Alternative Medicine; 5.17.18

Alternative Medicine; 5.17.18

With extreme pride and excitement, I am so excited to finally share my latest Documentary project with you all!! I worked on this short film all semester long with my class partner, Kaitlyn Lowe, and we worked really hard to get this final cut done.

We previewed it last week at the First Annual Media Production Student Showcase, and finally presented the whole short film in front of our class on Tuesday morning.

And now, I'm ready to share it with you all!! Thanks so much for all of the love and support, and please enjoy our film!

Special thanks to Southtown Salt Cave & Spa and Buffalo Alternative Therapies for all of their help during this process.

And of course if you have any questions about the different treatments we did I'd be more than happy to answer them! Just leave a comment or message me!

Don't forget to like, comment, share, follow, subscribe, etc.

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Friday the 13th; 4.4.18

Friday the 13th; 4.4.18

Hello all!

If you're already following my facebook, you'd have heard that on Friday, April 13th I'll be releasing a short film we made last fall for Halloween! I've been sitting on it for a while now and thought the first Friday the 13th of the year would be a great time to put it out there.

I can't wait for you all to see it!

xx

Darrian

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SUNYWide Film Festival 8 Aftermath; 11.14.17

SUNYWide Film Festival 8 Aftermath; 11.14.17

Hey everyone! I hope all is well with school and work and life. At this point in the semester, I know a lot of people are kind of starting to go crazy. I, on the other hand, feel a great amount of relief. This past weekend was the 8th annual SUNYWide Film Festival, which my friends and I had been working very hard to organize. Since the beginning of the fall semester, we'd been working to design all the posters, flyers, and postcards to advertise the event. We worked out catering menus, snack and drink tables, and a wine bar. We had to sell advertising to pay for all of this, and lay it out in a program that showcased all we had been working for. It was a lot of work, and now that it's over, a great relief to no longer worry about it every day.

The weekend went relatively smoothly. The first night, our opening gala, featured a live jazz band, wine and hors d'oeuvres, and everyone dressed to the nines. We heard a few words from some of the people who made the event possible, all while mingling and networking.

On Friday we enjoyed hours and hours and hours and hours... of programming. From 9 am until 2 am we saw student films, faculty films, had the opportunity to attend hands-on workshops from animation professionals, music composers, canon representatives, and more. After a lunch break from one of the food trucks available for the event, USA Network's executive producer and writer of the hit show Mr. Robot, Kyle Bradstreet, gave an inspiring speech, showed some clips of his work, and spoke to the audience during a Q&A session. At midnight, we had a special screening to honor the late George A. Romero. After an opening speech from Buff State alum and local filmmaker Kyle Mecca, we had a screening of the 1968 "Night of the Living Dead." Of all the films I saw that day, I have to give a shout out to one that really touched my heart; "Eddie, Milo, and the Box" by Issack Cintron.

Saturday morning brought the awards ceremony and raffle drawing, where students were given thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and equipment from our sponsors. The awards, as listed on the SUNYWide Film Festival website, are...

Grand Jury Award: Torin Murphy, "other real"

Narrative

Winner:  Anthony Riso, "Fraud"

Honorable Mention: Vincent DiVirgilio, "Beyond the Sea"

Documentary

Winner:  Heather Bey, "The Fierce Five Percent: Women in the Sound Industry"

Honorable Mention: Heather Mezynski, "Silver"

Animation

Winner:  Sarah Gaygen, "Kamunyak"

Honorable Mention:  Mattea Guldy, "La Luz"

Experimental

Winner:  Quinn Lachler, "Losing It"

Honorable Mention:  Sam Eisenbaum, "Ode to You and I"

Audience Choice Award:  Jordan Tetewsky, "Bolue Vience"

So that's a wrap for this year's festival. I am honored to have been a part of it, and can only hope for the best in the years to come. Thank you to everyone who supported the event, it is much appreciated.

We are still selling t-shirts through our website, get them while you can!

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Buffalo as a backdrop

By Darrian Dowdy

Buffalo has been invaded by zombies, pigmen, and aliens in recent years. 

Tyler Cheman, a local filmmaker, has been witness to this since the fall of 2012, when he began his work in the film business.

“ALIVE: An Undead Survival Series,” Volumes 1 and 2, were written and directed by Cheman. The series follows a small camp of apocalypse survivors just outside of Buffalo who must travel deep into the city for more supplies.

“Sci-fi holds a strong grip on Buffalo filmmakers,” Cheman said.

Science fiction has influenced the town of Angola, where the legends of Pigman and Holland Road have been the subject of movies such as “Holland Road” and “Pigman,” as well as being featured on Travel Channel’s television show, “Destination Fear.”

