Song of Pumpkin Brown
Song of Pumpkin Brown was produced, written, and directed by Charleston-based independent filmmaker Brad Jayne in collaboration with Osprey Production Group. It was shot over seven days on-location in Charleston and on Edisto Island. Funded by a $100,000 grant from the South Carolina Film Office, photography on this independent short film project was completed in December 2006. The film’s unique combination of jazz music, stunning cinematography, uniquely structured script, and powerful performances, has created a momentum within the international film community even prior to its premiere.
Song of Pumpkin Brown incorporates source material and photographs from the Charleston Jazz Initiative’s (CJI) archival collection as a base for its script and cinematography. CJI is a jazz history and research project – an academic and community partnership — with the College of Charleston’s Arts Management Program, Avery Research Center, and several Charleston-based community leaders and organizations.
The film tells the story of a grieving ten-year-old’s discovery of the jazz trumpet in 1961 South Carolina. After the death of his preacher father, Pumpkin Brown is sent to the Jenkins Orphanage in Charleston. The film considers how creative expression and the emotions of the human experience are linked, told within the context of the Jenkins Orphanage and their vaunted music program. It is a fictionalized account of a true-life setting, and an homage to South Carolina’s considerable influence on the jazz community. Jenkins’ once proud music program — which was the real-life starting off point for jazz greats such as Jabbo Smith, Freddie Green, and Cat Anderson — has started to taper off as the need for the all African-American orphanage has diminished. But it proves to be a vital cog in the mechanics that will help Pumpkin Brown meet his destiny as a great creator of music – and one last product of Jenkins.
Song of Pumpkin Brown is Brad Jayne’s fourth short film in the last two years. Others include Le Croisment, a French language narrative short film, Search, a narrative short film, and When We All Get To Heaven, a documentary short film about the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Gospel Choir which was licensed by Documentary Education Resource based in Boston. Each has been broadcast on PBS television stations in South Carolina. Jayne is also a commercial producer having completed public service announcements and regional and national commercials. He has competed in major film festivals around the world including those in Savannah, Asheville, Charlotte, Las Vegas, London (Rain Dance), and San Diego (Cinequest). In 2004, Jayne competed in “Project Greenlight,” sponsored by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and co-produced by BRAVO and Mirimax Films. With 2400 entries in “Project Greenlight,” Jayne successfully competed to the last fifty filmmakers. Currently, he is acquiring financing for an independent feature film set in Charleston.
With a cast of local and regional talent, the exceptional production value of the Song of Pumpkin Brown has been met by a team of South Carolina-based creative professionals and student assistants. They include jazz drummer, C of C’s jazz percussion instructor, and CJI’s musical director, Quentin Baxter as producer and music supervisor; CJI’s co-principal, Jack McCray as script consultant; the artwork of Jonathan Green as a major production design element; and Director of Photography Lee Dashiell’s breathtaking high-definition cinematography.
