Theatre and Media Arts

Clegg — from Fruit Heights, Utah — will graduate with a BA in media arts studies on April 24, 2020

Videographer and media arts alum Scott Cook shares his experience with dance film, collaboration and mentoring

The town portrayed in the Sundance premiere of The Killing of Two Lovers is so small that David, who is staying at his father’s home while he and Nikki try to figure out if their marriage is salvageable, easily can see everything going on in the lives of his wife and four kids in the home just down the street. Directed by Robert Machoian, a photography program faculty member at Brigham Young University in Provo, this feature-length narrative offers a superbly crafted, beautifully filmed story about how the difficulties of asking for space to sort things out in a marriage are magnified enormously in a town as small as the one the director chose for the film’s production. Selected for the festival’s NEXT category, the film shines in performances that capture the simmering tensions and spoken words that could derail any good faith intention of reconciling problems in a marriage. And, Machoian – with an impressive, understated, elegant choice of mise-en-scène – gives the viewer the utter irony of the notion of asking for space in a small central Utah town set against an impressive mountain range (although there is no card title specifying the location). The film was supported by the Utah Film Commission. Read the full story by Les Roka at theutahreview.com.

Robert Machoian Graham has seen four of his past films make it to Sundance. The latest marks the first time one of his full-length films has been accepted.

Adams shares career advice with student writers and recent graduates hoping to work in the industry

https://vimeo.com/295876694 BYU’s highly esteemed Center for Animation became even more reputable when the short film “Grendel,” directed and produced by BYU animation students, recently won its sixth Student Academy Award. This year, the Student Academy Awards competition received a total of 1,615 entries from 255 domestic and 105 international colleges and universities. Only 16 entries received an award. Student director Kalee McCollaum and student producer Austin Rodriguez worked with approximately 40 students to make this film a reality. Thousands of hours went into the project which was supervised by professors Kelly Loosli and R. Brent Adams. The story of “Grendel” is a reverse telling of the classic Beowulf tale where Grendel, the friendly monster in the film, is joined by rowdy Viking neighbors who harass him. He slowly starts to retaliate until he realizes he’s the one who has become the monster. This realization spikes a change in character as he chooses to help save the Vikings from other creatures. Read more at news.byu.edu, sltrib.com or usatoday.com

Earlier this year, Larson received the Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon LettersMelissa Leilani Larson discovered her talent and love for crafting words at an early age, writing her first short story in third grade.

For his 14th production at Tuacahn, Threlfall and his cast — which includes BYU alums — take a different approach to “The Sound of Music” BYU professor Tim Threlfall takes the stage at Tuacahn in St. George, Utah as director for the 14th time in his interpretation of “The Sound of Music.”

In February, BYU media arts major Nathan Young was playing Dungeons and Dragons with some friends when one suggested that Young start a role-playing game (RPG) show and take on the role of Dungeon Master. Young said most of his friends laughed it off, but he stayed up all night thinking about the idea. Over the next few months, Young rounded up volunteers from the media arts major to help him with this project. Young said since the idea for the web series was sparked in February, all the grant deadlines had already passed. “We had no budget. Fortunately, we were able to scrape together enough willing people who think the idea is cool from all over campus to help put this together,” Young said. Young’s show ‘Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die’ was live-streamed on July 18 through Youtube. Read the full story at universe.byu.edu.

Few people can claim that a 3 a.m. prank phone call changed their life, but for La Donna Pratt Forsgren (MA ’05), heaven had the last laugh. La Donna and her sister, Monica, had seen a late-night ad for a free copy of the Book of Mormon.

BYU Department of Theatre and Media Arts professor Benjamin Thevenin and alumnus Max Johnson create podcast to discuss societal and political issues in constructive ways BYU professor Benjamin Thevenin and TMA graduate Max Johnson hoped to open a larger conversation about diversity and issues faced by marginalized communities when they created their podcast “Movies as Mirrors.” “We've been trying as faculty in the media arts program to try to integrate more talk about identity, politics, race, class, gender, and sexuality into our curriculum,” said Thevenin. “I think we've made some progress in that area — but we could be doing a much better job of preparing BYU students to engage in effective ways in these conversations.” In order to more fully open the conversation, Thevenin and Johnson invite a guest to each podcast to talk about a movie of their choosing. Most guests are people from Thevenin’s classes, colleagues at BYU and others they know who are passionate about what they think a movie has to say. “We're not particularly interested in talking about what we have to say about these movies,” said Thevenin. “We wanted the podcast to be an opportunity for us to hear what others have to say about their experiences — how the movie resonates with them.” Read the full story at tma.byu.edu.

BYU media arts student Aurelia Berryhill filmed a music video, “Chronophobia,” after receiving TMA student grant funding. While Aurelia Berryhill was applying for the media arts major at BYU in Winter 2016, she was surrounded by questions and uncertainty in her life. She felt that the fear the questions had caused was holding her back from many opportunities. Berryhill envisioned creating a video about these inner monologues for her media arts application but quickly realized she did not yet have the skills or resources for this project. Nearly three years later, the video she dreamed of creating came to life because of the TMA student grant program. This program — hosted by the Department of Theatre and Media Arts and funded by Mary Lou Fulton — sponsors student projects to help them gain experience outside the classroom in their craft. “I knew that this opportunity was the only way I could make this dance video that had been in my head for two years come to life,” said Berryhill. While Berryhill had a theme in mind but no specific vision, she left a lot of the elements of the music video up for interpretation by the dancers, director of photography and composer. “Their unique voices came through and were seen in the video. I loved the collaboration aspect of this program,” said Berryhill. “I learned a lot through the process of making this project. I learned that collaboration will make one’s vision come to life more than trying to do it all alone.” Read the full story at tma.byu.edu.

BYU Department of Theatre and Media Arts grad Jared Jakins and his wife Carly win Best of Show and Utah Short Film of the Year for “El Desierto”

Photography student Alyssa Lyman shares lessons learned at Topaz

Weir will speak at the Department of Dance, School of Music and Department of Theatre and Media Arts Convocation at 3 p.m. on April 26

Keynote speaker Mike Rugnetta will address the possibilities and positive use of new media

Wang gave students a glimpse into her unique approach to documentary filmmaking

Brendon French, Megan Holbrook, Dayne Joyner and Sarah Broyles share their experiences serving and performing in historic Nauvoo.