In the summer of 2023, Wichita State student Logan Bodenhamer volunteered to work on set for Sod and Stubble, a feature film about Kansas pioneers.
Bodenhamer was initially on the game design path, but that experience made him rethink his career. Eventually, Bodenhamer created his own virtually produced short film, “Edge of Oblivion.”
“This is kind of my personal journey in a nutshell, I think, in the technical aspects of it,” Bodenhamer said. “I came from game design, and even though I’ve decided to pivot into film, I still love all of the tools that I use to create games, and the process of creating digital worlds, and that’s what initially inspired me to go into game design in the first place.”
The film, which seeks to capture the feeling of being stuck in the orbit of a black hole, originally started as Bodenhamer’s Practicum Three project during his senior year at Wichita State. While looking for inspiration, Bodenhamer recalled his fascination with black holes and thought back to the source, the film “Interstellar.”
“I saw that film in my high school physics class, and that kind of just sparked a fascination with astrophysics in general, but specifically black holes,” Bodenhamer said. “And after that, I kind of just always wanted to try making one.”
Bodenhamer was also inspired by shape language, or the use of shapes to convey emotions in “Dune: Part Two,” and sought to create visuals that were equally grounded in science fiction and actual science.
“I wanted to create a ship that kind of blended, the more fantastical, futuristic elements, while also having some more grounded design language in it,” Bodenhamer said. “But I really was inspired by how ‘Dune’ had this striking shape language, you could just visually tell all the silhouettes and everything, it just stuck out in a very unique way.”
After completing the class, Bodenhamer would continue expanding on the project and spent most of the production process on visual effects work, which was a big challenge for him. Compositing, or layering the different visual elements, was particularly difficult.
“There were some grueling hours, especially there at the end, during compositing, where I was doing like, 14-hour days, just getting through all the shots,” Bodenhamer said. “But it was worth it in the end.”
Even though the effects work was challenging, rendering the black hole itself was a highlight for Bodenhamer.
“There was lots of real physics and light ray equations and that kind of stuff that had to go into it to make it work physically accurately, but it was a really fun experience to learn all that,” Bodenhamer said. “I mean, I love physics and understanding how it works and that kind of thing so it was challenging, but it was cool.”
Working with his fellow digital arts students to complete the project was also a highlight.
“I got a mob of film students that came and wanted to be on the crew for the project,” Bodenhamer said. “So I had a crew that was probably larger than I needed it to be, but it made set up and tear down so smooth, and they were all wonderful people to work with.”
Bodenhamer’s professionalism and efficiency in the studio were notable to sophomore actor Nicholas Drier.
“It was one of the best experiences I’ve had,” Drier said. “Logan is a very organized director, and he knows what he wants from you.”
Director of Photography and fellow alumnus Luke Barrett also commented on Bodenhamer’s professionalism and tenacity.
“Logan is a machine. That is the best way to put it,” Barrett said. “His work output is unmatched to almost anyone I have ever met.”
Overall, Drier was impressed by the completed film.
“It is easily the best looking and written film I have been a part of,” Drier said.
Edge of Oblivion has already gotten some buzz at festivals, the most recent one being the Los Angeles Lift-Off Film Festival, which is part of the Lift-Off Global Network.
“It was a pretty interesting experience, because it was my first online festival, which was kind of hosted through Vimeo, but I got access to a lot of other films as a part of it,” Bodenhamer said. “There’s 150 in my category alone. Yeah, it was a lot, but it was really exciting to get the email, because that was the first festival selection I’d had outside of just a small local event in Kansas, which was pretty cool.”
The film will also be showing at the Salt City Film Festival in Hutchinson, KS, on Sept. 26, and more information about the production process is available on Bodenhamer’s website. As for future endeavors, Bodenhamer has a lot in the works.
“I’ve got more film projects I’m working on developing, both on my own end with friends that want to produce, some of which have the effects and some don’t,” Bodenhamer said. “I’m a fan of all types of filmmaking, and currently I’m looking at probably going out to LA to try and find more consistent work and really get on a lot of projects and build up a good foundation of experience. But we’ll see.”