The 6th Annual Senior Film Festival Hosted in Pierce Hall

by Amanda Panaro
edited by Phil Enright

The 6^th Annual Senior Film Festival displayed seven films including documentaries, music videos, a trailer, and a few short films at Pierce Hall on Saturday afternoon.

The presentation began around 4:00 p.m. for an audience of nearly 75, which consisted of film makers, actors, many mass communication faculty members among others, as well family member and other supporters. The festival was hosted by senior Nalina Shapiro and Dr. Douglas Challenger, a psychology professor.

Students enjoyed refreshments in the form of popcorn, candy, and soda.

Challenger has recently been studying film at NYU to supplement his teachings at Pierce and said, “Film is a compelling way to describe things in society.”

The 6th Annual Senior Film Festival was hosted in Pierce Hall on Saturday afternoon.

The first film shown was a trailer entitled, “A Warrior’s Journey” which was written, produced and directed by senior Evan Goyette. “It is my personal story told in a martial arts way,” said Goyette. The film, which is to premiere soon, shows a character overcoming struggles that according to Goyette, represent those he has encountered throughout his lifetime.

Next was a music video, “So Long, So Long” produced by Jillian McElroy and crewed by Meghan Masterson. It displayed a relationship from their first meeting until they parted ways. On stage, McElroy said, “We had a storyboard that planned out literally every second” of what they had to shoot in order to match up with the song lyrics.

The third piece, “Art for Water” was made entirely by Natalya Waye. As a production major, Waye was required to produce a senior film, and she wanted to do a documentary. The film originated from the request of Joni Doherty and Christine Destrempes, who asked for the involvement from students of the Advanced Production. Waye’s piece turned into a documentary of the combined efforts of dance, film, business, and science disciplines at Franklin Pierce to spread awareness of water struggles through out the world.

This film was displayed at a Sustainability Convention at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston on opening night. Waye said one of the most interesting processes was condensing her 30 hour-long tapes “into a story that makes sense to the people watching who know nothing about it.”

The next film, written, directed, produced, and musically composed by A.J. Kierstead was titled “Envy”. Kierstead created everything from scratch and said he wanted to make the focus of the film the music. “Ordinarily when you do soundtrack, it’s the last thing you do. I had to somehow match the songs to the video and tell the story without saying anything,” said Kierstead. The film was nearly entirely music without the characters speaking, aside from when he displayed some sort of shift in the plot.

The next film was original in form, as it was a part of the 48 hour film festival. Created by Ashley Owen, Waye, and Masterson, “All Forked Up: A News Worthy Story” had to incorporate a specified genre, character, prop, and line in the short film. Own said, “It was a great experience that really showed us every aspect of production.” While she and Masterson were shooting, Waye spent a great deal of time editing the parts that had already been shot.

Waye, Masterson, and Owen on stage for their short film, “All Forked Up: A News Worthy Story”

Masterson who plans to enter into her own business focusing on small family videos and slideshows, said, “It feels good to show my work to everyone that I’ve studied with my four years here.”

The final showing was a documentary, titled “Hard Ticker to Texas” by Robert Harpin and Casey Williams, and was the only piece done by underclassmen. The film displayed a journey to San Antonio, Texas, where four Franklin Pierce students drove to support the women’s basketball team in the National Championship. Although in San Antonio for less than 24 hours, after traveling 33 hours each way, the four agreed that the journey was worth the memories.

After nearly two hours, the presentation concluded. Attendees were encouraged to keep in my mind the thought of entering next year’s festival, for those students who will be seniors.