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Undergraduates at Ohio University are collaborating to create a feature-length film for the first time. The project is underway, as they have begun filming.
Read this media release to learn more about this unique project:
What is Trailerpark?
-Trailerpark is a feature-length film adapted from best-selling author Russell Banks’ collection of short stories of the same name. The production is the first feature-length film to be created entirely by students as part of the Ohio University’s School of Media Arts & Studies course, MDIA 419, Advanced Narrative. The project is the course’s most ambitious to date, utilizing more than 40 crew members, an expected budget of $40,000, SAG actors, and a slew of donated equipment from generous companies in the industry. Trailerpark is a shining example of what the students of Ohio University are able to accomplish.
Russell Banks
-“Like our living literary giants Toni Morrison and Thomas Pynchon, Russell Banks is a great writer wrestling with the hidden secrets and explosive realities of this country.” - Cornell West. Russell Banks is the critically acclaimed author behind the collection of short stories that the film is based on. The best-selling author of such novels as The Sweet Hereafter, Affliction, Cloudsplitter, and Rule of the Bone, Banks is no stranger to the world of film. Both The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction have been made into acclaimed films, with The Sweet Hereafter taking home the Grand Prix and International Critics Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, and Affliction seeing stars Nick Nolte nominated and James Coburn winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Currently, Cloudsplitter, Continental Drift, and The Darling are being made into films with several industry heavy-hitters. Martin Scorcese is producing Cloudsplitter and directing The Darling, while Josh Hartnett is slated to star in Continental Drift. After a proposed HBO mini-series for Trailerpark failed to materialize, Mr. Banks was kind enough to allow Ohio University students the opportunity to adapt the book to screen.
Why should you care?
-This project highlights the efforts of a group of students so passionate about their craft that they have taken the stresses and burdens associated with the creation of a feature-length film and merged them with the stresses of being a college student. Not only do these students have to worry about exams and school work; they face broader problems like the threat of a strike from the Screen Actors Guild. If it weren’t enough to create a feature-length film, these students went the extra mile and secured the rights to interpret a celebrated author’s work and make it their own. An author whose work has previously been translated into Academy Award Winning films, no less. Where Trailerpark really stands out from previous projects is in the University’s participation and willingness to help the crew in any way possible.
MDIA 419
-Initially featuring five original short movies written, produced, cast, directed, edited, and many times performed by students, the course has adapted to meet the needs of the growing ambitions of the students enrolled. The past three years have seen groups fly to California to shoot the entire production in a Hollywood airplane mock-up (Turbulence, 2006), arrange for more than 100 extras to recreate a high school football game (Peanut Butter, 2007), and most recently accurately transform a modern home into a 1960s apartment and secure rights to use acting legend John Wayne’s voice, (The Dying Western, 2008).
Related Links
-Site: http://trailerparkmovie.com Blog-http://trailerparkmovie.wordpress.com
Read this media release to learn more about this unique project:
What is Trailerpark?
-Trailerpark is a feature-length film adapted from best-selling author Russell Banks’ collection of short stories of the same name. The production is the first feature-length film to be created entirely by students as part of the Ohio University’s School of Media Arts & Studies course, MDIA 419, Advanced Narrative. The project is the course’s most ambitious to date, utilizing more than 40 crew members, an expected budget of $40,000, SAG actors, and a slew of donated equipment from generous companies in the industry. Trailerpark is a shining example of what the students of Ohio University are able to accomplish.
Russell Banks
-“Like our living literary giants Toni Morrison and Thomas Pynchon, Russell Banks is a great writer wrestling with the hidden secrets and explosive realities of this country.” - Cornell West. Russell Banks is the critically acclaimed author behind the collection of short stories that the film is based on. The best-selling author of such novels as The Sweet Hereafter, Affliction, Cloudsplitter, and Rule of the Bone, Banks is no stranger to the world of film. Both The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction have been made into acclaimed films, with The Sweet Hereafter taking home the Grand Prix and International Critics Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, and Affliction seeing stars Nick Nolte nominated and James Coburn winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Currently, Cloudsplitter, Continental Drift, and The Darling are being made into films with several industry heavy-hitters. Martin Scorcese is producing Cloudsplitter and directing The Darling, while Josh Hartnett is slated to star in Continental Drift. After a proposed HBO mini-series for Trailerpark failed to materialize, Mr. Banks was kind enough to allow Ohio University students the opportunity to adapt the book to screen.
Why should you care?
-This project highlights the efforts of a group of students so passionate about their craft that they have taken the stresses and burdens associated with the creation of a feature-length film and merged them with the stresses of being a college student. Not only do these students have to worry about exams and school work; they face broader problems like the threat of a strike from the Screen Actors Guild. If it weren’t enough to create a feature-length film, these students went the extra mile and secured the rights to interpret a celebrated author’s work and make it their own. An author whose work has previously been translated into Academy Award Winning films, no less. Where Trailerpark really stands out from previous projects is in the University’s participation and willingness to help the crew in any way possible.
MDIA 419
-Initially featuring five original short movies written, produced, cast, directed, edited, and many times performed by students, the course has adapted to meet the needs of the growing ambitions of the students enrolled. The past three years have seen groups fly to California to shoot the entire production in a Hollywood airplane mock-up (Turbulence, 2006), arrange for more than 100 extras to recreate a high school football game (Peanut Butter, 2007), and most recently accurately transform a modern home into a 1960s apartment and secure rights to use acting legend John Wayne’s voice, (The Dying Western, 2008).
Related Links
-Site: http://trailerparkmovie.com Blog-http://trailerparkmovie.wordpress.com
