Support Fanshawe students at the first annual First Take Film Festival

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: FIRST TAKE FILM FESTIVAL

Students from Fanshawe's Advanced Filmmaking (AFM), Audio Post-Production and Theatre Arts programs have been writing, filming, acting and working their hardest to put together short films that will dazzle audiences at the First Take Film Festival on April 26 at the Wolf Performance Hall (251 Dundas St.).

Approximately 30 AFM students submitted their best short films, and then professors selected which ones would be featured in First Take. “(Our professors) want to showcase the best work of the program in general. With 30 students submitting their films, around 10 minutes long each, it's just not doable (to show them all),” said Jawin Laverde, whose film, The Fall, was selected as one of the 16 films to be featured in the festival.

Every year, the AFM students each direct a film of their own, and work on other students' films in roles such as producer, script/continuity supervisor and assistant director. Students in Fanshawe's Theatre Arts program are actors in many of the films. Audio Post-Production students work on the films as well, Laverde explained. “They recorded the audio onsite; they had their boom mics and their special mixers to record sounds.” The APP students also added music and sound effects and fixed audio issues in the final cuts of the film. “A lot of them are very talented musicians,” Laverde said, and some students even composed original music for the films.

The year-end film festival is an annual event, but this is its first year under the “First Take” banner. Originally titled the Advanced Filmmaking Film Festival, this year's class decided the name needed an update. “We thought that that ‘The Advanced Filmmaking Film Festival' sounded too plain and boring. We wanted to brand it and make it something that people in the future can use annually,” Laverde explained.

Audiences can expect a “well-paced” event. “It doesn't feel like the first half is going to be all drama and the last half is going to be all comedies. It has a good flow to it.”

Don't miss this event, which will be sure to get two thumbs up. Doors open at 7 p.m. For a full schedule of films, check out the First Take Film Festival at facebook.com/FirstTakeFilmFestival. Give them a follow on Twitter @FirstTakeFF.

Purchase tickets in advance for $10 by sending an email to FirstTakeFilmFest@gmail.com. Tickets are also available at the door for $12.