It all started one day at the Art Slam Studio, a local nonprofit organization in Silverdale. They support local artists, and give them a chance to work on their art in a calm environment, and teach classes for other aspiring artists.

I think it was mid-July when Angie Kartischko told the story of Zane to the board. The Art Slam had never done anything like this before, but they were prepared to do everything they could to help Zane.

Zane is a five-year-old boy in the Bremerton area who was recently diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of cancer. His mom, Teremy Hurt, worked at the Jack-in-the-Box in Poulsbo and was not earning enough money to pay Zane’s hospital bills.

“[The doctor] sent us to Mary Bridge in Tacoma to do follow-up tests.” Said Hurt, “and about midnight that night we found out it was stage four Neuroblastoma.”

It was Zane’s dream to meet Batman, and the Art Slam made it their goal to make that dream a reality.

I was in the back room, working on some clay dragons to sell at the studio, half listening to the conversation going on between the board out front. I had no idea how big of an event this was going to be, or how big of a part I’d have in it. At this point, I had no idea what we’d even be doing.

The board slowly came up with a plan for a fundraiser for Zane and his family. They would hold it at a park, where the Joker would show up and commit a crime. Batman would come around the corner in a car that would hopefully look somewhat like the Batmobile, and announce that he needed Zane’s help to stop the Joker. They would chase him down and catch him, and then Zane would get an award. The original plan was to hold it sometime in October.

Stephani Morgan, the vice president of the board, contacted Patty Lent, the mayor of Bremerton, and asked when and where would be good to hold the event. Lent responded that they could do it at Evergreen Rotary Park, and suggested August 27th, because another event, the Pacific Islander Festival, was being held later that day and they could let us use their stage and microphone. August 27th was a little more than a month away… We had to hurry!

As the we started to round out our plan, we decided that the Joker should rob CJ’s Evergreen Grocery, a store across the street from the park.

One of the first things the slam did was find people to play Batman, the Joker, and maybe Harley Quinn. Art Slam members spread the news, and before we knew it we had Michael Nau to play Batman, Tylor Taylor to play the Joker, and Sarah Holley to play Harley Quinn. We also had Colleen Dobbin, our amazing costumer, make-up artist, and choreographer.

Next, we needed a Batmobile. A few of us had seen the perfect car up in Lacey a few months back, but we had no idea what it was or how to get ahold of one. After a bit of research, we found out it was a Polaris Slingshot.

“It’s gorgeous!” Said Dobbin. We needed to get one of those. Dobbin, Morgan and I went to Cliff’s Cycle Center to look at one. They were really nice about it and let us borrow one for free!

Now Batman had his car, but he needed to learn how to stage fight, and that’s where Dobbin came in. She taught Nau and the Taylor how to beat each other up, without actually hurting each other, while also coming up with new lines, like “I haven’t given you the punchline!”

At this point, we didn’t have a lot of time. We got downtown Bremerton businesses to sponsor us, and donate Batman themed stuff for our raffle.

The day of the event was hectic. We only had two hours to set up. Batman, the Joker, and Harley Quinn were still memorizing their lines, and finalizing their fight scene.

Then Zane arrived, and it all went so fast. The store was robbed, then Batman came!

“Zane!” Yelled Batman, “I need your help to catch Harley and the Joker!” Zane got in, they chased them down, fought until the police arrived, were awarded the key to the city, and then people began to donate… I was standing by with my camcorder, recording the whole thing. I had plans for that footage. I was going to make a full-length documentary.

We made over $900 for Zane, and the Pacific Islander Festival, who also raised money for him with their raffle, made another $600.

“Just seeing the little guy happy,” said Kartischko “It’s hard to put it into words.”

Even after the event, I was nowhere near ready to start editing. I had to interview the cast and crew so I could make a true documentary. The trouble was trying to get all the right people in the right place at the right time- which never actually ended up happening. I had to interview one person at a time, almost up until the premier date of the movie.

Then came the editing dilemma. I had Windows Live Movie Maker on my Surface Pro 3, which was okay for making two minute long videos. But trying to make a 45 minute long documentary on it was basically impossible. So I had to buy a completely new system, which, of course, my Surface wouldn’t run. So my dad bought a new computer. (We were planning on getting it anyway.) It was a Lenovo all-in-one. I downloaded the new software, PowerDirector 15, but I still had absolutely no idea how to use it! So now I had to learn how to use it AND make a movie… and by this time I was already back in school!

Luckily, (thanks to Google and YouTube) I learned how to use it pretty fast. It wasn’t hard to put the movie together, and before I knew it, it was almost done. I just had to get some last minute interviews, and put in some music.

The music was pretty easy, once I figured out what I wanted. I was planning on having an original score, but when that plan fell through, I decided to go back to my foolproof music provider, the YouTube royalty free music library. It’s not the greatest music, but you can usually find a track that fits with your video.

When I went to interview Zane’s mom, she had a 10-minute break from her job at Jack in the Box. It was raining outside, so we had to do the interview right in my mom’s car. I had heard Zane’s story probably twenty times, but it was hard to hear coming directly from his mom. I knew that if I used that interview at the very beginning and end of the film, there wouldn’t be a dry eye in the theater.

I finally finished editing and it was time to burn it onto the DVD. On my first attempt, it wouldn’t  play on the DVD player. After a couple of trips to Best Buy to ask questions, I tried again. And it worked! Well, sort of… it played on my home TV but not at the movie theater. So I had to try again… and again… until finally I pressed a button that I hadn’t pressed on previous attempts and it worked. I wouldn’t be able to tell you what that button was, though… Probably should have written that down…

The day of the premiere was December 10th, 2016. A cold, frigid Saturday. There was still snow on the ground from the day before. We arrived at SEEfilm Bremerton Cinema early in the morning to preview the movie one last time. It looked amazing, and all the sound worked perfectly. It made me a lot less nervous to see the movie in the theater before the actual premier.

At 3:00, we came again to prepare for the movie. We put up our table in the lobby and prepared the auditorium. People started to arrive at about 3:30, and they all wrote Christmas cards to Zane, who was in the hospital at the time. We all went into the theater, and I said a quick speech with Mayor Lent. Not a lot of people showed up, but enough for them to sound pretty loud when they clapped and laughed.
It was a big day for me, the Art Slam, and Zane’s family. I’m hoping to continue raising awareness about Zane and his family in Bremerton and beyond.

I am happy to report that Zane has been standing up, as well as playing video games. The majority of his tumors are gone, and he’s been feeling a lot better!