rainbow experiment film

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The Rainbow Experiment

The story takes place in a high school where things spiral out of control when a terrible accident involving a science experiment injures a kid for life. The story takes place in a high school where things spiral out of control when a terrible accident involving a science experiment injures a kid for life. The story takes place in a high school where things spiral out of control when a terrible accident involving a science experiment injures a kid for life.

• Christina Kallas
• Christian Coulson
• Francis Benhamou
• 10 User reviews
• 18 Critic reviews
• 2 wins & 13 nominations

Top cast 48

• David McKenna

• Anna Guerrero
• Jamie Freeman

• Shannon Ball

• Alis Willmore

• Tomas Prasec

• Michelle Genet

• Nicky Kazan

• Amy Williamson

• Jason Philips
• Toni McKenna

• Lisa Dhawan

• Ross Fairchild
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User reviews 10

• Aug 22, 2019
• January 20, 2018 (United States)
• United States
• Το πείραμα του ουράνιου τόξου
• Writers Improv Studio
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 2 hours 9 minutes

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The Rainbow Experiment

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Critics Reviews

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Christina Kallas

Christian Coulson

Francis Benhamou

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David McKenna

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Christina Kallas' 'The Rainbow Experiment' watches as a student's dire injury provokes chaos at a Manhattan high school.

By THR Staff

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A Manhattan high school dealing with a violent accident has a rougher day than might be expected in The Rainbow Experiment , Christina Kallas’ unconventional ensemble drama. Much more interested in its adult characters — parents, faculty, investigators and more — than it is in the students whose lives are upended, the pic is a round-robin of interactions that often have little or nothing to do with the teen left comatose by the mishap. While its quirky storytelling style draws viewers in, many will tire of the subplots long before it reaches the two-hour mark.

Matty Fairchild, who’s as white and bright and blonde as his name suggests, is the boy in question, who was badly burned during a chemistry experiment involving a Bunsen burner and chemicals that produce different colors of flame (the title’s “rainbow experiment”). He’s currently in a coma at a nearby hospital, but he’s also viewers’ guide to the action back at school: Connor Siemer plays the smart-ass spirit who pops up where he doesn’t belong and speaks directly to the camera, introducing characters who can’t see or hear him.

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Release date: Dec 07, 2018

Those introductions are handy, given how many players the cast includes. A few of Matty’s classmates earn the film’s attention — Toni (Christine McLaughlin), the troubled girl he has a crush on; JC (Richard Liriano), the tough kid being abused by his father — but they’re far outnumbered by grown-ups who are thrown into panic mode by the day’s events.

Jess, the pinched-face principal (Patrick Bonck), feels the most heat, dealing directly with both parents and investigators from the Board of Education while trying to defend chem teacher Ms. Dhawan (Nina Mehta) from accusations of negligence. But when parents start arriving at the school (they’ve all been called for an afternoon briefing about the accident), most are also dealing with worries barely related to the accident. An alcoholic father goes off on a detective mission when he learns his kid is buying drugs; Matty’s dad mixes grief with self-pity over being too young for all this (he looks barely older than the actors playing students); a Greek man who is only tangentially related to the school picks locks to sneak in and start talking about theology.

“Tangentially” is the key word above. In twos and threes, actors perform what appear to be improv-workshop scenes, riffing about backstories and motivations the film can barely contain. A couple of castmembers aren’t quite as good at this as their costars, but Kallas and editor Natalie Reneau shape coherent scenes out of their performances. The bigger trouble is that these individual scenes could easily be drawn from a 15-hour TV serial — one in which we have time to care about which man the mild-mannered new substitute will go out with; whether the (closeted?) gay teacher will work up the nerve to ask the British cafeteria worker out; whether the principal’s estranged wife is going to kill herself on campus or make her way back home before she chokes down those pills she stole. Just when we think we’ve got a handle on the many competing mini-dramas, one character announces she’s late for an abortion and three others get stuck in an elevator. (The latter mishap is the work of the Evil Eye, says the Greek.)

Throughout, split screens and tricky editing effects emphasize the multilayered structure and hint that what we’re seeing isn’t necessarily the only way things could go. With this much happening, though, one version of everything is plenty.