Local legend says that Holland Road is haunted by the ghost of a serial killer, Pigman, who kept pig heads on stakes around his home to keep people away. Jason Dunlap, a student at Brooklyn College, directed the documentary “the Horrors of Holland Road.” 

Holland Road - Darrian Dowdy

“I think that it's so popular due to the controversy surrounding the area. Everybody has their own personal ghost story regarding the place, and it makes for an exciting location,” Dunlap said. The documentary was entered into the Nichols School Flick Fest, where it was nominated for Best Horror Film.

One of the most notable locally produced films is “The Final Night And Day,” a feature length science fiction film directed by Hamburg High School alumnus, Adam Steigert.At the second annual Buffalo Screams Horror Film Festival, the film won the award for Best Western New York Horror Feature. It is the largest locally produced independent film, with over 1,200 cast and crew members. 

Steigert is also known for his production of “Ombis: Alien Invasion,” which filmed at many unique locations such as Buffalo’s grain mills and the Cheektowaga town hall.

Despite Buffalo’s love for the supernatural, Cheman wants to move forward from it. “That’s why I wrote an action spy comedy,” Cheman said about his current project, “THE AGENTS: C.O.D.E,” which will be rated R. 

“It’s hard to write PG-13, because as a writer and filmmaker you try for so long to make it a quality film,” Cheman said. “And then the evil angel on the shoulder says… It’s better the other way.”

As Cheman continues to write and direct his own films, the local community is starting to change. 

“There is a lot of Screen Actors Guild (SAG) work slowly coming to Buffalo,” Cheman said. “It will be costly to have those kind of films but it is something that the local film community is preparing for.”

“I would like to see independent work that really explores the city: shows it as the living, breathing character it is,” said Dunlap.

“Dreams can be expensive,” Cheman said, “but having a heart for something is always free.”

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The Horrors Of Holland Road

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From Los Angeles to Buffalo: A night at the Oscars

By Darrian Dowdy

Michael Devine spent Oscar night in a suit and tie, walking the red carpet, and posing for photos. He even took home the award for Best Actor.

Devine, a theater major at SUNY Buffalo State, wasn’t in Hollywood. He was on campus at the 9th Annual Television and Film Arts Night at the Oscars, a multimedia gala celebrating the Academy Awards as well as Buffalo State student films.

“It was very classy, right from the start,” said Devine, who starred in three student films nominated for awards. “Everybody was dressed up, it was very formal. ... A fantastic atmosphere.”

Community members were invited to walk on a red carpet and view the Oscars projected on the big screen in the Student Union Social Hall, all while enjoying live music and complimentary refreshments. 

Oscars Poster - TFA Program

The Sunday evening event also encouraged audience members to vote for the best student films of the year. The films were available for prior viewing online, or at iMac terminals set up around the hall. The awards of the night were Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress.

Devine assumed he won his Best Actor award for the short film, “Affinity.” 

“I don’t know for sure,” he said. “There was just a name attached to the category, there was no film attached to the name.”

TFA major Eliza Zanolli-Stiles was the director of “Affinity.” The three-minute short film is about a man whose world goes black and white after a recent breakup, until he meets a new woman.

“His world gradually begins to turn back to color,” Zanolli-Stiles said. “Affinity” won her the award for Best Director. “This was a film that I was very proud of and put a lot of work into, and I was glad to be recognized for that.” She also took home Best Actress for her work in three films.

Other films recognized at the event were “I Like You A Latte” for Best Screenplay, and “The Devil’s Dime” for Best Picture.

Jordan Sims, writer, director, producer, and editor of the short film “Solid Foundation” said, “It’s a chance to showcase our own work. … It’s our own little taste of what the future may hold.”

“It’s not even about winning awards,” said Zanolli-Stiles. “It’s just to showcase [the] work work that [we’ve] spent so much time and energy on.”

The audience turnout this year was lower than past years, Sims said. 

“I think that’s more to do with the Oscar’s themselves…,” he said “It’s not appealing to the mass audience anymore. The Oscars are getting too far into their own little bubble, and they forget that we’re all normal people. TFA can get better and better every year with this Night at the Oscars, but if the Oscars themselves aren’t really that interesting, it’ll kind of all be in vain.”

 
“I hope to see it grow,” Zanolli-Stiles said. “I think we have a pretty good thing going right now and hopefully it will continue to evolve as the years go on. … It’s such a unique experience.”

“It was very nice and very humbling to see that my work is noticed,” said Devine. “It changed me as a student film actor.”

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