Class project leads to Hollywood experience for College-Conservatory of Music alums

by John Bach

A pair of recent graduates from the University of Cincinnati's Electronic Media Division won a national College Television Award in April for their original film, a piece they created with no budget during a senior class project.

Dustin Chow, CCM '10, and Steven Shaefer, CCM '09, were awarded $2,000 and flown to Los Angeles to accept their award at a black-tie gala April 10, 2010, from the College Television Awards sponsored by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Chow was blown away by the whole Hollywood experience, particularly the opportunity to make connections with elite composers and producers.

"It was unreal," says Chow. "Being from the Midwest, we aren't used to seeing celebrities walking down the street. Steven and I gave a bunch of interviews. To be in front of the camera instead of behind the camera was pretty interesting."

The aspiring filmmakers wrote, directed, produced, edited, composed and scored the experimental 17-minute musical montage they titled "Today." The film won for best use of music and was also nominated for music composition.

"Today" is based on an original song of the same name composed by Shaefer and performed by the band “Where They Landed,” of which both Shaefer and Chow are members. Chow describes the film as an "introspective approach to a concert performance."

"Usually you have a film, and you throw music on it," says Chow. "This was a unique approach. We had the song written first, then we conceptualized the video."

The film was shot on HD video by director of photography Andy Gasper, CCM '10, who captured performances of the song by band members and an ensemble of CCM musicians at locations throughout the Cincinnati area such as the Cincinnati Museum of Art, Eden Park, Ault Park, and the Cincinnati Observatory. Jason Nix, CCM '10, served as audio engineer for all field and studio audio recordings. Chow thanked E-Media professor Kevin Burke for all his work on the film as executive producer.

In addition to the cash prize, Chow and Shaefer will also receive valuable film stock on which to shoot their next project, as well as an industry mentor to assist the creative process.

Their ultimate goal with their production company, Today Cincinnati Productions, is to produce creative films.

Chow and Shaefer will also launch a social networking site this summer to showcase local artists by providing area creative types with a free profile page containing video documentary, photography or digitization of their work.

Correction: In earlier versions of this article, the students' award was incorrectly referred to as a "national Student Emmy Award."

Links:
See more of their work at Today Cincinnati Productions
Contact Chow and Shaefer to get involved in social networking for artists
Press release about the effort
More about UC's E-Media program