Student Films Screened; WSC film night coming Dec. 8
Dec. 1, 2011 (by Laura Anderson, "Gunnison Country Times") -- As the year 2012 creeps closer, the scare of potential apocalypse has many people curious — if not a little concerned. One student at Western State College of Colorado (WSC) decided to use her skills as a filmmaker to chronicle reactions to the looming date.
A scene from Chappin Everett's film, "14'er Demeanor"
Stephanie M. White, junior communication and theatre (COTH) major, made a film about the doomsday prophecies of 2012, called “Morning’s Light.”
“I’m basically trying to debunk Mayan prophecy by explaining the astronomical, religious and mathematical equations and prophecy to say how it’s not going to come true,” White said.
White hopes her film will inspire.
“I hope when people see it their perceptions on life will be different,” she said.
White’s film is one of many that can be seen at the semi-annual student film night.
Most of the films featured come from a documentary filmmaking class, headed by professor Jack Lucido. He encouraged his students to get out of the classroom and into the community this semester in their quests to feature local subjects in short documentary films.
“It’s a goal for the semester,” said Lucido, “They create film and I don’t want it to just die at the end of the semester. It’s great to let the campus and the community see the work of these young film students.”
- "Sher-p" by Frank Huschitt
- "Morning's Light" by Stephanie M. White
- "Creating Awkward Fiction" by Sarah Rodriguez
- "Orientation" by Eric Peterson
- "RAffice" by Gunnar Daugherty
- "Find Them" by Karly Reibling
- "14'er Demeanor" by Chappin Everett
- "Underground Sound" by Alan Meyer
- "Mario Mayhem" by Cody Banks
- "Small Business Big World" by Meg Ansteensen
- "Can't Stop Dancing" by Emily Edwards
- "Bad Wrap" by Sarah Rodger
- "Oscar" by Matt Miller
- "Summer BOARD'N" by Brendan Sullivan
The 14 short films from the class feature people and places in the Gunnison Valley and beyond. Subjects range from a look at Residence Life at Western, to the training of avalanche search and rescue dogs, to what it takes to run the W Café.
According to Lucido, the assignment was pretty straight forward: Make a film that is 10 minutes or less that explores actuality, or non-fiction. Pre-production — the preparatory part of filmmaking — was also emphasized so students had to coordinate and plan their shoots.
“It’s difficult to research, shoot and edit a film in 16 weeks,” said Lucido, who anticipates that his students will continue to work on their films in post-production even after they have been screened.
Frank Huschitt, senior communications major, chose the Sherpa family, which owns and operates the Sherpa Café in Crested Butte, as the subject of his film “Sher-p.” He is excited to see his film debut.
“I can’t wait,” Huschitt said. “I’ve been telling all my friends about it. I put dozens and dozens of hours into editing and filming, so it’s great to view the finished project.”
Lucido is also anxious to see his students’ completed projects.
“I always try to improve my teaching, which in turn will improve the quality of the work that students do from semester to semester,” said Lucido, “This semester is indicative of that. It’s the best documentary production class that I’ve taught.”
Lucido encourages the community to attend student film night on Thursday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Prosser Theater.
Also on the docket are 60-second films from an introduction to film production class.
Because of the popularity of the event, spectators who want a seat are encouraged to arrive early.
Story by Laura Anderson, special to the Times, and posted with permission from the "Gunnison Country Times."
