BUCKHANNON — A short film is set for production in Buckhannon, and it’s written and produced by city native Rob Raffety.
“It’s the story of a brash young podcast journalist from Washington, D.C., on a missing person cold case assignment in rural West Virginia,” said Raffety, the writer, producer and director of “Muck.”
“I’m thrilled to shoot ‘Muck’ in my hometown,” Raffety said. “This production gives me a chance to feature some of the venues that I loved as a kid — Skateland, the Doughnut Shop and Sago swimmin’ hole, among others.
“I still love and frequent these places today when I’m back home. In general, I’m a big fan of Buckhannon, and wouldn’t trade growing up there for anything in the world. In some ways, I consider the town another character in the story. It’s just a very unique place that has a lot of personal meaning to me, so I want that to come through in the film.”
Production is slated on location in Buckhannon from Aug. 1-9. Venues to be featured in the film include Skateland, the Centennial Hotel, West Virginia Wesleyan College and the Doughnut Shop.
The film will be shot by Travis Edwards of 5414 Productions, known for the documentary “Dog by Dog.”
The main character in “Muck,” journalist Albert Edwin Carter, will be played by Danny Gavigan.
Raffety is a back-to-back grand prize winner of the SpeakeasyShorts Film Challenge.
He also is the producer of the hit comedy web series “Cap South,” which started in 2013. Some of his earlier films can be found on his YouTube channel, “raf365247,” but he said it’s not the home of his best work.
More known for comedic short films, Raffety is tackling a darker subject matter with “Muck.” He said the film is like “Fargo” meets “Winter’s Bone.”
“At its core, ‘Muck’ is a mystery,” Raffety said. “We follow a journalist — Albert Edwin Carter — on his quest to discover what happened to a missing person in Upshur County back in the late 1990s.”
Raffety said Carter comes up with a theory and tries to piece together the puzzle through interviews with townsfolk.
“He realizes this case is far more complicated than he initially imagined,” Raffety said. “I don’t want to give away too much, but what Albert discovers will raise more questions than answers, which forces him to make difficult choices about the ‘facts’ he reveals and withholds from his podcast audience.”
Raffety said the story may be fictional, but its premise is believable. His father, Upshur County Commission President J.C. Raffety, said he already has a theory for the mystery behind the film, but he won’t reveal his thoughts.
J.C. Raffety said he is proud of his son and how far he has come.
Rob Raffety said he and his father used to rent a VCR and several tapes on weekends, which helped spark his interest in filmmaking. However, without the progression of technology and websites like YouTube, Raffety said he may never have had access to everything he needed to get started.
“I’m one of the many people who benefited from the digital revolution — the democratization of technology, so to speak,” he said. “There’s no way I could be doing this at any other time in human history ... there are a lot of people succeeding with creative endeavors that would not have been possible even a decade ago. It’s remarkable.”
Although filming isn’t set to begin until August, Raffety already has been working on the film’s other aspects.
He has worked with numerous musicians in Buckhannon and Elkins to produce a soundtrack for a recently released teaser trailer, “Buckhattan.” The trailer is modeled after the opening of Woody Allen’s “Manhattan.”
The teaser features an Appalachian adaptation of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” It’s called “Appalachian Rhapsody” and is performed by the West Virginia power quintet T.K. Swoop and the Taylor Ave. Track Stars.
One of the musicians who worked on the adaption is guitarist Thom Keating.
“I’ve grown up listening to Gershwin and playing bluegrass, so the challenge of balancing one with the other was very intriguing from the beginning,” Keating said.
West Virginia Wesleyan College Theater Department Chair Tommy Schoeffler, a former classmate of Raffety, has helped him scout venues and make connections with the Buckhannon Community Theater for extras in the film.
Also, the film’s camera crew has visited Buckhannon under the guidance of Raffety’s childhood friend, Cody Hollen, so they can familiarize themselves with the area.
“There’s a lot of local interest in the project, and that’s a fantastic feeling,” Raffety said.
Although it isn’t mandatory to fully understand the film, a series of “Muck” episodes will be podcast from late summer into fall. They’ll be brief episodes about five minutes in length and will reflect events giving rise to the story in the film, Raffety said.
The podcasts, and more information, can be found at www.WelcomeToTheMuck.com/podcast
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