In the modern era, it can be challenging to capture a genuine “olde-time” look and vibe in a film. From masterful performances and set design, to period-specific clothing, cinematography and editing, “Silent Night” captured our attention immediately as a film that is out of the norm. Created by an entirely female cast and crew (Directors: Angela Roxanne Lazar and Julie Cordell-Seasmons), this piece is vintage gold. And given the fact that is was created as part of the Dark Christmas Filmulate competition, with only two weeks to complete the entire project, and with specific parameters to follow, is all the more impressive. Silent Night won Honorable Mention: Best Supporting Actress - Julie-Cordell Seamons for the ZIFA winter edition.

ZIFA: What inspired you to create this film? Any influences? And.....how did you come up with the concept of brussel sprouts?

Angela: Silent Night was created for the Dark Christmas Film Festival in 2019. The goal was to create a creepy, holiday-themed film. At the time I had been watching a lot of the Best Women Filmmakers of the silent era. I love the look of silent films; there's a creepiness to it, jerky movements and weird cuts, shadows echoing from the past. I wanted to see if I could approximate the look and feel of a vintage silent film with today's technology.

Julie: Brussel sprouts weren't our idea. It was given to us as an item that we needed to incorporate into the film. Once we knew brussell sprouts were our object, we developed the story around it.

Emily Fox, Julie Cordell-Seamons, Angela Roxanne Lazar

ZIFA: Where did you film it? And how long did it take?

Angela: Silent Night was filmed in SLC, UT in the home of one of the project members. The house was built in 1911 and still maintains a lot of that old-timey charm, perfect for the silent era vibe we were going for. The shoot itself was about 12 hours. It took a couple of days of pre-production (gathering costumes, props, solidifying the concept) and a couple days in post (editing, dealing with tech issues, soundtrack).

ZIFA: How did you achieve the "vintage" look and feel to the film?

Angela: A lot of the vintage look was achieved using the Vixer app on the iPhone 7 we used for filming. What I really liked about using this tool was the ability to add in visual noise. It wasn't just about filming in black and white, it was about achieving those little imperfections like "cigarette burns", scratches, jerky movement. The playback speed was increased just ever so slightly to give it that period accurate manic feel.

Aside from the technical execution of the film, we needed to approximate period accurate costuming and hair. A trip to Decades vintage produced about half of the costumes we used. An especially lucky find was the sailor costume worn by Carmen Cordell-Seamons. I think that particular wardrobe piece added a lot stylistically. The props were also a fun tackle. Julie Cordell-Seamons made popcorn, cranberry, and even brussel sprout strings for our vintage Christmas tree. Emily Fox had the perfect wig and brought a notable physicality to her performance that made it feel incredibly period authentic. Overall achieving the vintage look was a team effort and required a lot of technical and practical effects to get there.

ZIFA: What was the biggest challenge you faced during production and/or post-production?

Angela: It's hard to come up with any challenges faced during production because our team worked so well together. It was the first all-female cast/crew I'd been a part of, and maybe that had something to do with the level of communication and respect we had for each other and our ideas. Everything flowed really smoothly; it was kind of a dream.

Post-production's main challenge was a technical issue. During editing our brick of an external hard drive took a significant fall and ate s***. That was a real touch and go situation involving tech support, a lot of panic and some tears. Eventually a backup of the entire project was salvaged from the original files and transferred onto a new external hard drive. But now I always try to allow extra time when editing because my dealings with tech always seem to be cursed.

ZIFA: What was the most memorable moment on set?

Angela: Most memorable moment I think was when we came up with the frying pan scene where Carmen takes out the antagonist with a bop to the head. Carmen was wonderful to work with and a great sport when it came to getting the shot. Also - the scene where she kicks the box of brussel sprouts away from her, entirely unplanned and entirely perfect.

Emily Fox, Angela Roxanne Lazar, and Carmen

ZIFA: Any lessons learned or things you would have done differently?

Angela: I can't say I would have done anything differently--more time, more budget is always nice, but I don't think it would have altered much for this project. One thing I'd say is that it's incredibly nourishing to work with creative, clever, engaged people in an environment of mutual trust and respect. We managed to be really efficient and still had a lot of fun making this film.

ZIFA: Any advice for aspiring filmmakers?

Julie: Just make stuff. Film yourself, film your friends, film your dog. Spend 15 minutes a day working on your filmmaking. Whether it's writing a script, editing a video, or researching an idea. You'll be surprised what you can get done in 15 minutes. It's about creating a habit. Then share it. Share with your family, your friends, on social media, in a filmmaking group. Take the feedback that makes sense to you. Then do it all over again and again and again.