Photo Gallery

The Early Films: KU

Mark Adams at KU in 1988

The following are some of the films Mark Adams made while attending the University of Kansas.

For more information on the KU Theatre & Film Department visit:

http://www2.ku.edu/~kuthf/

During my freshman year, I had very little exposure to my major, concentrating on the liberal arts requirements such as Geology, French, English and Urban Planning. In my dorm room I had my video equipment and I was able to borrow a friend’s VHS VCR as well. For the first time I could start experimenting with editing from one machine to another, only able to perform crude assemble edits by simply hitting the play, record and pause buttons. But the portable deck that I used for the recorder did have the audio and video dubbing capabilities, and I was able to try more advanced editing than one might think with VHS decks.

I tried to shoot a few short films, most notably IN EXCESS II (1986). It was essentially a music video, set to a song by INXS. Only it was a narrative story without anyone trying to lip-sync to the song. The first IN EXCESS (1985) was something we shot in one night, edited in camera, about a college student (Ali Rezaee) who gets drunk in his dorm room while listening to an INXS song, and has a surreal encounter with some strange dark figure. But IN EXCESS II was a more complicated film, pre-conceived and edited in my dorm room with the two VCRs. This sequel to the first film begins the next morning; where Mike Watson comes into Ali’s dorm room, unable to find him and unaware of what happened the night before. He starts to dub an audio tape from an INXS CD, falling asleep and dreaming about himself driving drunk, picking up a hitchhiking dark figure and finally crashing, after running over a body in the road. Utilizing a video fisheye lens and some interesting camera angles, IN EXCESS II was an educational experiment in shooting on location, and using music to set the mood and direction of the film. 

This was when MTV first became popular, and music videos made a big impression on me. I’m not referring to the typical ‘band-performing-on-stage’ fare, but videos using creative visuals and storytelling. I was fascinated by how a short 3 to 4 minute music video can tell a complete story and convey the character’s feelings, or perhaps just trigger an emotional response. Peter Gabriel’s “Shock The Monkey” was visual intoxication. Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like The Wolf” and “Union Of The Snake” were cinematic adventures. Any Michael Jackson video was cutting edge, back when Michael Jackson was still cool. The King of Pop eventually became more eccentric and a cliché of himself to the point of…well, that’s a subject for another book. This was also the time that the music became secondary to the appearance of the performers, as well as the importance of the increased margin of profits by enticing a larger mass audience with big hair and…well, that’s another book as well. But I gained an early appreciation for the importance of music, and drawing the audience into the story on an emotional level.

“Actually, Mark, if there’s anything that stands out it wasn’t the film you did, but the film you and I acted in where the professor had to come yell at me. (Laughs) I’m not sure why we did that, but I think it was an opportunity to act for a class. It was probably a film class…a very brief – just a one-scene film at KU. And this was our freshman year, so we had to memorize the script. Well we really didn’t get around to looking at it until the night before. And we’re two guys who were going to go in and hold up a bank. Your character didn’t realize that we were going to use a gun and you’re like, “What’s that?” And I say, “A gun.” And he says, “A gun?” And I say, “Yeah, a gun!” And we kind of go back and forth with that. Well we get there to this set (in the multiple color video camera studio in Joliffe Hall – a condemned building that doesn’t exist anymore, by the way) and we don’t know any of these people. And I became a nervous wreck! And when they would start shooting they would be like, “Quiet on the set!” And it was real serious and it just, God it just seemed so serious to me. I was very nervous and we would start doing our lines and I would screw up EVERY SINGLE TIME! And they would be like, “OK, CUT! Cut! Lights back on!” And they would come out, “Are you OK? Do you have your lines? Do you need your lines? Can I feed you the lines?” and, “No, we’ll get it! We’ll get it!” …Finally I can’t remember what I did but I thought it would be funny to sort of pound the table and yell or something. And I did that! And apparently I hit a microphone that they had planted on the table, so they’ve all got on these headsets and are listening; BOOM! The professor comes out of this box or room just exploding! Yelling at me about how this was expensive equipment and of course that didn’t help me regain my composure for trying to get through this scene. But finally the student who was directing the whole thing was nice enough to say, “I think we can get it from one of those takes. We really appreciate you coming.” (And then he pushed us out the door.) And so from that day on, that’s the reason I didn’t go into film. Because you could really see in early Adamstar work that I had the talent to do it. But I never moved past the trauma of that event. So in fact I went into the field of psychology to help others work through such trauma. It was bad. It was REALLY bad.” – Johnny Johntz

