The chaos and comedy of Cal Poly Short Cut ‘Girl Neighbors’
This is one of seven stories in KCPR’s Short Cuts series, highlighting the Cal Poly student films debuting in the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival.
College is a time of chaos: trying to impress people, trying to make connections and watching your entire plan fall apart all the while attempting to stay true to yourself. This disarray is hilariously embodied in “Girl Neighbors,” a student-made short film debuting at this year’s San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, alongside other Cal Poly Short Cuts premiering at the Fremont Theater on April 27.
The film follows Joe and Luke, two nerdy roommates who plan a carefully constructed game night to impress the girls who live across the street. Calamity ensues as the night unfolds in a series of events that writer Riley Moller describes as “desperate guy humor.”
“You have to take the comedy seriously,” he said. Moller described “Girl Neighbors” as the only true comedy in this year’s Short Cuts, upping the pressure to make people laugh.
Moller, an environmental engineering graduate student, has been pursuing filmmaking for five years, including editing a drama called “Picks” for last year’s Short Cuts. “Girl Neighbors” is the first film Moller has written, along with editing and starring in the film.
His friend Brittany Petit directed the film, adding a female perspective that Moller said was needed. The crew of “Girl Neighbors” totalled only 11 people, some of whom assumed multiple roles in production.
“It was based on a lot of different true stories,” Moller said. Joe and Luke’s interest in their neighbors reflected an experience from the writer’s own life.
Like the film and the stories that inspired it, production of “Girl Neighbors” was full of surprises and chaos. Two days before shooting, the actors set to play Joe and Luke’s girl neighbors dropped out, prompting Moller to cast two of his real-life friends instead. Moller said the most difficult moment for the crew was filming a rooftop scene that required them to carry heavy camera gear up a shaky ladder.
The making of “Girl Neighbors” was consistently improvisational. This motif carried into production, the cast ad-libbing many of their lines on set.
“On set, [improv] was great, but in post-production it was very difficult,” Moller shared. As one of three editors trying to cut the film together on one shared laptop, Moller said fine-tuning edits were challenging but incredibly rewarding.
“It’s not pretty, but it’ll be fun,” Moller said. For a film meant to represent the chaotic life of a college student, this feels like a perfectly fit description.
