Trailblazers inaugurate a tradition
— the class film
by brevy cannon, Inside UVA
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A clip from the 2007 Class Film. Visit www.uvaclassfilm.com for more information. |
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Making a film that captures a school year for more than 3,000 students will always be a challenge. Doing so as pioneers, unable to find class films from other schools to use as models, made the task that much harder for the 2007 Class Film project. But the potential was unlimited: working in video brought an at-the-scene immediacy to the music, images and action that defined the year.
Mostafa Abdelkarim and his dedicated team of filmmakers spent countless hours and overcame numerous hurdles to create the first-ever U.Va. class film. They had their work cut out just keeping track of events on Grounds. To stay in the loop, second-year student Courtney Kessler signed up to receive schedule information from every one of the 200-plus clubs at the annual fall activity fair. (Thank goodness it was a dedicated e-mail account.)
The filmmakers compiled footage of major events like the Rotunda Sing, Lighting of the Lawn, football and basketball games, and streaking the Lawn, but choosing an overall structure and format was a challenge, noted editor and graduating fourth-year Rosalind Pressman. Eventually they found a theme to unite the film — interviews with students about a list of "Top Things To Do Before Graduation."
With the original team of more than a dozen eventually worn down to a stalwart seven this spring, they drew from nine hours of footage comprising several thousand clips, along with music and photos solicited from students, and wove together 30 minutes of stirring video. Over 200 students saw the film at two screenings in April, and many have ordered DVD copies.
Thanks to their efforts, more support is now in place to ensure future class films. Rising fourth-year Gretel Truong was heavily involved this year and will lead the Class of 2008 effort. Team members will get class credit under the supervision of Media Studies professor Johanna Drucker, and Truong plans to assemble a team almost twice as large. The Digital Media Lab will continue to provide a camera and editing computers.
Abdelkarim looks forward to the impact of watching this film 20 years from now, when paper yearbooks may be an artifact, and class films will fill the shelves of school libraries. The U.Va. Library already has its first shelf started.
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