In the spring of 1987 my friends and I attempted to make a short horror film called MAZDA FROM HELL. It was just a ridiculous attempt at a horror film, as fellow KU student and the film’s star, Kevin Walker, explains, “I was thinking about where in the world did MAZDA FROM HELL come from? I think that the genesis of it was that day that we drove through Capital Federal Bank (in Lawrence), and Scott (Aldridge) had this mask (a typical rubber Halloween mask) and the car (Kevin drove a Mazda 626 at the time. Scott made a deposit while wearing the mask as a joke, and why we weren’t arrested I’ll never know.) I don’t know whether it had to do with just horsing around that day in the car, and we talked about ‘the Mazda from Hell’? And I think just that term, Mazda from Hell, kind of hung around in the lexicon that all of us shared. And I think somehow in your twisted, demented mind it turned into some crazy story. I laugh about that film, because of the thought of me driving this car, and I’m wearing army fatigues. There’s no set up to the story whatsoever! The first thing you see is a person (Danny Waszak) running up a hill; he’s being chased by a car (zigzagging back and forth while being driven by Kevin looking like a demonic military soldier in a Mazda.) First of all, why doesn’t the guy get the Hell out of the street? How come the car can’t run over a guy running on foot? I mean this makes NO SENSE whatsoever! We get to Wells Overlook in Lawrence (on top of a tall hill or mound created by retreating glaciers long ago), We go up there (on top of the observation platform) and there are two people (Kelly and Carolyn Chase) up there scared. I mean it’s just - there’s absolutely no rhyme or reason or point to that story whatsoever! But it’s a great story because at the very end, when I supposedly get thrown over the top of Wells Overlook, we have this dummy dressed up in fatigues – no, it wasn’t me, it was a dummy – and we had the two halves attached with suspenders. When there’s this struggle at the top of Wells Overlook and my character gets thrown over the side, this dummy starts separating on the way down. So you have these two giant pieces of ‘stuffed-dummy’ falling down on the ground, you could see right through the middle. And that was just the perfect end to a really stupid movie! I don’t even know what the Hell it means, it was just fun. It was just some crazy, stupid story or something, but it was fun. I always had fun doing your films. Half the time they were pointless and I didn’t know what we were doing, I had no concept of what it took to put a movie together. Somehow out of all of this ‘stuff’ you came out with something at the end that I thought was kind of neat. My favorite stuff that you did were the bloopers and the out-takes, because I can look back on those, stuff from THE MAZDA FROM HELL and OLIVER HALL, and those are the people that made my college experience what it was. So those films to me are more than just what the finished product is, they’re stories and they’re relationships with friends. There’s so many subplots and themes and things that was going on behind-the-scenes that are just so funny, and when I watch these things with people that weren’t part of that group they’re looking at this thinking, ‘what in the world are we watching?’ And those of us that were in it are sitting back there rolling on the floor (laughing). I think that’s even funnier – we don’t have to talk to each other. We know what is funny about what’s going on. And it drives other people crazy, but I love them! I absolutely love your films and those videotapes I have, periodically I’ll pull them out and watch them.”

My sophomore year saw very little video production, because my parents were concerned I was spending more time making my films than doing my homework (which was true, of course). But during my second semester I was allowed to bring the equipment back to shoot an orientation video for my dormitory, Oliver Hall.

Oliver Hall in 1987

The dorm’s student government was looking for someone to make a simple introductory video using the residents of the dorm and showing the facilities available, but they knew this would be pretty boring to the viewer. A friend of mine, Kevin Walker, knew I was capable of doing this and I was given the project. The dorm’s student government thought it could be done in one weekend, but my idea would take a couple of months, as Kevin recalls, “The one I remember the most is OLIVER HALL, because we spent the most time on that. I was on the governing board, or the student government of Oliver Hall, and they wanted to do a promotional video that would talk about everything that the dorm had to offer for all the residents. I was part of that discussion, and I said, ‘I know somebody that does some film work.’ And mighty-damn-fine film work, I might add! (Chuckles) So I suggested your name - and low budget was key, and you were certainly low budget at the time. So they hooked you up, and that’s how we got OLIVER HALL. I think they envisioned just a quick deal – you’d film it and put it together, and it’s something they’d show every year for incoming residents. Obviously it sort of took on a life of it’s own, and it seemed like it took forever (to make). But it was fun. I certainly didn’t suggest that I act in the thing, because I know I have no acting ability whatsoever. And I’m sure you were desperate for people in your cast of characters. I graciously agreed to give up my valuable class time to help you out. (Smiles)”

