Carlos Valencia.

Minutes: April 27, 2005

On the fourth day of reports Dr. Reimer commanded that student films were to be shown. Dr. Reimer looked at what the students had done, and it was good.

Film 1: Are You There?

The first film was a music video done by the lovely Erin.

Are You There? had some excellent production values going on, the costume design was great, the editing was top notch, and so was the acting.

We start off the video seeing a young lady with great hair dressed in an impeccable white dress and wearing pearls. But as the song progresses we see this young lady is somewhat distraught and feeling unsettled. The slow tempo of the song is complimented by the slow movements of the camera.

We see another example of very well synched up editing as the scenes change with the changes of the beats in the song.

Further along in the video we see the young lady running through the park. She seems lost; perhaps she is trying to find herself. She is having trouble defining her identity. Is she happy? Is she in denial? Is she really sad? We see this conflict come to a climax at the end of the video when we see three versions of the same young lady. One is the happy version of herself, one is unhappy and the third seems to be her real self. She finally detaches herself from both extremes, happy and sad, as they dissolve out of view. What is left then is the true version of herself.

Film 2: Corporate Casualty

Corporate Casualty kicked ass, as well.

The story was basically about a corporate employee that by chance, or perhaps fate, finds himself trapped in a conference room with another man who has been recently laid off and is depressed about it. Though he seems somewhat hesitant to open himself to conversation, the corporate employee eventually realizes how the issues of the laid off man aren’t very much unlike his own. Through their conversation the corporate employee comes to the realization that he must make a change in his life, and gets to it immediately after leaving the conference room. This seemingly triumphant moment is soon dampened by the realization that the depressed man has cut himself in a bid to commit suicide. By the time the corporate employee realizes what is happening, the man is already dead.

The purely visual elements of the film were excellent and looked very professionally done. The opening credits, the graphic design, set design, and the rapidly moving collages of symbolic images were very well put together. But, of course, one would expect no less from the guiding masters of UNCC student media! Huzzah!

Another great visual move that complimented the tone of the film was the decision to film in black and white. Corporate Casualty was a film that talked about somber subjects, like suicide and the deadening of the human spirit in an increasingly corporately run world. To film in black and white emphasized the dark subject matter being presented, and helped enhance its poignancy.

Film 3: Death of a Paddleboat Lover

God knows what these people were on when they decided to film this.

Basic storyline:

• Steven, the main protagonist of the film, is deeply in love with a paddleboat he calls Wanda. He considers her his girlfriend.
• His best friend Pauly thinks he’s crazy, so they fight.
• One day Wanda is gone and Steven starts getting drunk.
• Pauly sees him and tells him he has to go to therapy.
• Steven doesn’t want to go so Pauly challenges him to a game of Pac-man.
• Pauly has a Pac-man phobia but he will face his fears for his friend’s sake.
• We see Pauly having Pac-man nightmares.
• Pauly wins, Steven goes to therapy, he meets a girl called Evelyn there.
• Evelyn and Steven hook up. We never see them getting it on, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. Kids these days, they don’t wait for marriage anymore. It’s not like it used to be. Back in my day we had to walk 30 miles through 5 feet of snow just to hold hands.
• Evelyn after a night out tells Steven the story about how she burnt her boat, and in telling him this he figures out that they were both seeing the same paddleboat and she had actually burnt Wanda down and that’s why she wasn’t there that day.
• Steven storms off back to the paddleboat lake and jumps in.
• Evelyn later on finds herself going to the same place and makes the same decision.
• Paddleboat resurfaces from the ashes through the magic of top of the line Silicon Graphics special effects and picks up both Steven and Evelyn.
• Final scene: We see their lifeless bodies resting on the paddleboat they both once loved.

If this isn’t the greatest film ever made, I don’t know what is. These guys deserve an A+!

…especially the director.