Two Ithaca College freshmen just won a nationwide film competition with Coca-Cola and Regal Cinemas. Their film, called The Library, is a short-film advertising Coca-Cola and Regal Cinemas. The film was chosen as one five finalists from 29 schools, and was produced with $15,000 from Coke and Regal.
Name: Eva Kirie
Major: Television & Radio
Year/Class: Freshman, Class of 2021
Her Campus Ithaca College: How did you hear about the competition, and how did you decide to enter?
Eva Kirie: We heard about this competition back in September in our Introduction to Media Industries class with Jack Powers. As a class, and in partnerships, he wanted us to create a script, budget and crew list to learn what it is like to be in the early stages of a production. It was not necessary to enter the competition, being that this project was also for a grade. But Clara and I decided to enter our script, budget and crew list into the competition. We knew that the odds would be very slim but we wanted to give ourselves the opportunity to try.
HCIC: What was the process like? (A couple sentences is fine, a reflection on your experience):
EK: The process was very long and stressful, at times. I was the producer, which meant I oversaw and approved every aspect of the production process, and for this role I had to constantly be in communication with the executives we were working with, meeting hard deadlines, be extremely organized and keep track of everything that has to make the production come to life. But overall, the process was so educational and inspiring for me and I grew not only as a student but as a filmmaker as well.
HCIC: How did you come up with the Library idea?
EK: It was a very different idea from what we were originally thinking. Our earlier idea was set to take place in the upper quads, however, we had to change the location because of the freezing temperatures that usually hit in January when we were filming. So, we worked with our agency production coach and found that the IC library was a great alternative, which made us then change the name of our film to “The Library.”
HCIC: How did you find people to help you film this:
EK: Most of the crew members that we hired were students that worked in Park Productions, the student ran professional production group on campus. We also hired some professionals for the more demanding roles such as the director of photography and art director. Those professionals graduated from Ithaca and so it was great that our production was completely run by Ithaca College students and alumni.
HCIC: What was the best part of the experience for you:
EK: I have two and I couldn’t decide… both of which end up with me crying happily.
One or my favorite part of this whole process was when our film went live on the Coca-Cola Regal Films website and on Youtube on March 9th. Up until that point, it was nonstop work and preparation for everyone and me on the crew. I sent the link to as many people as I could and got such wonderful responses and feedback. But the best moment from all of that was when I sent my film to my family and they were so impressed and proud of me and it was the greatest feeling of accomplishment I had ever experienced.
Up until the two days we had to film in January, it was a little challenging for me to grasp the idea of being a producer. Being the I was completely new to filmmaking and new to college, I had no idea what a producer even did. Throughout the three months of pre-production, I worked on the project every day. Whether that be getting on conference calls, casting actors, hiring crew members, budgeting and so on, every day I was doing something for our film. Aside from the film, we had to create a Behind the Scenes video for the promotion aspect of the competition. The behind the scenes crew asked to interview me. My agency production coach, who had been mentoring and guiding us in this whole competition, came along to conduct the interview. After all of the questions, she ended the interview with, “How does it feel to be a naturally born producer?” That question had such great strength and meaning to me that for a whole minute I sat in the interview chair speechless.