Today, Brandon Tweed sits in Los Angeles with a dream in his heart to make motion pictures. In a city where the failure of thousands is a reminder of his constant struggle to achieve his goals, he tries to remain optimistic. As he sits on his computer editing his last film, he remembers where he started this journey-N.C. State.
Tweed graduated from the University in the spring of 2006. In the summer that followed, he began filming his third feature film-The Quatrain.
His love for making movies began when he was 11 years old. Tweed said he remembered using his parents’ old VHS camcorder to film zombie movies.
He really blossomed when he was in high school and served as the president of the film club. The final product of this club was a full-length action comedy entitled Funk Justice.
After two years at NCSU, Tweed decided to take another stab at filmmaking. He posted fliers across campus looking for other students interested in producing films.
“I figured, out of a school of 30,000, there had to be other students with the same interests and drive,” Tweed said.
When he did find other interest, he founded what would later be called Drop Frame Features.
The first film that was born out of Drop Frame Features was called Matchbook Morning.
The project took a total of four months to finish, from the initial thought to the final product. Matchbook Morning follows the story of four separate characters, including a girl who runs away from her problems and a love-sick librarian.
Filmed on NCSU’s campus and surrounding Raleigh locations, the film also starred students, including alumni Jennifer Dale, John Peebles, Rain Bennett and Rob Odell.
The film was later shown at Witherspoon Cinema in April 2005, where it sold out.
“It was an incredible feeling seeing it up on the big screen in front of a crowd like that-a cocktail of impalpable excitement and anxiety fueled nausea,” Tweed said.
Even though the film went on to win best student film at the Script-2-Screen film festival in Oklahoma, it received a lot of negative feedback. Tweed said this only caused him to try harder for perfection.
The next project for Drop Frame Features was another film that would eventually become called The Quatrain.
Written by his friend, James Humphries, The Quatrain is a romantic comedy about a fledgling writer trying to create the perfect novel. The main character becomes so fixated on his fantasy world that he eventually confuses reality and his own written word so that he becomes a part of his fiction.
The cast included many NCSU students including current students Patrick Rankin, a sophomore in philosophy, and Kelly Calhoun, a senior in communication, and alumni Patrick Fischer and Paul Holland. The other two actors were writer James Humphries and Raleigh local Gina Kelly.
To pay for the cost of the production, Tweed and Humphries had to put up all of the money themselves-nearly $3,000.
Tweed said one of the hardest parts of the project was trying to keep up with classwork as well as the strain of two jobs.
At the end of the summer, Tweed and Humphries moved out to California to begin the editing process. Tweed said the film is currently being color corrected and polished by another alumna, Nicole Opyr.
Tweed said he hopes to premier the film in both Raleigh and Asheville, Tweed’s hometown. They also hope to enter the film in some festivals.
“James and I are very excited, as we feel this is by far the best film either one of us have worked on,” Tweed said.
As he sits in Los Angeles, he looks forward to whatever lies ahead of him, whether good or bad.
“I think right after graduation students are given the chance to do the one thing they’ve always wanted to do,” Tweed said. “They’ll kick themselves when they’re 60 if they pass it up. If you can believe there’s achievement in the effort, you absolutely cannot fail.”
