Natalie Phillips- City On A Hill Press
Armed with energy drinks, garlic bagels and the kind of optimism usually extinguished in Hollywood within a business week, Moxie Productions taped their first film over Memorial Day weekend. Three days after the first cry of “action!”, the student -run crew was left with an empty set and a handful of tapes that, when properly configured, will amount to a 15 minute film entitled Delta-V.
Set in the near future, Delta-V is the story of a crew who, because of climate shifts and limited resources on earth, is sent into space on a self-sustaining space station.
The mission begins smoothly enough, with characters bickering amongst themselves about space paste and the trials of growing vegetables in space. Complications arise however, when an unidentified object hits the station, sending the vessel and its inhabitants spiraling out of orbit.
Director Rob Rex, a third year film student and the co-founder of Moxie, described Delta-V, which means “change in velocity,” as a “science fiction dramedy.”
“There’s a theme throughout the [film] that when this impact happens there’s a change—there’s a change in the mood, there’s a change in all the characters, there’s a change in the lighting,” Rex said. “So we’re playing off that- we can perfect our environment, which is what they’re trying to do, but you can’t take account for what humans are like and for what peoples’ characters are like.”
The script, written by Rex and Moxie co-founder Gene Maggio, was initially met with skepticism by some crew members who signed up for the project without being fully versed in the film’s details.
“When I first read [the script], I was like ‘a space station, are you kidding me? How are we going to pull that off?’” camera operator Peter Acosta said. “I was obviously concerned because I thought it would look really low budget, but actually…they did a good job.”
Moxie’s design team built the set for Delta-V on location, at the Digital Media Factory in downtown Santa Cruz.
Artistic director Antonia Gunnarson, a first-year theater student, received a significant portion of the film’s $5,000 budget to begin the daunting task of replicating the inside of a space station within a matter of months.
“Our budget when we went to Home Depot, just for set materials, was $1,700 and we actually didn’t spend it all,” Gunnarson said, who estimated spending more than 30 hours in construction the week before taping began. “We had some really long nights here this week, [but] it turned out to be an awesome looking set, better than anything I could’ve hoped for when we were designing it on paper.”
The set, with its curved white walls, homemade control panel and triangular window, harkens back to a more innocent era of science fiction, but fourth year theatre student and Delta-V actor Tom Lazur sees the actual content of the film as being much darker.
“[Delta V] is a flip of the first Star Trek, when the United Nations seemed like such a wonderful thing- all these people are going to be working together, no matter what the situation is, they’re going to work hard to make the world a better place,” Lazur said. “What I like about this is it’s the reverse—these trained people are going up into space, for commercial interests really, and then as soon as there’s a problem, within the first few minutes, it leads to murder.”
Delta-V is expected to reach completion in Fall 2006. Visit moxie.ucsc.edu for information about Delta-V and Moxie Productions.
Thursday, June 1, 2006
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Make Your Own Damn Movie
Shane Patterson - City On A Hill Press
Quick-talking Tarantino junkies and astute French New Wave cinephiles dream of writing ‘cool’ dialogue and directing scenes with artistic flair.
But Hollywood’s a tough industry to crack.
Sooner or later, film students realize that talking the talk amounts to nothing. Students looking for jobs or internships must walk the walk and create tangible pieces of work. Heading into the real world with a portfolio will give students a leg up on one of the most competitive industries in the world, the entertainment industry.
Film and Digital Media (FDM) department chair Chip Lord recognizes the need for film students to gain experience in production.
“Film production is a large endeavor that requires lots of different creative input,” Lord said. “The way we’ve structured the curriculum is to give each person the possibility of really developing their voice as a film maker.”
This is providing that film majors are actually able to successfully enroll in the production concentration, which allows hands-on experience in video production, but is generally restricted to third- and fourth-year FDM students.
“We’re not a film school; we’re not about feeding trained technicians into the [film] industry,” Lord said. “We’re really exploring the idea that each person has something to say.”
