SDSU alum creates unique science fiction film
By Elena Buckley | SDUN Editorial Assistant
Banker’s Hill resident JT Bruce has written and directed a short film that is sublimely unreal and makes you think seriously about what would happen if the world around us literally crumbled.
A recent graduate of San Diego State University (SDSU), Bruce has lived in San Diego for the last six years and has been making movies for most of his life. “Strange Matter,” his latest, is a 21-minute film that began as his senior thesis project and grew over the last two years into a full-fledged movie now ready for public viewing. It will be shown during several film festivals around California this summer.
The film follows its nameless main character as he is tossed from various universe to universe, trying just as hard as the viewer to understand if the end of the world is near and what that may mean. Bruce uses live action, computer animation, stop motion, claymation and superimposition of different styles to convey his theme.
“The whole idea is that there’s a whole multiverse of universes,” Bruce said. “The different styles reflect the different universes that make up this world….Those different styles give you more of an idea that they’re separate, distinct worlds that the characters are moving through.”
According to the film’s producer, Erica Kram, also an SDSU alum, the university rarely uses such variety of technique.
“I think it’s pretty incredible that he uses so many different mediums of art,” Kram said, referring to the film’s heavy green screen use, unique style combinations and fact that Bruce built a tank from the ground up. “You hardly ever see this combination of filmmaking.”
Bruce shot using Super 16 film, keeping the quality slightly grainy so as to create a hand-crafted effect.
“A big inspiration for this was ’80s science-fiction movies that were all pre-CGI,” Bruce said. “So they’re all sets and miniatures that had a more hand-crafted feel to them, which I like.”
In addition to writing and directing, Bruce also oversaw all of the film’s animation and music. The animation is a vividly mobile backdrop to the main character’s action, creating a complexity of eye-catching images, while the soundtrack’s soft, ethereal melodies ease the struggle to find one’s visual footing.
There’s no deeper meaning to the resulting lack of focus, Bruce said. The film’s meaning is open to interpretation.
“It’s almost trying to be psychological, but it’s pretty tongue in cheek at the same time,” Bruce said. “It tosses around a lot of big ideas but they’re not really the focus. There’s a lot there to think about. It could be potentially really thought-provoking, but it doesn’t have to be. It could just be a crazy animated movie.”
Due to the film’s weird and quirky bent, Bruce will carefully choose which festivals to submit “Strange Matter” to. Most won’t take place until late August or early September, but some are coming up in the next couple of weeks.
Four different festivals have niche categories that “Strange Matter” qualifies for, Kram said: The Accolade Competition, here in San Diego, is a unique awards festival that has been around since 2003, recognizing filmmakers, television producers, videographers and new media creators from all over the world; the Midnight Black Festival of Darkness in Los Angeles with special sci-fi, horror, supernatural and thriller categories; the Bodega Bay International Short Film Festival in the Bay area; and the Fernleif “Back in the Box” festival in Los Angeles.
For more information, visit: strangemattermovie.com.
