Scottsdale, AZ
Multimedia Production Company
His Name is Bellefontaine is a Marine barrack’s tale that takes place on Christmas. While the rest of civilian population is with their families, three disgruntled Marines stand Barracks duty. Each Marine sits and different spit in their Career. Starting with Lance Corporal Charles Bellefontaine, who is dealing with a lot of outside influences. He is considered a “Shitbag” by most Marines in the company. He tries but has been proven to do most thing wrong. Corporal Roundtree the once decorated Sergeant turned Corporal after he was made an example of by his chain of command after he got a DUI. He is just counting down the days. The we have Gunnery Sergeant Hughes who is hardened by 16 years of the Marine corp. A combat veteran, this man is a hardened stone cold leader. Not the sort of man you tell your feelings to but definitely the man you want in your corner if
you are going to war. They stand duty together and untimility experience a tragedy when Bellefontaine decides to take
his own life. They cope with it by dealing with the situation in their own different perspectives.
Synopsis
Directed by Erik Ausmus
Produced By Aaron Zier
Cast
Directors Bio
Erik Robert Ausmus is an American filmmaker making his directorial debut with his short film, His Name is Bellefontaine. Erik left the United States Marine Corp in 2019 and is a BFA filmmaking graduate from the New York Film Academy.
Crew
Director Erik Ausmus
Producer Aaron Zier
1st AD Kayla Aalia Binti Ahad
2 AC Angie Utomo
Grip/B-Cam Dhananjay Saraswat
PD Sarthak Hedge
Covid Officer Karina Gomez
Director/DP Erik Aumus
Sound Daniela Reyes
Gaffer Jano Fernandez
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What made you want to tackle this heavy subject matter?Serving in the U.S. Marine Corp, I realized it was a secret war happening in the background. To be honest at first I didn't know how to approach the subject matter. My best approach was to make was to taking different characters at different parts of their military careers and make them right in their own views. Ultimately I just want to bring attention to the suicide problem in the armed forces.
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What did you learn about directing films?It's good to be hard on yourself. Don't think your a genius. Make mistakes and fix them. Ultimately make the film YOU want to make. It’s your vision. I enjoy every step of the process.
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How was it like working with your actors?Every actor brought character into their roles. As I was working with them I made many changes to the script to implement my individual actors personalities. For example for Bellefontaine, I had really no lines for him. He was really just a background character. But when I casted Jensen, I realized if I didn't implement his talent, I was really doing Bellefontaine a disservice. So I changed my original story around and it changed the whole dynamic of the film for the better. Including Jacob for Hughes, he brought a human element for the Gunnery Sergeant. He knocked his performance right out of the park. Taylor for Roundtree, he really made the character his own. Working with Taylor on other sets I ultimately realized I wrote this role for him.
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Was it hard teaching Army Veterans to act like Marines?If you served in any branch of the U.S. military, you know how mad it can suck. Them just being veterans and understanding that world really reflects their professionalism. Including Jensen, who has never served but he was able to encompass the character of Bellefontaine regardless. As a veteran myself, we like to clown on other branches but ultimately we are the same team. By the end of reading and rehearsal my actors were walking, talking like Marines.
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What was your budget for the film?Overall paid around $3,800. It was a small scale project. I reference it as barracks tale. During the production our method was doing more with less. I didn't have the money to shoot my thesis in all reality. What got me by was my credit card and splitting payments into a three month span. We used what we had. No fancy equipment really because I couldn't afford to insure my schools equipment. I used my producers Blackmagic Pocket 4k. Love that camera.
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How was also being the films DP?I’ve DP on other projects. Wasn't expecting to DP my thesis it just sort of happened. I obviously approached it as professional as I could. Translating the vision from my head to paper was one thing, but now getting it from the paper and now being in charge of the visual aspect was awesome to say the least. I did overheads, location scouting, that's where I blocked the film. Did that process hundred of times. So by the time I got on set I always knew where I wanted to put the camera. The story was motivating it’s movement and I was always open to adjust the placement of the camera on set if I felt it helped the story. Overall loved doing it. I made mistakes obviously but I recognized them and won't do them again.
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What is your overall objective on what you want your film to do?It’s very simple really, I want to bring attention to suicide in the armed forces. If it creates a dialogue and educates the public, then it does its job. Not everyone's going to agree with the message and how it’s told but I feel the perspectives on the film all have truth to them in their own way. I don't control what the film's about anymore once it gets out there. It’s not even my film anymore, it's the audiences’.