Third-year Porter student and co-founder of the Moxie Production Group, Gene Maggio, recognizes there are fewer production opportunities than many film majors had hoped for.
“It’s not very often in a real life setting—in a professional setting—that someone’s going to do all the work for a film,” Maggio said. “In this school, I think it’s kind of ridiculous to have that expectation. A lot of the classes are just geared towards people making their own films and doing everything.”
Many FDM majors are interested and excited by the possibility of creating a body of work at UC Santa Cruz to demonstrate talents ranging from creativity to technical prowess. These portfolios are often instrumental in gaining internships or job offers during life after college.
But because enrollment size in production classes is extremely limited, FDM majors often graduate unprepared for a career in the film industry.
However, some won’t let the frustration of class enrollment get to them. These students are taking the initiative to create material independent of any university sponsored program.
Colin Reeves-Fortney, the station manager for the campus’ public access station, Student Cable Television (SCTV), is impressed by the drive some students exhibit in producing material.
“You realize the time it must have taken outside of their classes and outside of their life to just get something done like that,” Reeves-Fortney said. “That’s impressive.”
Founded in 2002, SCTV allows students and members of the Santa Cruz community to have their material broadcast to everyone living on campus. SCTV broadcasts range from clay-mation short films to action-epics.
Reeves-Fortney is excited about the continuing possibilities for the station.
“There are a lot of events that sell out on campus and if we were there as a live broadcast, then people who don’t have a chance to make it in can just go back to their dorm room and watch it on TV,” Reeves-Fortney said. “Eventually we can get a Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) license to broadcast to the community. As a campus, we can have a voice in the community and they can know what’s going on up here.”
Currently, Banana Slug News (BSN) is the only news program on SCTV. Fourth-year Porter student and Executive Producer Frank Nuñez founded the program.
“I didn’t feel there was really an outlet for [video production],” Nuñez said.
Nuñez had experience in news broadcasts for four years at Arcadia High School and used his connections as a resident assistant of the film hall at Porter College to get people involved in BSN.
“One day I was like ‘Hey, you [residents] want to get together and make a show?’ It was a chance to get a production staff and that’s how it happened,” Nuñez said.
BSN began as an independent study course and has since grown into two-unit graded class Nuñez teaches through the community studies department.
Second-year Porter student Jake Regal worked with BSN for a year and a half before taking time off to act in this quarter’s Chautauqua festival, a student-written, -directed, -and acted theatre festival.
“I think BSN is one of those things that can really combine the two; [film] plus journalism, because the journalism minor no longer exists,” Regal said. “It’s really a combination of a lot of things that someone might be interested in; a common interest for a lot of people.”
In early 2003, UCSC cut the journalism minor due to state-wide budget cuts on education. BSN is one of the programs that students like Nuñez and Regal have embraced as a means to gain experience in both journalism and film, without the support of a journalism department.
“Right now we are completely and utterly independent,” Nunez said. “There’s been very little [support] from the administration.”
In spring 2005, UCSC students voted in favor of Measure 13, which funds the Student Media Counsel to purchase equipment, software, and facilities. The funding comes from an added $3.20 to each student’s fees per quarter.
“We passed [Measure 13], but it’s not like the school’s giving us more money. It’s the students who voted and are giving us the money,” Nuñez said.
EyeCandy, a quarterly journal devoted to film, is one media outlet on campus that has benefited from the referendum.
Lance Lee, EyeCandy’s business manager, discussed his role at the publication with CHP during the SCTV Red Carpet Awards, which took place Apr. 11 at the Porter/Kresge Dining Hall.
“I heard about the journal in my classes throughout my four years here and I just wanted to get involved with something that was student-based,” Lee said.
Lee was also nominated for a few awards that night. One of the films he submitted, “Robot Dance Party,” featured break-dancing robots.
“I think it takes guts to have faith in your work and put it out there for people to see and have it judged and criticized and potentially awarded,” Lee said.
