{"id":1885,"date":"2009-10-09T06:54:42","date_gmt":"2009-10-09T13:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=1885"},"modified":"2009-10-12T06:17:14","modified_gmt":"2009-10-12T13:17:14","slug":"2003-business-alumnus-hopes-to-exchange-spreadsheets-for-call-sheets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=1885","title":{"rendered":"2003 Business Alumnus Hopes to Exchange Spreadsheets for Call Sheets"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"clownfest1\"
Matt Weber \u201903 (far right), with his brother Mark (left) and Vappo the clown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the documentary Clownfest: Five Days in the Alley<\/em>, viewers learn about the working life of a clown. One fascinating aspect is that some clowns worked in corporate America before finding their true calling. A similar, seismic career change looms for the film\u2019s director and producer, TCNJ alumnus Matthew Weber \u201903<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Before being laid off in December 2008, Matt was an analyst at Credit Suisse Securities in New York City. Making Clownfest<\/em> has gotten him thinking, and not about reclaiming a foothold in the shaky financial world.<\/p>\n

Matt, 28, has fallen hopelessly in love with filmmaking.<\/p>\n

Pursuing that passion is risky (Matt\u2019s gone on job interviews befitting his professional past) but it\u2019s clear where his heart is. \u201cI\u2019d much rather be stressed out and have these questions about film and something I\u2019m creating than something as mundane as working on a PowerPoint presentation,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt made the short film with his youngest brother Mark, who studied television and media at Sacred Heart University. It focuses primarily on the participants and happenings at the titular five-day clown convention in Seaside Heights, NJ.<\/p>\n

Despite growing up with a family that, in Mark\u2019s words, \u201cwas always familiar with film,\u201d (their father Alan teaches TV production at Rutherford High School), Matt was more into sports. He played football at TCNJ, landed his finance degree in 2003, and immediately entered the work force, which he considered \u201cthe responsible thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until Mark started studying film in college, and the brothers would have intense discussion about TV shows like Weeds<\/em> and Entourage<\/em>, that Matt became interested in filmmaking. \u201cWe started to explore what it was like to get into this sort of industry,\u201d Matt says. With Mark returning to school and needing a senior project, the brothers kicked around ideas until a friend told them about Clownfest<\/em>. In summer 2007, two weeks before the event started, Matt and Mark went for it. They grabbed four cameras and a couple of friends from Sacred Heart to shoot on location.<\/p>\n

And an 18-month labor of love began.<\/p>\n

On Fridays, Matt would get off the bus from work and embark on the laborious aspects of making a movie, like research and reviewing stock footage. He then waited until Mark graduated in June 2008 to edit 60 hours of footage into a revealing, informative 37 minutes and 32 seconds. \u201cWe gave up all of our weekends to do that,\u201d Matt says. \u201cBy the end of the project, he [Mark] was probably sick of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark, who is cited as the film\u2019s editor, producer, and assistant director, admits he and Matt had creative spats, but that \u201cwe had to realize that this is bigger than our disagreements; it is a business and we need to be as professional as possible.\u201d He adds that working together was beneficial: \u201cWe almost know what the other is thinking or about to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"clownfest2\"Matt says that \u201cmutual respect\u201d\u2014Mark\u2019s relevant education and technical experience; his creative direction and project management skills\u2014kept them on course. And, yes, they want to reunite, only this time with a crew. They\u2019re already in the process of raising capital for their next project.<\/p>\n

In June, after seeing the movie with an appraiser\u2019s eye an estimated 400 times, an audience of about 100 joined Matt at the Hoboken International Film Festival. It was an amazing experience, he says. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what to expect, but to see it on the big screen, and to see people laugh when [we] expect [them] to laugh, said we\u2019re not crazy. We have a feel for what people want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what our screening committee liked most about the film was that even\u00a0in its\u00a0short\u00a0running time,\u00a0it showed many facets of this clown\u00a0gathering\u2014the fun, the\u00a0business, even the religion,\u201d says Lauren Bull<\/strong>, vice chairwoman of the HIFF, and a 2007 TCNJ alumna. \u201cLike any good documentary, it\u00a0takes you into a world you might otherwise have never experienced.\u00a0I think big things are ahead for Matt and Mark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that Clownfest<\/em> has finished its summer festival circuit (the NewFilmmakers Documentary Series and the Jersey Shore Film Festival), Matt is working to get the film entered in some fall festivals. A DVD with bonus feature will be available soon through the film\u2019s Website, www.fivedaysthefilm.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for Matt\u2019s career plans, film school is a possibility as is producing or directing. One thing is clear, movies will be prominent: \u201cThis is the industry I want to be in,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is what makes me feel alive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew Weber \u201903, a finance major while at TCNJ and former analyst at Credit Suisse Securities in New York City, is hoping to parlay his passion for filmmaking into a new career. His first documentary, “Clownfest: Five Days in the Alley,” examines the people and events that make up a weeklong clown convention held each year in Seaside Heights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":1887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-corner","category-october-2009"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}