KTWU Sunflower Journeys 1712C - Firecracker
Produced by Scott Williams
This is the second film directed by Steve Balderson, who spent his early youth in Wamego and Manhattan. After that, he left Kansas to attend film school in California. But his passion for film making wouldn't wait for the completion of his final semester - he had to get started making movies, and found himself homesick for Kansas. Steve Balderson, Writer/Director, Wamego, KS: When I grew up here I totally took it for granted. When I looked out at the prairie, I didn’t know how neat that was. Until I didn’t see it. And then not having seen it for so long and going and traveling the world you really do appreciate what we have here even though you see it every day and it sort of seems like, we forget that it is the last place really on earth that looks like this. Narrator: Upon his return to Kansas, Steve made his first film, Pep Squad. A dark, high school satire, juxtaposed over stunning images of Kansas. The film had trouble finding its audience because of the timing of the release of a film that mocked school violence. Steve Balderson: My first film was Pep Squad. And it was a satire on school violence that I wrote based on my experiences in high school. Finished it before all the rash of school violence started happening, which was, idyllic timing and totally horrible at the same time. We were in talking to one of the major distribution companies the weekend Columbine happened. And they just called back and said, “we won't touch this with a ten foot pole.” Sorry. Narrator: Steve's family, has taken up an active role in the film making process. Clark Balderson is Steve's father and business partner in the film making venture. Clark Balderson, Producer, Wamego, KS: Steven and I have worked together for 7 or 8 years on the first film, and now this film. From the time he was 6 or 7 years old has shown a desire to and probably by age 8 or 9 has verbalized a desire to make movies. He has been single-minded in his pursuit of that objective for his life. Narrator: Steve's sister, Brooke Balderson, who had a staring roll in Pep Squad, has a small "but pivotal" role in Firecracker. Brooke Balderson, Actor, Manhattan, KS: I mean it's great to work with him. Because, and I've said this before, a long time ago, like we compliment each other creatively, and so its... it just works in some bizarre, way, I guess. Narrator: Filming of Firecracker took place through the summer and fall months of 2003. In this age of digital video, many films are shot without actually using "film." Steve has chosen to use film for the artistic depth it will add to the movie. Steve Balderson: I think you have to for this type of movie. If we went out on the Konza and we were shooting images on the prairie fires on video, there would be something less epic about it. But when you see it stretch across the screen, you know, 80 feet across, and you feel like you are in Kansas then because you can see the miles and miles that go, you know, all the grasses and stuff. Steve Balderson: Firecracker is a story about imprisonment, and truth and what happens when you spend your life in denial and when you spend your life dreaming of escape when in fact you don't need to or when you. It shows what will happen to you if you aren’t truthful. It’s very very sad. Clark Balderson: As far as I'm concerned this is the Karen Black that I was an older teenager and young adult and idolized. This is the Karen black from Nashville, this is the Karen Black from "Five Easy Pieces." It's, it's... sends chills up and down your back. Steve Balderson: it's a traditional tragedy too, it's really dramatic. There's enough stuff in it for them to do like that, I mean actors love to like show their skill and like their range and they can jump from this to this to this. You know, emotions that are across the board. I think those would be the most fun to play. If it were me. I mean I wouldn't necessary play with the same old person just being normal all the time. But to place somebody who is having like nervous breakdowns... that'd be kinda fun. Narrator: Actress Susan Traylor finds Steve's directing methods somewhat different from the other directors she has worked with. Susan Traylor, Actor, Los Angeles, Calif.: He works really pictorially, he's incredibly visual and the you that is an interesting experience too, because you have to try to ground that picture to something going on that means something to you, but yet you have to make it look like he wants it to look. Steve Balderson: Initially, when I wrote it it came to me first in pictures, not words. And I had to sketch most of the pictures in my head before I could really process what the words were. And I had to put it out into an order visually. And once that was done, I could then just write a really rough version of the script. I had it finished the day before we were showing Pep Squad for the the first time, to a group of people. Which was sort of, mentally ai think I needed to have something on my back burner you know so that after Pep Squad was shown to everyone I could go on to the next thing. Clark Balderson: This is not particularly a feel good movie. This is not Little House on the Prairie, where everybody is happy at the end. And I think it will reveal that we're just like everybody else and sometimes people think there's something wrong with us here, a little backwards or something. Steve Balderson: I want to show the world just how beautiful it is here. Even though the story itself is kind of dark, and sad. Its gorgeous...looking.
This transcript is from KTWU's Sunflower Journeys 2004 season. A production of: |
