Oct. 3, 2014

Image courtesy of Robert Schmidt

Alejandra Garcia | Assistant A&E Editor

Old school Hollywood horror with a twist of comedy is an element that never goes out of style. Bring in a werewolf, a thirsty vampire, a deranged pianist and a clever damsel in distress and you get a shot at London’s Raindance Film Festival.

Filmmaker and Riverside City College student, Jimmy Moreno got the opportunity to screen “The Collection” in the distinguished film festival. The movie tells the story of a monster collector, played by Bud Tedesco who also happens to be a professor at RCC, and a young woman who deals with the escape of his monsters played by Summer Sky.

“The Collection” made it’s premiere at last year’s RCC horror film festival where the great grandson of Lon Chaney, Ron Chaney, came to judge horror flicks that many students had made. It’s also the festival where the short film won for best cinematography.

“The reason this started was (because of) Bud, the head of the (film and television) department then.” Moreno said. “I’ve known Bud for a while, and he had been wanting to do a horror film festival. It was his passion project.”

While there was talk of creating a horror film festival on campus, professor Tedesco had the idea to advertise the festival in various 10 second clips that would attract the attention of students and moviegoers alike.

“When we first made (the film), it was just meant for the festival,” he said. “It was just meant to be an advertisement piece. The idea was meant that we would show the pay off at the festival.”

Moreno started off with the opening scene, leading other students to contribute their ideas. Jorge Menendez and Christopher Nuñez are also main contributors that brainstormed along with Moreno in developing the storyboard for each scene.

With many clips to work with, Moreno and producers, Stephanie Barnes and Melissa Martinez, created an opening scene, a climax and a closing scene, which resulted in a complete seven minute film.

Moreno and his peers collectively took on the ideathat professor Tedesco shared with them. All their hard work and dedication came together with volunteer work from many students, friends and families.

“We just kept asking around and it was weird because everything just started lining up.” Moreno said. “I’d never thought that in a million years that the guy that came forward to do the special effects make up that was Eric Fox.”

Fox is a make up artist that competed in “Face Off,” a reality show from the SyFy channel.

Moreno is currently a business major, and with his studies he realizes how he needs to move forward after the process of making a film.

“Now, I’m very conscious – like I’m writing this movie, but where is it going to go when it’s done? Am I going to go to festivals?” he said.

Moreno had submitted the short film into many film festivals that were accepting submissions, and Raindance Film Festival had decided to debut their film abroad.

“When we heard we got in to (Raindance), it was like woah!” he said. “We didn’t even tell anybody because we thought it was a mistake.”

The London based festival showcases indie films from around the world to many viewers, from movie executives to movie fanatics. “Pulp Fiction,” “Memento” and “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” are some of the many films that have been featured throughout the years.

“That has been one of my dreams” Moreno said. “I want to get in to festivals. I don’t even care about winning stuff. I just want (my work) to show.”