Western Carolina University student Grant Gilliard looks at the monitor while WCU student Kris Naylor works behind the camera to capture footage of Terry Welch performing in the film “Black, White and Blue.”
(WCU photos)
CULLOWHEE – Films created by Western Carolina University students will be screened at the sixth annual Controlled Chaos Film Festival in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center on Friday, May 2.
The festival begins at 7 p.m. and features short works from a range of genres created by students from the Motion Picture and Television Production Program and the School of Stage and Screen.
“WCU’s Controlled Chaos Film Festival is a unique opportunity to see the hard work that student filmmakers put into projects that range from 15 seconds to 20 minutes long,” said Andrew Dyson, an event organizer and a senior from Spartanburg, S.C. “We hope that film lovers will come and enjoy a little bit of the ‘movie magic’ that they’ve come to expect from our top-notch film program.”
Featured at the festival will be two senior project films, “The Radical Notion of Gene Mutation” and “Back, White and Blue.”
Western Carolina University students, from left, Grant Gilliard and Samantha Hunt work on the film “The Radical Notion of Gene Mutation.”
A science-fiction drama, “Radical Notion” takes place in an alternate universe where the government pays for college in exchange for four years in the armed forces. A young girl, Cailin, must choose whether to serve her country or flee to Canada with a new love.
“Black, White and Blue” depicts a young girl, Sarah, and her struggle to overcome depression. The film includes several underwater sequences that required two students – camera operator Kris Naylor and actress Emily Pears – to become SCUBA certified.
Naylor said he was a little nervous at first taking SCUBA classes but that diving has always interested him, and the water scenes, which he captured with a GoPro underwater camera, seemed integral to the film.
“Sarah felt the loneliness and solitude from the water that she felt from her life, so these shots help express the intense emptiness that she feels,” said Naylor.
Students raised between $5,000 and $8,000 to create each senior project film and shot with a state-of-the-art F65 CineAlta camera that was donated by Sony to WCU last year.
“Both senior projects were shot on the F65, and we are very excited to showcase this special gift from Sony,” said Dyson.
Advance tickets to the Controlled Chaos Film Festival can be purchased for $8 cash in the School of Stage and Screen office located on the second floor of the Stillwell Building. Tickets are $10 cash at the door. Proceeds and donations benefit the Motion Picture Student Project Fund, which helps students with the cost of creating their senior project films.
Info: Jack Sholder, director of the Film and Television Production Program, (828) 227-2324 or jsholder@wcu.edu
– WCU