Production company: Alliecine Distributor: Gravitas Ventures Cast: Connor Siemer, Richard Liriano, Patrick Bonck, Nina Mehta, Christine McLaughlin, Stratos Tzortzoglou, Lauren Sowa, Swann Gruen, Christian Coulson Director-screenwriter: Christina Kallas Producers: Christina Kallas, Allison Vanore Executive producer: Donn Gobin Director of photography: David Sharples Editor: Natalie Reneau

130 minutes

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THE RAINBOW EXPERIMENT: Ambitious Education Epic Stretched Too Thin

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Teenagers are idiots. I can say this because I was one. They’re frustrating, infuriating, moody assholes, and they f*ck around and make stupid decisions that they might not realize ripple outward and effect people other than themselves. But teenage idiocy often finds itself complemented by adult incompetence, a concoction of inadequacy that can bubble over to disastrous consequences.

It Happened One Chemistry Class

At a high school in the heart of bustling New York City, class clown Matty Fairchild ( Connor Seimer ) is rushed to the hospital, pronounced comatose. The cause of such tragedy? A faulty experiment in Chemistry class at the hands of bewildered, traumatized teacher Ms. Dhawan ( Nina Mehta ), who sent Matty to the front of her class to participate in the experiment as punishment for being especially disruptive. The experiment is supposed to cause a series of different solutions to change colors, but when Matty drops a splint into the Bunsen burner, the flame erupts in a ball of fire and leaves him severely burned.

Investigators are sent to the school to question faculty and students in an effort to figure out exactly how an experiment set up to run without a hitch, went off the rails so gravely. The investigation acts as the jumping-off point for the rest of the story, working itself between flashbacks to the incident and present-day shenanigans; parents, students, and teachers alike seemingly unraveling at their seams over this calamity. The storylines of the mourning family of Matty, his heartbroken friends, the incompetent principal and frustrated, confused faculty, are among the many interwoven in the script to service the narrative of different forms of spiraling grief.

A Web Not Quite Well-Spun

However, the majority of the  film’s shortcomings can be attributed to technicalities – flat lighting, uneven sound, and rambling dialogue make the experience feel less like a cinematic fictional narrative and more like a truth-to-life documentary that wasn’t cut quite enough in the editing room. Scenes that might have felt tense or poignant instead drag on and contribute to inconsistent pacing, while too much exposition is consistently handed over robbing the potential for nuance or real mystery. We simultaneously know too much about these characters and not enough, and it furthers this feeling that we’re not really watching a narrative and more an unfolding of events that have no place being seen – not even for voyeuristic purposes.

There are admirable flourishes employed which, while interesting, make the story feel incoherent, such as the use of split screens and even quadruple screens. These depict multiple scenes happening at once, or even a single scene unfolding in a series of overlapping moments and dialogue. Though ambitious, they cause the film’s numerous threads to become harder to follow. Still, it is not a careless or poorly-produced feature. Despite any distracting technical flaws, there are constant glimmers of intrigue and genuine narrative strength that could’ve been given full reign if the script were tighter, and the characters more focused and better-acted.

The Rainbow Experiment : Conclusion

In a story that might have been an engaging and thought-provoking character study, the two hour runtime isn’t well-served. The clashing of teen and adult angst untangling one another in the face of tragedy instead fizzles out as opposed to tearing through in a blaze of emotionally-charged glory. It’s a strong idea that isn’t executed as it should have been in order to produce a wholly engaging piece, and though clearly created with care, The Rainbow Experiment  ends up less enthralling than its titular incident.

Have you had the chance to see The Rainbow  Experiment ? What were your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!

The Rainbow Experiment is currently available to stream!

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'The Rainbow Experiment': Delving Into Characters' Lives to Uncover Deep Emotional Truths

Director christina kallas works extensively with her actors until they become the characters, well before a single frame is shot..

Perhaps the most arresting thing about Christina Kallas's The Rainbow Experiment,  in an array of arresting things, is that its characters come to the screen fully formed, with their own special backstories, traumas, and histories which inform their actions and shape the story. The director's second film, which premieres at Slamdance today, Sat. Jan. 20, begins with an explosion and stays explosive. Ostensibly the story of a high school science experiment gone wrong which permanently injures a character, the movie is really the story of how disparate figures—administrators, parents, students—cope with the event. Some cope effectively, and some fall apart.

The film doesn't aim for neat, easy resolutions. Chips fall where they may, and in this case, that's far and wide. The performances in the film are outstanding, each one reflecting its own particular arc in the life of a character. And the story is housed in a visual hall of mirrors, as Kallas herself suggests. The cinematography is as expansive as the story, using perpetually surprising techniques to move us forward and also distort our impressions of events.

No Film School caught up with Kallas not long ago to talk about her film—how she made it, why she made it, how it evolved, and much more.