Rob Rex, a third-year Porter student and Executive Producer of the Moxie Production Company, was also present at the ceremony. He took home Best Acting and Best Comedy awards for “The Power of Abstinence,” and also has a number of works broadcast on SCTV. In extending his own ambitions, Rex founded Moxie with Maggio and Bret Malley to encourage other students.
“A lot of undergraduates find that they spend the first two or three years here not getting any hands-on experience,” Rex said. “We created Moxie as a way to give people who are that ambitious a way to get started in production and start making films now.”
Moxie is designed to foster student collaboration on film and video projects, whereas most of the FDM production classes require film projects from individual students. Even though there are group projects in FDM production courses, most of the work falls on the individual student’s shoulders. Whether students utilize their production group members or friends is up to their discretion.
Rex is confidant that Moxie will appeal to and attract film students craving experience in making a film, particularly because of the FDM department’s limited production opportunities.
“Other schools have things like Moxie, which are built into their curriculum,” he said. “Their whole goal is to produce a film and they work together, just like we’re doing.”
Although a PhD program is in the works, there are currently no plans to expand the FDM undergraduate department in terms of production courses, faculty, or spaces to film.
Chip Lord doesn’t think that every film project should be tied to the department either.
“There are activities that are extracurricular in the sense that they’re outside the curriculum; they’re valuable experiences,” he said. “It’s always a positive experience to be in a situation where you’re working collaboratively with people towards a goal producing something that’s going to be seen by other people. I think it’s great.”
Quick-talking Tarantino junkies and astute French New Wave cinephiles dream of writing ‘cool’ dialogue and directing scenes with artistic flair.
But Hollywood’s a tough industry to crack.
Sooner or later, film students realize that talking the talk amounts to nothing. Students looking for jobs or internships must walk the walk and create tangible pieces of work. Heading into the real world with a portfolio will give students a leg up on one of the most competitive industries in the world, the entertainment industry.
Film and Digital Media (FDM) department chair Chip Lord recognizes the need for film students to gain experience in production.
“Film production is a large endeavor that requires lots of different creative input,” Lord said. “The way we’ve structured the curriculum is to give each person the possibility of really developing their voice as a film maker.”
This is providing that film majors are actually able to successfully enroll in the production concentration, which allows hands-on experience in video production, but is generally restricted to third- and fourth-year FDM students.
“We’re not a film school; we’re not about feeding trained technicians into the [film] industry,” Lord said. “We’re really exploring the idea that each person has something to say.”
Third-year Porter student and co-founder of the Moxie Production Group, Gene Maggio, recognizes there are fewer production opportunities than many film majors had hoped for.
“It’s not very often in a real life setting—in a professional setting—that someone’s going to do all the work for a film,” Maggio said. “In this school, I think it’s kind of ridiculous to have that expectation. A lot of the classes are just geared towards people making their own films and doing everything.”
Many FDM majors are interested and excited by the possibility of creating a body of work at UC Santa Cruz to demonstrate talents ranging from creativity to technical prowess. These portfolios are often instrumental in gaining internships or job offers during life after college.
But because enrollment size in production classes is extremely limited, FDM majors often graduate unprepared for a career in the film industry.
However, some won’t let the frustration of class enrollment get to them. These students are taking the initiative to create material independent of any university sponsored program.
Colin Reeves-Fortney, the station manager for the campus’ public access station, Student Cable Television (SCTV), is impressed by the drive some students exhibit in producing material.
“You realize the time it must have taken outside of their classes and outside of their life to just get something done like that,” Reeves-Fortney said. “That’s impressive.”
Founded in 2002, SCTV allows students and members of the Santa Cruz community to have their material broadcast to everyone living on campus. SCTV broadcasts range from clay-mation short films to action-epics.
Reeves-Fortney is excited about the continuing possibilities for the station.
“There are a lot of events that sell out on campus and if we were there as a live broadcast, then people who don’t have a chance to make it in can just go back to their dorm room and watch it on TV,” Reeves-Fortney said. “Eventually we can get a Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) license to broadcast to the community. As a campus, we can have a voice in the community and they can know what’s going on up here.”
Currently, Banana Slug News (BSN) is the only news program on SCTV. Fourth-year Porter student and Executive Producer Frank Nuñez founded the program.
“I didn’t feel there was really an outlet for [video production],” Nuñez said.
Nuñez had experience in news broadcasts for four years at Arcadia High School and used his connections as a resident assistant of the film hall at Porter College to get people involved in BSN.
“One day I was like ‘Hey, you [residents] want to get together and make a show?’ It was a chance to get a production staff and that’s how it happened,” Nuñez said.
BSN began as an independent study course and has since grown into two-unit graded class Nuñez teaches through the community studies department.
Second-year Porter student Jake Regal worked with BSN for a year and a half before taking time off to act in this quarter’s Chautauqua festival, a student-written, -directed, -and acted theatre festival.
“I think BSN is one of those things that can really combine the two; [film] plus journalism, because the journalism minor no longer exists,” Regal said. “It’s really a combination of a lot of things that someone might be interested in; a common interest for a lot of people.”
In early 2003, UCSC cut the journalism minor due to state-wide budget cuts on education. BSN is one of the programs that students like Nuñez and Regal have embraced as a means to gain experience in both journalism and film, without the support of a journalism department.
“Right now we are completely and utterly independent,” Nunez said. “There’s been very little [support] from the administration.”
In spring 2005, UCSC students voted in favor of Measure 13, which funds the Student Media Counsel to purchase equipment, software, and facilities. The funding comes from an added $3.20 to each student’s fees per quarter.
“We passed [Measure 13], but it’s not like the school’s giving us more money. It’s the students who voted and are giving us the money,” Nuñez said.
EyeCandy, a quarterly journal devoted to film, is one media outlet on campus that has benefited from the referendum.
Lance Lee, EyeCandy’s business manager, discussed his role at the publication with CHP during the SCTV Red Carpet Awards, which took place Apr. 11 at the Porter/Kresge Dining Hall.
“I heard about the journal in my classes throughout my four years here and I just wanted to get involved with something that was student-based,” Lee said.
Lee was also nominated for a few awards that night. One of the films he submitted, “Robot Dance Party,” featured break-dancing robots.
“I think it takes guts to have faith in your work and put it out there for people to see and have it judged and criticized and potentially awarded,” Lee said.
Rob Rex, a third-year Porter student and Executive Producer of the Moxie Production Company, was also present at the ceremony. He took home Best Acting and Best Comedy awards for “The Power of Abstinence,” and also has a number of works broadcast on SCTV. In extending his own ambitions, Rex founded Moxie with Maggio and Bret Malley to encourage other students.
“A lot of undergraduates find that they spend the first two or three years here not getting any hands-on experience,” Rex said. “We created Moxie as a way to give people who are that ambitious a way to get started in production and start making films now.”
Moxie is designed to foster student collaboration on film and video projects, whereas most of the FDM production classes require film projects from individual students. Even though there are group projects in FDM production courses, most of the work falls on the individual student’s shoulders. Whether students utilize their production group members or friends is up to their discretion.
Rex is confidant that Moxie will appeal to and attract film students craving experience in making a film, particularly because of the FDM department’s limited production opportunities.
“Other schools have things like Moxie, which are built into their curriculum,” he said. “Their whole goal is to produce a film and they work together, just like we’re doing.”
Although a PhD program is in the works, there are currently no plans to expand the FDM undergraduate department in terms of production courses, faculty, or spaces to film.
Chip Lord doesn’t think that every film project should be tied to the department either.
“There are activities that are extracurricular in the sense that they’re outside the curriculum; they’re valuable experiences,” he said. “It’s always a positive experience to be in a situation where you’re working collaboratively with people towards a goal producing something that’s going to be seen by other people. I think it’s great.”
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