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Abbie Down East - A Small Film with Big Potential
Lauren Kotlen
16mm Film Production
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of viewing “Abbie Down East.” This twenty-six minute thesis film, written and directed by Columbia University MFA candidate Ellen Verhoeff, was one of the most wonderfully crafted student pieces I have ever seen-and I have seen quite a few. Verhoeff’s film left me enlightened, encouraged, and re-affirmed my belief that one does not need millions of dollars to produce something brilliant and touching.
I find in many student films, the filmmaker tries too hard to be edgy; to be risquй, to cross boundaries that haven’t been crossed, and while this is all well and good, novice filmmakers often make a lot of mistakes. Verhoeff takes an entirely different approach.
“Abbie Down East” is a historical piece, and is based on the true story of a young girl who saves her ailing mother and younger sisters during the great storm of 1856. It is superbly acted by Holiday Segal and an excellent supporting cast, but it is the writing, the cinematography, and the effects that make this film truly stunning.
Abbie, (Segal) is a fourteen-year-old girl, growing up with her mother and father and two young sisters in the middle of the 19th century. Abbie’s family runs the lighthouse in Maine, and Abbie's father leaves Abbie in charge when he must go to town to retrieve supplies. During her father’s absence, the storm hits, and Abbie is faced with the responsibility of caring for, feeding, and ultimately, with the survival of her mother and siblings.
Verhoeff does an impeccable job of capturing the darkness of this storm, the desperation of this young girl, Abbie, as she stands strong in the face of this natural disaster with all the odds stacked up against her. The scenes before and after the storm are sunny, light, and hopeful. The scenes that take place during the storm, in the home of Abbie’s family, however, as her mother lays ill and her sisters get hungrier and hungrier, are dark, dismal, and despairing.
Just the change in lighting creates tension, but Verhoeff does not stop there. She also uses sound to heighten the emotional bearing of this film. In the opening sequence, as Abbie sees her father off on his journey out to sea, the ocean is calm, birds are chirping, and waves are gently lapping at the shore. Abbie’s farewell to her father is light, airy, and comfortable. As the storm blows in, however, the conflict escalates-the rain pounds harder, the waves that were gently lapping before are now violently striking the shore and the water keeps rising. Particularly effective on Verhoeff’s part was the sound of the rain, which becomes steadily louder and more powerful until the climax of the film, at which point begins to die down and become calm once again.
Another impressive aspect of this film was the use of nature and the natural environment. The film was shot mostly on location on the Massachusetts shore. Many of the cutaways and establishing shots [next page]