Purdue University College of Liberal Arts

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Student News

  • CMA Music Festival Internships
    Students intern at one of the nation's largest music festivals.  See news release.


  • Digital Film Production PosterFREE: PREMIERE OF 16 ORIGINAL SHORT DIGITAL FILMS by PURDUE FILM VIDEO STUDIES MAJORS
    On Thursday, April 26th at 7:00pm, 16 original short digital films premiered at the Wabash Landing 9.  Each of these narrative films ranging from 5 to 8 minutes represents a semester's worth of work done by students in the Digital Film Production class taught in the Film/Video Studies program.  From horror to comedy to drama to suspense, it was two hours worth of entertainment!


    For more information contact:
    Jason Doty
    Producer/Director
    Video & Multimedia Production Services
    (765) 494-7091

  • Senior film student plans to 'make art' after graduation
    By Joey Marburger
    Publication Date: 04/23/07
    Features Editor    Print View        

    Certain jobs at Purdue come with guidelines (01/16/2007)
    Chad Rainey has options. And that's the way he likes it.

    As he watched the cars go by on Chauncey Avenue through his Bob Dylan-style sunglasses, Rainey realized he's ready to graduate. But he's not sure what he'll be doing.

    "I feel like having a college education has given me a golden ticket to the world," said Rainey, a senior in the College of Liberal Arts. "I can do whatever I want."

    Rainey spends his time at Purdue making film, his major, and playing keyboard in local rock outfit the Half Rats. A native of Indianapolis, Rainey plans to stick around Lafayette for a little while and stay with the band.

    "Lafayette has become this little environment that I'm comfortable with," he said. "People always want to get away from where they are and get to the big city but I'm just fine right here."

    The Half Rats are in talks with a record label in California, which Rainey hopes could keep him busy for a little while. But his real passion is film.

    "I like turning an idea in my mind into something on the screen," he said. "I don't really like being a director. I like producing and taking something and making it yours."

    One of Rainey's film classes will be debuting short films this Thursday at the Wabash Landing 9. His class was granted access to professional film equipment and had to work in groups with each member having a different task, such as director or sound guy.

    Whether he is doing film or making music, Rainey knows he wants to do something artistic.

    "I just know I want to make art," he said. "It might be experimental and not mainstream, but eventually the masses will catch up and realize what's good.

    "I want to be making something now that years from now people will look at and see my idea, my creation."

  • Purdue Film/Video Studies Senior Participates in the First Annual Midwest Undergraduate Film Conference at Notre Dame

    This spring marked the First Annual Midwest Undergraduate Film Conference held at Notre Dame on April 13-14, 2007. Michelle Carreon, a graduating senior in Purdue Film/Video Studies, gave a paper on Saturday morning of the conference.

    By the suggestion and encouragement of Professor Ben Lawton and also Professor Jennifer William, Michelle submitted a research paper entitled, "The Lens Between Us: An Analysis of Underground (1976), The Weather Underground (2002), and Film as Social Activism." The paper concentrates on the two documentaries that focus on the radical, leftist Weather Underground Organization of the 1960s and 1970s. She examines the films within the context of film as activism and focuses on the dynamics of documentary filmmaking and the roles, relationships and responsibilities of filmmakers and subjects. Michelle's paper questions the role of the film medium in social activism and attempts to situate it within social movement scholarship while examining the creative process involved.

    Twenty-eight undergraduate students were selected from Midwest colleges and universities to give 20 minute-long papers on various aspects of film and media theory, criticism, and history. Thirteen colleges/universities were represented at the conference, and faculty from Notre Dame's Department of Film, Television and Theatre and Dennison University served as chairs for the event.

    Throughout the two-day conference, student papers were divided into the following subgroups of film studies: National Identity and Film, Text/Intertext, Psychos and Psychoanalysis, Investigating Gender, Children and Film, Film and/as Social Instruction (the group in which Michelle spoke), the Soundtrack, Asian Action Cinema, Theories of/and Film, and Recent and Contemporary Horror.

    Michelle attended the Saturday morning and early afternoon portions of the conference and was able to be a witness to and participant for something truly special. It is not very often that undergraduate students are given the opportunity to show off their skills and research in front of their peers and professors in a conference-like setting, and Michelle feels very lucky to have had this opportunity and truly appreciates all of the hard work put in by the organizers that made the conference a success.

  • Last Chance PosterTake 5 with Tim: Ben Todd
    by TIM BROUK
  • tbrouk@journalandcourier.com

    It seems since the moment he got his Purdue University film diploma handed to him, Ben Todd has been confronted by naysayers and doubters.

