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Chattanooga Film Festival volunteers create replica of a key element in one of the event's featured films
By the numbers
35 volunteers600 labor hours to complete110 feet of cardboard walls47 feet long18 feet wide1,200 square feet of cardboard2 miles of various types of tape220 10-inch sticks of hot glue$500 total budgeted cost, though it came in under that2 hours the maze was on display
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Local artist Eddie Bridges led the crew of volunteers who made the maze.Bryan Dyer and Mont Overton helped work on the giant totem head, while James Bruneau did the huge playing cards. Matthew Dutton made the Minotaur head and the kilt.Others who helped were Zac Holbrook, Brandy Carter, Debbie Pancake, Sarah Morgan, Tony Mraz, Ronnie Arnold, Amanda Cagle, Danny Reyes and Jimmy Sowell.Volunteers involved in the preliminary build were David Vogt, Kate Williams, Lisa Darger, Paul Whetstone, Delaney Arnold, Phillip Greer, Jeff Lingerfelt, Jennifer Somerset, Tifton May, Christopher Khan, Heather Sparks, Pam Janson, Kate Theune, Dylan Bales, Ory Weaver and Sarah White.
In the 2017 film "Dave Made a Maze," Dave builds a cardboard maze in his living room that takes on a life of its own through a mysterious supernatural power fueled by his own imagination. He adds rooms, multiple levels, deadly booby traps and just as lethal creatures like a minotaur and origami cranes. It becomes so big, Dave, and later his girlfriend and friends, become lost inside.
The 80-minute film by Bill Watterson was one of nearly 100 movies shown last weekend at the Chattanooga Film Festival, and festival organizers Chris Dortch and Rose Cox wanted something special for the opening-night kickoff party at the Imax 3D Theater.
They reached out to local artist Eddie Bridges and several other local creatives who like a challenge. And just like the maze in the movie, the local replica "took on a life of its own."
"The big goal at the beginning was to try and do a full-size movie replica of the key things, and we were taking measurements from screen shots and things like that, but after a week, we started doing our own thing," Bridges says.
Cox says the idea for the maze came after a random comment from Dortch. As in the past, the two were trying to think of ways to involve people in the local arts community, like Bridges, who have done projects for them in the past. She says both she and Dortch are big fans of "Dave Made a Maze," which stars comedian/actor Nick Thune as the title character.
"One night Chris said, 'Wouldn't it be cool if we made a giant maze,' and I said, 'Hold on, let me ask Eddie.'"
She says she was extremely happy with the result and just as happy that all of the volunteers were into the project.
"You never know if you've asked too much of volunteers, but they seemed to love it, which was great."
For Dortch, the maze summed up their goal for the weekend.
"The movie itself is about imagination and a guy who was bored and wanted to reconnect with that inner child and it became bigger than himself," he says.
"The weekend is about four days of imagination in these films, so it was a perfect way to set the tone. Eddie has done little things for us in the past, so I should not have been surprised that he would make this so big and great."
Key pieces, like a maze-within-the maze room, a minotaur, a giant totem head, huge playing cards and an enormous trompe l'oeil eye, were included.
About 35 people played key roles in creating the piece. Bridges says he realized pretty quickly that the people who'd volunteered to help were talented. "I knew I should let them do art, and I should be doing spreadsheets."
He says the project came in under budget and ahead of schedule. So much so, they had time to create a cardboard Army tank that was on the sidewalk in front of the Imax during the opening-night party.
"It was generally stress-free and a delight to work on," Bridges says.
Bryan Dyer and Mont Overton helped work on the giant totem head, while James Bruneau did the huge playing cards. Matthew Dutton made the minotaur head and the kilt. All are key items in the movie maze.
It took about two hours to construct the maze at the Imax, where it was on display for another two hours. It was then dismantled and most of it taken to be recycled. While Bridges says he loves ephemeral art, he couldn't part with all of it.
"I took some of the key pieces to JJ's [Bohemia] and hung them on the wall. They are just so cool."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.