Thursday, September 30, 2010

Open Frame Grant Contest

This year the Communication Arts Department will award production grants to worthy film projects. The top grant will include a budget of $1000 along with priority access to equipment and facilities. Other student grants will also award priority for equipment and facilities and will include $200 budgets. Students may apply for these grants anytime from tomorrow (October 1st) until October 11th at 8 am.

The top grant will be awarded competitively based on which production application best meets the following criteria:

This film and production will exemplify the Malone University Mission and the Mission of the Communication Arts Department.

This film is based on a winning script from the 2010 writing contest.

This film will allow a very significant number of Malone students to gain filmmaking experience and contribute to their learning experiences.

The production application demonstrates the producer's / director's ability to plan well for the various demands of a film shoot.

The producer has either assembled an impressive crew of collaborators or presents a persuasive case that s/he will be able to do so.


*in cases when other factors are relatively equal, upperclass students will have a slight advantage over lower. In such cases, seniors would have the most advantage.

The mini-grants will not employ criteria number two to evaluate the validity of applications.

The grant selection committee will include Communication Arts Faculty members, Faculty members from other departments on campus, alumni and community filmmakers.

Your actual grant application should be no more than three pages. You should provide an additional title page and you may provide appendices of evidence to demonstrate the points you make in your application. While you may include any information you would like to in the application, you must include a one sentence summary of the short film and a one paragraph summary of the short film. Other materials you may want to include (either as appendices or in summary):

An artistic vision,

Statements about the project's unique merits

An explanation of the production approach

A tentative production schedule

Tentative storyboards

Tentative crew members (who have indicated interest)
Strategies for recruiting talent and crew

Tentative locations for filming

A list of other producers or collaborators.

Any letters of recommendation about the director's or producer's ability to complete a project like this one.

a director's reel


While any of these materials may be included, none of them are required. Applicants are STRONGLY URGED to make mention of each of the items in the appendices within their application to encourage the judging panel to examine them.

The winners of the grants will be announced on October 20th by 5 pm

You can see a short film proposal here. While this proposal was prepared for a micro-documentary, and to elicit the support collaborators, it gives you a rough sense of how a proposal might unfold.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Malone University Student Films to Screen at Canton Palace International Film Festival

Ten Malone University student films will play at the Canton Palace International Film Fest. Winning entries from earlier years were submitted to the festival, but once festival programmers reviewed the Open Frame discs, they invited four more films to be included, too.

The films playing at the festival include the following

Questionable Behavior directed by Stephen Thomas / 13 min. / 2008 / Narrative Fiction
Will the police officer succeed in his attempt to bring in this drunken driver? Will the driver manage to keep his wits about him? Or are these the wrong questions to be asking?

Another Winter in Canton directed by Dan Walton / 5:20 min. / 2009 / Experimental
One long day in Canton, Ohio shows the quiet and subtle beauty of winter set to the music of a local band, Wild Boy of Aveyron.

Definition directed by Alyssa Pearson / 14:37 min. / 2009 / Narrative Fiction
Val Carter feels trapped in monotony and decides to take drastic measures to escape her mundane reality. The further she is from familiarity, the more she learns that assigning meaning to her life does not need to be so definite.

Sloth directed by Dusty Jenkins / 16 min. / 2009 / Documentary
An impromptu game invented by bored college students becomes a cherished tradition lasting for seven years despite threats from the institution and even the city.

Benedict Sexton directed by Dusty Jenkins and Michael Popp / 12:44 min. / 2010 / Narrative Fiction
A break-in at midnight morphs into an unlikely connection.

Keepsakes directed by Alyssa Pearson / 16:26 min. / 2010 / Narrative Fiction
Aiden's estranged grandmother has just passed away, leaving him in a state of mournful disappointment. At the release of the will, he finds a to-do list written in her hand. Spontaneously, he decides to attempt the written tasks in order to get to know her.

Two for Tuesday directed by Ryan Baechel / 5 min. / 2009 / Experimental
One night with big questions is handled in a trippy, dreamlike (?), drugged-out (?) way in this experimental short about personal spiritual struggle.

(w)hole directed by Taylor Hazlett / 6:14 min. / 2010 / Narrative Fiction
This silent film uses iconic images to wander through a girl’s journey into adulthood. The story is big, the telling is simple. A parable about loss and recovery.

Always directed by Ashley Barstow / 3:49 min. / 2010 / Short Documentary Subject
This short documentary uses old family films to explore the connection between a song and a relationship.

Chalk Burst directed by Nate Ross, Chris DeMichel, & Meredith Borling /3:51 min. /2008 /Experimental. A class project yielded this stop motion meditation on beauty and movement; on art and nature.

The films will play at the Canton Palace Theatre downtown in Canton, Ohio on Friday, October 8th from 12:10 pm until 1:55 pm. Cost of admission is $4 per person. Some of the filmmakers will be on hand for Q & A afterward.

More information about the Canton Palace International Film Festival.

Monday, September 27, 2010

And THE OPEN FRAME GOES TO.....

For the first time in Open Frame history, an OPEN FRAME winner is being announced in September.
This year, the OPEN FRAME for SCREENPLAY was determined by an illustrious jury of our alumni.

Seven different writers (including two collaborative scripts) wrote seven different scripts this year. The overall quality of entries was up (again!) this year, and the scores given by the judges to the top four scripts was impressively competitive.

The runner-up script HIDDEN LIABILITIES was written by writing team Dusty Jenkins and Michael Popp and included a psychological thriller noir tone.

The winner of this year’s OPEN FRAME for scriptwriting goes to.....

Corinne Abbiss for THE MEMORIES WITHIN.

This is the first script that Corinne has submitted to the Open Frame contest, and while she DP’d (W)HOLE last year, this script will be her first script - to - screen production this year.

THE MEMORIES WITHIN tells a story about loss and recovery through a visit to a flea market. It’s a non-linear story about memory, forgiveness, family and grief. Corinne spent her summer writing the script and is looking forward to directing it during spring semester. She’s looking to fill her crew positions now, so if you’re interested in producing or crewing -- let her know.

The top four scripts (because their scores are so close) will vie for the Communication Department Production Grant this year ($1000). The Communication Arts Department will also fund other films this year with mini-grants ($200 each). The grant contest entries are due on Monday, October 11th at 8 a.m..

Congratulations to the five qualifying writers. The qualifying entries this year are:

Corinne Abbiss THE MEMORIES WITHIN


Dusty Jenkins & Michael Popp HIDDEN LIABILITIES

Taylor Hazlett & Erin Chilensky CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Erin Chilensky TORN


Thanks to all of our alumni judges and our talented, hard-working writers.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

INDIE FILMMAKERS WORKSHOP: Pre-Production

The first Indie Filmmakers Workshop focused on Pre-Production will be held

THIS TUESDAY

September 21st

from 7:30 to 8:30

in the Silk Auditorium

Mitchell Hall

Malone University

RSVP to Kerrie at 330.471.820

find out more by clicking this link.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Indie Filmmaker Workshops Return!

Some of you came to the SCREENWRITING INDIE FILMMAKER WORKSHOP last year; this year, we got a little *more* institutional support so that we can pull off even more sessions.

You can read about the sessions we'll be sponsoring and put them on your calendar now by clicking on this link.

More information will be rolling out about each session as they get nearer.