Okay, so student films aren't brilliant, ultra-clean, well-acted productions like professional films. That's a given. On budgets less than dinner for four, the productions often suffer from no production money, too little time, too little experience and perhaps a bit too much youthful hubris.
But the energy...oh, my - what a treat to watch the young filmmakers fairly vibrating with enthusiasm and adrenalin (but trying to look chill) as they participated in the after-screening Q&A.
This afternoon at the Regency South Coast Village Theater, film and video coordinator Scott Broberg from Orange Coast College presented the OCC film department's slate of films that were finalists in the entry process for the Newport Beach Film Festival.
The Burglar | Eddie Granado 2009 - nothing is as it seems.
The Shopping Cart Diaries | Steven Reyes, Greg Vander Velde, Mark Day 2009 - the sad truth about shopping carts.
Apex of Illusion | Richie Laruffa, David Ludwig 2009 - drugs are bad - or maybe you're just insane.
Parkour | Gustav Sandegard 2009 - documentary about the street sport of leaping and somersaulting through the urban environment.
Photo Project | Alexandre Goyette 2009 - don't find your roommate on Craigslist.
The Warlock of Black Star Canyon | Will Gabriel 2009 - documentary on a legendary oddball family living in SoCal's Black Star Canyon.
A Week's Worth | Rachel Gist 2009 - a countdown to death.
Soaking Anger | Duy Nguyen 2009 - do not ever steal a dude's laundry - especially when he's forgotten his Prozac.
Greener | Hannah Barnick 2009 - taking a chance on life's other road.
Although many of the films suffered from a lack of narrative cohesion, the
productions were well-done and solidly received by the near sell-out crowd. Instead of worrying overly much about telling a complete and/or emotionally compelling story, many of the filmmakers opted to just present a "vision" - a moment in time.
The documentarians never quite achieved a "slant" - in other words, I didn't quite catch what they were trying to illuminate with their work but all were intriguing. Some may say that the job of a documentarian is just to capture the moments - but really, it is so much more than that and almost all documentaries are biased by the way they're put together. But from a hermit-type in Black Star Canyon to sad little shopping cart moments, the concepts for the films were solid and definitely bode well for these filmmakers.
The non-documentary films were varying degrees of funny, scary and sad. Some truly powerful moments captured and filtered through the words and images of these filmmakers who take the OCC class on film production in a vocational-type setting. Broberg explained: "We want to give the film students an opportunity to learn their craft through hands-on experience so they're ready for professional work in the industry." I'm sure they all will someday soon.
Congratulations to all the OCC bright stars who shone this afternoon at the Regency Theater.
OCC Film has their 40th Annivesary gala coming up on May 22nd. There's also various Facebook pages for information (here)
A video interview with coordinator Scott Broberg will follow shortly on our YouTube Page (here)
Please support these students and the college - they are the future of film and the future does indeed look bright.