No Film School: You’ve said previously that you walk your actors through their characters’ past lives, and that sometimes that can be a very lengthy process. Could you say a little bit about the different activities you did to complete that process in the preparation for this film?

Christina Kallas: The way I work is I start with a screenplay which one would consider fully developed. I believe that story is structure, so my screenplays are extremely precise in terms of structure. I do color graphs, sequences, arcs—everything possible to make sure that it is well balanced and that I am creating an emotional experience for the audience. I am obsessed with multi-protagonist storytelling, so my screenplays have several protagonists and equally weighted storylines.

I will then start the workshop, which usually means that I invite actors I want to work with for the concrete project, to a weekly session of three hours. There are no auditions, no classic casting. Each week I set up three situations, three scenes. My intention is to see how a certain character will behave in a certain situation, how the chemistry between two characters is, how an actor feels in a certain character’s skin. The scenes are set up in front of the whole ensemble, and I use a method I have devised called emotional doubling to create a safe space for the talkback—one devoid of judgment, where everything can be addressed and where observation is more important than opinion. The actors remain in character throughout. Sometimes, the talkback, which involves the whole group, is even more exciting than the scene, sometimes it will flow naturally into a continuation of the scene.

Now, this whole process is very fluid. If I feel that a combination is not right or that a casting choice does not bring out the full potential of a part, I will adjust it. If a character resists, I will look into the why, and maybe push them even more in that direction. Sometimes I will drop a storyline or a character because one of the actors stops being available to me. I never replace an actor. You see, at this point the character and the actor are one. And like in life, certain people take more space than others; meaning: they are open to showing more of the complexities of the human condition. So I will create more space for them. In a sense, it is like when you have shot the film and you are now editing. Certain things have turned out more exciting than others. So you give them more space, while recalibrating the balance of the whole. This is what I do to my screenplay as we go.

Not once do we specifically touch upon the events in the screenplay. Everything we experience in the room has to do with the character’s past lives or with what-if situations. For instance, I may have the character meet her mother, when she was the same age as her. Once we start shooting, none of the actors know what will happen—or what the film is about. In the traditional way of working, the actors know more than the characters because they have read the whole screenplay. My actors only find out when they see the finished film. That allows for a different kind of performance.

NFS: I see a lot of emotional growth in this film, or at least a lot of cases in which individuals are pushed to the point of inner crisis. What did you want the film to say about how learning—not so much education by itself but perhaps the superficial meaning of the word, e.g., teachers, books—and the more profound meaning of the word—in the sense of self-discovery—interlock?

Kallas: It’s interesting to think of the correlation between these two things. This is a film set in a public high school, and education is what a school is for. But our educational system is not concerned with educating us emotionally or with making us fit for living together. I do believe that the lack of emotional education is one of the main reasons for the current systemic failure.

" In terms of the emotional growth in the film: I start shooting when I have all the characters at the point I need them to be."

Perhaps a school is not the right place for emotional education. Perhaps it is the purpose of art, but then again, art is not considered very important or indispensable in our current society—in the way Ancient Greek dramas were for society then. They were so very important, because they were serving as emotional education—what some scholars call the poets' solution to the riddle of civilization. They were meant to forge compassion and to cultivate the civilizing emotions. Aristotle, who everyone refers to in order to support predictable and didactic dramaturgy, did not in fact see drama as superficial entertainment in the sense of escapism, distraction or diversion. He spoke of the double goal of entertainment and awareness. Drama should not only increase enjoyment, he said, but also enrich experience and knowledge. This presupposes stories that challenge the audience, that broaden the spectrum of their experience since they intrinsically represent an experience themselves. 

In terms of the emotional growth in the film: I start shooting when I have all the characters at the point I need them to be. Which means that they are pushed to the point of inner crisis, as you say, they are in a pressure cooker—each one of them for their own complex reasons. Now, do the characters change in the film? Do they grow? I do not know. This is a matter of perception and interpretation. Some do, some stay the same.

NFS: How do you see the split-screen functioning in this film?

Kallas: Split screen editing allows for vertical as well as horizontal juxtaposition of different scenes and storylines, and ultimately for a different, more visceral and compassionate perception of the story and its complexities. I write the split screens into the screenplay because I need to shoot each frame for a certain length and create complimentary mise en scène so it all matches up, and this takes an incredible amount of planning. There’s so much detail going into the creation of something that is moving constantly in terms of its composition and that is meant to allow several levels of perception. One can never be done watching. There’s always something more to see—a different combination, another level one wasn't able to perceive before. I make films that invite multiple viewings. I love the idea of seeing films either as windows into the world or as paintings of the world. But there are films that are neither. Those films, my films, are mirrors.

