BY CHLOE BROWNELL

AND MICHELLE OLIVER

MEDIA WRITING REPORTERS

Deja Vu tells a story of two friends, Max and Charlie, and their friendship after Charlie moves away.

The two have almost opposite personalities, with Charlie being more bubbly and extroverted, leaving Max, the quieter of the two, in an empty and lonely home. The story follows Max’s perspective and the memories she and Charlie shared.

“It has these really sad undertones of it, but it’s about like friendship and how changes over time affect friendship,” said Holly Reichling, producer and editor.

She said the crew has been working hard on making this film come alive.

“I think this one had a big time crunch on it, so we shot everything in one day,” said Reichling, who worked on multiple films for this year’s FilmFest.

The team was forced into such a short time frame because of how busy everyone’s schedules were – which in turn made editing difficult. Reichling said they didn’t quite get enough footage, but didn’t have time to go back and get more.

Listening and working together has been a big learning experience for everyone involved.

Amber Anderson, director and writer, said she drew her inspiration from a previous coworker’s dream with the same concept of someone walking through different doors, experiencing a different memory and time period in each room.

This is the same concept that Max experiences in her story.

Anderson said her own dream would be to receive awards in screenplay or writing.

Casting was a challenging part of this production, especially when only three people auditioned for five roles. Anderson said everything worked out in the end, and they were able to find enough actors.

One of the biggest realizations Anderson had while working on the project was how hard it can be to actually bring people together to get things done.

“It was definitely a reminder that coordinating any amount of people’s schedules is extremely difficult,” Anderson said. To make the film work, the team focused on flexibility and working around everyone’s schedules.

“I just try to completely go with her vision, and I guess in a way that was kind of the hard part, trying to make it correctly and try to do it to the best of my abilities,” said Adrian Martinez, cinematographer.

Crew/cast: Holly Reichling, producer, sound design, editor; Amber Anderson, director, writer; Adrian Martinez, cinematography; Ainsley Houghton, costume design, Friend 1; Lettie Jane Myers, production design; Brianna Isham as Max; Gabriella Collins as Charlie; Henry Ibane as Friend 2; Mateo Rodrigo as Friend 3.