Short Film Showcase: Adam Pyburn's “Thread”

A co-worker of mine at the Colony Theater in Raleigh, Adam Pyburn, who is also a talented freelance video editor, recently finished a short film called “Thread.” Pyburn posted the film on YouTube and described it on his Facebook profile as concerning “the last time I threaded a 35mm projector before the theater switched to digital projection.”

I was so touched by the nearly 5 minute short, of which Colony General Manager Denver Hill said was “part nostalgia, part how-to” (from the theater's Facebook page), that I wanted to share it with my readers. So here it is:

I asked Adam a few questions about his film:



Film Babble Blog: “Can you tell me how “Thread” came together; what inspired it?”


Adam Pyburn: “It was filmed July 12th 2013, right before the 9 o’clock showing of BEFORE MIDNIGHT that Friday night. It wasn’t the last time that projector was used before (or after) renovations, just the last time that I used it before the digital transition - and in all likelihood the last time I’ll thread a 35mm projector.

I had just gotten my first DSLR two month prior and had been meaning to put the projection threading process on video. I knew the end was near for 35mm, and it wasn't clear that we would keep even one film projector. So once we got the final dates on the digital renovations I picked a shift and brought my camera.

I just used available light, which is kinda harsh up there, but in black & white the contrast worked well, and created more of the bittersweet, timeless look I was aiming for. Though, admittedly I didn't plan the shoot as well as I would if I did it over again. All the set up, shots, and retakes took a little over an hour to film, and I spent about two days this week editing, tweaking the graphics, and adding music.”

FBB: Was the music you composed written for the film or was it something you had before?”


AP: “The chords had been in my head for the last few months, but I hadn’t found a context for them until this project. The credit music was just ad-libbed based on the main music. It was bittersweet to film and edit this video, but in the end I think the pieces came together just about the way I wanted them to.”



More later...