The Initiation [Director's Commentary]

Well, as you can see, I'm standing in what is now an Overflow Parking lot. In 2005, when I first arrived on the Gettysburg College campus, I was immediately told to report there, but back then it was the Marching Band's Practice Field. I'm pretty sure the College paved over it sometime in '08.


In high school, I had been a prominent member of various Bands as well as the Drama Club, and I cherished the feeling of camaraderie and community I found in those clubs. So it was only natural for me to stick with it when I went to college... even I though I had absolutely NO desire to be a Music major or become a professional Clarinetist. Nope, not for me.


I KNOW, Carson Kressley graduated from Gettysburg! How random is that? Haha, the sad thing is, aside from politician Ron Paul, Carson Kressley (Class of 1991) is the biggest celebrity to come out (literally!) of Gettysburg College. During my freshman year, the college even sponsored a field trip to attend a private NYC party hosted by their beloved Queer Eye guy; President Haley Will, Jaimie Schock ('09), and Hanna Ackerman ('09) were the lucky Gettysburgians in attendance. Apparently, the President got drunk and made an ass of herself at the event... to the shock and awe of ABSOLUTELY NO ONE.


About two months ago, I went back to Gettysburg for the 2009 Gay And Lesbian Alumni reception, hosted by ALLiES. While I was there I had the pleasure of finally meeting someone who had interacted with Carson Kressley during his stint at Gettysburg. His former classmate told us that while Carson was here, he was a quiet transfer student who kept to himself, was not out of the closet, and was not an advocate for Gay Rights. Unlike other people, I wasn't shocked or disappointed... because I had already done my homework eight months prior.


Back in February, I was looking through the SPECTRUM (Yearbook) Archives and I noticed that Carson was not in the 1991 ALLiES club photo... but y'see, that ALLiES photo did not exist! It was a different time, a different political/social climate, and I don't blame him for not being comfortable enough to come out as an openly gay man in college. And for whatever reason, ALLiES was temporarily unavailable and/or insufficient as a support system. As I learned very quickly, in its 24-Year history, ALLiES has always been like a rising phoenix; every 4 or 5 years the group dies out completely only to be resurrected years later by a voracious group of freshmen. In 2005, we were those freshmen.


The summer after high school I often daydreamed about how wonderful college would be, and how I could finally start over with a clean slate, and be 100% honest with my classmates from the very beginning. Undoubtedly, it was a rude awakening when I arrived in Gettysburg only to feel like the ONE gay person on the entire campus. My hometown of Pasadena is a moderately conservative area and yet I had AT LEAST six gay/bi friends in high school. I never imagined that a college campus with students from around the globe would have LESS. It made absolutely no sense to me, so Thank God I met Jai in my creative writing class. Had she not come up to me after hearing my story, The Object of Obsession, I wouldn't have known an on-campus gay community even existed. Back then, it was very underground... literally.

The Initiation [Movie Transcript]

Hi, my name is James. I'm a Senior at Gettysburg College, and this is where our story begins--well, granted four years ago this wasn't a parking lot... but nevertheless, here we go.

I came to Gettysburg College from Pasadena, Maryland. The first thing I did when I got here was join the Marching Band; I had been playing for eight years. However, I was dismayed when I arrived to find that the last gay person to step foot here was Carson Kressley, of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame.

Dismayed by the lack of a Gay & Lesbian community here, I threw myself into my writing. After listening to one of my gayer stories, a friend named Jaimie Schock invited me to a meeting later that night. She told me to meet her in the Chapel and I had no idea why. I arrived and she led me down into the basement. And I had no idea where the hell we were going...

(Playing ♫ Over At The Frankstein Place ♫ by Alkaline Trio)
There's a light,
In the darkness of
Every bright life.

The GLiTTER Overture [Director's Commentary]

Hey, Everyone! It's James, the director of There Will Be GLiTTER, and I'd like to offer some Behind the Scenes Commentary on the finished product.

I had such a fun time designing the opening credits sequence! I remember, at the big premiere in Joseph Theater, the room was pulsing with electric anticipation: I'm very proud of the steady, stylistic climb throughout the Overture.

Surprisingly, the idea of placing a Rating card at the very beginning was a last-minute decision. I figured, I wanted to warn/prepare the audience in some way; I didn't want anyone to enter the movie cold. This is why each public screening was preceded by a short oral presentation. I'm a big fan of avant garde artwork, so I used a common strategy known as "defamiliarization," by taking conventional images and subverting them. Thus, the completely fabricated F Rating.


Still on the reflexivity kick, the camera countdown draws more attention to the medium. I wanted people to know that this is obviously a movie, which in hindsight, may not have been the best decision because it separates the viewer from the action. Mainly, the purpose of using that stock footage was purely stylistic. From concept to execution, my mission was to prove that documentaries could be just as stylish as narrative-driven features. I guess I'd describe my style as "neo-glam," a term borrowed from the Glam Rock Movement.

