ABSTRACT
One film’s failure leads to another film’s success. The runaway success of Akil Dupont’s film Underground flowed from his previous film’s failure—and what he learned about himself and his creative process. For Underground, Akil honored his own process and created the world first, then placed his character in it. But the opening scene of the film changed after production. The song was about digging, with no digging actually happening, it resulted in a failed scene that was first recorded. Akil wrote a new opening song and scene of Underground the day before pick-ups were scheduled. Several things dropped from the original song but the perspective of Bali became honed and tightened and became the centerpiece song of the film. And, Underground went on to become one of the FSU Film School’s most screened student films, nationally and internationally.
