Matt Braunsdorf’s Film, John the Carpenter, Premiers at a Hollywood Film Fest
Theatre and Dance and Film major Matt Braunsdorf’s short horror film, John the Carpenter, premiered at the Dances with Films festival held at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on June 3rd. The film started life as a music video for a song of the same name inspired by the work of filmmaker and composer John Carpenter. The song was written by Braunsdorf’s friend Jared Dymbort, who stars in the film and composed the score.
“The song nailed the tone and sound of Carpenter’s music perfectly, and I immediately wanted to turn it into a music video,” Braunsdorf, an ’07 grad, explained. “My father was a carpenter by trade and passed away a few years ago, so as we started putting together the story for the video, I put a lot of what he meant to me in there. As it was something close to my heart, the story quickly outgrew the framework of a music video and became the short it is now. Also, I love monsters and the idea of making a monster movie was too good to pass up.”
Braunsdorf makes a living putting the acting and film-production skills he learned here at Keene State to work. “My day job – or jobs – is filmmaking,” he said. “I’m a full-time freelance filmmaker. I direct, shoot, and edit content for film, TV, and the web. I am normally working on several different projects, mostly online comedy videos and Broadway advertising content (behind the scenes videos, TV spots, etc.). I wouldn’t be able to do any of this if I hadn’t learned the basics of production and critical analysis from the Keene Film Department. In my free time I’m a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Right now I am on a house digital team, which means we make all the sketches and web series that go on the website and YouTube channel UCBComedy.com. I also was a member of a couple indie improv teams and have popped up in other stage shows at the theatre here and there.”
Not only the education, but the friendships and professional relationships Braunsdorf made at KSC have served him well. “I still work closely with a lot of my fellow theatre and film majors,” he said. “Several of us basically moved to the city together and have been making movies and putting on shows ever since. I just finished acting in a production of US Drag put on by my classmates Shanna Sartori and Kate Dickson. They started a theatre company, The Nite Owl Players, named after our alma matter.”
Here’s the trailer for John the Carpenter:
