Nick Johnston has come a long way from his days of making stop-animation films with Legos on his flip camera. The 17-year-old aspiring filmmaker graduated from Petaluma High School in June and is busy wrapping up scenes for second movie “A Light in the Dark,” a psychological romance set to premiere at the Phoenix Theater on Aug. 16.
“My main passion has always been film,” said Johnston. “Drama teacher Jonathan Knox’ class really brought it out in me during my sophomore year in his class. I did my first film and after he saw it, he pulled me aside and told me I had a lot of potential. He helped me along the next three years and really showed me that I could actually do something with this passion for film.”
All through high school, Johnston took every opportunity to practice his art. From filming short stories and action sequences to documentaries, he said he enjoys getting to explore different genres. While a sophomore, he recruited some local actors and drama class students to help him shoot his first motion picture, a zombie western called “Raising West.”
“It was inspired by ‘Django Unchained’ by Quentin Tarantino,” said Johnston. “I was really into that when it came out and it’s my favorite movie of all time. I just thought zombies were interesting and I wanted to make a film where they were prominent, but not the main thing.”
Over the course of a year, Johnston filmed “Raising West” at different locations in Petaluma, and at Georgetown Ranch in Sebastopol. The 30-minute film premiered at the Phoenix Theater in August 2014, thanks to his connections with theater manager Tom Gaffey.
“I’ve always been hanging around the Phoenix since I was a freshman,” said Johnston. “Tom is a great guy. When I told him I wanted to show my film there, he said, ‘let’s make it happen.’ He was so open to it.”
The response to his zombie western was so positive, that Johnston put the film out on DVD. It’s also been receiving airplay on PCA, and can be viewed online through the “Raising West” website on Facebook.
Encouraged by the success of his first film, Johnston went right to work on the script for his latest piece, “Light in the Dark,” a psychological romance starring fellow Petaluma High graduates Jack Sesto, Morgan Intoschi and Ellis Scherer. For the project, Johnston was able to borrow camera equipment and tripods from Petaluma Community Access.
“I volunteered at PCA to get experience, and they hired me to work there for a few years,” said Johnston. “I started out shooting school board meetings, council meetings, parades and graduations. I got to meet a lot of different people in the community. One guy I met was Mike Herrera. We worked on a documentary together on the mural Ricky Watts painted on the Phoenix Theater. He really was a mentor to me.”
Johnston pays for film costs out of his own pocket, and said his parents, Geri and Rick Johnston, have also been very supportive of his projects.
“A Light in the Dark” is about a high school student named John, who is “just an average kid” until an unusual experience begins his descent into madness.
“He goes out to this diner one night and meets a waitress named Sarah,” said Johnston, who filmed the diner scenes at Roy’s Chicago Doggery. “They have this intimate, deep conversation together. He doesn’t talk to people that much normally because he’s not that interesting and doesn’t have interesting things to talk about. His conversation with her is exciting and he loves talking to her. He goes back to the diner the next day to see her again, talks to her, but then wakes up. He finds out she’s not real. She’s just a figment of his imagination.”
Instead of just accepting that his waitress was just a dream, John keeps wanting to go back to the dream to meet with her. As his imaginary relationship with Sarah gets deeper and stronger, his real life goes downhill.
“It’s a little darker than most romances,” said Johnston. “The idea for the film came to me in a dream about a waitress in a diner. It wasn’t exactly like the film, of course. But that feeling you have when you have a good dream and have that sinking feeling when you wake up and realize it’s not real, that’s what this character is feeling. That feeling stays with him. He has the option of just moving on or staying in the dream, but he chooses to stay in it.”
Johnston said the 20-minute film is nearly complete, just in time for the Aug. 16 premiere and before he heads off to New Mexico to start his freshman year at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
“I love what I do,” he said. “Film is my passion.”
“A Light in the Dark” premieres at 2 p.m. on Aug. 16 at the Phoenix Theater, 201 Washington St. Admission is free.
(Contact Yovanna Bieberich at yovanna.bieberich@arguscourier.com. On Twitter at Yovanna_Ar gus)
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