ELEPHAN ROOM PRODUCT The Next Generation of Filmmaking Written by Zachary Cleek and Sophie Gravitt Photos Courtesy of Adrienne Marlin In fall of 2018, a group of students at California Baptist University were tasked with creating a short film. Although each of them had opposing ideas for the project, they endeavored to overcome their differences for the greater purpose of memorable creativity. Eventually they successfully produced the short film “Jet Pack Girl.” This group of creative individuals soon realized they were better together. This was the beginning of Elephant Room Productions. The members of Elephant Room Productions are Jonathan Cadenhead, Nathan Rierson, Michael Duggan and Allen Fletcher. Years after their first film, in 2020, they all graduated with a bachelor’s degree in film from CBU and continued their pursuit of film making. Since their first film, they have created short films such as “In A Nutshell”
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and “Breakfast at Midnight.” “We actually didn’t start out as friends. People usually assume that we were these four buddies that were like let’s make a movie. We were four people who knew each other and our friendship really grew from that” says Duggan. Fletcher describes what it was like creating “Breakfast at Midnight.” “…we wanted to make something that was a segment of here is a real situation. It’s not absurd, it is just a section of life, and it’s simple and not narrative-based. We are just watching,” says Fletcher. He goes on to describe that the film was centered upon the creation of the characters, Ryan and Riley. “We built the context around their relationship, their world, who they were. We built the whole world around them,” says Fletcher. ➤
