e. gustavo petersen | cinematographer

Finally it’s arrived and finished. Truly finished. No more phone calls about needing something to be done on the film. Done. Finito. Tetelestai! Consummatum est! (Don’t believe me, I’m sure there’s more.)

THE UTOPIAN SOCIETY

It’s a hell of a thing to see that big WB logo show up at the start of the DVD. Even after all this time it’s still a fun, well put together and very good looking film for such a small budget and limited time and resources.

Utopian Society tells the tale of six college kids whose path cross to finish a class assignment. Think “Breakfast Club” just not high school and not detention but plenty hijinks, sentiment and discovery just the same.

The excitement of its arrival and viewing was tempered with some disenchantment. While our crew may have been small, it was efficient and busy making the shots look as good as can be given the circumstances. In the commentary track, the director makes a few comments that particular scenes were naturally lit when in fact much work went into lighting those shots and making them look very natural. I understand it comes from both A) it’s been several years since we shot this film and B) a lack of the technical knowledge that went into making those shots possible and look as natural as they do. It would be like someone making the comment that the “the actors were so good that they didn’t need any direction” – a statement that would completely discounts all the time and input the director actually did invest into steering their understanding of their characters. I wish I could have attended the recording but work keep me away.

Regardless it’s a great show and I am happy about the end product. I hope everyone gets to see it (the soundtrack is included with the DVD. Maybe I’ll set up a movie night at my house and we can all enjoy the show (but we’re not listening to the commentary track).

My heart felt thanks to everyone who worked on the film and to all of those who have stuck by it over the years.