Senior Willie White produces vampire movie: Blood II
posted October 03, 2007

Vampire movies. One thinks of Bela Lugosi before Ed Wood got to him, of Gary Oldman in the Francis Ford Coppola version of BramStoker's Dracula, or—if anyone still takes him seriously—of Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire. If they haven't already, the Red Cloud High School film cognoscenti should add their very own Casey Zimiga to this list. The Red Cloud senior stars as the vampire Nathan in fellow senior Willie White's Blood series, the second installment of which, after several delays, premiered on Tuesday, October 2, at Red Cloud.

The new episode, Blood II: Revelation, was, as one might suspect, preceded by Blood I, which was shown in 2006. But White's filmmaking roots reach deeper still, to his days as an eighth grader, at Red Cloud Middle School. An end of the year social studies project gave the option of making a short movie. Willie did, and the film went on to take first place at the South Dakota State Media Fair.

With a newfound taste for making movies, White started writing Blood early in high school, under the working title The Beckinsales: A Vampire Story. (The series follows the trials and travails of the magical, vampire-fighting Beckinsale sisters.) Then, two years ago, as a sophomore, White settled on a new title and began to work on the film in earnest. When shooting began, White, who uses what he describes generically as "a digital camcorder," had never taken a video production class and based most of his shots on what he'd seen done in other movies. The film nevertheless flows, and shows White employing a number of effective and impressive—if unconventional and somewhat naïve—camera tricks.

Following Blood's success last year, White and crew began shooting Blood II in January, 2007, and ended in May of the same year. With a good bit of classroom video production experience under his belt, White was able to reach for ever more ambitious--not to mention sleeker and glossier--shots in his sequel.

Blood II picks up where Blood left off. In the first movie, two sisters, Annabel and Victoria Beckinsale (played by now seniors Ashley Pourier and Angel White Eyes) overcome and vanquish the vampire Nathan (Zimiga) who has taken to stalking the halls of their high school. (Which, coincidentally, is Red Cloud. I could go on about the film as a metaphor for the blood-sucking creature of the night that is high school, but I'll restrain myself.) We find at the outset of Blood II that Nathan is back, and seemingly more powerful than ever. From here, the movie delves into Annabel and Victoria's back story. In so doing, it introduces a host of new characters, including three apparently divine beings called "sages."

The influence of Peter Jackson, who directed the film-version of British novelist J.R.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings trilogy—White's favorite movies—is evident here. An intricate world governed by numerous good and evil races emerges in Blood II. The nuances and complexities of this world become a bit disorienting, but without having seen the third movie, which will be entering production soon, it's difficult to say much more about how the fantasy universe swirling in White's head will ultimately translate onto the screen.

After graduation, White, who writes the screenplays, does most of the filming, and edits all the footage himself, plans to attend film school. Although application deadlines remain a couple months away, he has already taken a keen interest in the new Bachelor of Fine Arts program at the Institute of American Indians Arts, in New Mexico. The Blood series is a fine piece of high school film, shot with aplomb on a shoestring budget. One can only imagine what White will be capable of with the funds, resources, and time afforded a film student.

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