Cast Spotlight: Jocelyn Elyssa

Photo by Jasmine Monro  

You've met some of our crew and today we are excited to introduce you to Jocelyn Elyssa, Alex in Beauty Queen.  


     Jocelyn is a current BFA Actor at Michigan State University. She enjoys performing both on stage and in film.  Her most notable appearances were as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, Zooey in Broken Reflections, and Alma in Summer and Smoke. She has appeared in several short films and recently as a background performer in the upcoming film “The Five Year Engagement.” Last seen as Ruthie Joad in the Michigan State Theatre Main Stage production of The Grapes of Wrath, Jocelyn has been involved in over 20 productions. In her free time Jocelyn enjoys spending time with her favorite people and delving into the creative world; She is an avid musician, amateur photographer, writer, and frequent patron of the arts.



Take a look at this great article written on Jocelyn and her role as Alex in Beauty Queen!

MSU actress shows dedication to art

Crew Interview

Want to know what the Michigan Creative Film Alliance is all about?  Or what it's like to be apart of a MCFA production?  Watch this video of our producer, Jacqueline Wilton.

Crew Spotlight: Jacqueline Wilton

On the set of Beauty Queen

    Jacqueline Wilton, the producer of Beauty Queen, is a senior at the University of Michigan and is in the “phase” process to be a Director’s Guild of America affiliated Assistant Director Trainee.  Over the past four years she has worked on 23 productions with two feature films and five professional productions under her belt.  Although she loves producing, her passion is for assistant directing and is focusing her career towards that goal.

     She is co-creator of the Thundergrads, a University of Michigan sketch comedy show, the assistant director for The V-Card, and is currently in post production for her senior independent study.  Jacqueline is a board member for the Film and Video Association, a member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Phi Kappa Phi. She will graduate Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Arts in Screen Arts and Cultures in April of 2012.

How did you get involved with the Michigan Creative Film Alliance? 

      I was meeting with Professor Robert Rayher for an advising meeting on August 6, 2010, the year I decided to switch my major from Architecture to Film, and he was finishing his last pre-production meeting with Bhanu Chundu (director for Appleville). He asked me if I wanted to PA on Appleville and I immediately said yes.  I started work on the film as key production assistant the following Tuesday. Like Anna, this is my second year with the MCFA.

What is your role with Beauty Queen?

      Producer

Do you think that working on Beauty Queen has helped you learn more about your craft?

      This experience has been quite a journey for me as a student and as a producer. I learned so much about managing people and making decisions.

What is the most valuable thing you’re taking away from being a part of Beauty Queen?

At the Cherry premiere in Ann Arbor

I learned how to manage a large amount of people from many different backgrounds to create one unified production. Working with three schools helped me create a network of people moving into the film industry. For my senior independent film I worked with students from five schools (Columbia Chicago, EMU, MSU, WSU and U-M) to create an even bigger challenge for myself.

What is your favorite memory from this project?

My favorite memory was probably going to the go-cart/mini-golf course next to our hotel on our day off with Luke, Zach, Ryan, Zeko and Kelly and watching Zach be a terrible golfer. I can remember Anna (director) called me and Zeko on the mini-golf course and having to figure out solutions while playing. There were a lot of great memories in our makeshift production offices at every location thanks to Will Chodos and Tinisha Brugnone. They kept me sane.

Crew Spotlight: Kyle Gleisner

We've been away for a little while but we're back!  And this week we're introducing you to one of our Directors of Photography, Kyle Gleisner.

Kyle with editor Richard Chew

     Kyle is a senior at Wayne State University.  He is dual majoring in Film Production and Photography.  A lover of Indian food and internet arguments, Kyle's plan for after graduation:  Get. A. Job.  Currently he is working on Film 101:  The Story Often Told Metaphorically.

How did you get involved with the Michigan Creative Film Alliance?
I learned about the MCFA from several friends that worked on the previous year's project and decided to apply.  I really wanted to gain some set experience and see what I was capable of.


What is your role with Beauty Queen?
Taylor Stanton and I were Beauty Queen's Directors of Photography.  We collaborated with each other, our director, and gaffer to come up with the look of the film.  We oversaw the camera and lighting departments, planned shot lists, and operated cameras with the help of Mitch Haba and Caitlyn Northcutt, our awesome ACs!

