"Foresight" (1991)

"Foresight" is a short student film directed by Clarke M. Smith, and starring Thomas Findlow, Adam Kaye, and Kay Moats (now Kaylani Jackson). It was completed in March of 1991 via one 16mm film camera from the University of Arizona. It was shot in color and was the last of three 16mm student films. The class was Intermediate Film Production, taught by director Rob Sabal.

Realizing the Script
Originally titled “Reality” it's the one and only film Smith made that he disliked the title of. In the early 2000s, he retitled it. Foresight is defined as “the ability to predict or the action of predicting what will happen or be needed in the future.” This was a much more appropriate title, especially since many people did not understand the ending.

Smith brought back his lead actor from the last 16mm film “Stimuli” as well as past projects - Thomas Findlow - known most notably as the lead in “Arizona Smith and the Lost Ore House”. This would be their last film together. It was Tom’s last semester at the U of A, and just 3 months later, he was off to live and work in Wyoming as a chemical engineer, and never return to Tucson to live again.

New to the film group was Adam Kaye. The original plan was for Ande Felix to once again play the heavy. But Smith had forgotten that he unofficially had offered the part to Kaye. When shooting was about to start, Kaye called Smith and said ‘when do we start’? Felix was perfectly happy taking the break, so Kaye was in. And - he surprised everyone with a chilling, creepy performance. He would go on to star in Smith’s “Specimen” the next year.

Rounding out the cast was Kay Moats (later as Kaylani Jackson). She was  featured in “Anonymity” and as a native in “Arizona Smith”. This was also her final film role with Smith.

Shooting Details
Shot in one evening with minimal crew (Smith, the 3 actors, and production assistant Beth Eastburn - who later would get married to Adam Kaye), the film utilizes strobe lights and sirens to over-emphasize the light coming from the television (based on how stations at night would go off the air at a certain time after midnight). This was also influenced by the television-lit opening scenes of “Poltergeist” (1982). The other film made for this class (“Stimuli”) was a sort of ‘practice’ exercise for the final project, which was very useful in lighting the dark-toned film.

Film Analysis
As before, there was no sound to be recorded, and therefore no dialogue or any sound that had to specifically match. Enamoured with the idea of shooting in dark locations (which video could not handle), and having intricate lighting in films like Alien (strobes, etc), he wrote a simple visual story to take place in his apartment at night. Sound in post production could be used, generally only a music score if desired. But this time, Smith decided to add one bit of lip-matching dialogue: “Freeze, slimeball!”  The line was actually dubbed in by Smith, as the original recording was lost. The other bits of imaginary dialogue was Findlow.

Very simply, the film is about a man with a premonition about a burglar coming to rip him off. None of what happens onscreen actually happens; its all his vision. The twist, and there usually was one in these films, was that at the very end, his vision is coming true. The burglar is outside, snooping around.

Its the closest Smith ever came to making a noir style film. He regards the film as his oddest. Ironically, it was one of Findlow’s favorites, preferring this type of cinema to the silly slapstick of Arizona Smith.

Aftermath
Sadly, there was no public screening in this class. It was very disappointing to Smith, as all the films, including the final, were screened to the class on a moviola. The first 16mm class, where “Roadkill” was made, had a full theatrical screening in downtown Tucson, which was a great and dramatic night. Smith felt this class was a total dud in that respect, and had zero payoff.

Instructor Sabal was very hard on the films in his grading, often asking the filmmaker, ‘what is the point of your film?’. Unlike other student films Smith made, this one didn’t get a very high grade. Sabal directed his own low budget independent feature “Indian Summer” (not to be confused with a Hollywood film of the same title), and used students from this class as crew. It was not a very good film, which left some of the students feeling a little justified in their films that Sabal had been so critical of.

Smith’s next and final student film came the following year (“Specimen”).

Video Links
"Foresight" (1991) (Full Movie)

1999 Visual Audio Commentary