First Fest

In a dark, crowded room full of his or her peers, their faces poised and ready to break into derisive sneers, the aspiring filmmaker sits awaiting the harsh verdict of the cinema gods. The projector rolls as the sweaty-palmed auteur anticipates fate's judgment...

OK, maybe it's not that bad. But it does take a certain amount of courage (along with a pinch of hubris) to screen a first film.

It's a rite of passage for any young filmmaker. Even masters like Godard, Scorcese and Spielberg had to do it at some point. But they were unavailable for comment, so The Gamecock spoke with some members of the USC community who participated in Saturday's First Fest, a festival that featured the first works of current USC students, alumni and professors.

"It all depends on the reaction you get," said media arts student Josh Rose, when asked how it felt to see his work on the screen in front of a crowd of about 50 students, professors and strangers.

Rose, along with fellow media arts student, Brian Wolfe, were the duo behind two of the shorts that premiered at First Fest. And yes, the reactions were positive.

"Comic vs. Hollywood" was a short documentary that featured interviews with comic book enthusiasts who discussed the profitable yet contentious relationship between Hollywood studios and comic book makers.

"The Untitled Problem" featured Wolfe, as himself, wandering through a sort of existential maze over the course of a weekday morning.

Wolfe said that their film took about seven hours for him and Rose to shoot, and another 20 hours to edit.

Other highlights of First Fest included a tongue-in-cheek sci-fi and editing adventure titled "Coriolus," which was directed by third-year media arts student Jason Steelman, "Rob O. the Robot's Hideous Secret" by third-year psychology student Bobby Frankenberger and the crowd-pleasing "Action Figure Dance Party" by media arts graduate student Dayton Colie.

"Dance Party" involved, by some miracle of editing software, toy action figures getting their grooves on to a techno beat. Fred from "Scooby Doo" stole the show with dance moves that involved both Daphne and Velma. We'll leave it at that.

Most of the works were shot on digital video, but a few were done with black and white 8-millimeter film.

A few were even silent, in the tradition of cinema's old days. Such was the case with the delightfully anarchic "Sandwich," directed by media arts student Dennis Ming Nichols.

A few professors from the media arts department were brave enough to bite the bullet and show their raw early work, much to the delight of their students.

As well, early works from Hollywood directors M. Night Shyamalan and Robert Rodriguez book ended the afternoon.

The film festival was the culmination of the semester for students in Media Arts 706, professor Karla Berry said.

"They were responsible for all aspects of the festival, from curating the films to organizing to publicity and even refreshments," she said.

Berry added that she hopes this would be the beginning of a tradition at USC, where students would be encouraged to share their work to the community.