My name is Eric Lundy. I am a filmmaker and Manhunt is my first short film. This short film was made during the Fall 2024 semester in COMM465 as my capstone project. In that class we filmed a fictional short film and a documentary. My focus for this senior showcase is on my short film Manhunt as I spearheaded its development as the writer and director.
You could say that Manhunt was years in the making, as the original concept I had for it came to me while I was in the Intentional Creativity practicum. The original idea was a murder mystery where the frame was static, locked on a desk against a wall covered with clues similar to an “I Spy” book, and there would be the audio of a news broadcast playing in the background. The viewers would then analyze the visual while taking in the audio to hopefully come to their own conclusion of the “whodunit”. Manhunt kept elements of this concept, but it was developed beyond that idea to better match the requirements of our capstone project. When I pitched my idea to the class, I am proud to say more than half of my classmates voted on my idea. It is thanks to my skilled and talented team that Manhunt was ever able to become more than just a daydream.
For my senior project, I chose to do an analysis of Manhunt and what went into creating it. This was an interesting endeavor because I realized I needed to face my own thoughts on this project a whole year later. There were moments where I needed to be brutally honest with myself about how I could have performed better, but thankfully there were moments where I realized that I needed to give myself more credit than I was. I built an infographic to organize my takeaways from this experience.
The first block is the technical skills. This was an great opportunity for me to actually put some of the skills I had been developing to use. I took the Screenwriting Practicum in the spring of 2024. This gave me time to practice writing in the correct format, editing focused on narrative and pacing, and being willing to make changes from my original ideas to ensure that the story works and fits my needs. Because of this, I was able to develop a workable script for this project in about five weeks. I was also taking the Motion Graphics practicum at the same time as COMM465 so I was able to carry over my new skills from that to the opening title card sequence and ending credits. These are some of the things that I’m most proud of. Directing was one of the technical skills that I was very concerned about, going into this short film project. I didn’t feel ready to lead the group, and I didn’t even know a lot of the terminology used in directing, but through class and the help of my team, I was able to figure it out.
Intentional creativity is something I felt would be important to pass on to others. This practicum helped me come up with my own method for choosing to be creative. It helped with developing this short film. As I stated before, the original concept came from what I did in this practicum. My main method to be intentionally creative is to go for a walk listening to music. This will result in my brain starting up a film of its own to go with the music (daydreaming intentionally). I did this a lot during the development of Manhunt to come up with solutions to narrative problems as well as to location scout. So I just want to share that I have found it is possible to chase ideas instead of just waiting for them.
Capturing everything and documenting everything is crucial to developing any sort of project. In a video project, that takes on more weight. You never want to be in the editing bay working on a scene only to find out you’re missing content. Thankfully, we didn’t exactly run into that snafu, but a week before the final video was due, we analyzed our drafts in class and with the feedback, we decided we needed more content for the chase scene at 5:14 in Manhunt. We went out and filmed more and then looked back into our tech rehearsal footage and made use of everything that we possibly could to fill that chase scene to give it the frantic energy we wanted. On top of that, documenting everything was incredibly helpful. Our team had weekly meetings and we made sure to document everything we spoke about in multiple places and formats to ensure everyone stayed on the same page.
Creating Manhunt forced me to acknowledge my limits as well as some strengths. I have a working level of skill in planning, blocking, editing, color grading, sound design, recruiting talent, etc. If it plays a part in creating a short film, I can probably do it but I may not be that exceptional at it. I do have interesting ideas though. That was evident enough by my classmates voting on my pitch. But aside from the personal things, working in a group on a school project comes with some severe limitations. Scheduling filming dates for everyone to be available in a group of eight students was a struggle. One that we overcame, but a struggle nonetheless. Six crew members and two cast members, all with other classes, jobs, and personal commitments made it difficult to organize everyone. But more importantly, the strengths of the whole team are what made Manhunt. And that leads me to my next point.
Networking is something that is hammered into us in every single course in the communication department. I never gave it much thought, using my introvert nature as an excuse. I always figured it was something I would work on in the outside world, out of school. I never considered working with my fellow classmates in previous classes as networking until now. When I pitched Manhunt to the class, Josh Stewart, Jenetta Seeger, Paola Arbaiza, Aubrey Cooper, and Teagan Lawrence all voted to work on my idea. I had been in class with all of them aside from Jenetta before, and I had been in the same group as Teagan and Josh multiple times in prior classes. I had not considered that I had been networking with them this whole time, building a rapport with them. As I’ve said before, it was truly thanks to this that Manhunt was created. I can’t put enough emphasis on that. The idea of being a solo producing auteur is very cool, but I am nowhere near ready to do that, and it is thanks to the enthusiasm, skills, talents, and willingness to help of my whole team and cast (Harrison Kelley and Sam Ryver) that Manhunt became real.
It’s thanks to this rapport with members of my group that we were able to communicate so well. We decided on our first day as a group that we would meet Thursday evenings to discuss our progress as a group and individually on our different tasks to ensure we were progressing steadily toward our goals throughout the semester. The organizational and planning communication was familiar and simple enough to handle. The real challenge here came in the form of feedback and suggestions in the creative fields such as the script, camera angles, and graphic design. I had to learn to put my ego behind me and accept my team’s feedback and suggestions. It was their project as well. Manhunt grew beyond my initial concept into our short film. There were a number of moments where I felt like throwing my hands up and walking away. I would get frustrated at perceived resistance toward my ideas, especially near the end of the semester when deadlines were approaching and stamina was wearing out. I wish I had handled things better, especially at the end. While I can’t do anything to change that now, I can keep this lesson in mind for the future.
I am proud of my work on Manhunt. I am proud of the overall project, as well as more specific things such as the title card and the end credits. I am proud of some of the running shots in he chase scene that I personally filmed with my actors. I am proud of my cast and crew. When it comes to things that I would change, there are a few things. But these things would have all come out differently if I could have changed one specific thing. I wish I had been more present during the editing. I would check in with my team, seeing how things were developing. I would sit in with them as they worked to give feedback. But in the end, I was too hands-off. Thinking back, there were moments where Paola, the lead editor, was asking for my guidance on how I wanted things to be and I gave her half-hearted responses and then left. I let the stress get to me and didn’t put in as much effort as I now wish I did. Lessons for the future.
Overall, working on Manhunt was a stressful but fulfilling experience. My main takeaway is the importance of networking to build a team of incredible people that all want to see a project progress from that initial spark to the final product, whatever that may look like.
Please enjoy our short film: MANHUNT