Moore Norman Technology Center’s Digital Cinema & Television Production and Graphic Design classes will host the 13th annual Red Carpet Film Festival at 7 p.m. June 1 at the Winchester Drive-In in Oklahoma City. Tickets are $10 for individuals and $40 per vehicle.

Tickets may be purchased online only through Eventbrite and the link to buy is found here: mntc.edu/rcff.

The Red Carpet Film Festival was first created to provide a way for students to experience deeper learning while working on extensive, industry-level projects in a collaborative environment. Students from both programs are empowered to create complex projects that they see through from concept to distribution. 

The festival will showcase six student-produced short films from the current school year:  Until the End, Playing for Keeps, Hiding, Homecoming, Sheltered and Alien Frequencies. In addition, eight short films from the 2019-20 school year will be presented: “The Visitor,” “Isolation,” “The Garlic,” “Rakhi,” “In the Spotlight,” “Hollow_Reality,” “Fate” and “Dark Places.”

MNC Digital Cinema Instructor Amy Smith said that it was hard for students to walk away from their projects last year, not knowing if they would be able to complete them or share them with an audience. Smith said,

The entire film industry has had to be creative and adaptive, finding ways to make movies while keeping cast and crew safe. It was no different for us.

Students in both DCTP and Graphic Design complete a capstone course during their second year of instruction. DCTP students write, shoot, direct and edit short films while Graphic Design students work as an advertising agency producing movie posters, DVD boxes, invitations and other print support materials for the event. 

Smith and MNTC Digital Video Instructor Joe Magrini said their students developed, wrote and pitched their short film ideas via Zoom to a panel of local film professionals in January. Judges were film director Lance McDaniel and President and Creative Director of Boiling Point Media Ryan Bellgardt.

Pitching via Zoom was only one of many changes that the pandemic caused. The movies produced during the 2019-20 school year feature local actors who auditioned at a casting call organized by Chris Freihofer of Freihofer Casting in Norman, but this year’s films were cast with students in the program.

In addition, students were not able to collaborate with local musicians to create original scores for the movies. Smith said, “We hope that next year we can collaborate more, but this year it was important to us to adapt so that the students could still be storytellers. All along, we have remained committed to making Red Carpet a reality for the students.”

During the remainder of the spring semester, MNTC’s students planned and shot their films, and completed post-production editing and color correcting. Smith said, “Our students follow the production process in a real way. With the Red Carpet Film Festival, we create a capstone experience for our students that goes beyond any normal classroom assignment.”

MNTC Graphic Design Instructor Trisha Marlow said her second-year students pitch branding and ad campaign ideas and all the students pitch movie poster designs to a panel of local graphic design judges. The judges provide feedback and select the ad campaign winner and poster designers who then present to the student directors in Digital Cinema.

This year the winning Ad Campaign was created by Moore High School student Marley Glidewell. Marley is in her second year of Graphic Design and will attend Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in the fall. She not only created the RCFF logo design but also designed invites, social media advertising and multiple animations for the event.

Marlow said her students adapted to the online environment quickly during the pandemic and proved just how flexible and willing they are to learn and grow in the face of adversity. The students also used this opportunity to learn new technology and she said they "taught her a thing or two along the way."

Marlow said: 

We are so excited to be back in person and can’t wait to see our design work on the big screen, under the stars at the Winchester Drive-In!

To learn more about MNTC’s Digital Cinema & TV Production or Graphic Design classes visit mntc.edu or call 405-801-5000.