NFS: How important was improvisation in the film? And, by extension, how important was the script?

Kallas: When we start shooting, everything is controlled but actor-focused. I devise a plan for when I will give pages to which actor—so that I do not destroy the freshness of the experience. Which means that the actors get pages, but as long as they cover what is on the page, they are free to live it as their character should. Some will use that freedom more than others.

I never do blocking, but I will sometimes do a walkthrough. I shoot each scene in one take. I then adjust and we go again—till I have everything I need. I don’t spend the actors’ energy getting as much coverage as possible, because authentic performance is more important to me than traditional coverage of a scene. My cinematographer and I have worked together over two films now, so he has a very good understanding of what I need to be able to cut the film. In The Rainbow Experiment, there was one scene I had to shoot in the classic way: shot/reverse-shot, close ups, actors not in emotional continuity, the works. This is not how I like working, but it was a crowd scene and there was no other way to do it, given the time and space limitations we had.

The script is, by the way, more important in this way of working than in the traditional way. Even with all the work that goes into the characters beforehand, you have to place improvisation in the context of a cogent narrative. Films that employ improvisation are more dependent on a clearly defined narrative than are more traditional productions—both for the individual scenes as for the whole film. And when the time comes to edit, you follow the screenplay while maximizing the potential of controlled improvisation through imaginative editing—combining moments from different takes, using emotional logic and rhythm. It’s like making music.

"T here are some characters who are the same in both films—only they have made a different decision at some point in the past, and they ended up in a different version of their life."

NFS: What is the difference between right and wrong in the small universe this film creates? I ask because characters seem to be alternately calling for and rejecting our sympathies constantly here, through their actions, and I’m wondering what your thoughts were about relative morality as the film was in development.

Kallas: This is a deeply philosophical question, and I would hope that someone watching the film would answer it with: there is no right or wrong. And this is indeed my mantra when working with my actors. I keep saying, there is no right or wrong. There is no good choice, neither as an actor nor as a character. As in life, each choice leads somewhere else. It moves the cards around a bit. Ultimately, it looks like we always end up facing the same issues, whatever choice we make.

This is one of the reasons behind another one of my experiments: there are some characters who are the same in both films—only they have made a different decision at some point in the past, and they ended up in a different version of their life. See Alis, for instance, played by Lauren Sowa, or Sila, played by Laura Pruden, two of the actors who are regulars in my Writers Improv Studio Ensemble: their circumstances are very different in each film, still, deep down they are the same character. One does not have to watch both 42 Seconds of Happiness and The Rainbow Experiment , but if one did, one would have to wonder: do the different circumstances make them happier? What are the differences? And ultimately: would our life be so very different if we made different choices? I am fascinated by questions like this, and I have no answers—at least not in words. Perhaps there are no answers.

There is one more thing that seems important to address in relation to your question. You say that characters seem to be calling for or rejecting our sympathies. You see, what is fascinating to me is that different people will sympathize with different characters here—more so than in a traditional film. I am not trying to make anyone sympathetic. My only effort goes towards authenticity. And towards enabling compassion for everyone, and for the human condition. Truth lies in the simultaneous understanding and acceptance of all sides, in what on the surface looks like a paradox.

NFS: What would you say was the chief complication you hit during the making of the film?

Kallas: After the satisfaction of intertwining ten complex characters in 42 Seconds of Happiness , I became overambitious. I had so many great actors in my hands, who were all ready to do the work and explore the questions, that I got carried away. The Rainbow Experiment has 36 characters, and every time I became anxious, I reminded myself that one of my favorite films of all times is Altman’s Nashville . And that has the exact same number of characters. I thought that was a good omen—although it is a very different film of course.

NFS: To what extent could this film be seen as a uniquely American story?

Kallas: It is about American society. The characters are American, they experience life here, in this country. Many of the issues that the film addresses are issues that are now in the focus of public discussion in the US: the systemic failure of most of our institutions; public education and the state and meaning of education; the precarious situation of educators in a system which prioritizes competition and individual financial success over awareness and compassion; a system which rewards leadership qualities in students more than collaboration; illegal immigration and the fear of deportation in a country that was built by immigrants and that from the outside always seemed like the very proof that all nationalities, races and religions can indeed co-exist and enrich each other; and last but not least the manufacturing of violence. America is a pressure cooker of its own making, and this film is to me nothing less than an imprint of American society, seen from the inside out.

NFS: What experiences of your own did you draw on to write and create this film?

