Most teenage girls in middle school might dream of fame as a singer, actor or athlete with the spotlight on them in front of the camera, to be adored my millions.
However, 14-year-old Keely Martin is different. Her dream is to be behind the camera, writing compelling stories and then taking those stories and turning them into engrossing movies that viewers will never forget.
One of those movies is “June,” the story of a single mom and her two daughters named Ryan and Ellie, who move into a new house. Along the way, Ellie, the younger sister, befriends a ghost who lives in the upstairs room of the house. It’s an innocent friendship that soon becomes filled with jealousy and revenge.
The film stars Keely’s Culver City Middle School friends 13-year-old Maggie Lezcano, who co-wrote the script with Keely and portrays older sister Ryan; 10-year-old Ellowyn Stanton, who plays younger sister Ellie; 13-year-old Sudevi Graham, who plays the ghost named June; and Bronwen Hunter, who plays the mother of Ryan and Ellie.
While the main story is about a ghost, Keely said the film also tackles the issues of friendship and sibling interaction.
“Aside from the whole ghost story thing, a big part of the movie is about the relationship between the sisters,” Keely said. “I’m an only child, but Maggie has two brothers and I think it just shows that you should appreciate your siblings.”
This summer, “June” was nominated for Best Youth Film at FilmQuest, a Provo, Utah-based film festival that focuses on the fantasy, horror, and sci-fi genres.
Although it won no awards at FilmQuest, co-stars Lozcano and Stanton who attended the film festival in Utah, said “June” was well received by those who saw it.
In addition to FilmQuest, Keely’s film was also entered in the L.A. Shorts Fest, the Long Beach Indie International Film Festival, and the Pasadena International Film Festival.
Keely says she wanted a horror film to be her first directing effort because of how much easier it is to break the traditional conventions of the genre and just have fun giving viewers a good scare.
“I really love movies in general, but I really love Psycho and Alfred Hitchcock,” Keely said. “I just love horror because it’s more like an experimental genre where you don’t worry so much about rules. It’s just about getting the people scared and getting those creepy moments where you’re sitting on the edge of your seat. I just think it’s really cool.”
The idea for “June” came about when Keely wrote a script called “Latchkey.” After reviewing what she wrote, Keely was unsatisfied, feeling that the story was too complicated and unrealistic. With the help of her friend Maggie, they simplified the story and spruced up the plot.
When the two girls were trying to think of names for the ghost, they wanted it to be the name of a month. When they thought of June, Keely knew it was the perfect name because of its simplicity.
Keely said writing the 14-page script came easy after she and Maggie worked out the story. After Keely finished the script, she gave it to Maggie who edited the script and gave Keely tips on dialogue.
“[Maggie would say] ok, this line should be changed because it’s not realistic or this should be changed because it doesn’t show the relationship enough,” Keely said.
“June” was filmed and produced in five days during the last weeks of the girls’ summer vacation, with the cast and crew donating their time and effort to making the film a success.
One of the things that helped get the film off the ground was the involvement of Keely’s dad Victor, who is a filmmaker in his own right. Having become a mainstay of the internet movie circuit with several films, Victor really made his mark with his most famous film “Darth Vader: The Rudy Pirani Story” which was selected by George Lucas as a Star Wars Fan Film Awards Finalist in 2002.
Although Keely’s dad has impressive film credentials, he was not involved very heavily in the actual filmmaking, at Keely’s request.
“I wanted to do this on my own because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do something like this.” Keely said. “Even though he [Victor] directs movies of his own I kind of felt like this was my baby.”
Acting as producer, Victor assisted with film scheduling, and raising money for the film through IndieGogo, a crowdfunding website for independent filmmakers. He also served as an occasional sounding board for ideas.
“As a producer on “June,” I was available to Keely in any capacity that she needed me,” Victor said. “In preproduction she’d go over scenes with me to see what I thought. I didn’t help her write it, but since I am also a fan of horror films she would ask me if a scene was scary. I did throw out some suggestions now and again, but she rarely used them since her ideas served her story better.”
Even though he took a hands-off approach when it came to the filmmaking process, Victor was instrumental in making sure the entire project got off without a hitch.
In addition to the fundraising, Victor designed the movie poster for “June” based a sketch by Keely. He also coordinated the schedules of the actors; arranged for on-location filming; acquired lights and tripods from Locomotion, a local photo business; and submitted “June” to 30 film festivals in California and other states.
However, one of Victor’s biggest contributions to the success of the film was in introducing Keely to Leila Min Dai, a cinematographer who served as Keely’s Director of Photography (DP).
Keely says Leila really brought her up to speed and into the world of filmmaking by teaching her about different aspects of the process such as master shots and how to organize a scene.
“It really takes everyone just to make one little scene,” Keely said. “It’s such a cool process but it’s definitely a lot of work. A lot of people probably don’t know that.”
Before filming began, Leila met with Keely to discuss the scenes and how they were to be filmed. She also edited the film in post production, color corrected the film, and provided general advice and suggestions.
Leila’s expertise behind the camera allowed Keely to concentrate on the actors.
“I really was focused on the acting because they [her friends] have never really acted in a movie before and I wanted to make sure that the actors get my vision and they did a great job.”
While Hitchcock is one of her influences, Keely said she is very inspired by director Wes Anderson, whose knack for mixing comedy and drama in the quirky, independent films he makes, speaks to her on a different level.
Anderson’s films, “Rushmore” and “Moonrise Kingdom” are two of her favorites.
Keely says being a director has taught her a great deal about filmmaking and given her a brand new respect for directors. It’s an experience she hopes will serve her well in her next endeavor as an Audio/Visual major at Culver City High School.
“I really respect all of the time they put in because ‘June’ definitely took longer than I thought it was going to be with editing and the score and the sound and everything and all of the hours it took to film,” she said. “It was a lot of work but I enjoyed every minute of it.