May 27, 2005

Purdue information technology goes 'Hollywood'

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A filmmaking competition highlighting digital video learning opportunities at Purdue University landed several undergraduate projects on the silver screen.

For the first time in its three-year existence, the annual Digital Cinema Competition moved off campus, filling a theater at Wabash Landing 9 in West Lafayette last month for a black-tie event that screened all of the entries and awarded top prizes in four categories.

The competition is organized each year by the Digital Learning Collaboratory and co-sponsored by Purdue Libraries and Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP). The event is designed to promote the Collaboratory, which lends digital cameras and camcorders, tripods, and laptop computers equipped with editing software to interested students throughout the year and provides usage instruction.

Jason Doty, award-winning professional filmmaker and ITaP television producer, served as a judge and awards ceremony host. He said the contest gave all the students something they normally would never have – a venue to exhibit their work.

"Nothing compares to the feeling a filmmaker gets when their work is shown on the big screen in front of an audience," Doty said. "The screening is the culmination of all that hard work and the reason why films are made. They are made so an audience can enjoy them."

For Will Kistler, a senior studying computer graphics technology from Munfrodville, Ky., that feeling will extend for several weeks. His animated short "Well Wishers," about vindictive coin-tossers, is slated to run this summer during the trailers prior to feature films at Wabash Landing 9.

The remaining 15 films, including first-place winners by Greg Jackson, of the School of Computer Graphics Technology, and Jacob Tirey and John Cessna, of the College of Liberal Arts, will join the video collection available to patrons of the Hicks Undergraduate Library, home of the Digital Learning Collaboratory.

Some of this year's movies, which ranged in length from three to 15 minutes, were pure entertainment, but others were documentary in style and required research.

"We are trying to blend information seeking and critical thinking with the use of technology," said Jennifer Sharkey, assistant professor of library science. "We have them thinking about the overall package, including story, plot and the means of translating that to film."

Some contestants received class credit for their projects in classes such as English 106. A student from Computer Graphics Technology 411 used his entry as his senior design project.

"Professors increasingly are trying to create real-life scenarios for students," said David Eisert, Collaboratory coordinator. Eisert said he was impressed with the quality and range of the submissions, which included drama, science fiction, artistic and avant-garde films.

Donated prizes included a $2,000 Avid Express editing software package, a digital camera, and several copies of Macromedia editing software.

Writer: Jim Schenke, (765) 494-6262, jschenke@purdue.edu

Sources: Jennifer Sharkey, (765) 494-2907, sharkeyj@purdue.edu

David Eisert, (765) 775-2909, eisertd@purdue.edu

Jason Doty (765) 494-1630, rjdoty@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: Review copies of Digital Cinema Competition films are available by contacting Purdue's Digital Learning Collaboratory at (765) 775-2909.

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