John Versical always has ideas floating around his head that would make good stories.
And although he does entertain more serious fare, those ideas usually involve various household items violently attacking people.
“I was originally going to do a cable access show about a guy who gets killed by inanimate objects, so we did one about a walkie-talkie,” the humanities senior said.
Sitting alone in the empty offices of Our Small Planet Productions, 201-1/2 E. Grand River Ave., Versical has the hum of the computers and glow of their screens to help him think.
This is where he spends most of his time - after 11 credits of classes in the morning, he’ll go to work around 1:00 p.m. His time is divided between editing and capturing footage for the nature documentaries, commercials and corporate videos the production company will produce.
“Right now we’re working on a series of documentaries about Michigan wildlife,” Versical said. “We’re piecing together a series of half-hour documentaries about nature. It was all shot on film, so it looks real well.”
Versical has been working at Our Small Planet Productions since the fall, where he worked, in agreement with manager Jim Jabaro, for nearly free in exchange for production services on a short film he was working on.
“He liked the script after he read it,” Versical said. “He said he woke up laughing at night.”
The film, “I Cantaloupe,” turned out to be an ode to romance, retribution, and fruit. It’s the story of a player who finds true love and karma in a mysterious melon, backed up with familiar soundtracks from “Eyes Wide Shut” and “Titanic.”
And thanks to a last-minute submission, the short will be showing at this year’s East Lansing Film Festival. That makes two entries for Versical, whose documentary of a night in the life of a bunch of drunken college freshmen, “The Little In-Between,” will also be showing.
The idea for “I Cantaloupe” came after Versical made his walkie-talkie short, during which he decided it would be a good idea to have produce and electronics attack people.
English senior Naveen Singh had helped Versical with the walkie-talkie short, and he did so again by writing the screenplay for “I Cantaloupe.”
“There were a couple things here and there that were changed in the final version,” Singh said. “But it translated pretty well.
“He’s pretty receptive to other ideas.”
Coming up with ideas and filming them, as it turns out, are two separate things.
“It was sort of hectic at first, but then we got into a groove,” Versical said. “Getting the crew and everybody together was just kind of hard.
“The actor wasn’t used to talking to a piece of fruit like it was a person.”
While at Our Small Planet Productions, Versical’s learning non-linear editing, Aftereffect, Photoshop, and multimedia design - all known industry tools and skills expected of a filmmaker.
He plans on sending “I Cantaloupe” to other film festivals - like next year’s Sundance – alternative Slamdance Festival. But with graduation coming in May, he’s more content to learn what he can.
“I’m sending out resumes and demo reels and graphics work,” Versical said. “It’s going to be a pretty diverse resume.
“I’m ready to just move out and say ‘screw it’ - it’s just a piece of paper.”
But aside from moving out to Los Angeles to starve, what’s a young fan of Stanley Kubrick and George Lucas from Michigan to do with all that knowledge?
“I’d like to go to Chicago - there’s a pretty good film industry in Chicago,” Versical said. “It’s not as big as New York or L.A., but it’s not as phony or scary. I kind of want to start where I’m familiar, and not be too far from home.”
For now, though, he has other projects in mind. And none of them involve fruit.
Versical’s moving on to making a full-length independent feature. He’s unsure if he’ll get the financial backing for it, or how the controversial, hard-to-swallow script will go over.
“But it can’t hurt to try,” he said.
And if that doesn’t happen by the time he leaves town, there’s always contracted work for commercials and music videos. He’s worried about getting a job in such a competitive market, with no mention of his parents, but he thinks he’s gained enough knowledge to go far.
“This is the time, while you’re in college, while you don’t have anything other than apart-time job, to make films,” Versical said. “I just want to be comfortable making money and making good films.
“I don’t want to sell out and make ‘Jurassic Park III’.”
Jabaro, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and photographer and one of the managers of Our Small Planet Productions, said Versical isn’t just a talker when it comes to filmmaking.
“Filmmaking is a craft that needs to be worked on and practiced,” Jabaro said. “He’s got the ambition and drive I haven’t seen in five years of interns.”
With over 20 years of experience in making nature documentary films, Jabaro is working with MSU professors to develop a full documentary filmmaking curriculum.
That’s good news for student filmmakers, whose only choice is a specialization in the area. And for those like Versical, who went from finance to teaching to English.
“John comes from an English background - very story-oriented,” Jabaro said. “He’s done a lot of reading. And the more you read, the better your visualization will develop.”
