Film seniors have finished shooting for their capstone films and will be entering the post-production and editing processes in the coming weeks, leading up to a public screening at the end of the school year.
The graduating class of film students have spent the academic year planning for their capstones. The students, Hannah V. Boyens, film/vocal performance senior; Kristina Patterson, film production senior; and Collin Salmonowicz, film production senior, have all wrapped up their initial shooting, with post-production and editing being the final steps in completing their capstone films. Capstones are required to complete the film production major.
Bryan Cardinale-Powell, chair of the film department and associate professor of film at OCU, is the capstone instructor for the three seniors working on their films. Cardinale-Powell’s responsibilities include mentoring the students and guiding them through the production process.
“Like any other film project, it involves an awful lot of learning to schedule, coordinate equipment and personnel, testing their creative abilities to develop an idea and follow through that idea to the completion of the project,” he said.
The students’ responsibilities as directors extend throughout the production process. As directors of their films, the seniors are responsible for writing their scripts, selecting actors in the films, finding filming locations, amassing a team for the shooting process, and editing the raw footage into a finished project. For many of these students, the process begins in the summer leading up to their senior year, a process which Cardinale-Powell said is helpful.
“Develop an idea during the summer. Show up in the fall semester with a draft of your script so we can hit the ground running,” Cardinale-Powell said.
Hannah Boyens’ film, titled, “Forces and Philosophies: a D&D Musical,” features seven actors, including acting senior Corinne Prudente, who wrote the music for the film. Shooting took place Feb. 28 – March 1, with additional shooting the following weekend, March 6 – 7.
Boyens said while the process has overall been a very positive one, she has struggled at many points during the production.
“It has been difficult, just getting over your own insecurities and feelings that you don’t know what you’re doing, because that’s just how creating things works,” Boyens said.
The director Boyens said she feels has most influenced her is Taika Waititi. Boyens said she admires his lack of pretension and focus toward the joy of the creative process.
Kristina Patterson completed her principal shooting the first week of class in the spring semester. Her cast is comparatively smaller, consisting of only two actors, acting sophomore Shelby O’Brien and acting senior Grace Helton. The title of her film is “Becoming Giants”, and Patterson has been in the editing process for the past several weeks. Filming took place in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area in north Texas, near Patterson’s home town.
Patterson said she was drawn to film after a high school project and realized the potential that film had.
“It’s the most efficient way that I have liked storytelling,” Patterson said.
As a student athlete on the OCU Women’s Soccer Team and a full-time student, Patterson said one struggle during the fall semester was finding the time to focus on preparing her capstone. Patterson said having those opportunities to step away from the capstone and focus on other things was a blessing.
Collin Salmonowicz, film production senior, completed his shooting over Feb. 22 – 23, across three locations in the OKC area. His film, currently titled “Two in the Chamber,” explores the relationship between a hitwoman and her estranged father.
Contrary to Boyens and Patterson, Salmonowicz said he primarily used equipment not provided by the film school, instead going through a rental company, and he used a crew of about 30 people throughout the production process.
Additionally, while one of the two actors in his film is a student, Salmonowicz said he also used a casting agency from outside OCU to cast Grant Britton in the role of the hitwoman’s father. Britton is a professional actor in both film and theatre. The hitwoman was played by acting senior Emily Wollenberg.
“A lot of filmmaking, as I’m sure it is with a lot of professions, is about solving problems and putting out fires. Especially on set, a lot of it is problem-solving, and trying to find the best solutions for things that happen on that day,” Salmonowicz said.
Salmonowicz said he had originally planned to be an electrical engineer, but soon after deciding against it, he found an interest in film, which led to him becoming a film production major. Salmonowicz has entered the editing phase of his film, and will be presenting it alongside the other two capstone films later this spring.
The public screening of these capstones has been tentatively scheduled for May 4, at Rodeo Cinema, 2221 Exchange Ave, but this is subject to change. All three capstone films will be presented, and the public is welcome to attend.
Emily Wollenberg is Editor-in-Chief of Student Publications, and Shelby O’Brien is a staff writer. They were not involved in the writing or editing of this story.
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