This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Superfan, a film by Amy Banas ’04 (Bixby, Okla.) and Paul Germain ’04 (Coral Springs, Fla.), swept the Jury, Filmmakers’, and Audience Awards at the documentary film festival held Monday night in the Oechsle Hall auditorium.
The festival was comprised of films produced and directed by students in an upper-level English course taught by Andrew Smith, assistant professor of English and chair of the American studies program.
Superfan is a portrait of Wilmer Bonnie, a “fanatical” and dedicated booster of Lafayette sports who attends many practices and is a fixture at games.
“The film is also something of a portrait of two Leopard basketball stars — Colleen Fitzpatrick and Mike Farrell,” says Smith. “The film integrates cinematography of Lafayette basketball games, old photographs from the college archives, interviews, pep band and Courduroys music, and effective editing techniques. The film is impressive in the arc of emotions it traces and in its respect for an uncommon subject. It depicts a facet of the ‘Lafayette Experience’ that is unknown to many and invaluable to others.”
An estimated audience of 230 attended the screening of nine student films, each seven to 13 minutes long, on interpretations of “The Lafayette Experience.”
Runners up were Doc’ing the Doc: Adventures in Documentary by Jaclyn Smith ’07 (Saugus, Calif.), Jury Award; Fitting In by Maura Dailey ’04 (Oreland, Pa.) and Heather Danchak ’04 (Clarks Summit, Pa.), Filmmakers’ Award; and Like Sunshine After Rain by Mike Farrell ’04 (DeLand, Fla.) and Pam Roth ’04 (Manalapan, N.J.), Audience Award.
Members of the film jury were Suzanne Westfall, professor of English; Paul Barclay, assistant professor of history; Robert Walls, part-time visiting lecturer in American Studies and VAST; Bianca Falbo, assistant professor of English; Naoko Ikegami, Japanese language specialist, editor, and translator; and Bob Duncan, systems librarian, Skillman Library.
The films will be recorded on DVD and a copy will be kept at Skillman Library.
John O’Keefe, manager of instructional technology, taught the students the FinalCut Pro program and worked with them on the filming and editing portion of the class.
The other filmmakers and their documentaries:
The students were charged with creating a short documentary film — complete with features such as a score, titling, and ending credits — on the theme of “The Lafayette Experience,” building on what they had learned earlier in the class. The first course assignment was to edit raw footage into a 60-second film, which entailed using techniques in FinalCut Pro such as transitions, panning on still images a la Ken Burns, altering color, and adding a soundtrack. The students’ second major assignment was to shoot their own footage on “The Lafayette Experience” and construct a storyboard for the documentary.
The class covers documentary history and form, says Smith, and the students were prepared to make their films by seeing, discussing, and reading and writing about documentaries. Conversely, making a movie of their own has helped them understand documentary films better.
“What’s great is that these guys came together as a serious communityThey pushed each other, supported each other, looked at each others’ films, and gave feedback,” says Smith. “They’ve been putting hour after hour into this. They’re really been in a frenzy of excitement about shaping their films into something they’re comfortable calling finished, and putting them out there for people to see and talk about.”
Space for digital editing will greatly increase when the $22 million expansion and modernization of Skillman Library is completed, notes Smith.
“None of this would be possible without a lot of help from Instructional Technology, particularly John O’Keefe,” he adds. “He’s worked in the industry and knows the software better than anybody. When things have been difficult and problems need to be solved, John’s been there for the students. He’s enabled them to call themselves filmmakers.”
The class has sparked interest in starting a film society at Lafayette that Smith believes will form next school year.
“There seems to be a buzz spreading about this class and the fact that the library will have a lot of stations where people can do digital editing,” he says.
Plans are underway to offer more film-related courses and incorporate filmmaking technology into the Introduction to the Study of Film class next school year.
1 Comment
Comments are closed.