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This week, a short film and 3D story created by Curry College communication students was named among the finalists in the Annual Undergraduate Student Electronic Media Competition led by the National Electronic Media Association.
Though based on a screenplay by Patricia Wani ’19, the short film category finalist “Me, Myself, and I,” was led by a class collaboration with direction from Assistant Professor Padrick Ritch. “It’s a unique class because we give the students a budget and they rent cameras, technical gear and lighting to make the film. Students also scout locations and hold acting auditions, all while working on a strict budget, like a regular independent filmmaker,” says Director of Television/Digital Video and Professor Jerry Gibbs.
A 3D story by Colin Marr ’19 on graffiti art in Worcester was also name a finalist in the Feature Package category. “Colin did a great job showing visually how fascinating this 3D graffiti art really is. He had a great conversational tone to his delivery and decided to get ‘old school’ 3D glasses to actually show viewers why the art was so unique,” adds Gibbs.
The two new finalist entries top a list of dozens of industry nominations and winning entries for the communication program at Curry. Students have competed and placed in the NBS national competition for more than ten years facing other major colleges and universities including Emerson College, the University of Florida, and the University of Oklahoma.
“Students take their work seriously at Curry, and our productions show the quality of their work and their commitment to success,” says Gibbs. “Sometimes when students attend a small program they think there’s no way to be recognized nationally. But every year we show that is not the case. Quite the contrary. In a small college we get to know you, and we have more time to work with students and that means we can make higher quality work.”
The winners will be announced in March in Los Angeles.