Justin Kemerling and Jason Hardy back in the day. Photo by Ian Whitmore.

Prior to creating “The Sprinter”, Justin and I had been in bands together since high school. We spent years writing, playing and recording music with our friend and drummer Mike Semrad. Being an active musician is a way of life. At the time we were writing songs, practicing two or three times a week, performing and recording, so I was constantly thinking about and working on music. Creatively it was an inspired and fulfilling time.

We played our final show as RKT FM in B-Rad’s basement at the Viapunx house and shortly thereafter Mike moved to Chicago to continue his personal musical endeavors.

It was at this time that Justin and I first started talking about “The Sprinter.” We both wanted to continue our creative partnership but we were ready to try something new. Justin was doing a lot of writing and, thanks to our friend Craig Turnwall, we had been experimenting with 8mm footage and were  thinking about stories and moving visuals together. A short film seemed like a natural progression.

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“The Sprinter” by Justin Kemerling and Jason Hardy.

A number of years ago (circa 2002-ish) my friend Justin Kemerling and I set out to create something together. What we settled on was the creating of a short film. It was (and still is) called “The Sprinter” and it had a profound effect on me.This is the first in a series of posts about “The Sprinter.” The idea here being to remember and share this project with everyone. The how and what and why of it all. For me, personally, to relive those days and revel in the messes we made. But ultimately, my hope is that this story inspires you. Either way, this is “The Sprinter”, take from it what you will.

“The Sprinter” is 15 minutes long and intentionally challenges attention spans. There is repetition with subtle change until a final burst of action breaks the cycle. Without the storm there can be no calm (and vice-versa).

“The Sprinter” best seen in the dark basement of an art supply store in Lincoln Nebraska, while standing on the dirt floor viewing the film being projected onto a white sheet with an old grade school overhead projector that is somehow hooked up to a VCR with sound coming out of an old boombox. But, since we don’t have access to that setup anymore, the internet will have to suffice. Clicking on Vimeo’s little expand icon and watching it surrounded by a dark screen might help achieve that projected basement feeling.

Over the next series of posts I’ll talk about how the idea came about, how we filmed and edited “The Sprinter”, where the music came from and how we put together the DVD.

Read Part Two: The Setup.