production design

Students Charlotte Westover and Judy Schnebly Serve as Production Assistants in UK British Pageant

Media Arts student Willem Kampenhout won Best Emerging Director at the Other Worlds Austin Film Festival for his film The Surface. The film also won Best Emerging Production Design, attributed to Ashley Cook. Kampenhout started making films when he was only six years old and used his personal experience growing up as the inspiration for The Surface. In December of 2013 he spent winter break watching several crime drama series, which sparked the question, “How much would one risk on behalf of their family?” “I began writing the story of a mother wandering the apocalyptic wasteland in search for spare parts for her cybernetic husband and daughter whilst avoiding a mechanically mutated monster,” Kampenhout said. From this, he developed the story of a mother who risks everything to save the life of her son. The film follows the mother as she searches for a new power source to help her dying son. After being tricked into buying a bad power cell, her only hope is to venture to the blighted surface and steal the infinity cell from one of the monstrous “tainted” creatures. The whole film came together in about two years from start to finish. Kampenhout mentioned the greatest difficulty behind creating a film was being a student and working with other students. “We have obligations other than our projects,” Kampenhout said. “Because it is not an income source, we have jobs as well.” Other than a lack of time, they faced a lack of experience that required more time to produce quality work. Despite these challenges, Kampenhout enjoyed working with other talented and eager students who worked on the music, sound design, art, cinematography and acting. He believes that real joy comes when someone other than oneself gets behind the story and makes it better. They entered the film in Other Worlds Austin, a film festival featuring only Sci Fi films, where he won the award. The Surface also won Best Student Film at the Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival and has currently been accepted into Dam Short Film Festival (Nevada), Original Narrative FIlm Festival (Dubai) and Film Quest (Salt Lake City). “We are building an audience for the film, and seeking out distribution and investors to fund a feature film version of it,” he said. Visit the film’s Facebook page for the trailer and updates about the film. https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfaceFilm

Film Maker and Projection Designer Alison Dobbins will be visiting Brigham Young University from November 20 to November 22 to present workshops and discussions on the integration of digital media with live performance. This is a great opportunity for new media artists, theatre designers, and live performance directors to hear about the growing field of projection design. The schedule of events available to attend are listed below. Alison is currently the head of Design and Technology and an Assistant Professor of Integrated Media Performance Design at Michigan State University. She received her M.F.A. in Digital Cinema from National University and her A.B. in Mathematics from Oberlin College. Alison is a motion graphics artist interested in documenting and exploring new ways of presenting creative activity as a projected performance art. Visit her website at TheatreBeans.com. Theatre and Media Arts Forum The World of Projection Design and Opportunities for Students in the Field Thursday, November 21, from 11:00 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. in the Nelke Theatre Open to students, faculty and staff. Come hear Alison Dobbins talk about what artists are doing with the integration of media and live performance, and how to get involved. Q & A Brown Bag Lunch with Alison Dobbins Thursday, November 21, from 12:00 p.m. to 12:50 pm in F-556 HFAC Open to students. Bring your lunch and have an informal question and answer discussion with Alison Dobbins about the life of a media artist and what ever else you would like to ask. Drinks and dessert will be provided.