“I remember very well when you (approached me to act in OLIVER HALL), because it was in the spring of 1987. Probably like late March or early April, because it was right after a tragic train crash in Lawrence, which one of my best friends from high school was killed in. And I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is a nice kind of distraction away from dwelling on that whole incident.’ So that’s why I remember very well when you approached me on that. I thought you were ambitious! I thought, ‘Wow, this is great!’ It sounded fun, and I was flattered that you would even think of me to do something like that. Up to that point I certainly had no experience with (video) production.” – Brian Powell

OLIVER HALL (1987) would be an orientation video disguised as a narrative story. The viewer follows a freshman named Brian (played by Brian Powell) as he moves in and meets his new roommate Kevin (played by Kevin Walker). Together they discover all that Oliver Hall has to offer to make their college experience complete and enjoyable. For Brian Powell, it was a good way to present the otherwise uninteresting material, “I think (the narrative approach to the video) was right on, I think it was so much better than what they wanted. Typically, I don’t think they really knew what they want. And so they were lucky to have someone like you to have the foresight to know that doing it from the narrative style would actually make Oliver Hall look better than what it would have, had they done it in the manner that they were originally thinking. It made it much more watch-able rather just a boring, ‘Well, here’s this, that and the other.’ It was more entertaining. And that’s one of the reasons why I was willing to do it.”

I wanted to enhance the narrative quality by having something as important as character development. Brian is a shy, scared freshman moving in and Kevin is a ROTC student who is very strict and disciplined. By the end, after discovering everything that the dorm had to offer (this was an orientation video for a client, after all), Brian becomes more self-confident and out-going, and Kevin becomes more personable and easy-going. Although in the end the ROTC angle wasn’t as clear as originally planned, the finished 20-minute video was considered a success. 

To achieve this I knew Brian Powell and Kevin Walker had to be believable, as Brian remembered, “I was completely relying on you for direction, as far as what you wanted. And I remember you getting that across, that you wanted me to start out being shy, not knowing what’s going on, a little timid. And by being a part of Oliver Hall in the course of a year, that there is a transformation through that time and that person kind of grows and really sees the light in terms of the positive aspects of the college experience. And ending with me being a little bit more self confident and laid back. Again, I was just so flattered that you gave me the opportunity to do that. But it was not only fun in learning the process, but it was just a fun time, period. One of my highlights of my college experience was that particular film. A lot of good memories.”

For Kevin Walker, his memories are of Brian’s rusting pick up truck appropriately called The Beast, “I think the thing I remember the most is…when we’re piling into Brian’s truck (The Beast) and continuously driving around-and-around-and-around-and-around the parking lot. And people are looking at us like, ‘what in the world are you folks doing?’ Another scene that I remember – it was Christmas break (in the story), and obviously this friendship had developed (between Brian and Kevin’s characters). We were talking about what was going on over Christmas break; we were talking about a holiday party. And I just enjoyed it because it was hot – there are leaves on every tree out there. Flies are flying around and there’s a softball game going on in the background, and we’re bundled up in winter coats trying to pretend like we’re going home for Christmas break. That was a memorable moment. Another scene I remember, (the scene in the middle of the film when Brian meets Kevin after class in the lobby to see if he received any mail – which he didn’t.) It happened to be a particular day, Saturday morning or whenever it was, and I think the custodial crew was in the main bathroom continually flushing the toilets while we were trying to film this scene. (One Blooper shows Kevin unable to stop laughing after the toilet flushes while Brian dramatically enters the lobby.) You know - I remember some of the light-hearted moments the most about the film.”

