At 20 years old, Isaac F. Davis has accomplished much already.
He founded and licensed his own company, Identity Production Studios; studied at William & Mary; and produced a handful of independent films.
And on Friday, Davis, a William & Mary junior, released the official trailer for the production company’s latest film, “Solo Orange,” a film inspired by true events. The film follows a young man who suffers from anxiety and depression struggling “to cope with his inner identity.”
“Solo Orange” focuses on the main character’s internal dialogue and his interactions with those who care about him.
“We’re really ready to button up (the film) and bring it on home,” Davis said Friday.
On March 24, Identity Production Studios will host its first showing of the film at the Sadler Center at William & Mary, located at 200 Stadium Drive.
The 30-minute film will be shown in 4K, a high-quality version matching the quality of films shown in movie theaters.
The event will run for an hour, giving the audience an inside look at the process to create the film. The film’s four actors will also appear at the premiere.
“Part of our mission is also to educate people,” Davis said. “What does it really take to make a movie happen?”
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The film is based on experiences Davis had with a friend, John Van Bergen, who died in January 2018.
Davis said the film aims to give the public an inside look at the struggles a person goes through when anxious or depressed, or after they have painful memories.
The film starts with an introduction to the main character “setting the stage” for the types of thoughts and feelings the audience will hear as time progresses.
“The cool thing about it … is that all that wonderful heavy stuff is broken up with conversations he has with his three friends during the film,” Davis said. “You get those external interactions as well.”
Davis declined to say how the film ends.
Davis said William & Mary’s McLeod Tyler Wellness Center has assisted in promoting and funding the film. Some scenes were also filmed at the wellness center.
Other local businesses including several restaurants in downtown Williamsburg have also helped fund the film, which has relied almost completely on donations.
In total, Davis said the film cost around $20,000 to create. To make “Solo Orange” come to fruition, the Identity Production Studios team needed to purchase some 4K-compatible equipment and employ a William & Mary student to build a computer capable of handling the high-quality footage.
“One difficult thing was that, while we were shooting the film at first, we had no way to go back and look at the footage because we had nothing powerful enough to look at it with,” Davis said.
The “Solo Orange” webpage says the film is the second installment in a four-part series aimed at creating “content that speaks to real life situations and solutions.”
Davis and Identity Production Studios will pursue more projects after “Solo Orange” premieres.
“There’s always another project,” Davis said. “We don’t stop. There’s always something on the horizon.”