Kallas: When working with my screenwriting and directing students on their stories, I will often ask them what their moment of inspiration was—I believe deeply that it contains the whole story. My moment of inspiration for The Rainbow Experiment was when I received an e-mail from my son's school, informing me that two kids were injured in class and that they had been transferred to the ER. The e-mail did not mention any names, and for a moment there, I panicked. My first thought was: 'What if it is my kid?' The second: 'He is fine, but it's someone else's kid.' The third: 'Imagine being that teacher.' The fourth: 'Or the principal, for that matter.' And so on and so forth. In a few seconds, I had the whole cast of characters and their emotional states of mind in my head. And I could feel all of them, all at the same time—their vulnerability, their guilt, their anger, their sadness.

At that moment, I had such a deep compassion and apprehension of what it means to be a human being that I wanted to recreate that as an experience. And it was so intense that every time I got stuck later on, or when I forgot why I was making this film, it was enough to recall that moment of inspiration. It seemed to contain all the answers to everything I was struggling with—even if I cannot put them in words.

NFS: And, last but not least, what was the benefit for you of having Matty narrate the film? At the end (no spoilers!) he even reshapes the story he has told—what was the significance for you of his control, or lack thereof, over our vision of the events taking place?

Kallas: I am fascinated by the process of storytelling itself. You know, something happens, and we experience it a certain way. Then we tell the story to someone else, and our experience changes—depending on our emotional state of mind. Are we trying to impress the person we are telling the story to? To explain our choices? To establish ourselves as the victim? To put the blame on others? To call for pity? To ask for forgiveness? To find a way to forgive and forget? Watching Matty is watching that process happening. He does all these things and in doing so, he is an unreliable narrator. Like we all are.

Our fundamental tactic of self-protection and self-definition, our survival mode is telling stories, connecting and controlling the story we tell others—and ourselves—about who we are; and why we are that way. So the only way we can control reality is by controlling our storytelling—not to others but to ourselves. This is probably one way of understanding the ending. But it is not the only one.

• Emotional Truth in Film and TV ›

Rebuilding the Film Industry, Closure, Plus a $400 Doc Short

“we’re going to have this feral resurgence of indie filmmaking".

TV is oversaturated. California is too expensive to film in. Many audiences are underserved. It’s time we indie filmmakers rebuild the film industry on our terms.

Plus, we bid farewell to a beloved host of the No Film School podcast.

In today’s episode, No Film School’s Charles Haine, GG Hawkins, Jason Hellerman, and guest Janek Ambros discuss:

• Not waiting on labs or studios to give you the green light
• The influx of people looking for jobs in the market
• Needing better streamer options for indie projects
• The benefits of serving an underserved audience
• Why the distribution process is vital
• Advice for people who think they are finished with their project
• The important reasons Charles insists on working in Davinci Resolve
• Why Charles is leaving the No Film School podcast
• The origin of the short documentary film, Ukrainians in Exile
• Why Janek wanted to keep the movie so simple and so short
• Advice for documentary filmmakers

Ukrainians in Exile : A Documentary Short Film

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This episode of The No Film School Podcast was produced by GG Hawkins .

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Currently you are able to watch "The Rainbow Experiment" streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads or for free with ads on VUDU Free, Tubi TV. It is also possible to rent "The Rainbow Experiment" on Apple TV, Amazon Video online and to download it on Apple TV, Amazon Video.

Things spiral out of control in a high school in Manhattan when a terrible accident involving a science experiment injures a kid for life.

Where does The Rainbow Experiment rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

The Rainbow Experiment is 3511 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 1434 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun but less popular than It's Not Yet Dark.

Streaming charts last updated: 1:16:18 PM, 08/22/2024

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The Rainbow Experiment (2018)

Things spiral out of control in a high school in Manhattan when a terrible accident involving a science experiment injures a kid for life. A who-dun-it with a how-they-saw-it leads to an explosion of emotions touching the teachers, the parents, the school authorities and, ultimately, the students. Uniquely told from the perspective of the victim—whose phantom figure guides us through the story, but who in reality is still fighting for his life in the hospital—the film tackles the ongoing drama from every angle. This winding, extravagant, propulsive film takes you on a wild ride and challenges you to see beyond what may happen, what you may want to happen, and what you may have missed while it was happening to what may not have happened at all.

