Writers in Hollywood may have been lackadaisical for the past few months, but freshman contestants entering their films in the fourth annual Falcon Film Festival certainly weren’t.
The eight films showcased on Saturday night in Olscamp 101 gave viewers different perspectives on freshman life and the first-year experience.
‘All of the teams did a wonderful job this year,’ said Michael Griffel, director of Residence Life and one of the four judges at the event. ‘The videos were all excellent and thoughtful in their own unique ways.’
Executive Vice President of BGSU Linda Dobb, independent filmmaker Thomas Hofbauer and Undergraduate Student Government President Johnnie L. Lewis were also chosen as judges in the contest and were responsible for selecting the top eight films showcased at the festival, along with the winning film.
According to the co-chair of the festival, Mike Hachtel, the videos were judged on a 10-point scale in the categories of creativity, innovative use of technology, videography, editing, thematic integration, quality of acting, performances and story. The eight films that received the highest scores were shown at the Falcon Film Festival.
The first-place film, titled ‘Afterthought,’ was produced by Chris Guyot, Mike Judge, Sarah Acker, Drew Ochoa and Paul Cohn, also known as Jag Co.
The video, which was between five to eight minutes long, detailed the lives of four different stereotypical people found on campus: a professor, a sorority girl, an ’emo’ boy and a male student looking at sexually suggestive pictures of women on Facebook.
The film showcased the first impressions made about each of the individual characters by those around them. It went on to stress the fact that these assumptions are normally incorrect and judgmental.
In one scene, the professor sees the sorority girl talking and laughing with friends before a major test and assumes she has not studied and is irresponsible. However, the movie then goes on to show that in the previous few hours, she had studied extensively for the test and was prepared for the questions that were sure to pop up, giving her time to talk with friends.
USG President and Falcon Film Festival judge Johnnie L. Lewis thought the winning film was one that addressed important judgmental issues that many students face on campus on a regular basis.
‘I really like the point of this film, and I hope that the people watching it saw the message behind it,’ he said. ‘You cannot judge someone at first glance because you know nothing about that person.’
Jag Co. member and actor Mike Judge agreed with Lewis and said that he hopes his film will make students think before they begin to judge others based on appearance or stereotype.
And though the film was deemed a success by both judges and the attending audience, Judge said coming up with the idea was difficult.
Although the group originally had several ideas for the film, they ended up choosing the winning idea after contemplating the freshman experience and the negative aspects that sometimes go along with it.
‘High school is such a judgmental place, and freshman students can’t help but bring that to college with them,’ Judge said. ‘People judge us and we judge others, and we just decided we wanted to express the real thoughts and feelings behind the people who were being incorrectly labeled.’
Time management also became an issue for the team as the deadline of Feb. 8 approached, said actress and Jag Co. member Sarah Acker.
Regardless, Jag Co.’s film won the coveted first place entry and members received an IPod Touch as a result of their efforts. The film ‘Convergence’ by License to Film won second place and members received Nintendo Wiis. ‘Blowing Green’ by Team Extreme won third place and team members were given IPod Nanos.
But for Jag Co. actor Evan Turner, the prizes were not the reasons why he decided to participate in the creation of the film.
‘I just wanted to make a movie, and the fact that we won ‘hellip; well, I’m honored and it just makes it all worthwhile,’ Turner said. ‘This experience is going to make a memory.’
