The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Director brings film projects home
City native works on comedy, documentary
Lorain will serve as the backdrop for two film projects of a city native who now works in movies and television.
Lorain will serve as the backdrop for two film projects of a city native who now works in movies and television.
Director John Baumgartner said he usually returns to Lorain, his hometown, for summer vacations. This year, he brought homework: “The Conners,” a web-based comedy series, and a documentary about the reconstruction of First Evangelical Lutheran Church, which burned in 2014.
Baumgartner, 45, sparked an impromptu neighborhood reunion July 26 and 27 while filming “The Conners” at his family home on South Lakeview Boulevard. The fourpart series should go online this fall.
“Primarily, it’s being made because I’ve got some directing opportunities in network television in the fall,” he said. “This is a sample.”
Some of the crew came from California, but Baumgartner also recruited Ohio talent for the series filming.
The roles of Tad and Jessica, a bickering younger brother and older sister, were played by actors Matthew Taylor, 14, of Jackson Township near Canton, and Erin Moran, 23, an Amherst native now living in Westlake. Elyria filmmaker Troy Dill also was serving as first assistant director.
Taylor and Moran said they met Baumgartner two years ago in a class he taught. Baumgartner invited them to work with him in Lorain.
“And we both had a lot of fun in the class,” said Moran, who studied theater and communications at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind. Their response to the invitation was “yeah, sure,” she said.
On July 27, Baumgartner’s family home served as the setting, but not without some exterior work.
The group included at least 13 crew members with cameras, a microphone on a boom and sound monitor set up on stools in the driveway. The day was hot and sunny, so a translucent cloth was set overhead off the front porch to soften the light.
Baumgartner watched the action live and on a monitor under a canopy set up on the treelawn, and he used a small bullhorn to communicate to everyone at once.
Julie Taylor, mother of Matthew Taylor, also was there guarding a cooler of water bottles and table with bananas, nuts and cookies for the cast and crew.
The process went smoothly, although there were frequent interruptions for ambient noise, including airplanes overhead and a neighbor using a power saw.
“Pause. Troy, can I ask you to go turn off the window unit?” Baumgartner said when an air conditioner turned on.
“One more time,” he told the group.
There also were lulls in filming for Baumgartner to greet neighbors driving or walking by.
“People have been coming up to me and saying, I remember John from when he was this big,” said Ellen Pill, motioning down with her hand to indicate a toddler’s height.
“It’s just cool because they’re all people he knows and it’s his neighborhood.”
— Ellen Pill
On July 26, Pill acted as “The Cat Lady” in the show and on July 27, she worked as script supervisor.
“It’s just cool because they’re all people he knows and it’s his neighborhood,” Pill said.
From July 29-31, Baumgartner also will perform in “Into the Woods,” presented by Lorain Community Music Theater at the Hoke Theatre of the Stocker Arts Center of Lorain County Community College. He also blogs about movies at shot4shot.wordpress.com.