By JACQUELINE DURETT
Correspondent
METUCHEN — A movie that begins filming this week will feature Metuchen in one of its scenes. The Montclair State University student film is called “The Archivist,” and one of its central themes, arts preservation, is one that ties in well with the culture of Metuchen.
The borough was considered as a location for the film since one of the behind-the-scenes people working on it calls Metuchen home. Corey Lynn Chrapuch, the costume designer and story artist, is a graduate of Metuchen High School and a student at Montclair State. Chrapuch is an animation/illustration major and signed on to the film to work on her character design and visual development portfolio, she said.
“I’m painting visual development art for the film, which includes helping [director] Greg [Buracker], along with the production designer, decide on the final look that the film will have once it is time to shoot,” she said. “I will also be painting character designs and helping Greg decide on and buy all of the costumes for the film, as well as be on set to supervise the costuming.”
Chrapuch said she also would be doing all of the post-production design work, including the movie posters.
The film, according to Buracker, another Montclair State student, “is about a time where memories are put on 16mm film and are cataloged in a library. The Archivist, the man who manages this facility, must find his stolen memories before they are destroyed by The Bandit.”
Buracker said the film has been in the works for four years and was inspired by his own life. “My father passed away before my freshman year of college,” he said. “When anyone you love passes away, their presence is gone and all you are left with is the memories, because that is how the person lives on in your heart and your mind. So at that time, I dreamed of a world where all your memories are cataloged on film, a place where they are physically in front of you, something tangible to hold on to.”
Buracker has a passion for 16mm film in part because it’s tangible, and that passion has also impacted how the movie will be filmed. “Using film/celluloid was and is an art, and I think people in our fast-paced digital world forget that,” he said. “This is why it is important that the memories in ‘The Archivist’ are preserved on film/celluloid instead of a digital medium, and that is why the memories that are featured in the film are going to be shot on 16mm film stock.”
And it is a scene featuring one of those memories that will feature Metuchen as a backdrop. Metuchen is a location that Chrapuch said reflects both her and Buracker’s values.
“Metuchen is all about preserving arts and culture, and that’s something that both Greg and I are equally passionate about,” Chrapuch said.