Rows of empty chairs on polished hardwood waited for their occupants, the tunes were organized, coffee and sparkling water beside empty cups. And after a few glitches, audio issues smoothed over. Luckily, a world class Hollywood sound expert was on hand to make sure that went well.
On October 28th at 7:00 pm, after months of planning, meetings and a lot of help to make it happen, dozens of teachers, students, family, friends and organizers piled into the beautiful Pikto Studio in the Distillery District to watch the debut efforts of our student documentary filmmakers.
With guests and speakers from Discovery Channel and Skywalker Sound, and enthusiastic support from everyone in the audience, this event reflected the standard of the TYDP, and the amazing support from volunteers and fans of the project.
Matthew Wood@TYDP Launch
The first highlight of the night was Matthew Wood who took time out of his busy schedule at Skywalker Ranch in California come to the first annual TYDP screening and launch to share his own story of how he started working for George Lucas when he was just 17 and the journey that has so far led him to a long list of awards including an Academy Award nomination for There Will Be Blood.
Matthew is Supervising Sound Editor at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California as well as the voice of General Grievous in Star Wars. (Skywalker Sound is part of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light and Magic and makes it home at the legendary Skywalker Ranch.)
Showing us how it's done in Hollywood, he shared a highlight reel of some of the work Skywalker has done over the years, from Star Wars to Forrest Gump to There Will Be Blood. Sound is equally important to tv and film as pictures, he told us. It is what engages the viewer and makes an experience visceral. George Lucas calls it "50% of the experience".
Student documentary makers Kirsten Webb, Michael Marcucci and Soroosh Vafapoor took centre stage to introduce their projects, telling us about their challenges and ultimate satisfaction in learning story development, filming and editing during the four week TYDP workshop series. Then we watched!
School:SEED Alternative School, Toronto
Doc: "The Ego and the Self: What is Identity?" (preview to come)
Student: Michael Marcucci,
School:Harbord Collegiate Institute, Toronto
Doc: Click to preview Trees of the Urban Forest
Student: Soroosh Vafapoor
School: Harbord Collegiate Institute
Doc: Click to preview Esperanto and Esperantists
So exciting! Wish I had been there. Congrats on your evening.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mark! I wish you were there too. It was a great night! Next year I hope you can make it. ~F
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