Two film professors are making a creepy online web-series based around a unique computer that affects people’s lives in different ways.
Mark von Schlemmer and Michael Graves, associate professors of communication and digital media, created a special topics class incorporating other departments to create a real-world lm experience producing a science fiction anthology series called “The Computer Lab.”

“Basically, this computer is in this basement lab that seems somewhat forgotten and (the) computer starts interfering in people’s lives,” von Schlemmer said. “All we’re willing to tell you is that it’s not like any other computer you’ve interacted with.”
“The Computer Lab” is being produced by von Schlemmer and Graves with the digital media production, theater and mu- sic technology departments to produce different aspects of the show. Each student in the class had to apply for their positions and were selected for a specifc role.
“It’s a lot of work,” von Schlemmer said. “I think it’s going to end up being a lot of work for me and for the students than a normal class because it’s kind of real life.”
Chris Moore, senior producer of “The Computer Lab” and a graduate student in communication, said this project is a good opportunity for the university.
“One of the cool things about it is that it kind of shows that a university can be a lm studio,” he said. “I think the exciting thing personally is what this could lead to eventually.”
Von Schlemmer said the first shoot of the initial episode, “Escape Velocity,” had to be shot a week early due to an unexpected turn of events for actress Nellie Maple. “We were kind of rushed because our actress, who we recruited because she’s an award-winning actress and alumna from UCM, was pregnant. We needed a pregnant character,” von Schlemmer said. “Then we found out that her due date was this week so we had to rush into that rst scene but it went well.”

They are shooting more of the first episode next week.
“Students have really stepped up and I know (they) are working their butts off… everyone seems to be buying into the chal- lenge of it and doing their best to make it come together,” von Schlemmer said.
Moore said a former adjunct office on the first floor of the Martin Building is the main set, but they also shoot scenes in other locations around Warrensburg.

“What’s great about that is students…not only get experience with the equipment, they get to test it out in live situations and environments that they’re not familiar with,” Moore said. “It’s creating experience while keeping you on your toes.” The crew had to design and build the set for the main computer lab. Instead of painting any real walls, Moore built flats that the crew painted to give them the older, abandoned look they wanted for the show.
Moore said McKenzie Mick, set designer for “The Computer Lab” and a theater major, helped design the set. He said Mick mapped out the supplies needed and gave insight on textures for the walls. Then Moore got the wood, supplies and built the walls at his home, and brought them to the crew to work on together.

“We decided we were going to use flats that we could move around so we could have more freedom on the set,” Moore said. “Then the crew got together and tag- teamed painting and the set started to come to life.”
Donavan McGoldrick, producer of “The Computer Lab” and senior digital media production major, said the first episode is about addiction and a computer that interferes with the main character’s life.
“It’s an interesting interplay between him (the character) and the other characters and his relationship with the computer and with his addictions and inner demons,” McGoldrick said.
McGoldrick said he joined “The Computer Lab” to collaborate with other students and his professors.

“I wanted an opportunity to work with my fellow students on a more long-term project on something that would end up being higher quality and higher caliber and (to be) able to work with some professors, maybe get some mentoring opportunities,” McGoldrick said.
He said the students on this project are all talented and willing to work hard for the episodes.
“We have a really great group for this project. We have a lot of great people with excellent problem-solving skills,” McGoldrick said. “We’ll throw out a problem that we have and in at least five minutes we’ll have it solved or at least a track to getting solved.”
McGoldrick said the crew hopes they will get a good audience for the show when it releases.
“There’s always challenges that you can never really prepare for but I think that if we get the word out and things go as planned, then we should have a pretty successful show on our hands,” he said.
Von Schlemmer said they will most likely be releasing the episodes on a YouTube channel, possibly along with other plat- forms such as Central TV.
Von Schlemmer said he hopes this type of project can be done on a regular basis.
“We’re hoping we can continue this and use this as a way of helping recognize the department and get more resources and things we need to help with in the digital cinema aspect,” von Schlemmer said.
They are shooting two episodes this semester: “Escape Velocity” and “Night Blindness,” both written by Graves, and they are releasing all the episodes next spring with a total of four in the series.
He said they also have a behind-the-scenes documentary crew producing short videos during the production process to post on social media. The behind-the- scenes crew are digital media production majors Rachel Edington and Cody Clemmons. They are in the process of planning those videos and creating the social media accounts to build anticipation and aware- ness for the show. Von Schlemmer said they want the behind-the-scenes videos to be similar to a web series.

“That’s going to be a fun aspect,” he said.
Von Schlemmer said the behind-the-scenes crew will also be creating a full-length documentary at the end of the semester.
“The behind-the-scenes things are going to be short little bits kind of teasing (the show) and hopefully start to build our audience,” he said.
Moore said the project is good for the students involved since it’s interdepartmental. He said they get a chance to meet other students in other majors and to creatively work with them to achieve one common goal of producing the episodes.
“Its great training for being on an actual set or approaching a business like this because you got to deal with problems together,” Moore said. “You got to face all the challenges together and overcome them together and then in the end you’ve got something to be proud of.”

Graves and von Schlemmer are planning to create another special topics class next semester to produce episodes three and four.

For more information, email von Schlemmer at [email protected] or Graves at [email protected].