on-set problem-solving.
“We figured out camera angles we could use so you couldn’t quite tell what he was doing at the window,” Brown said. He explained that they had the character’s body blocking the sealed window latch in the film.
Brown is quick to highlight that “it was very much a team effort,” where everyone on set played an important role in creating the final product.
For Brown, staying organized with production timelines and getting production experience as soon as possible was his biggest piece of advice for future Film and Media Studies students aiming to tackle a senior thesis project.
“You don’t need to learn what you would do if you were Scorsese as a director, you need to know what you would do if you’re working with a $100 budget and six of your friends,” he said.
As his graduation approaches, Brown isn’t sure if film will be his full-time job immediately. He’s opened up his search to all sorts of positions like media, marketing and digital content. He would still like to continue scriptwriting as a way for him to make his way back into the film industry.
Brown is also considering whether to submit his senior thesis project to any film festivals. Though he initially intended to create something just for himself, Brown is waiting for the finished product before making his decision.
When reflecting on the entire project, Brown enjoyed being on set the most. Though initially he was anxious about it, Brown found it was the most rewarding part of his project.
