BY KAYLEE KAHN

AND JOSEPH CHAPA

MEDIA WRITING REPORTERS

Two first-time directors created Ruby Letters to tell the story of a young man and the letters he has from his grandpa on how to overcome the struggles of a recent breakup.

“Wholesome love story about overcoming obstacles,” said one of the co-directors, Holly Reichling.

The other, Brenna Raffels, said the idea came to her one day as she was reading a book. She enjoyed certain aspects of the story but the necklace in the story really connected with her. She said she liked how a singular object brought the main characters together.

Raffels said she decided that she wanted this to be a love story learned over generations around a singular object, letters.

“The young man who just had a hard breakup finds his grandfather’s letters,” Raffels said. “He learned what he should do. The grandpa is similar to him, like the young man looking back at his grandpa and looking at the parallels between the two.”

The directors hope the story brought to life by film is somehow relatable to the audience – whether it because of a recent breakup or remembering a grandparent’s love.

The toughest obstacle for Raffels and Reichling was the shots not coming out exactly how they envisioned them. Raffels said it was hard to go through the process with one thing in her mind, only to capture a different picture on the camera when resources or actors were unavailable.

“The audio,” Reichling said. “So many issues losing footage that happened with glitches. Working around other people’s schedules.”

Both have had previous experience working on films but this is their first time taking control and creating an entire film.

“We’ve both written, directed and produced our films,” Raffels said. “We switch minds depending on the roles. You just have to work with what you have. That has changed me and made me a better filmmaker. It helped show me a lot of different things.”

Along with directing, they also had to learn to rely on others and understand that they cannot do everything by themselves. They had to use their entire team to get the project done in time.

“It was difficult to learn how to delegate,” Reichling said. “You need other people to help you and you help them.”

With finally being able to direct and write her own film, Raffels said she is proud of her work and would love to be able to take home some awards.

“I would love the best director and the best writer,” Reichling said.

Crew/cast: Brenna Raffels, producer, director, writer, cinematographer, editor, sound design; Holly Reichling, producer, graphic design, advertising; Adrian Martinez, camera operator; Ainsley Houghton, sound design; Lettie Jane Myers, production design; Henry, Ibane, actor; Warren Jackson, actor; Brandon Reeves, actor; Brianna Isham, actress; Ainsley Houghton, actress.