Background Information on Rangeland Romances

Sony DV-CAM
Color
Audio: None
00:05:58

Rangeland Romances was the most challenging movie I've ever had to make. I am sure Erik can agree with me on this. Our goal for this movie was to break the stereotype of restricted camera movements and frequented use of wide shots in Deaf movies. For some reason, most Deaf filmmakers grew to believe that it was necessary to capture the entire image of sign language on-screen. We wanted to prove that it was not necessary. I believe facial expressions is the most important ingredient of sign language, so we incorporated that idea. We also wanted to create a story that has nothing to do with the characters' deafness. As a result, this is simply a movie with characters who happens to be Deaf with free camera movements and extreme close-ups.

On the technical side, we shot this movie with Sony PD-150. Which was nice, but the result of quality in video did not come out as what we hoped for. The visuals were too "digital," which means extra sharp movements and crisp colors images. We did some adjustments and this is the outcome of "film look" we wanted to achieve.

To see the original Rangeland Romances movie, click here.
(http://homepage.mac.com/wbjr/rangelandromances)

Cast:
Dante - Erik Call
Fred - Dean DeRusso
Cliff - Jeff Pratt
Connie - Holly Schroeder

Story, Edited, Shot and Directed by
Wayne Betts, Jr & Erik Call