Genre: Drama

Director: Christina Kallas

Producer: Christina Kallas, Allison Vanore

Cast: Chris Beetem, Francis Benhamou, Isaiah Blake, Patrick Bonck, Peter Boustani, Julianna Capuano, Nicholas Careaga, Maggie Champagne, Jason Clare, Catherine Cobb Ryan

Gravitas Ventures is an all rights independent film distributor – bringing you the movies you want in theaters and On Demand. Gravitas is a cutting edge 21st century independent film distributor with the ability to release a film in over a billion homes worldwide.

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Film Review: The Rainbow Experiment

It’s not every day you get a chance to see a SLAMDANCE Original film without flying to Utah, so I jumped at the chance to see Christina Kallas’ award-winning film, The Rainbow Experiment ’s premiere at the Hollywood Arclight Cinemas.  Add in the fact that this film is produced by Ms. In The Biz’s own, Allison Vanore and I was eager to get that buttery popcorn and my butt in the seat.

Prior to the film, the filmmakers had a small gathering in the lounge, and I had the chance to catch up with Allison, who before introducing me to Christina, reminded me that this is the film she had come to me a few years back who were interested in my crowdfunding services.  Ultimately, the film didn’t need to crowdfund, but this same filmmaking team is now crowdfunding for their 3 rd feature film in this series, Paris is in Harlem

I say series, because one of the unique things about how Christina writes and casts her films, is that she’ll tend to re-use some of her cast members – as their original character- in subsequent films.  Sort of like, grabbing Charlie Brown, and putting him in the Scooby universe, as if it’s no big deal, and he’s always been there.

Christina’s films are known for the way they play with time, perception, and multiple protaganists; The Rainbow Experiment takes this to the extreme.

I use the phrase “travel thru this film” – because watching The Rainbow Experiment – is a TRIP.  Throughout the film, the filmmaker employs a split-screen technique- often times with as many as 4 different screens happening simultaneously.  Thus, depending on which square catches your attention, determines which key plot points you’re picking up from your seat.

This technique for me, was sometimes distracting, but always interesting, and frankly quite maddening at times.   Due to the split-screens being used continuously throughout the film, you can literally be experiencing a different film than the person sitting next to you.  It would be interesting to watch the film again and pick up on other elements you may have missed the first time around. Trippy and maddening are the best words I can use to describe this feeling.

The film is fast-paced, and chocked full of interesting characters, and fascinating sub-plots. Without giving away any plot points, the film toys with the notion of how all of our actions and reactions have direct and sometimes immediate consequences – which by the end of the film left the audience contemplating – what would have happened if A, B, and C, did not happen, or if only B had happened, or if they happened in a different order.

This is a film, that leaves you with more questions than answers.  Luckily, we had an opportunity to ask those questions after the screening. During the QnA hosted by Tema Staig of Women in Media, the audience had many questions.  We also learned a bit more about Christina’s filmmaking process – from her actor workshops to her actual shooting process.

As an actor myself, the process that Christina puts her cast thru was extremely intriguing to me.  The way I understood it, the cast is gathered a few months before shooting and they enter into an intensive phase of workshopping their characters and growing their relationships with the other characters, (in this case the actors that play the other students, the teachers, the parents).   They workshop different scenarios and build back-stories with each other, that aren’t necessarily shared with the entire cast.

When shooting begins, the actors are given the freedom to improv in between the written words – as long as they get from point A to point B.  The written script dictates those points, but, is only given out to the actors on an as needed, shooting basis.  Which means, no one was given their script ahead of time, and certain characters are kept in the dark about what happens in different areas of the script in order to keep this ultra-real, ultra-urgent, fast-pace that lands on the screen. It was absolutely fascinating.

I highly recommend The Rainbow Experiment, and if you’re an actor, get on Christina Kallas’ radar, she’s going to go to some really fun places in her career. The Rainbow Experiment , is coming to Los Angeles for a week-long theatrical run at  Arena Cinelounge Hollywood beginning Dec 7th simultaneously with the nation-wide release On Demand (Dec 7), followed by BluRay/DVD (Dec 11).

