The most recent film produced by the University of Maine at Machias (UMM) Downeast Documentary course students is a study in finesse. When the Chevy Breaks (How Small Towns Fix Big Problems) is the third in a series produced by students taught by UMM interdisciplinary fine arts faculty member Alan Kryszak. The film weaves a study of life Downeast through a montage of interviews, landscapes, sound effects and a range of abstract close‑ups and blurred shots to represent moments of personal duress.
     The film starts and ends in Machias and tracks Margaretta Days reenactors, church musicians, business people and individuals facing personal loss or crisis, addiction and recovery, faith through religion and faith through family and community. Locations range from Eastport, Jonesport, Machias and Lubec to Kingfield and more. The result is a story made of outlines and shadows that subtly develops into a thought‑provoking whole as the last shot fades and the credits cross the screen.
     As was the case with the first two films tackled by Kryszak's class, the students were given responsibility for the subject from day one. About 90 hours of footage were cut down by two‑thirds and then from there whittled down to a little over an hour.
     Like its predecessor, Whatever It Takes: Exploring Opiate Addition, which won an Excellence Award at the 2018 Docs Without Borders Film Festival, When the Chevy Breaks explores a question that elicits deeply personal responses without necessarily a specific conclusion. By their nature, the answers ranged widely and, as is the nature of unscripted conversations, were often sketches in minimalism and abstraction. Their eloquence, as captured by the filmmakers, was quite often found in what was not said.
     A moment of grace and reflection for the audience comes near the end of the film. A youngster is working at play in her father's boatbuilding shop. He stands in the background watching her with a smile. She demonstrates various projects, including a taut string that twangs as she plucks it. Pondering the question posed her, she says, "I don't really face too many problems."
     Kryszak explains, "Questions were deliberately not scripted. The opening question, 'Can you talk about a problem you have solved, or how are problems dealt with in Downeast Maine?' launches a unique, interesting and organic story as the students listen [and capture]."
     Stories ranged from the pragmatic found in Mainely Smoked Salmon's salmon‑on‑a‑stick -- the answer to how to eat salmon while browsing a festival or fair -- to the less quantifiable answer found in the couple who lost their ancestral home to fire. The answer lay, at least in part, in the community potluck and auction, where hundreds of friends and neighbors gathered to show their love and support.

Starting with a theme and question
   On the very first day of class, students were launched by the word "capture." They were to "capture people, light and any story that relays how someone solves a problem, living in remote areas where outside help is not always there," says Kryszak. Along with the word prompt and the starting question came the development of technical skills. "The theme got my brain going," says UMM student Sophie Squire. "It was a tool."
     "People [interviewees] just popped out of nowhere," says Kryszak. UMM Early College student Alexis Morrill says, "[Mr. Kryszak] was technical, but also very adamant about the art behind it, and he described a lot of the technical nuances of how you can portray your creativity in film." UMM student Christopher Palmiotto says, "The biggest thing was when you were interviewing people -- that whole scenario -- there's a camera, there's people around this one person, and this person's kind of putting their heart out, y'know, and putting it out on film, and everyone's going to watch it. It's a lot."
     Kryszak explains that students explored their own photographic and artistic interests in the class. They were encouraged to try different camera and filming angles "to interrupt the viewer's space, find strong visual intersections, find conflicts and use extreme closeups with an overall form in mind."
     After the footage was collected, students were involved in all of the production and post‑production work, including sound, camera, interview, on‑location B‑roll and cutaway footage and editing in Adobe Premiere Pro. The sound selection work was conducted in front of the class.      "We spent a bit of time in the class using ambient sound to fill out the reality of a scene," says Kryszak, "like Wayne Robinson's lobster boat or Jacob Berry's sawmill."
     This year's student filmmakers include Miranda Sutton, Brooke Hachey, Will Rittenhouse, Kayla Cater, Sophie Squire, Eric Darby, Christopher Palmiotto, Trevor Tanski, Jesse Gray, Alex Blackie, Lucas Logan, Abdalla Mostafa, Alexis Morrill and Holly Preston.