American Cinematographer - August 1984 - 77

and ended the
uses

nightmare. Berton
exaggerated colors and lens

distortion as visual clues for the
audience. At last, a psychic identi¬
fies the problem, and the father at¬

bury the possessed
monkey by digging a deep hole
and dropping the toy in.
tempts to

However, there is
lent

and

storm

a

vio¬

near-calamitous

a

earthquake, effects which aren't
easy to create convincingly on a
small budget. After thp earthquake
nearly swallows the father, he fi¬
nally manages to get rid of the toy
and the demon. Or does he? The

ending leaves the audience some¬
thing to think about.
The Devil's Gift began as
a script written for a film class at
San Francisco State. Berton

met

Vergelin in a scriptwriting class,
and they agreed to collaborate on
what started

out as a

student pro¬

Vergelin, who aspires to produce
motion pictures which serve a
more
meaningful social purpose.
Then what explains his
commitment to The Devil's Gift at
this juncture in his career?
"I believe there is

a

suspense/thrillers like
this," he answers, "and you can't
a

track record unless

film is distributed."
Berton and Vergelin

your

turned

tion,

the Film Arts Founda¬

to

independent film and

an

video producers organization, for
assistance in recruiting a crew.

Vergelin

met Daniels there, and he
and Berton were impressed with

Echoes,

prize-winning short fea¬
produced, di¬
rected, and filmed years earlier.
"I was working as an

ture

a

which she

in New York when 1 first
became interested in cinematogra¬

actress

ject but blossomed into a lowbudget professional project. They

phy," she

found local

photography until I found some¬
one who was willing to let me
apprentice."
Cinematographer Daniels
helped Berton piece together a
professional crew. Before the pro¬
ject was completed, they became a
closely knit family. Key contribu¬
tors include John Graziano, a
script supervisor with some 10
years of film experience in New
York and Los Angeles, gaffer Steve
Schriver, who has been working
films in the Bay area for half a
dozen years, key grip Stuart
White, with many years of legiti¬
mate theater background experi¬
ence, Marlene Ryan, a production

performers willing to
help. Bob Mendelsohn, who plays
the father, acts on local stages as
well as in TV commercials and in¬
dustrial films. Bruce Parry, who
earned a master's degree in film-

making from the California Col¬
lege of Arts and Crafts some 14
years ago, plays a key supporting
role, while doubling as a designer
and creator of earthquakes and
other special effects.
Vicki Saputo, a local
actress, plays the girlfriend. And
Straun Robertson, an eight-yearold Petaluma youth, was tapped
for the central role when Berton
and Vergelin discovered him at a
local elementary school while

scouting for the character of
Michael, the son. It is his first per¬
formance before
ever,

camera.

How¬

Berton and Vergelin

agree

a

that the

irrepressible youngster is a
mirror-image of the character they
envisioned when the script was
being written.
Vergelin is a native of Ar¬
gentina who came to the United
to establish himself as a
creditable filmmaker. "This sub¬

States

ject matter is by
of film I
return

no means

type
after I

work on
South America," says

want to

to

the

over

says.

"I started looking

the shoulders of directors of

troubleshooter and cast coach
with 23 years of stage and film
credits and, finally, Palm, who

joined the production team as di¬
rector of photography four weeks
into the shoot.
"From

the shoot.
"Due

mar¬

ket for

establish

cal film distributors in the Los An¬

geles area and found them
surprisingly responsive, so the co¬
producers formed Windridge Pro¬
ductions, Inc. to raise money for

speaking with Bill

Mechanic, a vice president at Pay
TV Distributors, I learned of the
demand for 90-minute features
for that market," Berton says.

Gift

was

lack of

a

track

were per¬

suaded to buy stock," says Berton.
In the end, however, he borrowed
most of the money.
One of the first big deci¬
sions Berton and Vergelin were
faced with was format. Thirty-five
millimeter was deemed too expen¬

sive, and video

was

dismissed

even

though the primary

target for dis¬
tribution is cable TV.
"I decided to produce
The Devil's Gift because I was
anxious to start my career, and I
knew no one was going to hire me
to direct a picture with their

without a track record,"
explains Berton. Once he made
money

this commitment, Berton was de¬
termined to produce and direct a
credible film.
"I wanted to show the
world that, under impossible con¬

ditions, I could make this film," he
says.

Some
to

shooting

thought

super

was

given

16, since there

encouragement from some
distributors who wanted to look
at the finished project as a possible
was

blowup for theatrical release.
However, the equipment needed
to produce and edit in this format
was too hard to come by in San
Francisco and too costly to rent
for this project.
A new development in
16mm color negative technology
also played a part. "Kodak had
just introduced 7294 film (East¬
man color high speed color nega¬
tive film)," explains Daniels, "and I
was very intrigued.
I knew it
would allow us to work at very
low light levels without sacrificing

production values. I felt this could
be the key to shooting this script
on a really tight budget."
Prime location for The

"From the

beginning, The Devil's
conceived as a 90-minute

to

record, only relatives

Devil's

Gift is the Petaluma ranch,

Berton visited with several theatri¬

owned by Berton's family. It in¬
cludes a house where most inte¬
riors were shot, and lots of open

August/September 1984

American

story."

Buoyed by this

contact,

Cinematographer

75
American Cinematographer - August 1984

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