75 students from eight programs at GBC collaborated to produce the film project, Oh Shipped!
George Brown College (GBC) is putting its mark on the film industry.
The films coming out of the college are not only having a footprint in Toronto, as some have been recognized internationally as well.
One such example is Oh Shipped! which is a collection of “eight one-minute films all based on ships, all based on sort of them arriving at a space port and trying to choose the vehicle so like an enterprise car rental type of thing,” according to Neil van der King, a GBC professor who worked on the project.
While the video design and production program is vital to the films being produced at GBC, other programs also play their part through collaboration.
“The Oh Shipped! project is a collaborative film and game born out of the visual effects post-production certificate program,” said King, who teaches video design and production and interaction design and development in addition to the visual effects at the college.
The project extended to include eight programs in total to bring this film to life. Visual effects, audio design, narrative screenwriting, and acting for media students were all involved.
It was “a collaboration of different people, with different personalities and characters,” said Artem Aristov, a video design and production student.
Another recent success coming out of GBC is a film by student, Sonya Moorjani.
Inhibited, the film she wrote, edited and directed, is about an encounter that arises when a soldier who has been traumatized by the war needs to have a stove fixed, and the maintenance worker that helps him.
“Through going to arts school, I kind of found a love for film,” Moorjani said.
She is a video design and production alumni who previously studied in England.
Moorjani’s film was recognized with an outstanding achievement award in the student film category at the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival. It was also a semi-finalist at the Alternative Film Festival.
While it was a rushed process, two weeks dedicated to writing the script and then only a day and a half for production, the film came together in her last semester, Winter 2018.
“It was surprising because I mean, I just wanted my film to be seen. I wasn’t thinking of winning anything,” she said.
Lovebound, another short film, directed by video production and design alumni Serville Poblete, was selected to premiere at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth in Seattle, Washington in the fall of 2018.
The film was shot primarily in a train station and touched on assumptions made about the LGBTQ community regarding love.
Inhibited and Lovebound were both the products of these students’ final year projects.
Inhibited and Lovebound were both smaller productions in comparison to Oh Shipped! which had around 75 students and professors who worked to make the eight short films possible according to King.
For this project, collaboration was key.
“You just learn by watching some of these people work,” said Alice Bozym, a video design and production student who worked on OhShipped!.
For Jenya Sirenko, a visual effects student, it was “the first time in my life when I created something together with everyone as a part of a small disciplinary team.” Sirenko found that working among others to create something was a more meaningful experience.
Oh Shipped! will be released on April 24 at GBC’s school of media year end show screenings.