Brian also remembers the scene where they leave for Christmas break, which was filmed in April, “It was kind of funny to be walking out and seeing things green, because it was in the spring, and I’m really trying to think, ‘OK, this is the dead of winter and we’re trying to be excited about going home for Christmas.’ Yeah, what your eyes are seeing and what you’re trying to portray are two different things, sure that was challenging. To me the whole thing was challenging because I had never acted before! (Chuckles) I remember shooting in the lobby, I don’t know why. Probably because of all the traffic (students going to and from class) and the problems that we encountered when we’re shooting something on the fly like that, and dealing with people who don’t know what we’re doing it for. I do remember getting The Beast in there, (Smiles) my truck that I had at the time. I just remember having a lot of fun doing it. Like I said, it was a great distraction for me at that particular time. So much other stuff was going on, just with college in general and the accident and stuff. It was definitely a highlight of my year to be involved in it. Being in front of the camera was one thing, but the part that I really enjoyed the most about it was seeing the production and seeing what it took. And getting to know you, and knowing this is how these things come together. I never had any experience in that whatsoever. It really may have been what started me off on this and I’m doing that today now, 14 years later.” Brian went on to be a video producer for the KU Athletic Department, and now is a producer for Channel 6 in Lawrence.

“(OLIVER HALL) took longer to shoot (than I thought it would), and what I didn’t see you do was edit. And I’m sure, having learned since then the edit process, I can’t imagine how many hours you spent editing that thing. Now I realize what you must have gone through to edit that thing, especially on the equipment you had at the time. So the amount of time it takes to do a production on that scale, even that small a scale so to speak, really was an eye opener. It really is a large, time-consuming process to do something like that. And it always takes longer than you think. No matter how long you think it will take, it will always take longer than that. And it’s still true today. What a great project for the time.” – Brian Powell

“I really think that after seeing you work really had an influence on me in terms of at least finding out what the process was. It had peaked my interest, is what it did. The production of the video really peaked my interest in doing videos. I don’t think I came away with knowing, ‘this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ But I definitely came away thinking, ‘wow, this is something I better look into a little bit more before I DO decide what I want to do with my life.’ Because this was pretty fun, and to get paid to do it sort of appealed to me. So I started taking production courses. I interned for free. I got to know people in classes that were a couple of years ahead of me, and volunteered to – in fact, that’s how I met my wife (Michelle). We met in a production class, she was two years ahead of me in courses, and I volunteered to come along and just help her out in some of the productions that she was doing. Because then I was able to get around better equipment. And it was all with the intent of figuring out, ‘down the road is this something I can really see myself doing?’ And it was, I especially love being behind the camera. My real joy comes from getting a shot that I know will emotionally stir up something to somebody who’s watching it. And that’s what I’m doing today. And I love my job, I really do.” – Brian Powell

The film starts out at the Dawn of Man, where an ape (I wore a monkey suit) picks up an animal’s bone. Instead of realizing it could be used as a weapon (as in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY), the ape dramatically begins to discover baseball and golf with nearby rocks. Then it finds a very small ‘monolith’ the size of a credit card. For the Dawn of Man scene, where I wore an ape suit, Brian Powell operated my camera while Brad Jordan used the College’s camera, “I remember doing that out at Clinton Lake, on the other side there where we shot that ape scene. I remember thinking, ‘Geez, people driving by probably think we are crazy.’ And you just kind of look past that, you know. Since I’m not the actor type, being in those situations does make me a little uncomfortable, where if we’re drawing attention to ourselves. But I’ve kind of gotten over that because hauling a camera around, especially a professional camera, just inherently draws attention to you. (Laughs) Though with a person in an ape suit out in the middle of a field throwing up stuff, yeah…(Smiles and shakes his head as he remembers the sight of me acting like a joyous ape upon discovering a new sporting event.) But I just remember being so infatuated with the camera, and I leaped at the chance to get behind it and do something. And I remember, ‘oh wow, I’m going to get to handle his camera! He’s going to entrust me with his camera! And entrust me to get shots – not only the typical ‘don’t drop the thing’, but also to get footage that he will want to watch later.’ And that thrilled me. And I do remember thinking how fortunate we were that we had you and your camera available, because at that time students just didn’t run around with (video) cameras. I’m sure a lot more have them now. But at the time you were it, other than checking something else out in class. I didn’t know anybody with a camera, other than you. And I remember thinking how neat that was.”