    They couldn't believe that Todd, 24, would actually use his film degree to make a movie, and they especially wouldn't believe his first project since graduating in 2005 would be a 90-minute action/comedy/drama vehicle.

    But along with co-producer and screenwriter Lloyd Tate, Todd has finished his feature, Last Chance. Check out www.lastchancemovie.com.

    1. What is the premise of Last Chance?
    The main character is Rob (played by Kristof Robinson) who is hired to track down and kill The Professor (Ben Lawton, Purdue University film/video studies chairman). Rob is set to kill this guy, but he meets the old man's daughter (Carrie Long). Does he do his duty or choose to be with the girl?

    2 Why did you decide to go for the full-length feature?
    My first project while I was at Purdue was a 15-minute film called What We Make of It. I wanted to do a full-length, which was probably not the best idea, but I think I'm headstrong. A full-length is much harder to architect and produce. I had to direct, find music and do computer graphics. 

    3. How was it shot?
    We shot for about 40 days and edited for about six months. We used a digital XLI camera, which weighed about 10 pounds. It's much lighter than a film camera, but you had to be more careful. Any little movement you make would affect the shot.

    4 What got you interested in filmmaking?
    My parents divorced when I was 2, and we were raised by my mom. So we had to entertain ourselves, and that would come from movies we had at home. Then, going to the theater was such a treat and actually getting popcorn was a huge deal for me. Later, I started making video commercials of my swim team in high school, just telling when meets were happening, and I became comfortable editing and shooting video.

    5 What do you plan on doing with Last Chance?
    We already sent copies to Hollywood studios and distributors. We have interest from Echelon Productions for a direct to DVD distribution.

    Check it out: Last Chance will be premiered at 8:30 p.m. April 7 at Purdue University's Loeb Playhouse inside Stewart Center. Tickets are $10. A pre-screening concert with Mr. Quik and the Gunslinger will kick things off at 6:30 p.m. in the Purdue Memorial Union North Ballroom. The concert is free.

  • Purdue University Learning thru Stage Entertainment
    It is time once again to bring together those who are interested and begin the process of formalizing this organization. With that in mind, I wanted to take a moment to inform you of some of the things we have planed for this semester.

    We have two guest speakers who have committed to speak to the group. The first is Tommy Fulscher. Tommy has had a long and historic career in the entertainment industry and is the president of a company called Distinctive Light. His humorist approach on the business should be well received and he is scheduled to speak on the subject “How to survive in Show Business” Tommy is a Nashville TN. resident and is a free lance Set Designer, and lighting designer specializing in high end architectural and landscape lighting. A link to his web sight can be found here. http://distinctivelight.com

    The second speaker is Rocky Harrison. Rocky is another long time industry veteran who has worked in the production business for the likes of Arista records, MTV, Harry Connick JR, John Tesh, and many others. He has spent the last 10 years as the sole equipment tech for the Alan Jackson tour and is the author of “The Roadie Guidebook, a priceless collection of hard to find tips and information on being a roadie.” A link to his website and purchase information for the publication can be found here. http://rocktheroadie.com

    Next semester we will be hearing from at least two others, John Hueber, who is a Belmont University graduate and is currently making his first full length feature film, will be speaking to us about the film industry. Once John wraps production in mid December he will visit next semester to discuss the processes of making movies, from securing financing all the way thru distribution deals. We will also be speaking with several members of the creative post production facility at MooTV. This group is responsible for the production of several #1 music videos and countless corporate and DVD projects.

    There are also plans for a few field trips to events that are somewhat local, and several pieces of new equipment that will be made available to the student population on a loaner basis. If you are interested in being a part of this organization, please respond to this e-mail in the next few days so that I may get an idea of the number of bodies to plan for. We will be looking for special projects, ideas, opportunities, etc…to fill out the semester.

See also the article in Documentary (November/December 2006).

I just received a copy of “Status: It’s only a State of Mind, Mak Hossain’s latest film. Many of you will remember him from classes and for his “Three Beauties,” which won the 2006 Student Oscar Bronze Medal. (link to FVS web page, Alumni, Mak Hossain). Set in LA, “Status” is quite literally continents away from the setting of “Three Beauties,” but it is equally sensitive and beautiful. I asked Mak to send me a couple of stills and to tell us something about the making of the film and about his life in L.A. He sent what follows along with the jpgs.

OVERVIEW

My latest short film, Status, tells the story of an Iranian asylum seeker struggling to open the INS envelope holding the decision to his legal status in the States. Coincidentally, the idea of the film was inspired by a conversation I had with Ben Lawton while visiting Purdue last fall.

