Marine Cpl. Trevor M. arlee films a scene of “The Setup,” a short film shot on Okinawa. Carlee’s film “Car Keys” recently played at the Okinawa Motion Picture Festival 2005. (Joel Abshier / U.S. Marine Corps)
Marine Cpl. Trevor M. arlee films a scene of “The Setup,” a short film shot on Okinawa. Carlee’s film “Car Keys” recently played at the Okinawa Motion Picture Festival 2005. (Joel Abshier / U.S. Marine Corps)
Lance Cpl. Martin R. Harris aims a toy pellet gun out the window, while Cpl. Trevor M. Carlee, center, records Lance Cpl. Joel Abshier during the filming of "Killing The Tension," a short film shot by Carlee on Okinawa. (Lawrence Torres III / U.S. Marine Corps)
CAMP HANSEN, Okinawa — Direction never has been a problem for Cpl. Trevor M. Carlee, a 22-year-old combat correspondent who writes and takes photos for the Okinawa Marine newspaper. For a decade, he’s known what he wants to do with the rest of his life: provide direction to others … on the big screen.
Carlee made his first movie — a short “Freddy Krueger-style horror movie” — when he was 12. He borrowed a VHS camcorder from one of his mother’s friends and the Hollywood bug bit.
“A lot of people say they want to be a director after watching a certain movie,” said Carlee, who hails from Baltimore. “For me it wasn’t an actual film; I’ve just always wanted to make movies.”
In his 10 years of directing, he has made more than 15 movies — the longest a 45-minute piece and the shortest a quick two minutes.
One of his latest pieces, “Car Keys,” was nominated for best film at the recent Okinawa Motion Picture Festival 2005 in Naha. It was the only American-produced film to be nominated for top honor.
The film didn’t place in the competition, but it was also just Carlee’s first submission to a film festival.
Carlee typically sticks to making movies in the “drama genre,” he said, but since being on Okinawa, he has made several comedies. “Car Keys,” for instance, is about a man who locks his keys in his car, calls a locksmith, and after hours of the locksmith unsuccessfully trying to free the keys, the man realizes it’s not his car.
“Marines provide more comedic material,” he said.
But when Carlee makes drama pieces, he tries to “make tear-jerkers. I don’t pull any punches, and the endings may not be the happy ending everyone is looking for.”
When the corporal’s time in the Corps is up this April, he plans to pursue his directing career full-time with a business he started: White Shepherd Productions. He plans to make documentaries for individuals or record weddings — then use the profits to make feature films. He has three scripts already written and a short-term goal: having one of his films entered in the famous Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, within three years.
Carlee said his time in the Corps has helped. His training as a combat correspondent helped him compose his films and training in editing software helped him polish his final product.
“Almost every day he comes up with two to five script ideas,” said Gunnery Sgt. Lawrence Torres III, Carlee’s supervisor. “The thing is, he’ll follow through with it … he’ll type up a script by the next day.
“I often ask myself ‘Where does this guy get his energy?’ The aspect that is going to make him a great success is that he pushes hard even when he fails.”
Carlee said although fame and success would be nice, he just likes putting his ideas on film.
“Even if I don’t become successful,” he said, “I’ll be doing this until the day I die.”
