The film and TV production program, or FTVP, showcased their talent at the Loyalist College screenings for Belleville’s Downtown DocFest on March. 1.
Fourteen documentaries were submitted for judging. Students created these short films under the direction of faculty members Claude Gariepy and Paul Papadopoulos in AFP, or the advanced film production class.
Three industry professionals from around Prince Edward County were invited to judge the submissions. The top four documentaries were showcased as part of ‘Local Spotlight’ on Saturday in this year’s Downtown DocFest.
In its first year, Loyalist’s DocFest screening in Alumni Hall saw an audience of 50 people to watch 12 four minute shorts. In its fourth year, it gathered over 100 people from around the community and many students to watch the fourteen films.
“It’s a great way for students to get critiqued by members of the industry,” said Gariepy.
The top four winning crews were going on to the downtown DocFest to talk about their documentaries. They were planning to take questions and comments from the audience.
“Just the fact that they will be looking at their work on the big screen is incredible. It makes that light go on and they realize the value of their work. This is what it’s all about,” said Gariepy.
Each team is composed of four students and produces four documentaries during the year. Every doc is produced in a five-week period, from the pitch to the delivery. Students rotate taking on the roles of director, camera person, editor and transmedia.
Transmedia gives the production added value by spreading the word on social media platforms and adding unseen footage online for viewers. Each documentary screened at DocFest has a webpage where people can see extra footage. Transmedia is deemed a necessary skill in today’s world by industry professionals.
“We try and get the students to understand the value of pre-production -- sitting down and planning out shoots or talking with talent for example. This is just as important as filming,” said Gariepy.
“We’ve been working on our documentaries since mid-October. We crunch all the steps of making a documentary into five weeks,” said Liam Thompson, a student in the program and director of one of the winning submissions.
A Different Breed of Wine was one of the four shorts to get voted into Downtown DocFest, along with, Sarah Doucette for Flying Without Feet, Simon Sheehan for Looking Through the Lens and Marcus Wellman for Behind the Glass.
“I think it means a lot to see our work on the big screen. I put a lot of effort in my work. All of the docs I worked on are being screened. That’s all my efforts being shown to a lot of people and it’s an awesome feeling,” said Thompson.
“Being one of the winning teams validates all our hard work and proves that our determination can be for something more than just the classroom,” said Thompson.