To commemorate my start as a filmmaker 15 years ago, I am sharing a retrospective series of write-ups dedicated to my past short film work that includes brief commentary for each short film as well as a few "fun facts" about their creation.
5/16. Meat on a Grill (2006)
A man prepares a grilled dinner. Starring Alonso J. Rhenals.
Made while I was staying at my brother's home in Tampa, FL during the summer after my first year at UCF. Despite my excited anticipation of the upcoming fall semester when I would officially begin UCF's film program, I was still desperate to make something - anything - during my break from school.
What prompted the idea for this short film about heat, meat and steel was the large, stainless-steel grill featured in the film that my brother won through a workplace contest while I was staying with him. It was too grand to ignore and I swiftly spun a simple story around it resulting in one of my faster turnarounds for a short film.
Fun Facts:
• The supermarket signage in the opening shot is fake. Yeomans was a fictional supermarket chain I created that would have featured prominently in a subsequent short film. Unfortunately, that film was never completed.
• During the shooting of the opening scene at a supermarket, I was stopped by the store manager and had to suavely sell what I was doing in order to persuade him to allow me to continue shooting. Luckily, the manager allowed me to continue and even permitted my use of a check-out station conveyor belt for a shot I wanted.
• The shot of the grill's flames rising high into the air was accomplished using a liberal amount of lighter fluid. Getting that shot was nothing short of ecstasy!
• The making of this short film is recounted in a speech I delivered at a Toastmasters at FIU Business meeting in 2014. You can find that speech here: