The MTSU Film Guild wraps up a great year of student filmmaking
The MTSU Film Guild, a dedicated group of student filmmakers, has over the past several months shown exponential growth, connecting with alumni and other professionals in the Nashville entertainment industry and beyond.
Recently, No Cleaner Threads, a short-film produced and shot entirely by Film Guild students, screened in New Mexico at the inaugural Las Cruces International Film Festival. In April of this year, the same short-film screened for industry-professionals from around the country at the 2016 BEA Festival of Media Arts in conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters’ Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Several Film Guild members were in attendance representing MTSU.
In the Fall of 2015, Film Guild members partnered with Grammy-Nominated artist Gareth Laffely to produce a music video honoring Regen Morris, a young Tennessean who passed away from brain cancer in 2013. Partial proceeds from the song are benefiting St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, with the finished music video set to screen at the Grammy-Nomination reception in Chicago, Illinois.
In February of 2016, a crew of 40 Film Guild members represented MTSU in the Middle Tennessee 54 Hour Film Festival. The festival challenges filmmakers from around the region to write, shoot, and edit a short film in its entirety within a 54 Hour time period. This year’s festival attracted in excess of 50 teams from throughout Middle Tennessee. To accomplish the challenge, the Film Guild collaborated with MTSU alum Adam Mills and TV and motion picture rental house High End TV to shoot in 4K resolution with the Sony FS7 camera and Lomo Superspeed lenses. The experience provided an invaluable real-world challenge for Film Guild members. In late April, the films screened at Nashville’s Regal Hollywood 27. The Film Guild’s production of “Time Well Spent” was nominated for Best Picture for the 2016 competition.
In addition to its professional-scale productions, the Film Guild also hosts workshops throughout the semester. The 2015 / 2016 school year has welcomed some notable guests such as Steadicam Operator Tony Reyes, Arri Alexa and DaVinci Color Correction Workshops with Matt Satterfield, and Assistant Directing with DC Suicide Squad’s 1st AD Bruce Franklin.
To finish out the semester, the Film Guild traveled to Regal Cinemas’ Headquarters in Knoxville, TN for a special demonstration from the mind behind Regal’s RPX, engineer John Hooper. Members were given hands-on experience with Sony 4K Projectors, 3-D Projectors, and Dolby Atmos audio engineering.
For the Fall 2016 semester, the Film Guild will meet Tuesday nights. All meetings are free and open to all interested students. All shoots are put on at little-to-no costs to students, with the support of the MTSU CSIL office. Contact [email protected] for more information.
This post was written by Film Guild president Justin Carroll.