In the present this small monolith is determined to be an ancient bank card, and my character, Dave Bowman, is given the task to try it out on an brand new ATM called the HAL 9000. But when I try to use it, HAL confiscates my card. I’m forced to shut down HAL by withdrawing all of my money as HAL says, “What are you doing, Dave?…My money…I’m losing my money…I can feel it…I’m afraid…I’m afraid, Dave…Stop…Stop Dave…” The film ends with my character going to a saloon to get drunk, thus the bizarre ending where I’m wasted and having strange visions and bizarre things happening to me. With such an ambitious project, it was inevitable that we were unable to get the VHS deck and camera all of the times we needed to shoot. So we were able to use my video equipment to finish the film, even using my fisheye lens for HAL’s point-of-view. The film was very good, for a student film, and Brad and I had a lot of fun making it. I encouraged him to enter it into a film festival, but I don’t think he ever did.

I also worked on another final project, a ‘serious’ attempt at a remake of HIGH NOON. They needed an actor for a day of shooting at an old, abandoned house by a field outside of Lawrence, and a friend of mine working on the project named Matt Thun asked me to help out. My big scene was an impassioned speech to the town’s people to help the sheriff (by ‘town’s people’ I mean three people standing in front of the camera, and the sound of a loud crowd dubbed in later), and everyone seemed impressed that I actually memorized the dialogue. Unfortunately there was a problem with the microphone and the audio wasn’t recorded, so I had to loop my dialogue (re-record my lines later and place it over the video) in the editing room. They were also confused about how to properly white balance a video camera, and they zoomed in on the dominant color on the location - the green grass - rather than a white card. So in the end all of the video had a strange green tint to everything shot that day. That was the sort of production I found myself with, a student film where no one knew what was going on. The director, looking like a British punk rocker from the early 80’s, didn’t get along with her crew, and visa versa. Although she found some great looking locations ahead of time, it was obvious she didn’t have any other pre-production done. Her crew was feeling like they could do a better job directing, and no one really cared about the project after a while. It was an interesting experience to stand on the outside and watch a dysfunctional group of people desperately try to finish a student assignment, ready to just leave without caring about the final product. But I had a lot of fun working on those class projects during the whole semester, being able to work with the people who were just as interested in making films as me.

"As for the student project (HIGH NOON), it was plagued from the start with lack of participation.  I was the lead person and no one else seems to care about the project until the day we shot.  I don't remember who was responsible for the white balance problem, but I seem to remember having an argument with the sheriff guy and friend of pink haired brat about how to properly white the camera and had to give up and let them proceed...as the lack of participation continued through editing it became apparent to my teacher who was doing the work and who wasn't.  So, I had an A for the class and the others did not.  I don't know how bad of a grade she gave them, but I'm sure it was a well earned grade for them." - Matt Thun

“I think if there was a film or a process that could be delivered or made into something, now that we sit back and we look at it as a retrospect. It may actually be a film of how four or five people went through school without hardly ever going to class, still managed to graduate, and made all of these movies in the middle. It’s a movie about camaraderie. It’s about fellowship; people getting along and existing. And what ends up being relationships that, at least for us, we’ve carried on for at least 14 years since we’ve been out of school. You’ve made all of these movies, and nobody outside of our realm maybe knows who is ‘Mark Adams, the Director’. It’s not because of ‘Mark Adams, the Director’, it’s because of all the fools he had in front and behind the camera that were bringing him down the whole time.” – Scott Aldridge