SCREENINGS:

Dec 7,  Fri: 7:40 PM Dec 8,  Sat: 2:50 PM Dec 8,  Sat: 5:00PM  (ROOFTOP SCREENING) Dec 9,  Sun: 8:55 PM Dec 10,  Mon: 4:35 PM Dec 11,  Tue: 8:20 PM Dec 12,  Wed: 9:15 PM Dec 13,  Thu: 4:40 PM 

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Home » Slamdance 2018 Review: The Rainbow Experiment

Slamdance 2018 Review: The Rainbow Experiment

Throw a pebble at a window and you might not break it, but the impact will crack it and send long tendrils of damage throughout the pane. No matter how hard you might try to repair it, the glass will forever stay broken. The same can be said for communities. Consider the case of a chemistry class gone wrong in an unnamed New York City public school in Christina Kallas’ The Rainbow Experiment (2018). Faced with a rowdy, inattentive class, chemistry teacher Lisa Dhawan (Nina Mehta) calls over the students for an experiment that will hopefully quiet them down. With a beaker of solvent, a Bunsen burner, and a stick, she demonstrates how different chemicals create different colored flames. But the class grows even more chaotic, led in part by bad boy Matty Fairchild (Connor Siemer). At the end of her rope, Dhawan calls Matty over to repeat the experiment. Only this time, the beaker of solvent erupts into a fireball, melting off half the boy’s face. This is the impact moment, the place where the pebble hits the glass that shatters the student body, the harried teachers and administrators, and the frenzied parents who—after a clerical error—all received vague emails suggesting that their children may have been the one hospitalized. Throughout its indulgent 2+ hour runtime, Kallas meticulously traces each of these cracks as they travel further and further away from the initial accident and how they weave friends, enemies, and strangers together into an unescapable web.

The Rainbow Experiment is above all an ensemble piece designed to magnify dozens of powerful performances. Skillfully guided by Kallas, the scenes were all shot in one take while allowing room for improvisation. The naked immediacy of the drama and the urgency of the strained emotions suggests John Cassavetes at his most indulgent, especially as school and police investigators start peeling back the other characters’ emotional and psychological defenses. Mehta gets a show-stealing scene where she tearfully recounts the accident to a group of indignant firefighters before the teachers’ union liaison can swoop in and help her. In his few scenes Richard Liriano projects a pulsing yet understated pathos comparable to early Marlon Brando as JC Caraballo, Matty’s best friend who wears sunglasses partially to help his sickly eyes and partially to hide bruises from his abusive father. The beleaguered Principal Williamson (Patrick Bonck) is spot-on as a desperate man worn down by decades of thankless work; we sense he would be equally unprepared to deal with the ferocity of hundreds of furious parents even if he wasn’t dealing with his unstable ex-wife. And Kevin Kane is devastating as David McKenna, a frantic father of one of the chemistry class students who discovers his child has started taking drugs to deal with his alcoholism. And hovering above it all is the unseen, omnipresent Siemer as the ghostly Matty, acting as Greek chorus, audience proxy, smirking narrator, and accuser of all involved.

If Kallas can be faulted for anything, it’s her ambition. There are simply too many characters, too many subplots, too many interconnecting relationships to keep track of. Kallas’ hyperkinetic editing style mixed with frequent split-screens between multiple points of action make it difficult to follow. By the end when two characters threaten each other and a room full of parents with handguns, we realize we have no idea who these people are, how they got the guns, and what exactly they want. Eventually one comes to appreciate each scene as an independent piece of micro-theater. If Kallas had whittled her cast down by a third and gone a little easier on the kaleidoscopic split-screen, The Rainbow Experiment would have been stunning. But as it stands, it’s too frustrating to overlook the forest for the trees.

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Nathanael Hood

Nathanael Hood is a 27 year old film critic currently based out of Manhattan with a passion for all things cinematic. He graduated from New York University - Tisch with a degree in Film Studies. He is currently a writer for TheYoungFolks.com, TheRetroSet.com, AudiencesEverywhere.net, and MovieMezzanine.com.

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The Rainbow Experiment (2018)

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Things spiral out of control in a high school in Manhattan when a terrible accident involving a science experiment injures a kid for life.

Christina Kallas

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Christian Coulson

David McKenna

Chris Beetem

Jamie Freeman

Francis Benhamou

Anna Guerrero

Laura Pruden

Sila Dawson

Lacy Marie Meyer

Shannon Ball

Vandit Bhatt

Naomi Warner

Heather Baines

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The Rainbow Experiment

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• The Young Folks Nathanael Hood If Kallas had whittled her cast down by a third and gone a little easier on the kaleidoscopic split-screen, The Rainbow Experiment would have been stunning. But as it stands, it's too frustrating to overlook the forest for the trees.
• Film Threat Bill Arceneaux Don't let the many characters fool or overwhelm you, as it isn't some sort of exam for the audience. There are many details hidden and expressed directly in each shot that gives the story obsessive something to salivate over.
• Eye for Film Jennie Kermode Part mystery, part soap opera, part critique of how adults understand and interact with young people, The Rainbow Experiment bites off a silly amount and manages to chew most of it with gusto.
• Hollywood Reporter John DeFore While its quirky storytelling style draws viewers in, many will tire of the subplots long before it reaches the two-hour mark.
• Film Inquiry Brianna Zigler It's a strong idea that isn't executed as it should have been in order to produce a wholly engaging piece, and though clearly created with care, The Rainbow Experiment ends up less enthralling than its titular incident.
• Quelle Movies Raquel Stecher raw, powerful and experimental... expertly explores the failure to communicate between adults and teens.
• Solzy at the Movies Danielle Solzman Kallas shows some promise as a director...it's one that's heavy on cast with way too much going on from start to finish.

