By Serenity Clark
At 7 p.m., Oct. 27, at the Vaska Theater, Cameron University held its annual Student Movie Night. This event originally started in the 90s as a drive-in out in a wheat field, since turning into one of the most attended campus events year after year.
Journalism and Media Production Professor Dr. Matt Jenkins began the tradition of Movie Night in 1996 in an effort to provide a place to showcase student-made films. The films presented at Movie Night come in a wide array of genres and styles, as diverse as the people who submit them for presentation.
While in the past Jenkins has taught courses–such as Corporate Video–that require students to create films for Movie Night (often accompanied by a Public Relations campaign plan to draw in attendees), most of the films submitted for this iconic evening were independent student films.
Nine films crossed the Vaska’s screen Monday evening; the audience laughed until the very end. According to Jenkins’s personal count, there were over 100 movie-watchers in attendance.
The night started with a loaded lobby and lengthy concession stand line, moving into a theater vibrating with excitement. Introducing the fun of films is a short by Dr. Jenkins’s film company, Misfits of Film, accompanied by a commercial for Cameron’s newest Fine Arts Society, created by Billy Peterson for his Audio Visual Production course this semester.
The next to play were music videos for local band MIND FUNERAL created by Journalism and Media Production (JRMP) student Steven Utter under Wax Wings Productions: the first, a live performance of original song “Under My Spell” and the second, a studio recording of “Giants in the Meadows.”
Following this was the first student short film, a bloody yet silly slasher called “Killing Playlist” by alumna Sarah Monk. This is far from Monk’s first time screening a short film of her own at Movie Night, but she truly set the tone for the evening: “Killing Playlist” is a fun and surprising horror short that stars a killer with a very unique pre-murder ritual, one that includes a specially curated playlist of loud music and busting criminal dance moves.
Sticking to the thus-far theme of bloodlust, the next short film was a black and white silent film titled “Shooter” by fellow JRMP major Brayden Howard starring fellow student Matthew Hasley. In opposition to the former film’s lightheartedness, this one carries a sense of dread and foreboding as we follow a shoot-out between two men amidst a much bigger, much deadlier war all around them. “Shooter” leaves much to the imagination of the viewer.
In the third slot was Dr. Jenkins’s debut screening of his newest short film “Vapor Trails.” As a dedicated filmmaker, Jenkins always has ideas on the backburner, but it is an honor that he saves the debut screenings of his most favorite creations for Movie Night with the Cameron community.
“Vapor Trails” follows the main character attempting any and all of the most absurd suggestions to help quit vaping, with the help of a well-intentioned friend. There was a new but recognizable face amongst Jenkins’s cast this year: Cameron alumni and current Graduate student Mikel Weatherspoon played a retired-clown-gone-group-counselor that, in my opinion, stole the show with his ability to swing between ecstatic, happy-go-lucky clown to disgruntled retiree who very clearly hates his new job.
Another familiar name among the “Vapor Trails” cast is our very own Matthew Hasley, although the audience only ever sees his non-participating back.
Following “Vapor Trails” was the second screening of Cameron graduate Skylar Teddington’s short animation, “How to Draw a Stick Figure.” The film was such a hit at last year’s Movie Night that Jenkins received numerous requests this semester to play it again. “How to Draw a Stick Figure” is simple yet hilarious, a solid mix of good humor and humor that is sure to catch one off guard. It is the only animated film to ever be submitted to Movie Night.
In the spirit of reruns and also due to overwhelming requests: the second Vaska screening an older short from Jenkins, “The Last Dive.” “The Last Dive” is trippy and unsettling, with the main character waking up all alone on a submarine at the bottom of the ocean. Jenkins filmed this one inside the actual USS Batfish, a WWII vessel retired in Muskogee, OK.
To counter the ending of “The Last Dive,” which leaves the viewer with more questions than answers, is another newer student film that cuts straight to the point: “Dusk” by JRMP senior Austin Childers. “Dusk” follows a briefcase thief running through dark woods for his life, chased by masked figures and ending in a deadly, Western-style shootout.
The last rerun of the evening was also heavily requested, but specifically in the spirit of Halloween: “The Unfortunate Interrogation of Pat McGinty,” an older film made by Cameron alumni Cameron Goss and Patrick Turner. When asked what could be expected from this film, Jenkins only said, “You can’t help but want to laugh.”
“Pat McGinty” is as bloody and violent as any horror-comedy can be; it is both disturbing and unserious, hilarious even as viewers turn their heads away from the gore. It is, in my opinion, so clearly the creation of two brothers just looking to mess around and gross people out a little bit. In the end, I believe “The Unfortunate Interrogation of Pat McGinty” made the audience laugh the hardest.
And at the very end of this epic string of movies was “The Newsroom,” a brief mockumentary (also created by Steven Utter) featuring a satirized day in the life of the Collegian Staff.
Each cast/staff member chose a characteristic about themselves or their role on staff and quadrupled it, until everyone was laughing and my mother turned to ask me what it is we as the Collegian staff actually do in the newsroom.
The Movie Night Q&A panel stretched from one side of the stage all the way to the other, including every single individual who created or worked on any of the nine films from the evening.
Jenkins said to me a while ago that a movie isn’t done until it is experienced by others, that it is designed to be experienced by others; I didn’t fully realize what he meant until that moment. That concluded another successful year of Cameron University’s student Movie Night.
Movie Night is hosted every single semester and is by no means restricted to media students only.
If you enjoy making movies and have no place to screen it, consider Movie Night. If you’ve never made a movie at all but have an interest in filming, consider Movie Night. Regardless, consider coming to the next student Movie Night and see the magic for yourself.