My senior year at KU saw two productions much like OLIVER HALL two years before. In fact, one was a direct result of that orientation video. Another dorm on campus, Ellsworth Hall, had seen the video and wanted the same thing for their new residents. But they didn’t know how to find the person who made the original. By an amazing twist of fate, one of the students in charge of the project, Mary Jane McCool (yes, that was her real name) was dating Johnny Johntz, and I was quickly involved with the production. But I was already busy trying to finish college and didn’t want to spend as much time making this one as the first, so I let them write and organize the shoot while I showed up to be the camera operator. We started shooting their idea of following the day in a life of a resident (Stu Sanks) from the time that he wakes up to the end of the day. After we shot about 1/3rd of their script, I knew we were in trouble and decided to edit a rough-cut to show them the problem. The video was already 20 minutes long and really had no focus to its story. Plus their lead actor, as good as he was and a really nice guy, was acting a little too goofy and unbelievable. So I suggested shooting a shorter version of the OLIVER HALL approach to a narrative story that I ended up writing for them; A transfer student (Carol Burlis) visits her friends in the dorm (Mary Jane McCool and Meaghan McDermot), and they show her around trying to convince her to live in Ellsworth Hall. Carol would see all of the wonderful facilities and meet their friends and fellow, happy dorm residents, including Stu Sanks. This way we could use some of the footage shot before to save time. It had the focus needed, and the narrative element with characters for the viewer to follow, without becoming too long or boring. With this and my improving directing skills, plus a running time of 12 minutes, ELLSWORTH HALL (1989) was a better orientation video than OLIVER HALL. The video had better pacing, resulting from shorter scenes with less ‘story-telling’ and more visual information. But I still consider the first one to be a better example of a narrative film in my own filmography because of my approach to character development. The second production during my senior year was my first experience working with professional equipment in a workplace setting.

I ended my KU experience with a co-directing duty on a video at Sunflower Cablevision where I was one of six interns. We made THE HOOK UP (1989): an orientation video for newly hired cable installers. Again, we used a narrative story in a humorous way for what otherwise would have been a straightforward and uninteresting video. A newly hired cable installer (Bobby Willard) meets his boss (Alex Brown), and is given a procedure manual to read. Inside it has some “Do’s and Don’ts” about cable installation, and he begins to imagine a Mr. Do (Mark Adams) and a Mr. Don’t (Chip Nietfeld). We first see Mr. Don’t, looking like a slob in a tie-dyed shirt, arrive to a customer’s (Jennifer Lincoln) house to install cable and make a mess of things. Then Mr. Do comes to the rescue (played by myself in a bow tie) and shows him how it’s suppose to be done. It sounds fairly corny, but it worked, and it was a lot of fun to make.

My co-director was Kristin Smith, who remembered how we got involved in this project, “To the best of my knowledge, I think that the original idea (for THE HOOK UP) either came directly from Jim Jewell or was one of his suggestions for us. You and I were chosen to be in charge because we were the only two that wanted to do it. As for the script, I think that you probably came up with it. You definitely have a knack for stories and I definitely do not. You were selected to be Mr. Do because you had acting experience, the wholesome mid-western good looks that were needed, and you owned the only tie in the group. As for any experience I brought in, just how to set up the camera and maybe a little editing that I had learned both in class and at Sunflower. That question ranks up there with the chicken before the egg confusion for me. Jim Jewell and Alex Brown were both very pleased with our project and it’s outcome. To my knowledge, however, it has only been used to prop up dilapidated shelves at Sunflower, not ever having been seen. The reason for the blooper reel was that we had so many and they were so good! Humor is essential in life and editing bloopers is always the best part of making projects. I know you think so too because you always include your bloopers with your movies. We always get a kick out of them. We always enjoy your movies. I think it’s amazing that you still have ideas and plots and scripts in your head. You’ve certainly been willing to try different things through the years, and we’ve enjoyed them all.”

This was the first time that I had ever used broadcast quality equipment (3/4-inch U-matic tape format) for production and post-production. There was one scene that I alone directed because my co-director, Kristin Smith, had a final exam that morning. It was the scene where Mr. Don’t arrives in his pick-up truck with his girlfriend (Mary Maras), and I had him do some very funny physical comedy. He pulls the steering off to keep her from using his truck, and then, as he searches for the right tool, she throws them out the window. Kristin and I also edited a blooper reel, to show how much fun we had making the video. As fun as it was, it began to show me that I still had a lot to learn with my directing skills and with my basic knowledge about professional video equipment. I would not realize how much I still had to learn until after I graduated, and left on the most amazing adventure I ever attempted by myself: Off to Hollywood.

In 2004 a fellow KU student named Fowler Jones interviewed Mark about his memories of KU and his filmmaking experiences. Click here to read Mark's Q & A at Fowler's Web Log at:

 http://fowlerjones.blogspot.com/2004/07/mark-adams-q.html

Mark Adams with his KU License Plate on the front of his car, proudly displaying it in South Carolina (2008)