Local filmmaker is
not just blowin’ smoke

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

As Steve McDowell can attest, award-winning films can come from the simplest of ideas.
McDowell, a 22-year-old who lives in the Chalfont section of the Far Northeast, wrote a script based on the greeting his younger brother and his friends give one another.
"They say, ‘Yo, you got a cig,’ before they even say hi to each other," he said.
McDowell, who is finishing up his studies at La Salle University with one class this summer, decided to focus on nicotine addiction in the school’s second annual Charlie Awards filmmaking contest.
In Smoke and Mirrors, brothers Dylan and Kevin have to take their grandfather to what they think is a routine doctor’s appointment. Kevin never makes it to his grandfather’s house because he can’t control his nicotine craving, going in search of a cigarette.
In the end, the grandfather tells Dylan that he’s been diagnosed with cancer following years of smoking.
The film includes the band Wilco’s song Jesus, Etc., which includes the words, "Last cigarettes are all you can get," as Kevin and a friend share a smoke outside a local Lukoil gas station.
McDowell and the other students presented their finished products at a special screening near the end of the school year.
Smoke and Mirrors received many thumbs up.
"The judges really liked the use of music and editing and that it was a continuous story," McDowell said.
In the final tally, the judges selected his 16-minute, black-and-white film as the winner in the long feature category.
By winning a Charlie — named after English movie star Charlie Chaplin, the unofficial mascot of La Salle’s film department — McDowell received a framed certificate and pocketed $400, along with an honor that could help him in his career.
"I was happy to win," he said. "It’s something to put on the resumé."
McDowell, a graduate of Our Lady of Calvary and Archbishop Ryan (Class of 2002), became interested in filmmaking while taking a media/journalism course in high school. The class covered radio and music video production, along with movie script adaptation.
At La Salle, he aced the classes in his major. Once he completes an early Disney animation course taught by veteran radio newsman Paul Perillo, he’ll officially graduate with a degree in film studies.
McDowell filmed Smoke and Mirrors for about two and a half hours in February. He edited the final version considerably by the April submission deadline.
The film was a family affair. McDowell portrayed Dylan, while his 20-year-old brother Brian played Kevin. Their 48-year-old dad Stephen was the grandfather. Their mom, Kathy, can be heard off-camera yelling at the boys to wake up to take their grandfather to the doctor. Even Pippin, the family’s white Maltese, makes a cameo.
The cast also included one of Steve McDowell’s fraternity brothers and three of Brian’s friends.
"It was fun to do," Steve McDowell said.
The award winner is modest about his film.
"It’s all right for a shoestring budget," he said.
The scenes are shot in the family’s Ridgefield Road home, outside their grandfather’s Waldemire Drive house, inside McDowell’s beat-up white Corsica, at the Calvary Athletic Association fields and in the parking lot of Frankford Hospital’s Torresdale Campus.
To look the part of an older man, Stephen McDowell Sr. wore glasses and a Jeff cap and walked slowly.
The young director used contemporary music with lyrics, including the band Guster’s song What You Wish For (Won’t Come True). He thinks music adds a second dialogue to a film.
McDowell was happy that all of his work writing, filming and editing paid off.
"It’s cool that something you thought up in your head comes to life on-screen," he said. "It’s like fitting in pieces of a puzzle. That’s what’s fun about it."
Now that his schooling is almost complete, McDowell is spending most of his time working on a feature-length script about a private weaponry company that proclaims itself a sovereign entity.
"My dream is to write and direct on a major scale," he said.
McDowell is looking for steady work, preferably in the production field, so he can learn more about the film industry.
In time, he hopes to put together a portfolio of his work and perhaps move to California to pursue his dream.
"It’s fun. It doesn’t feel like work," he said of filmmaking. "That’s why I’m trying to get in the business." ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com