Written by Savannah Lee
Harding University’s Advanced Video Production course is allowing students to create short films to gain experience for future career opportunities.
One of those students is senior electronic media production major Chris DellaPace. DellaPace, who is working on his silent film, a modern take on fairy tales. The class was given this project at the beginning of this semester and is due the week of finals. It was presented as an open-ended project, according to DellaPace. With filming taking place in locations such as Little Rock, Judsonia, Heber Springs and Searcy, students created their own projects after having them approved by the course’s instructor, Dr. Bob Ritchie.
DellaPace said he knew what he wanted to do for his film; it was just a matter of finding a team of people to help. His team is composed of 11 actors and actresses, makeup specialist sophomore Amy Dorsey, score writer senior Devin Monaghan and costume designer sophomore Amanda Lane. This group combines several key aspects of the filmmaking process with the goal to use their skills to produce a high-quality film for the assignment.
“My favorite part of this is seeing my ideas come to life through the help of these people,” DellaPace said.
Lane already has experience in costume design from making costumes for Harding plays and Spring Sing and worked together with DellaPace to come up with costume ideas.
“I enjoyed the opportunity to be creative,” Lane said.
The students have the opportunity to learn the amount of preparation that goes into a major production like this and have faced the challenges of overcoming conflicting ideas to come up with a final production.
“It’s really important to be able to work with other people and respect what they think while still voicing your opinion,” Lane said.
The project will gives student something to show prospective employers and offers the opportunity for students to learn how to execute their ideas through the skills they have acquired while at Harding.
“[The project] is what you have to come away from Harding with,” DellaPace said.
