NOTE: THIS IS FOR JARGON

Kelly Thewlis, an electronic media major, was in Traci Williams’ video studio course when Williams asked the class what they thought about a film program where students would make a full-length film.

“I actually came in (to Kent State) thinking that I was taking a film major, and to my surprise I wasn’t,” Thewlis says.

“So the fact that we have professors who are so interested in making that happen was amazing for me.”

So Thewlis enrolled in the WHAT COURSE? THE COURSE, BUT WHAT COURSE???? IS IT THE VIDEO STUDIO COURSE???

course in spring 2010, the first semester it was offered, became the director in summer 2010, and was one of the few students to stick with the program from beginning to end.

The 12-credit program is broken up in three semesters: spring, which is pre-production; summer, which is production; and fall, which is post-production. Everything involved in the film was done by students.

“This is completely written by students, produced by students, directed by students,” Williams says. “Dave Smeltzer and I were really just there to help guide them.”

Students aren’t required to take all three semesters. And most didn’t.

“Either you love it or you don’t,” Williams says. “So we’ve had students who just dropped out and just didn’t show up anymore because they couldn’t handle the pressure.”

But with more than 100 students, interns and volunteers working in the program over the year, the film, “Breaking News,” premiered at the Kent Stage on Dec. 1.

The Premiere

“This project has definitely been a labor of love,” Williams told the audience before showing the film.

Thewlis showed the same sentiment, saying, “I’ve never worked on anything that long in my life before. So this is like New Year’s Eve.”

MEANING WHAT?

“Breaking News” is centered around a professor who trains a group of college students to protect their city from crime, a suspicious journalist who gets too close to the group and an ending that comes together like a puzzle.

Robert Dollinger, Web site and social media coordinator for the film, says he liked the way the film turned out and he looks forward to the next one.

And Cale McCallion, whose brother Devon is first camera operator on the film, says he thought it was a good movie.

“The camera angles were goddamn amazing,” he says, showing support for his brother.

The Pressure

Everything from collaborating with other people to working 16-hour days helped students realize what a real film set was like.

Most of the film was shot throughout the night, which led to long hours.

“It was a lot of long hours and hard work,” Thewlis says. “More so than a lot of people ever could have anticipated… I personally didn’t even realize how much work goes into it.”

She also admits that this class required far more time than a regular three or six-credit hour class, but it gave students a realistic idea of what to expect if they chose to get into the business, as well as a learning opportunity she hadn’t experienced before.

“For me, personally. I love the production work. I love the post-production work. But the actual center, the actual production and shooting was by far my favorite part because that was such a new experience for me,” Thewlis says. “I’ve never worked with people like that before.”

And with a collaboration that involved majors across campus, students also experienced conflicting opinions and decisions that needed to be made.

“We had some blowouts… some meltdowns,” Williams says. “But that’s life, you know… that’s another thing Dave and I try to really stress is making sure that they have that real-world experience.”

The Collaboration

“Just about any major you can have can somehow be involved in film,” Thewlis says.

Fashion majors can make costumes, history majors can research the script, computer science majors can handle the Web site.

Thewlis says she’s met people she never would’ve met before, and after going through this experience together they’ve become very close.

“There were some days that were just horrible and so stressful and tense and whatever,” she says. “And then by the end of it we would just all laugh about it and we would all just bond over it and we would have such a great time.”

Williams says this course has also provided a network for students that they can call back on when they enter the business.

FALL BACK ON IS THE USUAL CLICHE…

Next Time

Williams is already getting scripts from students and calls from incoming freshmen asking about the course, which will start all over again in spring 2011.

And there are a couple things Williams would like to be different. For starters, she wants more than one professor teaching the class.

“For me as a professor, the hardest thing was there’s so many departments for film,” Williams says. “Like I said, we had over 100 people working on this film and everybody is doing something different. And there is just no way I can oversee every single thing.”

SO WHAT WAS DAVE, CHOPPED LIVER? THERE WERE TWO PROFESSORS???

SO IT’S EITHER A FACT ERROR OR A MISSPOKEN DESCRIPTION…GET TO THE BOTTOM OF IT. RIGHT NOW, IT IS A FACT ERROR.

Even though the Kent community helped out by donating food and hotel rooms for consultants to come in, and Michael Bennett, Kent State alumn ALUM and executive producer for the film, donated money, Williams says the program could use a bigger budget.SO WAS HE JUST THE BUCKS GUY? DONATING? I”M NOT SURE….

The initial budget was $500,000, then it was dropped to $360,000 and then it was finally dropped to $5,000.

WAIT A MINUTE…5 THOUSAND IS A LOOOOTTTTTT LESS THAN 360K.

HOW CAN THEY DO IT???? PRY THAT OPEN…

“I’m praying that after a lot of people see the film and see what we’ve done that we can get more financial support to help, because that was one of my other tasks was to raise money for this,” Williams says.

But Thewlis is optimistic about the program’s future.

“It really can only get better,” she says. “You know you had to start somewhere, and this was a pretty successful start.”