Ironically, the opening battlefield shots were actually the second-to-last shots of the entire shoot. They were definitely the easiest ones since they didn't require busy actors. The biggest obstacle was simply trying to not get arrested by the Gettysburg National Park police; after all, I was shooting various monuments without their permission. Whateva', I do what I WANT!


One special effect in particular, the color isolation, commonly referred to as "The Pleasantville Effect," was fun to create even though it was TE-DI-OUS. I added to effect to my arsenal after seeing a tutorial video at FinalCutKing.com. Overall, I am very pleased with the results. Fun Fact: That tracking shot from outside Albaugh House (then known as the ALLiES Theme House) really was my bedroom window.

Perhaps the most ironic thing about this opening sequence is that I CAN'T STAND that Christina Aguilera song--y'know, the one that says you're beautiful even though you're ugly and gay. >.< But even though I hate the original song, it's undeniable that "Beautiful" has become an anthem for the GLBTQ community. Personally, I've always been bitter about the song's success because the song itself was not aimed specifically at the GLBT community; the music video, on the other hand, prominently features a young gay couple. While browsing @ the iTunes Store, I fell in love with the 2009 "Beautiful" remix, retitled "You Are What You Are." I chose this song as the GLiTTER theme because Aguilera re-recorded the song, this time fully aware of the song/video's impact and importance to the GLBT community.


In terms of wardrobe, I was very particular about my outfit. After waiting two months for my sleeveless hoodie to arrive from 10Percent (aka Fabulous Gay HQ), I finally caved in, canceled the order, went to AMAZON and lo and behold, it arrived less than a week later. It was a perfect fit, and I love using the Pleasantville Effect to isolate the hoodie's bright teal trim.

It all ends with an homage to The Wizard Of Oz: the world around me becomes saturated with color as I jog past the Gettysburg College sign. It's definitely my favorite transition in the entire movie, but once again, it was a complex special effect. It may look simple, but that sequence is actually five cropped copies of the jogging sequence layered on top of each other, playing simultaneously. More than two hours were spent in the editing room trying to work out all the kinks in that 5-second segment.

The GLiTTER Overture [Movie Transcript]

This motion picture is Rated F.
[Playing ♫ You Are What You Are (Beautiful) ♫ by Christina Aguilera]
Every day is so wonderful
And suddenly, it's hard to breathe.
Now and then, I get insecure
From all the pain, I'm so ashamed

You are what are
You are beautiful (You are, You are)
No matter what they say (You are what you are)
You are beautiful (You are, You are)
No matter what they say
No matter what they say, No matter what they do

Everywhere we go
The sun will always shine
And tomorrow we'll wake on the other side

THERE WILL BE GLiTTER

A Glimpse of Queer Life @ Gettysburg College

MAINSTREAM EXPOSURE: It's A Double-Edged Sword (Brett) [DELETED SCENE]

James: What is your opinion of the Showtime shows like Queer as Folk and The L Word? Do you think they are more honest portrayals because they show the ugly side of gay life?

Brett: The Showtime shows are good at dealing with things that are messy. I believe that life is messy at the end of the day, no matter who you are. To me, that's a good thing. But the flipside is, once you put it out in the public sphere--it being anything that's not clean and perky and FRIENDS--then there's this real problem that people start to use those characters as ways to stereotype you. So The L Word just becomes, "Oh! All lesbians do is screw each other... and like, make charts." And so, it's a double-edged sword.

It's interesting to me because I've seen both really good gay & lesbian films that handle those problems well and try to undercut them. The Broken Hearts Club, which is one of my favorite gay films, plays with the stereotypes and is well aware of the limitations and how it can become a type of entrapment. But you have to put it out there, right? Heterosexual, white upper middle class people have the privilege of not feeling like anything that's slight off-kilter is somehow problematic about their identity. And so it's gotta get out there and it has to keep getting out there, so that people just go, "Oh! People have problems." So then it brings on the hope that maybe we'll be humanitarians someday...(laughter) ...rather than trying to treat everyone as discreet categories of why you're disenfranchised.

James: Lastly, I'd like to ask your opinion of the LOGO network.

Brett: I don't get cable. Rather, I don't get LOGO because I have the most basic poor academics package. Yes, so it's actually disgraceful that I have this class on queer media and I have not yet done the time with LOGO. And for that, I deserve to be eternally damned. But I'm glad it's there. Sometimes I get a little worried that it could turn out like the LifeTime network, which had a good potential message (to empower women) but then it has gotten to the point where practically every female character on LifeTime is a victim of rape from her husband.

But I haven't seen the programming on LOGO. I don't actually know, I guess that's my project for Summer 2009. I've gotta get cable that is sufficiently sophisticated, i.e. not in South Central Pennsylvania. Does Gettysburg get LOGO?

James: No.

Brett: Of course not. Yeah, so right now I just get the hetero-normative channels. (laughter)

THE FEMINIZATION OF MEN IN JAPANESE ANIME/MANGA: Jet's A Big, Burly Man Type of Man! (Anime Panel) [DELETED SCENE]

Adaeze: So I picked up a manga (Japanese comic book) and I was just looking through thinking, "Wait. There's sex."

