Blindsided Online Film Screening
A dark, suspenseful world exists somewhere in most filmmakers’ minds but how did one Dentonite bring his original story to life as a sophomore at UNT? In Blindsided, Brian James Fozkos created a short thriller with influences from Seven as evidenced by the muted colors, dimly lit scenes, a frustrated detective, and a serial killer who disturbingly hides his identity. Blindsided has reaped in several awards including Best Domestic Horror/Thriller Short at the 2016 Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase and Best Drama at the 2016 UPC Short Films Festival.
The story came to Fozkos while participating in a writing workshop with the UNT Short Film Club a year before production began. While discussing different genres, Fozkos observed there was a lack of suspenseful thrillers in the SFC catalogue. He sat on the script for 6-8 months before putting a crew together to make the film independently. Fozkos wrote and directed the film as a sophomore, which is typically a time period where Radio, TV, and Film students don’t get hands-on experience with productions through their classes.
Fozkos received incredible help from his production crew. He describes his producer Collin Britton as going above and beyond his duties by getting location permits cleared in lighting time. Production Designer Valarie Gold helped plan and execute the vision that Fozkos wanted by paying close attention to detail of how the script was written. The score was composed by music major Collin Cartwright, who needed only a week to place his eery and haunting tones over the picture-locked cut. The contributions of the entire crew taught Fozkos how important it is to trust the talent around him. Fozkos is also proud of his actors.
“I really lucked out in getting Kevin Clark,” says Fozkos. Clark embodies the role of a worn-down cop desperate to stop the killer from claiming his next victim. Brennan Pierce also stars as a criminal witness shaken up by the experience of what she saw. The acting talent benefited from rehearsal shoots held in a library during the pre-production phase.“I really recommend to anyone making a film: do a practice shoot even if you don’t have your whole crew there,” says Fozkos.
Up next for Fozkos is a comedy he is writing called Good Cop, Dad Cop, although he is unsure if he will choose to direct it. He’ll graduate in the spring of 2017 and intends to continue making creative films which would greatly benefit the Denton creative scene.
BLINDSIDED (2016)
Written and Directed by Brian James Fozkos
Produced by Collin Britton
Cinematography by Veronika McAninch
Edited by Bradley Lien
Music composed by Collin Cartwright
Staring: Kevin Clark, Brennan Pierce, and Keeley Flynn
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED for some violence and gore.