September 25, 2007

Hey guys,

Just a reminder that tomorrow’s meeting will be in Walson 111 at 5pm. Walson is that little shack of a building behind Shankweiler.
I will do a quick demo on how to use your basic digital camcorder and then show you how to import it onto iMovie and edit it!
That will take place at the end of the meeting so those not interested can move along. We’ll also view any music videos y’all created…There are at least two, so yey!

This past weekend we held a zombie movie viewing–we only watched 28 Days Later but we came up with lots of ideas for our film:

–The outbreak will be the result of a Bio/Chem experiment gone wrong, or perhaps an unobservant student will have knocked over and mixed some chemicals….
–The outbreak will be a slow progression…students slowly getting sick to play off of dorm colds and flus that seem to hit everyone all at once.
–The campus would be quarenteened perhaps so we don’t have to tackle issues with the world outside of Muhlenberg. This ca also play off of the Muhlenberg Bubble…
–”Scream”-like theme–there is a book about how to survive a zombie attack…Melinda has it and highly reccomends it, i just can’t remember the exact name, it’s probably something really obvious. Anyway, perhaps a character would be similar to that of the Randy character (Jamie Kennedy’s character, i think that’s his name) who knows the rules about zombie movies and helps the other characters survive.
–Swipe cards–they only let certain students inot certian buildings…THE INTENSITY!!
–Possibly a parellel storyline of the survivors and of a certain zombie…this could change everything, but an interesting idea nonetheless
–A shot of a squirrel. “OMG are the squirrels infected?”….”No, they’re always like that.” haha.
–perhaps the main characters left for the weekend and come back to find chaos? or it progresses after they return.

Some locations that would look amazing…
–Chapel. Imagine lots of students “dead” in the pews after a late night Sunday service. This would not be implicating any religious message, it would just look really intense. We would of course approach the Minister for permission and if granted, we would give him a whole walkthru of the scene to make sure he knows we’re not being (or trying to be) disrespectful.
–GQ, The students will need to stock up on as much processed/nonperishable food as possible! Trays can serve as shields….
–Photo lab/lower portion of the CA. that place is creepy all by itself.
–Library. Picture a student pressed up against a shelf trying to be as quiet as possible while a zombie lurks behind them…yeah.

OKAY. so. Bring more ideas if you have them to tomorrow’s meeting, and we’ll see where they fit in. Students interested in helping out with the writing, we will take some time during tomorrow’s meeting to schedule the first writing session.

Anyone interested in being in charge of the writing “committee” or any other committee will reveal themselves at the meeting also.

GAH! lot’s of info, hope you didn’t want to kill yourself reading it.

Much love,
Alana

HOW TO SIGN OUT CAMERAS

Hi Everyone,

If you would like to sign out cameras from media services to take part in the MFA’s weekly challenges or the quick ‘n’ dirty film festival, you need to get authorization from a faculty adviser.

Luckily, that’s an easy task — just email me your name and I’ll add you to the list that I’ll be forwarding to media services.

Once you’re on the list you can sign out video cameras from the office in the basement of Ettinger. The only tricky time early in the semester is midday Friday when a lot of cameras are being used for classes.

So send me your name before next Friday (to pmcewan@muhlenberg.edu), then get out there and start making stuff!

Best wishes,
Professor McEwan

September 20, 2007

Hey guys,

Okay so we actually made a lot of progress in our 20 minute meeting this Wednesday! This email is a little lengthy but PLEASE read all the way thru!! Thanks. Especially you Alex…

Here’s what we established on Wednesday either during the meeting or shortly after:
—–This Saturday at 5pm we will be having a zombie movie viewing in building 3 of the Village, Suite 102…One or two movies tops because we realize you guys have other stuff you wanna do, but this will help us get some themes we want to pursue when we start writing our script. IT IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED FOR YOU TO ATTEND IF YOU WANT TO BE PART OF THE SCRIPT WRITING COMMITTEE simply because we will be deciding what themes we want to pursue, and it’s just easier if everyone involved is on the same page.

Thank you Dr. McEwan for your suggestion of the bio/chem experiment gone wrong, which would produce the zombie epidemic. I think we can really use that to our advantage.

—–Our meeting next Wednesday will be located in WALSON 111. This way we can give those of you interested a quick demonstration of how to use the media services camaras, and then a quick editing lesson!! This part of the meeting will take place toward the end so anyone who knows all this stuff can go about their lives.

One thing to think about for next meeting—we need to set up Committees for the different areas of preproduction of our zombie movie. These areas include:
-Writing (we figured out who wants to write, but does anyone want to be in charge of this committee?)
-location scouting
-FUNDRAISING

Being in charge of one of these committees will entail setting up meeting times to accomplish tasks. This is true for all areas, but whoever is in charge of fundraising will have to sign out tables in seegers and brainstorm for fundraiser ideas and what not.

