- 12 years ago
Short Film / Comedy / Musical (2002) 13 minutes ~ Color
Jasper Dean loves music. Some say he loves music too much. You see, when he hears a beat he must dance, in fact, he can’t stop. Jasper's father, Jed, was a musician. He left to go on the road when Jasper was just three years old. Jasper used to dance to his father's music all day long until his feet would bleed. Jed knew he wasn't coming back, so he told Jasper, "As long as you keep dancing to the music, I'll always be in your heart and you'll always be in mine."
In Jasper's home, Shinola, West Virginia, the town's people don't know what to think of Jasper's uncontrollable dancing. Some think he's possessed; others have more "colorful" explanations. One thing is for sure, his fate awaits him at the Shinola County Fair. This year the fair features Jericho, "America's number one banjo pickin' sensation". Jericho plays for one reason...to honor his father's dying wish. You may not believe in fate, but you will believe in destiny.
Director: Ian Harris
Writers: Robert Duchaine, Ian Harris
Stars: Ron Morey, Bryan Kellen, Michael Pace
Jasper Dean loves music. Some say he loves music too much. You see, when he hears a beat he must dance, in fact, he can’t stop. Jasper's father, Jed, was a musician. He left to go on the road when Jasper was just three years old. Jasper used to dance to his father's music all day long until his feet would bleed. Jed knew he wasn't coming back, so he told Jasper, "As long as you keep dancing to the music, I'll always be in your heart and you'll always be in mine."
In Jasper's home, Shinola, West Virginia, the town's people don't know what to think of Jasper's uncontrollable dancing. Some think he's possessed; others have more "colorful" explanations. One thing is for sure, his fate awaits him at the Shinola County Fair. This year the fair features Jericho, "America's number one banjo pickin' sensation". Jericho plays for one reason...to honor his father's dying wish. You may not believe in fate, but you will believe in destiny.
Director: Ian Harris
Writers: Robert Duchaine, Ian Harris
Stars: Ron Morey, Bryan Kellen, Michael Pace
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00This is Jasper Dean.
00:29Jasper Dean loves music.
00:31When he hears a beat, he must dance.
00:35In fact, he can't stop.
00:37This morning we're going to the Shinola County Fair.
00:40They've always got lots of music and bands and stuff.
00:45Jasper can dance his heart out all day long.
00:48Folks in town say he's possessed by the devil.
00:52I don't know anything about all that.
00:54I don't study much science.
00:55When's your boy going to quit pickin' that?
01:00He ain't going to stop playin'.
01:03There's still something he's dancin'.
01:05Go on boy, get it!
01:07His daddy taught him how to play that band game.
01:10And on his deathbed, he told him, as long as you got people dancin', well then you just
01:18got to keep on playin'.
01:20That way it'll always live on in your heart.
01:24Well see, he can't stop dancin' as long as music's playin'.
01:28That was his daddy's wish.
01:42So what are you whittling there?
01:44Stick.
01:45I meant, what's it going to be?
01:47Pointed.
01:54Pointed.
01:55Pointed.
01:56Pointed.
01:57Pointed.
01:58Pointed.
01:59Pointed.
02:00Pointed.
02:01Pointed.
02:02Pointed.
02:03Pointed.
02:04Pointed.
02:05Pointed.
02:06Pointed.
02:07Pointed.
02:08Pointed.
02:09Pointed.
02:10Pointed.
02:11Pointed.
02:12Pointed.
02:13Pointed.
02:14Pointed.
02:15Pointed.
02:16Pointed.
02:17Pointed.
02:18Pointed.
02:19Pointed.
02:20Pointed.
02:21Pointed.
02:22Pointed.
02:23Pointed.
02:24Pointed.
02:25Pointed.
02:26Pointed.
02:27Pointed.
02:28Pointed.
02:29Pointed.
02:30Pointed.
02:31Pointed.
02:32Pointed.
02:33Well, it plays like never before...
02:49This is Jasper Dean.
02:52Jasper Dean loves music.
02:54Some even say that Jasper loves music too much.
02:58How can one love music too much, you may ask?
03:01When he hears a beat, he must dance.
03:05In fact, he can't stop.
03:11Folks in town say he's possessed by the devil,
03:14demons or some kind of evil and like that.
03:19There's a ball dance anywhere, anytime.
03:23Church.
03:26The only person I know who dances in church is the devil.
03:30I don't know anything about all that.
03:33I don't study much science.
03:35So what can you tell me about Jasper Dean?
03:38Jasper is... I give it up to the man.
03:41He's amazing. He's amazing.
03:43It's like he's walking on water, basically.
03:46I think it must have been something in his family that he got it from,
03:51and I definitely learned.
03:54My father was meticulous about the craft that I do,
03:59and I'm not ashamed to say that that's what I do,
04:01that I'm a master craftsman.
04:03But he and I had both gone from being an apprentice, as it were,
04:10to a journeyman, to a master.
04:13We're both master craftsmen or artists.
04:19I love what he does.
04:21I watch his dance and it kind of inspires me.
04:25There's not a lot around here to inspire one.
04:29This morning we're going to the Shinola County Fair.
04:33They always got lots of music and bands and stuff at the fair,
04:38which is good because that's what can dance his heart out all day long.
04:42I got a banjo picker here this year. It's supposed to be something special.
04:45The boy's already over there at the stage chomping at the bit,
04:48just waiting to dance.
04:49Howdy, man.
04:51Sticks for Whitlin?
04:54Whittled sticks.
04:56Whittled sticks?
04:57Three whittled sticks?
04:59I wonder if nobody's here. What is this, a damn technology fair?
