January
11, 2005
BY
RUMMANA HUSSAIN Staff Reporter
When
Columbia College grad Jason Klamm needed to demonstrate
how dinosaur fossils form for a student film, he found
a little dated inspiration in a certain wholesome Mormon
family who once proclaimed they were a "little bit country"
and a "little bit of rock 'n' roll."
Two
plastic toy dinosaurs named "Donny" and "Marie" duke it
out in Klamm's seven-minute "Dinosaurs: They Certainly
Were Big." "Marie" is fatally mauled and a bespectacled
Klamm deadpans: "Little Marie here would soon begin to
decompose, her bones being the last remaining evidence
of her once shining career."
The
quirky film, which is currently one of knowitallvideo.com's
most popular clips, was selected to air on Frontier Airlines
free in-flight television network's "Cloud 9 Short Film
Festival" this month.
Klamm's
film, which he wrote, directed and acted in for a science
class while at Columbia two years ago, spices up the subject
of paleontology with dry humor.
"It's
a combination of being serious, informative and funny
at the same time, and that's hard to do," said Eric Alterman,
the founder of knowitallvideo.com, which
accepts submissions from registered users. Klamm wrote
"Dinosaur" in two hours and shot it in five hours with
his cinematographer friend Chad Newman.
The
movie, mostly shot along the Chicago River, Lake Michigan
and at the Field Museum, features Klamm as an egghead
host who ponders how the 14th century Chinese believed
dinosaur bones were left by dragons and why the massive
beasts became extinct.
In
one scene Klamm, now 24, points to Field Museum's T. rex
"Sue" and says "To look at 'Sue,' here, you say 'dinosaur.'
Well, maybe not say it out loud, but you'd certainly think
it. I hope."
Alterman
contacted representatives from Mphasis, the marketing
firm that created "The Wild Blue Yonder" channel for Frontier,
and directed them to the most creative videos on his Web
site, including Klamm's.
'Well-produced'
"They
liked it because it's a cleverly made, well-produced 'mockumentary'
of the kind of education films you saw in high school
and elementary school," Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas said.
Klamm,
who now lives in Hollywood and has appeared in television's
"Alias" and "Crossing Jordan," says the Frontier screening
is "exciting" because it will reach thousands.
"That
kind of exposure is next to impossible without a production
company behind you," said Klamm, who credits his Columbia
instructors for teaching him how filmmaking can be both
"painful and fun."
"That
I can reach that many people in that short a time, and
simply because I'm funny, is one of the greatest things
that's ever happened to me."
And
although Klamm's idol, Martin Scorsese hasn't called yet,
the attention hasn't hurt.
Alterman
has drafted Klamm to do a weekly video segment for knowitallvideo.com,
and the Laurens, N.Y., native has gained at least one
prominent fan: Paleontologist Sue Hendrickson.
Hendrickson
hailed the video as the best piece done on her famous
T. rex discovery.
"He
made science palatable to the public, which is the mission
of scientists that they seem to fail at and he succeeds.
I hope to shake his hand someday," she said.
"Dinosaurs:
They Certainly Were Big," can also be viewed on Stolendress.com,
a Web site founded by Klamm and Newman. |