Division III: Harbored Gardens

A Few Words On Harbored Gardens*

Harbored Gardens was my senior thesis film at Hampshire College. My goal in creating this film was to create a piece that demonstrated the progression of camera technologies from celluloid to digital. I wanted to focus more on the nature of the image rather than the content. I wanted to constantly remind the audience of the film’s craft, to put it at the forefront of the viewers mind while they watch. I was taking inspiration from works such as Peter Strickland’s 2012 film Berberian Soundstudio and the short films of Nobuhiku Obayashi, as well as his 1977 film Hausu. When considering the super confined space of the apartment where we shot Harbored Gardens, I studied film’s such as Vincenzo Natali’s Cube (1997), various episodes of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, as well as some of the works of Jörg Buttgereit. While I didn’t want the narrative of Harbored Gardens to become obscured, this unfortunately became the case due to many troubles surrounding the film’s production such as regularly postponed shoots which were the result of that winter’s blizzard. As well as, the disappearance (and later re-casting) of the film’s lead, Darrel Everett- a man whose whereabouts and well-being I’m still unaware of to this day. On top of all this I’d never written a script before, a skill that wasn’t really taught at Hampshire College during my time there. All-in-all I was very out of my depths. Even though I didn't accomplish quite what I'd set out to do, I'm satisfied with the collage-like element of the finished piece. In the end I consider this more of a good sketch of a film rather than a complete piece.

-DC Poropat

*Written for film’s screening at the NOM Fest 2019

The film stars Pioneer Valley locals rather than college students. The cast is as follows:

Frank- Darell Everett & Richard Ballon
Ray- Gershon Eigner
Landlord- Tom Smith 
Nurse- Cooper Handy

See full credits here