PRE-PRODUCTION

From writing the first draft of the script to authoring the final DVDs it took me a solid 13 months to wrap up this 11 minute short film. The journey started back in Aug 2006. Fresh off the Student Academy Awards, I had just moved into my new apartment in one of the ghetto areas of Los Angeles, squeezed between the infamous gangbanging areas of Crenshaw, Inglewood, Torrance & El Segundo (this is the neighborhood Tarantino grew up in, his high school is a block or two away from my place).

After finalizing the script I introduced myself to a superb DP, Rashed Zaman who had been working independently in Hollywood for 3 years. Rashed in turn introduced me to my Producer, Jahan Hassan. Together, we worked really hard on pre-production (shot lists, lighting schemes, location scouting, casting, rehearsing etc.) aiming for the highest quality achievable with the means available to us.

PRODUCTION

We shot the film on a 3 day schedule with the Panasonic HVX 200 camera (mounted with p2 cards, PS Technik adapter and 35mm lenses). The shoot had it's challenges but we tried our best to turn every situation into the film's strength. I was lucky to have a talented and experienced crew: my production designer - Tanya Passidore had worked on a number of Sundance and Student Academy Award winning shorts (Pop Foul), the sound designer - Jonathan Wareham had 15 years of industry experience and had worked with the likes of Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood, one of the still photographs taken by my DP - Rashed Zaman was selected to be on the cover of National Geographic published 'A Little Peace' (April, 2007) and my Producer - Jahan Hassan had two features under his belt. So, I was in good company, all around.

POST-PRODUCTION

We wrapped up the shoot on Jan 19, 2007 and spent another 7 months on post (a lot it was just waiting for the next check to cash, so we could work on the mix or something else). Right now, I'm in the process of sending out Status to the 3fs: family, friends and festivals. I'm extremely proud of the film, especially because it's very different from my last film, Three Beauties.

PRETENTIOUS (BUT TRUE!) WORDS OF WISDOM

> If you want to be a filmmaker, don't talk about, don't think about it, do it...make films. It' the most rewarding experience ever!

> 90% of filmmaking is casting and crewing.

> A film lives & dies in pre-production.

> If you can't take the stress in directing, you can't direct.

> Trust your instincts!

THE FUTURE

Currently I'm writing a feature length screenplay about the September 11, 2001 experience told from the perspective of an Arab student enrolled at a Midwestern university in the States. After completing the screenplay, I would like to shoot a short film based on the feature screenplay in order to entice investors for the feature film. 

Los Angeles is the Mecca of filmmaking! If you are ever in the area or would like to get the inside scoop on how I got a performance out of an actor doing cocaine on the set of Status, feel free to email me at makhossain@hotmail.com or visit www.makhossain.com (which should be live pretty soon!).

Till next time...

Ciao

Mak Hossain.

  • Crystal Dahl obtains prestigious MARC/AIM Award to work on research project entitled: "Spike Lee: Portrait of a Controversial Black Director"

    Crystal Dahl, a Junior, majoring in Film/Video Studies and Communication, was chosen to be among the extremely fortunate students from around the world selected to participate in the Purdue University MARC/AIM Summer Research Opportunity Program (June 6 – July 31, 2004).

    The MARC/AIM Summer Research Program has the goal of enhancing diversity in academic, government, and industry positions that require graduate degrees. It is our aim to encourage talented undergraduate students from social and economic backgrounds that are underrepresented in research careers to pursue graduate education, and to enhance their preparation for graduate study. This program involves intensive research experiences with faculty mentors. All qualified students, including but not limited to African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American, are encouraged to apply. Participants will be selected on the basis of their interest in pursuing a doctoral degree, relevant college coursework and grades, letters of recommendation, a resume, and their ability to contribute to the goal of the program.

    Ms. Dahl worked with Professor Ben Lawton, Chair of IDIS Film/Video Studies on a project entitled: “Spike Lee: Portrait of a Controversial Black Director."  Abstract: Spike Lee is unquestionably the most famous African American director. He is also, arguably, the most controversial. In his public pronouncements and even in the name of his production company, “Forty Acres and a Mule," Lee is pro-Black. He is outspoken in his condemnation of the pandemic racism that has cast a dark shadow over the history of this country. However, in his films he frequently depicts aspects of the African American community in a manner that is less than flattering. Why this seeming contradiction? In order to answer this question Ms. Dahl researched and studied interviews, books, and articles by and about the director as well as viewing all of his films. She prepared and annotated filmography on each film and an annotated bibliography on every article, book, and interview. Furthermore, Ms. Dahl also screened a number of Spike Lee’s films for participants in the MARC/AIM program as well as for members of the Purdue to see if and how age, gender, ethnicity, and race affect perceptions of the filmmaker.