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Last Thursday, the Maine Channel kicked off what they hope to make a University of Maine staple with a bang.
The Maine Channel hosted its First Annual Student Film Festival in Room 101 Neville Hall. The festival featured 15 films created by UMaine students and alumni, including documentaries, short films and the premier episode of what should be an exciting new series.
Attendees experienced more than just an excellent selection of student films. They were also treated to a wide variety of snacks and drinks, including pizza, soda, popcorn and candy bars. There was also an afterparty in the Bear’s Den following the films, featuring performances from local act Wood Burning Cat and Bedford Academy, a group from New Bedford, MA.
Notables among the films shown were “Courier,” “Rockport Pottery” and “A Schizophrenic’s Love Story,” which won first, second and third place, respectively. “Dragonshirts” won the audience choice award.
“Courier” was a short film about the history of the Courier and Courier New fonts, created entirely with those fonts and CGI animation. “Courier” director Eric Carlson, a second-year new media student, originally came up with the idea to fulfill a new media assignment in which he was supposed to create a film entirely in a typeface.
“I decided to take Courier and Courier New and have typewriters and keyboards [duking] it out in this kind of weird 3D realm. And so I pushed After Effects to its limits to sort of see what I could do,” Carlson said of the film’s concept. He was impressed by the quality of work at the festival and was astonished at winning first place.
“I was surprised – there was a lot of really good work there. I really liked ‘Dragonshirts’ a lot. It was really great. I found out about it at the last minute, but they let me get in my submission so I’m really happy that they let me be a part of it.”
“Rockport Pottery” and “A Schizophrenic’s Love Story” were both directed by Evan Richards, a graduate student pursuing his master’s degree in liberal studies with a concentration in film.
“Rockport Pottery” documents a potter in Rockport, ME named Richard Robertson as he creates his work. He speaks of what drew him to work with the medium of clay, and the course his life has taken. Richards found Robertson’s work to be particularly interesting.
“Pottery is just fascinating to watch; I could sit for hours and watch someone throwing pots on a wheel. You have someone taking this lump of clay and turning it into a bowl or a vase or a pitcher right in front of your eyes, and it’s almost magical.”
Bangor Daily News