Toronto Short Film Festival / en 老司机直播 writer's film to debut at opening of Toronto Short Film Festival /news/u-t-writer-s-film-debut-opening-toronto-short-film-festival <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">老司机直播 writer's film to debut at opening of Toronto Short Film Festival</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-03-09-Tysdal-daniel.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=jp0lXjO2 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-03-09-Tysdal-daniel.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=BjApWaDd 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-03-09-Tysdal-daniel.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=IXGWKTvG 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-03-09-Tysdal-daniel.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=jp0lXjO2" alt> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-03-09T15:32:46-05:00" title="Thursday, March 9, 2017 - 15:32" class="datetime">Thu, 03/09/2017 - 15:32</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">老司机直播 Scarborough's Daniel Scott Tysdal's short film will debut at the Toronto Short Film Festival on March 13 (photo by Ken Jones)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/don-campbell" hreflang="en">Don Campbell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Don Campbell</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/film" hreflang="en">Film</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/toronto-short-film-festival" hreflang="en">Toronto Short Film Festival</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">老司机直播 Scarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/english" hreflang="en">English</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Daniel Scott Tysdal</strong> always dreamed of one day going to film school, so when the opportunity presented itself during his recent sabbatical, he dove in head first.</p> <p>鈥淚t was one of the greatest experiences of my life,鈥 says Tysdal, an associate professor of English at 老司机直播 Scarborough.</p> <p>It was during a class assignment where he was creating&nbsp;a short film that he came up with the idea for <em>Film Frame</em>, which was recently selected to be one of the opening films of the Toronto Short Film Festival.</p> <p>He was inspired by John Barth鈥檚 short story <em>Frame Tale</em>,&nbsp;which asks readers to cut out the phrase, 鈥淥nce upon a time there was a story that began,鈥 and connect it to the back of the page containing the same phrase, creating a M枚bius strip. &nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淵ou read the strip and the story goes on endlessly in a loop with that phrase, 鈥極nce upon a time there was a story that began,鈥欌 says Tysdal, who is known&nbsp;for his poetry and short-fiction writing.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3740 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Film%20Frame%20Poster.jpg?itok=Nw_Bkuzd" style="width: 306px; height: 453px; margin: 10px; float: left;" typeof="foaf:Image">His decided&nbsp;to echo Barth in two ways.</p> <p>First, he would create an 鈥渆ndless鈥 film in which each opening scene introduces a new opening scene.</p> <p>Second, he would work, 鈥淥nce upon a time there was a movie that began鈥 into each of the scenes. The scenes would then be shot in the style of different directors and genres like Jean-Luc Godard and film noir, and contain notable scenes from famous movies.</p> <p>In one scene, Tysdal filmed someone watching the opening from <em>2001: A Space Odyssey</em> on a laptop, while in another he filmed someone watching the opening of <em>Apocalypse Now</em> on a cell phone while riding the TTC.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚 spent way too much time on this project because I was having such a blast doing it,鈥 laughs Tysdal.</p> <p>鈥淚 searched for the font used in the<em> Wizard of Oz</em>, then I went into Photoshop and used it to write, 鈥極nce upon a time there was a movie that began,鈥 and&nbsp;I pasted that into a scene from the movie. Then, I went to a small theatre and filmed the scene being played on a projector 鈥 it was just perfect for a nerd who gets way too invested in a project.鈥 &nbsp;</p> <p>It seems to have worked because Tysdal鈥檚 film was selected to be one of the opening films of the short film festival. It will be shown&nbsp;on Monday&nbsp;at the Carlton Cinema.</p> <p>He says being a student again during his sabbatical was a refreshing experience, especially seeing teaching techniques from the perspective of a student.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚 was self-conscious at first because it鈥檚 different from what I do, but those close to me were very supportive,鈥 says Tysdal, who is working on another short film in addition to writing a script.</p> <p>鈥淭here鈥檚 so much value in lifelong learning, I can鈥檛 recommend it enough. Getting out of your comfort zone to learn something new is important. You don鈥檛 know where it will take you.鈥&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 09 Mar 2017 20:32:46 +0000 ullahnor 105518 at