Local family gets time on the silver screen

Local family gets time on the silver screen
By Paul Wellersdick Staff Writer
Article Launched: 09/25/2007 01:00:00 AM PDT

A Paradise family and friends wrote, produced and acted in a new independent film that played at the Pageant Theatre in Chico Friday and Saturday. Paradise resident Karin Burns produced the film "Calm at the Edge of the Sea," she said.

"It's fun, exhausting and rewarding," she said. "It's like raising a family, a movie family who now all have a special bond."

Her son Camerin Burns co-wrote the script with Brian Zarin. All of Karin's four children were involved in the film in one way or another, she said. Her son Kyle was the cinematographer, while Kelly did the behind the scenes works and Shea played a small role, she said.

Camerin and Casey Barclay, a co-producer for the film both graduated from Paradise High School in 1999 and have gone on to careers in film in Los Angeles. Kyle graduated from PHS in 2003 and Kelly in 2002. Shea, 14, is still in school in Paradise. All her boys were home schooled up until high school and may have started their film careers doing small plays at home, but Camerin took the most interest, she said.

"He may have kind of dragged them along," she said.

The film is about a young man named Travis who left LA for a better life in Mendocino. While there, Travis lives with his uncle Pete, a retired fisherman, and works on ranch were he meets Billy. Travis and Billy's girlfriend spark an attraction that leads to a twist in the end. The next step is entering the film in independent film festivals, like the Sundance Festival and the
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Mendocino Film Festival, Karin said. The film may also return to the Pageant in December.

Having so much support from the community helped with the low budget film, Karin said. Twenty five people from Paradise and Chico were involved in some aspect. Some quit their jobs or took a month off in the summer of 2005 to shoot the film at the Burns' family ranch in Mendocino. "Although they weren't paid they were fed," Karin said.

During the filming process, everyone got along well, she said.

"They pretty much worked all day," she said. "Sometimes they didn't start shooting until midnight, and would be up until four in the morning. You'd think they'd loose their temper, but they didn't."

Camerin, now a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, said they got along well because shooting the film happened fast, shooting six days a week for three and a half weeks.

"We didn't have time to not get along," he said.

Camerin's brother Kyle was his only choice for the cinematography, he said.

"For any project I shoot, I want him," he said.

Camerin had some experience making films, but this was a learning process for everyone, he said.

"A lot of people had no experience and I had some, but never directing 20 people that didn't know what they were doing," he said.

His younger brother Shea was 12-years-old when they shot the film, he said.

"He did as much as a 12-year-old could," he said. "He got kicked around a little."

Camerin said working with his mom was great because she organized the Northern California part of the film, Camerin said.

"She was like our ambassador," he said.

Although the film is not for rent or for sale yet, he is working on selling the film between his normal job making music videos and acting in commercials, he said.

"It's the largest production I've done," he said. "Thirty-five months. Now we're trying to get rid of it. That'd be a major burden off my shoulders."

Although the project has been rough, he said after two-and-a-half years he's watched it countless times without getting bored of it.

"I can watch it day to day and not cringe," he said. "By the end of most projects I hate it but not with this one."