The second annual Coastal Carolina University film festival awarded student filmmakers for their presentation of themes and editing techniques while teaching them the importance of taking pride in their work no matter the outcome.
The festival had two overarching themes; “Civic Initiative” and “A Love Letter to Myrtle Beach.” Within these categories there were a variety of genres including comedy, analogue horror, documentaries and animations.
De’Anna Jones, senior information systems major with a minor in film and production studies, took home awards in both the “Civic Initiative” and “A Love Letter to Myrtle Beach” categories, as well as an award in “Best Sound Design.”
In the “Civic Initiative” category, Jones’ film connected community growth to gardening. Jones said she struggled at first knowing exactly what civic initiative meant, but through a word association exercise she landed on the gardening idea for her film.
“I did a word association thing where it’s like, build a community. What’s similar to build? Grow. What do you grow? Plants. And that built up to the idea of gardening,” Jones said. “I remember talking to one of my friends about when the community garden just started, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have a community garden, communities in the name that works so well.’ ”
Jones’ second film that won in the category “A Love Letter to Myrtle Beach,” was inspired by her experiences living in the Myrtle Beach area for the past ten years. She said her time spent in Myrtle gave her lots of material to work with for her film.
Although Jones said she is proud of her awards, she is most proud of her work being driven by passion. She encourages other filmmakers and artists to create from a place of passion so they can always stay proud of their work.
“Always create stuff to fulfill you creatively. So then no matter what, win or lose, you’re still proud of the product you make. Going into stuff only wanting to win will diminish your passion for anything,” Jones said.
Outside of the two main categories, Abby Gray, senior interdisciplinary studies major, won awards for “Best Cinematography,” “Best Short Film” and “Best Editing,” for her comedy horror film “Hacked.”
Gray initially used the film as a final assignment in her short film class. She said that while she originally aimed for the film to be a combination of horror and thriller, the project turned into a comedy horror, with the help of her fiancé and his friend as actors.Gray advised aspiring filmmakers to center their projects around something they love and to be accepting to new ideas.
“Make it based around something you love, because you’ll love the project a lot more. Don’t be afraid to let something stray away from the original idea, because you never know what it’s going to end up becoming,” Gray said.
The emphasis on passion and creativity was reflected across the festival’s winners. Morgan Bischoff, senior communication major with a double minor in marketing and film and production studies, celebrated a different win at the CCU film festival.
Bischoff is the president of the CCU film club, and the teams collaborative project won “Best Documentary Short Film.” She said she was shocked and overwhelmed with happiness upon hearing the announcement.
“I was so caught off guard. I think my mouth fell to the floor honestly,” Bischoff said. “I kind of looked around at the club members and my boyfriend, and my two best friends were sitting next to me, and they were all like, ‘Get up, go,’ and it took a minute. I just sat there frozen.”
Although she is graduating this semester, Bischoff said she hopes to remain part of the CCU film club and attend future CCU film festivals; she is excited to see what new members and filmmakers will create and accomplish in the future.
