For her senior project, Emerson College film student Jenna Lyng will be shooting a short film that takes place underwater, on land and all over time.

The film, titled “As They Fade,” follows the theme of “layers of history,” an idea that explores how stories happen in the same place and are layered on top of each other. The main character, “Abby,” uncovers these layers of history through artifacts in Lake Superior.

“It’s not your normal narrative,” said Lyng, a 2006 Eden Prairie High School graduate.

To make her project a reality, she is tapping into resources from her hometown, working with fellow EPHS alumni including Angie Voreis, her producer. It all comes together this July when they’ll be filming on Madeline Island on Lake Superior.

The process of film production involves multitasking, to say the least: There’s equipment to rent, actors to audition, locations to scout, countless hours in the editing room, not to mention the challenge of drumming up funding in the midst of a down economy. Add to that, the challenge posed by filming in a remote location, telling a story that involves period (and underwater) settings and striking out with an old-school format. The entire project will be shot on film as opposed to digital video.

“I’ve always wanted to shoot a film back home and kind of show off the Midwest landscape and show off the talent here,” noted Lyng.
Lyng said that it’s really important to show that there are still students exploring film “and are dedicated to film.”

She prefers film to digital video but “it depends on the production too.”

For “As They Fade,” which has period elements to it, “it definitely calls for film,” she said.

Eden Prairie talent

Half her crew will be coming from Boston, where Lyng attends school. The other half is from the metro area. The 15-minute project will include six actors, with two of the actors coming from Eden Prairie and two producers coming from Eden Prairie.
Lyng and Voreis acted in middle and high school.

While in high school, Lyng realized she wanted to get into film production. For this endeavor, she’s producer, writer and director.
“It’s been almost a year and a half in the making,” said Lyng.

Lyng has been doing some fundraising for the film, but much is coming out of her and her family’s pockets. She also is finding support from a friendly and helpful community in the Midwest.
Over on Madeline Island, there are only 300 year-round residents “and everyone has been so helpful,” she said.

After shooting wraps up in mid-July, Lyng expects to finish editing work on the film by the end of the year. She hopes to have a screening in Eden Prairie possibly in January. The film will also be shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston sometime next year.
After that, Lyng may move to Los Angeles for work, and also has considered moving to Prague because so many period films are produced there. She hopes to be a producer, but expects to start as an assistant to a producer.

She looks to showcase “As They Fade” at a number of film festivals.
“I’m going to be using it to get a job,” Lyng said.
Her inspiration is French director Jean Pierre Jeunet, director of “Amelie.”

“He’s the director I’d say that made me decide to go to film school.”

The characters in his films have an element of timelessness to them, she noted.

In her own movie, the viewer never really knows what time period her main character Abby is from.

“It’s a story about Abby, but Abby is more like the vehicle that takes us through all these different stories.”