Spin (Jamin Winans)

In a deserted alley within the depths of downtown Denver, a DJ angel by the name of Scratch (played by Hayze II) drops from the sky along with his gear and an assignment: to reverse a series of events and right the wrongs.

Using his turntable and knobs, Scratch views the area of the commons where a variety of people are going through the motions of their everyday lives. The street performer break dances for dollars, some boys from Federal are getting machismo and territorial, a man is breaking out some bills for a quick fix from a drug dealer, and a mother walking out of the store with her daughter drops a basketball from her recently purchased bag of toys.

Scratch sees how this basket ball has caused havoc as a bicycle messenger avoids it, only to go headfirst into an oncoming car. Reversing time through the backspin of the turntable and with a slight twist on the deck, Scratch sends the ball in another direction the second time around. Where the wit and humor come in is with the frustration of seeing his second attempt have a worse outcome than the original space in time, like a screaming old lady on a wheelchair going into the car instead of the bicylist (well, I thought it was funny). Each time he thinks all is well and packs up his gear, only to find out that the situation gets worse every time. 

With eyes glaring Scratch finally gets it right, finely tuning his gear and orchestrating the sequences and people to all live in harmony. The drug dealer ends up throwing his bills into the street performer’s kitty, the east side boys decide to confront each other another day, and the old lady stands to dance with her aging husband (that last part was kind of corny).

As Scratch starts to walk away content, the little girl’s doll loses her head. With a heavy sigh he quickly reverses the outcome one last time, and with that, you can almost hear him say, “That’s it. I’m getting the hell out of here,” as he literally runs away and the scene darkens to a close.

The short, seven minute film is rich in content but free from dialogue with a complete focus on the people. The concept of turning back time to change the outcome of events is not a new one, but how the characters are protrayed, how different people connect or confront each other based on biased thinking or racial prejudice makes you think. Using a DJ and a turntable as a time machine is also unique and interesting, coming from the mind of director Jamin Winans of Double Edge Films in Denver.

“It made me wonder what would happen if just a touch of mystery was thrown on the turntables and everyday people, places and evens could be influenced by the flow, speed and direction of a record,” Winans explains. The young director has been at this whole filmmaking thing since he was 14, launching his film company with Joe Sekiya in 1998.

Filmed in two weekends in the Riverfront area this past June, 35 hours were editing and produced down to what you see now. If you viewed any postings on MySpace for a car, a bike and two of the characters in the film, it was for Spin.

The drug dealer in the short film is played by Raymond Andrew Baily, who is also the lead actor in their full length film, 11:59, which has been accepted by the Montreal Film Festival that takes place at the beginning of September. 11:59 is of a jaded news journalist who breaks a huge story, only to wake up in a deserted field with no memory of what has transpired in the last 24 hours or how he got there. As the movie unfolds the suspense and mystery gets more complex as he tries to unravel his own story, using his journalistic skills and self analysis into his own life.

11:59 got three screening times in Montreal, and then the crew is off to the Kansas International Film Festival, which takes place September 9 – 15.

To view Spin, go to:
http://www.doubleedgefilms.com/spin/player.html

To view the trailer for 11:59 go to:
http://www.doubleedgefilms.com