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Seven Days to Make a Movie
College Students Vie to Find Their Inner Spielberg (Or Tarantino),
Win Prizes
ETAN HOROWITZ, Staff
On the west side of Emory University's campus last week,
Brent Jordan is pitching an alarm clock and cellphone to
Adam Block, who swings and smashes them with a baseball
bat.
The clock's owner, freshman Jon Seminer, looks toward the
sky with delight as pieces fly through the air.
"Jon, you don't have anything else to break?"
junior Walrick Williams asks Seminer.
The next day, on the other side of campus at the Winship
Cancer Institute, Kevin Bleier, 20, changes into a white-and-blue
hospital gown and lies on an examining table. He's holding
a small video camera as he sits up.
"I don't think that shot is going to be very effective,"
Bleier says to classmate Mark Larson, 21.
Welcome to the Delta Campus MovieFest, where students become
filmmakers and a stroll through campus provides views of
silly and solemn situations that students are dreaming up
and acting out.
The contest, which started at Emory in 2001, provides students
with digital video cameras and laptop computers to shoot
and edit five-minute movies, all in one week. This year,
with Delta Air Lines' backing, moviemaking has expanded
to seven other colleges and universities: Clark Atlanta
University; Georgia State University; Georgia Tech; Morehouse
College; Oxford College; Spelman College; and the University
of Georgia.
Organizers said about 10,000 students will participate
in the contest, which ends in mid-April. They say this is
the only student film contest that involves so many colleges.
David Roemer, 23, chief executive officer of Ideas United
LLC, the company he and a few friends started in 2003 that
runs the contest, said students are eager to share their
stories.
"It's an exceptional way to build school spirit,"
said Roemer, who started the contest when he was an Emory
student.
The competition has become so entrenched in Emory's culture
that former President William Chace appeared in about seven
of last year's films, organizers said.
After winners from each school are named, an Oscar-style
ceremony will be held in April at the Fox Theatre for the
best movies from all schools. Each school's winning team
will receive round-trip plane tickets. Prizes for the overall
winners will be more extravagant, though organizers say
they're keeping details secret.
The types of movies students make are as varied as the
students themselves. The smashing scene is for "a movie
within a movie" about the filmmaking process. Bleier's
hospital scene is for a movie about a man contemplating
suicide.
Parodying popular movies and television shows is popular.
Last year's winning movie at Emory, "Requiem for a
Dorm," mimics the college favorite "Requiem for
a Dream," which chronicles addictions from drugs to
television. In the Emory version, the addictions are instant
macaroni and cheese and the campuswide e-mail and online
message board, LearnLink.
One team wanted to film at the World of Coca-Cola and initially
was granted access, organizers said.
But after officials learned that the film was about traveling
back in time and stealing the Coca-Cola recipe, they weren't
so keen on it.
The contest has changed since it debuted. Previously, students
were free to use any music they wanted in their films. This
year, because of the scale of the event, Roemer said students
are allowed to use only music they create and about 400
songs provided by Atlanta artists.
UGA begins shooting on Wednesday. Emory students will show
their films Monday. For a complete list of dates and information,
go to www.campusmoviefest.com.
Copyright 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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