Kyle on the set of Beauty Queen

Do you think that working on Beauty Queen has helped you learn more about your craft?
Immensely.  Besides being able to exercise my photographic muscles for two straight weeks (not including pre-production), I learned so much about the dynamics of a set, and even more importantly how to conduct professional relationships between the departments and people.  Also, working with Taylor and Walter Lin, our talented gaffer, was really a privilege.  The thing I learned about light and composition in those two weeks wouldn't have been possible without them.


What is the most valuable thing you're taking away from being a part of Beauty Queen?
Truthfully, at the risk of sounding more than a little cheesy, the most valuable things I've taken from the MCFA have been the personal and professional relationships I've made with everyone.  I don't think I've ever made that many food friends in such a short time before.  I'm already working on new projects with some of the people I met on Beauty Queen.  Yay, networking!


What is your favorite memory from this project?
Hollywooding blackout material over a two story window in the August heat with the grip and electric team, climbing the catwalks with camera and tripod in the Harper Woods High School's auditorium, "ghost hunting" in the DMC, and of course...90's power hour!

Crew Spotlight: Kelci Parker

Kelci working on Shark Tank

      Kelci Parker, the writer of Beauty Queen, graduated from the University of Michigan last April where she majored in Screen Arts and Cultures with a sub-concentration in Screenwriting.  Aside from films and writing, Kelci likes sports, music, working out and cookies and cream ice cream.  Some of her past projects include Shark Tank, The Hairless Grave, A Letter to The Woman Who Stopped Writing Me Back, AWOL, and The Citizen.  Currently, Kelci is living in Los Angeles where she works for Dickhouse Entertainment as a producer’s/creative assistant on the TV show Loiter Squad, set to air on Adult Swim in March of this year.

1. How did you get involved with the Michigan Creative Film Alliance?   I submitted my script to the MCFA.
2. What is your role with Beauty Queen?  I was the screenwriter and I did continuity.  
3. Do you think that Beauty Queen has helped you learn more about your craft?  Beauty Queen taught me more about understanding the production process as a whole than it did my craft.  Working with three different schools brings together a plethora of ideas of how the production process should work; it was interesting to see how our team handled it all.
4. What is the most valuable thing you're taking away from this project?  Friendships.  I met some really cool and very talented people on this project.  I was happy to walk away with some new friends, who I hope to work with in the future.  
5. What was your favorite memory, working on Beauty Queen?  90's power hour!

          

NAAF Conference 

Behind the Scenes at the Rainbow Room

Here's the first of many behind the scenes videos on the set of Beauty Queen!  Watch our cast and crew as they work on the set of the Rainbow Room.

Crew Spotlight: Anna Fleury

Anna working on her short film, Love Succintly

Anna Fleury is a graduate student at Wayne State University who loves traveling to third world countries, ballet, yoga, educational politics, Malbec wines from Argentina, and she is also the director of Beauty Queen. 

Anna was a part of last years MCFA project, Appleville, where she served as 2^nd AD, script supervisor, and continuity.  She also directed a short film called Love Succinctly, which received first place and best in show at the Moving Media Film Festival CFA in 2010.  

1.    How did you get involved with the

     Michigan Creative Film Alliance?

     A former professor, Marc Ruiz, recommended me.

2.    What is your role with Beauty Queen

      I was the director, which included huge amounts of

      pre-production planning and visualizing, 

      auditioning actors, rehearsing actors and camera

      angles, finding locations, some light PR work, on

      set coaching actors, and a little of everything on set.

3.    Do you think that working on Beauty Queen has helped you learn more about your craft?

      Absolutely, working on Beauty Queen has taught me a lot.  I made a list every night after shooting and it’s over six pages long.   Ultimately, figuring out the relationship between all of the above-the-line positions is crucial. 

4.    What is the most valuable thing you’re taking away from being a part of Beauty Queen?

      I learned that in terms of becoming a professional in

      this industry I want to do two things, write and

      direct what I write, but mostly write.  So I “found

      myself” from this project.

5.    What is your favorite memory from this project?

      The actors - they were wonderful.  I was blessed with many humorous and tender moments with

      them and I thank them greatly.  I also spent a day grabbing the boobs of drag queen Myles

      Mershman – that is a day that will live in my memory forever.