Copley filmmaker holds the first screening of movie here

Cinematography aside, it's Steve Pallotta's stories that resonate the most. The six-minute trailer to the local film maker's latest project, Lake Evermore, is no exception.

The preview describes the story of real estate developer Mike Turner, whose wife inherits her aunt's cottage on the idyllic lake. The Turners are surprised at their developing fondness for the quaint town, until Mike springs the idea of building condominiums on the lake. At that point, the Norman Rockwell-ish locals take a decidedly Stephen King-like turn.

I guess the underlying message is about greed, Pallotta said, sitting among a collection of guitars, computers and cameras in his garage studio in Copley. Mike is into his work to the point that all he thinks of is work. I guess the message is that some things need left alone _ if they're not broke, don't fix them.

Not a bad bit of pontificating for a guy whose first movie came, literally, from nowhere.

In 1993 I woke up with a short story in mind, he said. I hadn't done anything like that in a long time, but I had every scene laid out in my mind.

The result, Arrivaderci, utilized a bare minimum of cast and props _ two characters and an elevator. The five- minute film focuses on life's missed opportunities, and says more with no dialogue than many full-length films of its kind.

Film making had been a part of Pallotta's palette since the early 1980s, when he won third prize in Sony's national Vision of America contest. After college, however, the 1977 Cuyahoga Falls High School graduate focused on wedding video production.

In 1982 that industry was virtually free of competition, which allowed Pallotta and his partner at P&C Video to experiment with such cutting-edge concepts as multiple camera angles and background music.

This was the early days of wedding videos, Pallotta said. We were selling these things before people had VCRs. I just told them, "don't worry, you'll have one.'

But film making remained Pallotta's passion. While he still brings home the bacon in the computer business, Arrivaderci and its follow up Forbidden Closet marked the launch of Pallotta's film production company Fools Gold Entertainment.

I've always been into spooky Twilight Zone, Outer Limits stuff, he said. Not really slasher films, but ones that make you think, "boy, that was kind of weird.'

A short version of Lake Evermore closed out the four-film anthology of Forbidden Closet. Pallotta was encouraged by viewers to flesh out Evermore and develop it into a film of its own. The project proved to be a combination of triumphs and setbacks.

Pallotta began working with NPI, a company that provides all his projection equipment _ and without whom he could not showcase his films at all. He also used actors from a Cleveland-based talent agency who were thrilled with the fact that they received copies of their work within weeks _ due in part to the fact that Pallotta films in the digital medium.

Yet digital film itself, along with Pallotta's family friendly approach to the script, has kept most distributors at arm's length.

Of course I want distribution for anything I do, Pallotta said. But, it's a well-done movie that proves there is a guy in town who can produce and make a full-length movie as good as any _ and that it can be done in a year and a half, on a $500 camera, all for under $10,000.

Perhaps most importantly, completion of the film has recharged Pallotta's creative batteries. Not to mention giving him a hard-won lesson in how the film business works once the sets are torn down and the cameras are turned off.

The film will debut at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday at the West Theater, 1017 Wooster Road West in Barberton. Additional showings will be held May 17 and May 18. Tickets are $5. More information can be found at www.foolsgoldentertainment.com.

He is hopeful that a contact made during the filming of Lake Evermore will lead to the film being picked up as a Sci-Fi channel pilot. Meanwhile, Pallotta's next project _ a zany comedy tentatively titled Circle Track Summer _ promises to give the distributors more of what they were asking for from Lake Evermore. Simply put, the film is likely be a lot less family friendly.

I had this idea for a comedy about five guys driving backward on a race track, Pallotta said. I began from the ground up with a professional comedy writer, then I thought why not do something marketable? So I changed it to four girls racing backward.

Film fans will have to wait, and imagine, where that track will lead.

 

© 2004 Sun Newspapers. Used with permission.