DeLue: And it's being sold in a convenience store! (laughter)

Adaeze: And there are random things happening, so I'm in the middle of the convenience store reading, then my 12-year-old host brother came over, so I was like, "Shit! (puts the magazine away) Hi, how are you?"

DeLue: In regards to the feminization of men, for the most part, that's only in hentai ("straight and gay porn") and yaoi ("boy sex"). In regular anime, you have a representation of men as very masculine, and also a representation of men who are far more feminine. And that's just representing the diversity of people. But y'know, you have people like Jet, who's like this big burly man kind of man... and then you have people like Spike, who are very much not big burly man kind of men. You know what I mean? But when you get into yaoi and hentai, you get much less of the big burly man type of man and more of the much not burly man type of man. Sorry for my... BIG BURLY MAN TYPE OF MAN!

Adaeze: DeLue's going crazy.

Lyndsey: So, DeLue, what type of man are you?

DeLue: I'm a BIG BURLY MAN TYPE OF MAN! (laughter) NOT A NOT BIG BURLY MAN TYPE OF MAN!

Adaeze: You wanna say it one more time?

Megan: I saw you. You were thinking about it.

Adaeze: We should just take a picture of you. (gesture)

DeLue: When you bring this up, you've gotta be like, this person's into hentai, this person's into anime, and this person's into BIG BURLY TYPE OF MAN! (flails) HE'S A MAN TYPE OF MAN BURLY TYPE OF BIRD BIG BIRD--

Megan: Just stop.

Adaeze: Yeah. (laughter)

Lyndsey: You almost said "bird."

DeLue: BIG BIRDY MAN TYPE OF MAN!

Adaeze: REALLY??!

I DON'T DO PHYSICAL INTIMACY: I Seriously Plan To Become A Nun (Miranda) [DELETED SCENE]

I fully support marriage equality, but I don't plan on getting married. I don't really... I don't know. I'm not really into relationships because I have a weird attitude, meaning I'm not a very physical person, so I don't think I'd be able to handle that sort of relationship requirement, I guess.

I love children, but I don't plan on having any of my own, so I'll probably end up teaching... Actually, to be honest, I want to become a nun, which may seem odd but that's something I've wanted to do for years. Yeah... so... Marriage and children are not for me.

NO, WE CAN'T STAY FRIENDS: All My Romantic Relationships Have Ended Badly (Jaimie) [DELETED SCENE]

James: So, typically, what's the usual Cause of Death of your relationships?"

Jaimie: Generally, the usual cause of death is the other person in the relationship. For instance, in one of my major relationships, the other person cheated on me. I ended it there. Usually, I'm the one who ends the relationship because of something the other person did or the way someone was acting. Then again, I haven't had enough relationships to really create a trend. Mostly, it's the other person.

James: Do you typically stay friends with your ex-girlfriends?

Jaimie: NO. Because like I've said, I've had very few relationships, but generally, they've ended badly. I like being in a relationship, I think I'm good at being in a relationship, which means either the other person has to mess up or I have to mess up--but I've been good so far. The few relationship's I've had ended poorly because something bad happened.

ON MY GAYDAR: Not Everyone's OUT Of The Closet (Bill) [DELETED SCENE]

So one really difficult thing about dating in the gay world is dealing with closeted people. Gay people have GAYdar: We know when someone's gay, we're not stupid, we can figure this out pretty quickly.

I had a friend, and I knew he was gay. We hung out a lot and became really good friends and I became really attracted, but he was still trying to hold onto the fact that he was straight. He still is today.

I mean, maybe he is gay, maybe he is not, but it plays with gay people's minds a little bit when they have straight friends who they're attracted to because they can't have them. Although they've made this great emotional connection with them and feel like he/she's possibly their soulmate, they don't even have a shot! And it's really difficult because you can totally fall in love with someone and they're not even the right sexual orientation for you to be together.

So I think that's a challenge for a lot of gay people and it definitely has been a challenge for me at least twice.

THE POINT OF NO RETURN: There's No Reclaiming The F Word (Claire) [DELETED SCENE]

FAG. OK, so I got you, didn't I? I think the role of the F word in our current society is kind of irreparable. Language is something that continues to evolve constantly; it's not something that tends to move backwards.

I think that nowadays the negative connotations that the anti-GLBT communities have created for that word have made it something that we will never truly be able to take back.

It's a lot like the N word. It's considered rude to use that word in pretty much any context and I think that the F Word is viewed the same way by the GLBT community. And I also fear that the word "gay" is moving in that direction. I hate it when people use "gay" as a synonym for "stupid." I know that a lot of people share that sentiment, but then there a lot of other people--even more--who defend its usage by saying, "It's not a big deal" or "Shut up, you're just being oversensitive." And that's really all it takes to move it in that direction.

And that's what happened with a word that started out meaning a bundle of sticks and got to where it is today.


EXTRAS: Click HERE to Join the Facebook Group, The Word "Gay" Is Not A Synonym For "Stupid."