Homework You Can Watch
New show featuring student films debuts on butv10
Imagine a show that features fallen soldiers, ominous fortune cookies, and a character who wakes up in a park handcuffed. It may not be your typical mix of plotlines, but these are some of the films featured in butv10’s new showcase, Student Shorts.
Comprising short films created by students in the College of Communication’s Production I and Production II classes, the show is designed to bring film and television department students’ best work to a wider audience. Student Shorts began airing March 31 and each 30-minute time slot shows several short films, each three to seven minutes long.
Typically, Production I film finals are viewed by just a handful of students, with the top three films then screened for all Production I classes. Student Shorts, however, provides a significantly wider audience for projects produced, written, directed, and edited by students, both on butv10 and on the channel’s website.
“It’s awesome,” says student filmmaker Conor Sullivan (COM’13), creator of the short Read My Mind, one of 13 films selected for the show. “Any opportunity to have anyone see my film is great. One of the best things about being a filmmaker is showing people your work, whether it’s getting feedback or making them smile.” Sullivan’s film tells the story of a man who uses a time machine to fix a past relationship.
Christian Trapp (COM’12), another filmmaker whose work was selected to air in the series, took on an even more unusual subject: eggs. “I originally wanted to make a movie with eggs because you can tell if they’re hard-boiled by spinning them,” says Trapp. “If they’re hard-boiled, they sit up, and that’s fun to watch. So then the whole movie was about eggs. I ended up buying like four dozen.” The result is Over Easy, a film about a couple who bond over grocery shopping, laundry, and yes, eggs.
Among the other films featured: a man who receives a scary fortune cookie and a World War II hero who bestows a medal on the soldier who tried to rescue him. A complete list of the films is here.
Butv10 student manager Meredith Jacobson (COM’11) says Student Shorts is a great vehicle to show off student films. “There are many creative student projects that never get screened outside of class,” says Jacobson. “Now we have an effective format to present these stories. It’s homework you can watch.”
New content will be added each semester, providing the BU community an opportunity to see the newest and best Production I and Production II final projects. Butv10 also plans to incorporate some of the more advanced films from Production III and documentary course projects in the future.
Student Shorts can be seen on butv channel 10 or on butv10’s website.
John Fichera can be reached at jfichera@bu.edu.
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