If you want to be in charge of one of these committees, prepare an explanation of why you think you would be awesome doing it, and we’ll have an informal election to appoint these committee heads. These areas can also be something we deal with during meeting times if you guys think you’ll be too busy with course work to be in charge of one of these areas, but if you can handle it, go for it! Even though we are doing this as a silly club effort, it could still be something you can use to beef up your resume for extracurricular activities. And this will be a semester long project, so we’ll be able to spread this stuff out over the next few months—so consider it! If you decide to be in charge of fundraising we will make you club treasurer since we don’t have one currently…

Speaking of fundraising, ALEX, do we need to do a fundraiser before we can approach student council for funding since we did two fundraisers last semester?? and since we were finally recognized at the END of the semester? Let me know.

I think this can be a lot of fun, but clearly there will have to be some effort involved. I hope you guys are as excited as i am about doing this!!

Don’t forget about the music video challenge if you guys have some free time!

Until next time,
Alana!

Film Review Program

Hello again,

As I mentioned at the meeting last week, the film studies program will be starting a broadcast film review program this fall. This involves having student reviewers who will see films before the release date, then write and record reviews to be broadcast Friday nights on WMUH and also podcast.

We’re looking for a pool of about 10 reviewers, including one coordinator, to do this. You would write a review about once a month or so (assuming two get written a week).

The only catch is that some of the films might require going to Philadelphia, since that is where the preview screenings are. If you don’t have a car or access to one, we might be able to match you up with someone who does, so don’t let that exclude you.

You’ll get some training, a great resume addition, and a small “scholarship” to go with it. (Don’t think “pay your tuition” scholarship, think “pay for 1 textbook” scholarship)

To apply, you need to submit an application by campus mail by next Friday. Basically, you should explain why you think you should be chosen, describe any background or experience you have, including Muhlenberg film courses, and tell us how this will help you in the future.

Experience is not necessary – we’re primarily looking for people who are responsible, engaged, and enthusiastic. A passion for writing is a big plus.

Submit your application letters to Professor McEwan by campus mail or drop them off in Walson Hall (that little tiny brick building behind the science building) before Friday, September 21.

Good luck,
Professor McEwanfi

September 12, 2007

Hey Guys,

Thank you to everyone who came out to the first MFA Meeting! I was so happy to see so many new faces. Here’s a recap of the meeting for those of you who weren’t there..or were

****We are going to establish a Quick N’ Dirty date for this semester so if you’re interested in submitting something, you can at least start planning! Remember, this can be a film that is about ANYTHING YOU WANT between 30 seconds and 5 minutes.
****Our first weekly challenge is : MUSIC VIDEO! interpret that in any way you like, and have it ready for next week or the week after. Email me if you need access to a camara and don’t know how to go about it or want to work together on a project, cause I wanna make a video!
****MCTV–Are you interested in collaborating on content to put on MCTV (ya know, channel 5 that never has anything on it)? Email me back if that’s something you want to do this semester and let me know any ideas you have, and we will discuss them at the next meeting. We want to do what YOU want to do, so if you have any ideas let us know!
****Zombies. We would like to make a zombie film, and most of you at the meeting seemed into the idea! If you are interested in helping out with the writing/planning process, EMAIL ME BACK!!! Let me know what area you would like to help out with:

-writing the script
-Location scouting
-Casting

you could be involved in everything or just one aspect. Just let me know so I can get an idea of who wants to do what.
Filming would take place next semester, unless we work really fast and get all this other stuff done relatively soon.

Our next meeting will be next Wednesday at 5pm…if another MTA meeting is going on, we’ll schedule the meeting for 4:30 so we have time to talk about all this stuff.

So for next meeting:
—create something for this week’s “Music Video” challenge (if you feel inclined to do so)
—Think about if you want to create content for channel 5 and brainstorm ideas so we can discuss them next week
—Let me know what you would like to do for the Zombie film preproduction phase…because it will be happening.

That is all. See you guys next week!!!!!

Alana

Film Competition

Here’s some info for a documentary film competition some of you may be interested in!

Please check your e-mail for a pdf copy of this information and an application form.

September 7, 2007

HEY EVERYONE! I know you’ve been dying to get this email, so..here ya go.

First, I want to thank everyone who stopped by and signed up at the MFA table during the activities fair, we were really stoked with the amount of interest shown!

Ok, so the important stuff…I want to have our first meeting in CA 149 this coming Wednesday at 5pm. I think that room is open, but I haven’t recieved word completely confirming that (which is why I didn’t get back to you guys sooner). If a class happens to be there, we’ll just chill in the bottom of the CA or something–no bigey.

Dr. Coppa, our faculty advisor won’t be here regurlarly on Wednesdays, but the issue with our old meeting time, Thursdays at 4:30, was that too many people had conflicts with choir, and also that’s when I have my work study job scheduled. Coppa thinks she will be around randomly though and we can make sure we schedule events for when she definitely is here.

Some things that will be discussed:

–Why the MFA exists and what we have done previously…challenges, Quick n Dirty, blah blah.
–Zombies….I’m not going to elaborate on that further, you have to come to the meeting. Muah haha.

See you there!!
Alana!