 "Photo:")
"And the Baldwin goes to ..."
For the student producers of Before the Styx, their names followed this familiar phrase as their movie captured three awards, including Best Picture of the Year, in the first annual Baldwin Awards held Friday in the Heights room.
The Oscar-styled awards show, which featued a red carpet, spotlights, and a pit band, honored student produced films in a variety of categories, from screenwriting and cinematography to drama and horror.
"I had a blast watching the students and seeing the crowd get excited," said Mike Civille, assistant professor in the fine arts department and host of the program. "It made me excited that all work we had done was paying off."
The big winners of the night were Before the Styx, which won the screenwriting, drama, and best picture awards, as well as Homesick, which was awarded the cinematography, editing, and advanced film and video prizes. Hot or Not: One Man's Story also won the best actor and comedy awards.
The viewers' choice award was given to Skating on Thin Ice, which featured the cast of the sketch-comedy group Hello ... Shovelhead!
Each winner was given a Baldwin statuette and a $50 gift certificate to B&H Photo Video in New York City, with the best picture and viewer's choice winners getting a $100 gift certificate. All 13 winning videos will be showed on Boston College cable and on @BC.
Civille said it was the persistence and creative story of Before the Styx that separated it from the rest. The movie was made as a project for Filmmaking II, but director Harrison Wilcox, A&S '05, and the crew continued to make adjustments to it after the class had ended. "I thought the film was excellent and it won on the strength of its technical aspects combined with the story," said Ceville.
Wilcox attributed the success of the film to the others in his crew. Emily Weissbach, BC '04, carefully wove Greek mythology motifs into a story about a man who doesn't know that he is dead, and by the time he finds out it is too late to change his path.
Homesick, a silent movie that centered on a girl's memory of her childhood, was directed by Gavin McGrath, A&S '05. McGrath felt the most distinct quality of his film was the locations, with scenes shot in downtown Boston and fields in Newbury, Mass.
Before the best picture award was announced, Michele Meek, BC '94, offered "pearls of wisdom" for aspiring professional filmmakers in the audience.
"Make the most of your career; it's the thing that you spend most of your time doing and it should be important, creative, and fulfilling," she said. "And try not to fall into the trap of being motivated by money or fame because often it never will seem like enough and will lead to disappointment. Instead do it because you love it and success will always follow."
In 2000, Meek was given the Image Award for Vision and Excellence by Women in Film & Video for innovation in the fields of film and Internet after she created two websites dedicated to independent filmmaking.
The planning process for the event was extensive, said Civille, with careful coordination between student filmmakers, the Office of Marketing Communications, and the panel of judges.
Both independent submissions and those from filmmaking classes were entered, and when the Feb. 11 deadline came the judges were left with over 150 films to screen. By Feb. 21, the first round of films had been narrowed to 35 to 40, which were then put into categories. After viewing, judges voted on March 1 in a meeting of the jury.
Those that had been nominated for Viewer's Choice Award were then put online where students could view and vote on their favorites from March 15 to 18. Over 400 students viewed the nominated movies online.
The winner for the cinematography category was Homesick Cinematographer Elaine Mak, BC '04, acceped the award. The Beginning Film and Video Award went to Storyteller, directed and edited by Tony Hale, A&S '05. The winner of the documentary category was The Next Hurrah, directed and written by McGrath. The best horror film was In the Dark, written and directed by Dan Doyle, Jacob Carlson, and Michael Murphy, all A&S '06. The winner in the sound category was Herald, with the sound engineered by Joe LaRocca, A&S '05.
Civille will meet next week and begin planning for next year's Baldwin Awards. "We'd like to get a bigger crowd and more films entered, and hopefully with the publicity from first it will raise some eyebrows and students will set out making films," he said.
Before the Styx and Skating on Thin Ice will be screened at the seventh annual BC Arts Festival on April 29 at 4 p.m. in Devlin 008.
Be the first to comment on this article!