This term, the Digital Filmmaking students are super busy, doing what they do best – filming.

Digital Filmmaking students are currently busy working on two major projects. The first is a short Narrative Film project entitled ‘Up or Down’.

“It’s a drama about a guy who is on his way to a job interview and has a near-death experience,” explains student producer Joshua Reeves.

The narrative was filmed over 3 days on location in Kelowna with a full crew and 5 actors. The project was run by College for Arts & Technology instructor and local TV personality Doug Brown, and instructor and freelance film producer Natasha Howes.

The script was written by students Robert Quavous-Knechtel, Joshua Reeves and brothers Matthew and Michael Helmer. Student Jordan Tiechmann is acting as Trainee Director on the project. Music is being created especially for the project by recent Audio Graduate Peter Nightingales.

“The mentored narrative short film is the first opportunity for the students to take on the position of key creatives and technicians on set, in order to bring a fiction script that they have written to fruition,” explains Howes. “This quarter 3 cohort learned and delivered core skills as producer, director, art director, DPs, continuity, editors, sound, camera, and grip to create their ‘Up or Down’ movie, under the professional mentorship of new film instructor Doug Brown.

Eight weeks of pre-production, a 3 day on- location shoot, local acting talent, 12-hour days later, and ‘Up or Down’ wrapped on Sunday night at midnight. Currently in the edit – and ready to screen for school next quarter. It’s cutting together well so far! Watch this space.”

The second project the students are getting their teeth into are Music Videos. Two different production groups are creating videos for two different BC-based artists.

The first video is for ‘Down By the Water’, by Kamloops country artist Tanner Dawson, in collaboration with students Jordan Tiechmann (Director), Joshua Reeves (Producer), Drake Richardson (Art Director) Derek Williams (Editor) and Bryden Wutzke.

The second video is for ‘Where I’ll Be’, by Nelson-based folk-pop artist Diana Uglov. The production team for this project includes Michael and Matthew Helmer (Directors), Robert Quavous-Knechtel (Producer), Cassie Mifflin (Art Director), Teressa Brunton and Mason Friesen.

“Whenever working with clients, one of the most central issues to deal with is that of managing expectations. Students learn to deal with entertainment clients from a delivery perspective, setting expectations from both a client and creative point of view. They learn quickly that in many cases creative productions are the distillation of expectation, budget and schedule,” says Victor Poirier, DF’s Department Head. “It’s a great learning experience.”