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The Rainbow Experiment

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Product Description

The story takes place in a high school where things spiral out of control when a terrible accident involving a science experiment injures a kid for life.

Product details

• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 3.5 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Christina Kallas
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Subtitled
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 2 hours and 9 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ November 11, 2019
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Christian Coulson, Kevin Kane, Chris Beetem, Vandit Bhatt, Robert Z. Grant
• Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
• Producers ‏ : ‎ Rebecca Brillhart, Margaret Rose Champagne, Donn Gobin, Christina Kallas, Stratos Tzortzoglou
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Gravitas Ventures
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07HQ7HVB8
• Writers ‏ : ‎ Christina Kallas
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #3,186 in Fantasy DVDs
• #6,069 in Science Fiction DVDs
• #13,352 in Horror (Movies & TV)

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Particle streak velocimetry: a review

• Published: 20 August 2024
• Volume 65 , article number  130 , ( 2024 )

Cite this article

• Dapeng Zhang 1 , 2 ,
• Cameron Tropea 3 ,
• Wu Zhou 1 ,
• Tianyi Cai 1 ,
• Haoqin Huang 1 ,
• Xiangrui Dong 1 ,
• Limin Gao 4 &
• Xiaoshu Cai 1  

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Particle streak velocimetry (PSV) is a Lagrangian velocity measurement method based on streak imaging of moving particles and is regarded as the origin of particle image velocimetry (PIV) and particle tracking velocimetry (PTV). Recently, the PSV technique has undergone further developments, realizing measurements of three velocity components in three dimensions (3D3C), by combining with stereoscopic observation, defocused imaging, light field photography and /or holography. Moreover, image processing algorithms based on deep learning have been successfully applied to PSV. Compared with PIV and PTV, the PSV technique can exhibit several advantages, including extending the upper limit of the velocity measurement range under the same equipment conditions, measuring with lower illumination intensity, often an overall lower equipment complexity and cost for the same measuring requirement, as well as avoiding the particle matching problems of PTV. However, the PSV method also has obstacles to overcome, such as directional ambiguity and the difficulty in identifying streak crossings. For the directional ambiguity problem, there are currently time-coding, color-coding, brightness-coding and determination methods using additional image frames that can be employed. The main application areas of PSV currently include microfluidics, high-velocity flows and large-scale flow field measurements. This review presents the state of the art of PSV and summarizes advantages, disadvantages, accuracy, complexity and application of various configurations. The configurations discussed are focused on those measuring three velocity components and several examples are described in which PSV can be advantageously applied. The review concludes with some future developments that can be anticipated.

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This work was sponsored by the foundation of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52376163), National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Aerodynamic Design and Research (No. 614220121050327) and National Foreign Expert Project (No. G2023013010).

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School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Jungong Road, Shanghai, 200093, Shanghai, China

Dapeng Zhang, Wu Zhou, Tianyi Cai, Haoqin Huang, Xiangrui Dong & Xiaoshu Cai

School of Energy and Environment, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Aerding Street, Baotou, 014010, Nei Mongol, China

Dapeng Zhang

Institute for Fluid Mechanics and Aerodynamics, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 64287, Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany

Cameron Tropea

National Key Laboratory of Aerodynamic Design and Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Youyixi Road, Xi’an, 710072, Shaanxi, China

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DZ was involved in conceptualization, writing-original draft and investigation; CT was responsible for writing-reviewing and editing, and supervision; WZ contributed to project administration, funding acquisition, supervision and writing-reviewing and editing; TC took part in supervision; HH conducted the investigation; XD assisted with resources; LG acquired the funding; and XC helped with funding acquisition and methodology. All authors critically revised the manuscript and gave final approval.

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Zhang, D., Tropea, C., Zhou, W. et al. Particle streak velocimetry: a review. Exp Fluids 65 , 130 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-024-03857-2

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Received : 13 February 2024

Revised : 20 May 2024

Accepted : 10 July 2024

Published : 20 August 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-024-03857-2

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