Mini-film fest

Last week, I attended a mini film fest on our campus (Truman State University).
It was a cool event. The Residential Living office gave 7 video cameras
to seven teams and sent them off. They had 3 weeks to shoot a 3-8
minute short. They premiered last Friday night to a group of mostly
students (and me) at the late-late hour of 11pm. I struck up a
conversation with folks around me, who happened to be one of the
filmmakers who later won the award. His name is Brian Rose.

Anyway,
it was a great idea. Most of these were edited, a number had some
interesting special effects. Brian’s piece – a sort of expose to music
about the prices of items on campus and the spending of the Student
Senate – actually had some stop-motion animation in it. All in all, I
felt all the pieces were a couple notches higher than what I expected.
One was a strange, surreal piece in mostly German with English
subtitles. They all seemed to focus around making fun of the typical
elements of college life — demanding professors, getting to class on
time, turning in papers late, etc. But it was obvious a lot of heart
went into it.

I’ve been dialoguing with Brian since then. I
learned he finished shooting his first feature and is currently editing
it. The concept sounds interesting, and it’s a silent movie, so not
having the sound issue should make editing a bit easier. But he also
shot a number of elements in 16mm and Super 8, so it’s a bit more than
your average miniDV movie. Keep tuned here for details. Maybe I can
convince him to throw up a trailer or some shots for you.

Anyway,
it’s good to see the independent film spirit alive and well on campus.
There are a few more resources now than when I was a student a short 5
years ago. Better equipment, a film club, and events like this. It’s
pretty exciting, and I’m hoping there’s still room for an old guy like
me (27? I sure don’t FEEL old yet…) can still tap into the system and
make some positive contributions.

If you’re interested in what I
was up to in my college days, you might want to search around the site
for Dumping Jenny, our first feature film back in 2000.