05:03Got a booth around here to wipe my butt for me, too?
05:06Ladies and gentlemen,
05:09please welcome to the stage America's number one banjo-picking sensation,
05:13Jericho!
05:16♪♪
05:36Jasper's daddy was a musician,
05:39and that man could play any instrument that you could name.
05:44Banjo, guitar, hop, spoons, jug, you name it.
05:51Okay.
05:53Trumpet.
05:56A horn.
05:59Used in a lot of jazz.
06:04So what are you whittling there?
06:05I like Jasper.
06:07He dances.
06:12I never did like his palm much.
06:15Move in here one day and just move in with my sister like that.
06:20He never did treat her right, though.
06:23Musicians ain't no good know-how.
06:26So what are you whittling there?
06:29Stick.
06:30No, I meant what's it going to be?
06:33Pointed.
06:35Personally,
06:38I think you're lying about who his daddy is.
06:42I think he's a damn negro.
06:44You can say what you want about the color,
06:47but they know how to dance.
06:49You make no qualms about using that racial slur?
06:53Hell, I don't drink.
06:56It's a negro dance, y'all.
07:14Jasper used to dance to his daddy's music till his feet would bleed.
07:18I told Jed, that was Jasper's daddy's name, Jed.
07:21I would tell Jed that while you go and make that boy's feet bleed again,
07:27but he would just say that you got to encourage a boy's love for music.
07:33Just been passed down from generation to generation,
07:36the dancing bug from kin to kin like a good truck.
07:42Like this place here.
07:44My daddy's a fire chief.
07:46His daddy's a fire chief.
07:48His daddy's daddy's a fire chief.
07:51Just like that.
07:53You might say fighting fires is in your blood.
07:56Fighting fires.
07:58Starting fires.
08:11I love this job.
08:13I put in 14-hour days.
08:16Is this your only job?
08:18That's it.
08:20But isn't this a volunteer fire department?
08:23I mean, how do you make a living?
08:25Don't you have a family to feed?
08:27We got pancakes on Saturday.
08:46I'm going to stop this.
08:54Bud?
08:56Yeah?
08:58When's your boy going to quit picking that?
09:01I don't know.
09:03I don't know.
09:05I don't know.
09:07I don't know.
09:09I don't know.
09:11I don't know.
09:13When's your boy going to quit picking that?
09:16He ain't going to stop.
09:18There's still somebody dancing.
09:20Come on, boy, get it!
09:22You see, that's my nephew there.
09:25That's his ma right there.
09:27She's a looker.
09:29She sure is a sight.
09:31Well, anyway, he can't stop dancing
09:34as long as your boy's picking.
09:36Before he could walk, he was dancing.
09:40My boy, his daddy taught him how to play that banjo,
09:43and he's been playing it ever since he was born.
09:46And then when his pa left...
09:48He went out on the road.
09:50And Jasper was just 3 years old.
09:54Now, his daddy unfortunately has passed away.
09:56So he knew he wasn't coming back,
09:58and he told Jasper that.
10:00And on his deathbed, he told him...
10:02He said, son, I'm going off to Georgia to be a star,
10:05but as long as you keep dancing to the music...
10:08As long as you got people dancing...
10:11laughs
10:13Well, then you just got to keep on playing.
10:16That way, I'll always live on in your heart.
10:19And you'll always be in mine.
10:39Well, you got to get your boy to stop dancing,
10:41because Jericho...
10:43Jericho, he got a weak heart.
10:45You know, his daddy died from a congenitive heart defect.
10:49Well, his heart was 2 sizes too small.
10:53And everyone in his family died from that same disorder.
10:56Hell, Jericho gets too excited,
10:59his ticker ain't gonna hold out.
11:08¶¶
11:23You got to be getting tired eventually.
11:26He's gonna die of old age.
11:28I'm gonna kill him!
11:31Oh, no, he ain't, is he?
11:38Your boy got to quit playing.
11:40He can't. He can't.
11:42As long as somebody's dancing...
11:44He can't stop dancing.
11:46My boy will not stop playing.
11:48Your boy got to quit playing.
11:50You don't understand.
11:52His daddy ordered him to keep on playing
11:54when there's somebody dancing.
11:56He ain't gonna stop dancing till your boy quit playing.
11:58He ain't gonna stop.
12:00Hey, hey, hey!
12:02Get off my boy!
12:04Get off my boy!
12:06¶¶
12:16¶¶
12:26¶¶
12:52Perhaps things would have ended up differently
12:54had Jasper and Jericho known
12:56that they died honoring the same father,
12:59Jed Dean.
13:01¶¶
13:07¶ Jasper's kicking, Jericho's picking
13:09¶ ¶ First one to greet's a big fat chicken
13:11¶ ¶ These here boys have got themselves a due
13:14¶ ¶ Can't stop picking, can't stop kicking
13:16¶ ¶ If they stop, gonna catch a licking
13:18¶ ¶ That's the gist of good old Pappy's rule
13:21¶ ¶ Keep on, dance on, play on my boys
13:28¶ ¶ Jericho's hurtin', Jasper's curtin'
13:30¶ ¶ Soul be dead, bones are in sub-squirtin'
13:32¶ ¶ Pappy's promise made them both a fool
13:35¶ ¶ Jasper's dead, Jericho's dead
13:37¶ ¶ Both get proms, Sir Pappy said
13:39¶ ¶ Boy, these Dean boys have themselves a due
13:42¶ ¶ Keep on, dance on, play on my boys
13:49¶ ¶
14:19¶ ¶
14:49¶ ¶