Room 9A, 9:00am - 12:00pm, unless noted otherwise

Final Cut Pro, Level 1 (Mark Stoffel) – October 1^st

This hands-on workshop is an introduction to the basic interface of FCP, will teach file organization, adjusting and customizing preferences and settings, basic editing functions, and how to output your project as a simple Quicktime movie.

Final Cut Pro, Level 2 (Mark Stoffel) – October 8^th

Topics of this Level 2 workshop could cover as much as: Capturing video and audio, various editing and trimming techniques (ripple, roll, slip and slide tools), audio editing, video compositing, basic color correction, video compositing, motion-keyframing, and whatever else pops up in the final Q & A part of the workshop.

HD Video Codecs: Differences, choices, purposes (Hong Zhou) – October 15^th

Learn about data compression and decompression in HD technology and their applications in media production. Find answers to questions you may have been wondering: What is HD? How does it work? What are some of the different HD cameras?

This is a repeat of last semester’s workshop – we just felt like more people need to know about this!

Creating Web Documents: Learning to code HTML and CSS (Robert Spahr) –October 22^nd

Have you ever coded raw HTML and CSS in a text editor? Did you know your emails travel at the speed of light? Have you considered how a web browser finds web sites? Do you know when the Internet was created and why? Have you ever wondered just how new is New Media? You will when you attend the Creating Web Documents Workshop.

Note: A repeat from last semester, due to popular demand!

Adobe Aftereffects, (Keith Jackson) – October 29^th

An introduction to understanding compositing, visual effects and motion graphics. using the popular layer based software “Adobe After Effects”. Industry professional and MCMA alumnus Keith Jackson will cover managing footage, viewing and editing layers, animating type, and more. The workshop will also guide students to understand After Effects process tree and workflow, from starting a new project to rendering out a finished movie.

Outputting, Compressing, Publishing of Video (Mark Stoffel) – November 5^th

This workshop deals with the very last, but perhaps most neglected step in your video production workflow. How does your project leave the timeline to conform to a vast choice of multi-media formats? Learn about the options available in FCP and “Compressor” to create the types of files needed for various publishing purposes.

ProTools – In a Nutshell (Mark Stoffel / Todd Herreman) – November 12^th

MCMA has over 30 ProTools editing stations – the audio production industry standard at your fingertips! Mark and Todd will introduce you to the ProTools interface and help you create an acoustic music multi-track recording project. You’ll track, add effects, mix, and output your project – all during this 3-hour workshop!

To reserve a seat for any these workshops, please e-mail Mark Stoffel: ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

CARBONDALE, Ill.- With already more than 220 submissions to review, the next two months are going to be busy for Big Muddy Film Festival organizers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

One of the oldest film festivals affiliated with a university, the Big Muddy Film Festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary. The festival is set for Feb. 22 through March 2 at various venues on campus, in Carbondale and around Southern Illinois. The festival includes juried films in four categories - animation, documentary, experimental and narrative.

Hong Zhou, a visiting assistant professor in SIUC's Department of Cinema and Photography, is coordinating the event. He is pleased the festival has already received approximately 220 entries. The extended entry submission deadline is Jan. 4.

Film festival finalist selection will be finished by Jan. 25, Zhou said. Festival organizers are in the process of selecting judges.

The Department of Cinema and Photography is within the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts.

"We're really excited that our student-run festival has such longevity," said Deborah Tudor, associate professor and department chair ó who along with Zhou, is also serving as faculty adviser.

"Thirty years is an amazing run of success. Professor Zhou is doing a great job this year, building on the work of the previous coordinators, Mike Covell and Sally Shafto," she said. "We have more foreign entries from the widest range of countries ever. His leadership is helping to ensure that the festival will be around for many years as a community event here in Carbondale."

Zhou came to SIUC this fall from Toronto, where he was a cinematographer/videographer/editor. A filmmaker who has a teaching background in both Toronto and at Webster University in St. Louis, Zhou said he has always been appreciative of the Big Muddy Film Festival.

"I'm particularly interested in this festival because it is very different from all the other festivals," he said. "Nowadays, other festivals are more or less commercialized, and more focused on stars, big names and how glamorous the event is going to be.

"I believe our festival is more focused on substance; we are focused on grassroots filmmaking and the film viewing experience," he said. "We try to encourage filmmakers at the very front line of filmmaking.

"We are also focused on getting the local community involved and enhancing their film viewing experience," he said. "We want the audience to get in touch with very fundamental basic filmmaking."

That passion for films is "why our festival stands out and has a good reputation," Zhou said.

With an increase in international film entries, Zhou wants to see the number of festival films shown increase from approximately 20 percent of submitted entries to 25 to 30 percent. The increased number also supports the efforts of filmmakers, an aspect not lost on Zhou and the pre-screening committee as they focus on the filmmakers and their work.

"We are receiving more diverse entries than we have before," he said. "We want to increase the chance of presenting a more diverse program. Because there are more international films we want to increase the festival's international presence, and this gives an opportunity to support the work of more filmmakers."

The pre-screening committee includes about 40 faculty, students and community members, each with a passion for cinema and the arts, Zhou said. At least four committee members view each entry.

Committee members viewed 100 entries from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Dec. 8. Another pre-screening session is set for mid-January, and Zhou isn't ruling out additional sessions as entries continue to come in.

The festival "is shaping up very well," Zhou said. "All the students and volunteers are working very hard and are enthusiastic."

Zhou and several committee members met last week to sort and catalog recent entries. The pre-screening process is going well, said Lindsay P. Greer, a second-year graduate student in cinema and photography from Clare, Mich. She is the daughter of Michael and Shelley Greer.

"There are definitely some good films," she said. "There's that diamond that makes the day worth it."

Additional information on this year's festival, or entry submission information, is available at http://www.bigmuddyfilm.com/30th-2008/. The Web site features a complete history on the festival, including previous years' posters dating back to the first festival in the spring of 1979.

Caption:

Prepping for the 2008 Big Muddy Film Festival Event organizers sort through some of the more than 220 entries already received for the 2008 Big Muddy Film Festival, which celebrates its 30th year at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Feb. 22-March 2. Some of the members of the pre-screening committee are: (from left) Kyle G. Dean, a senior in Cinema and Photography, from New Lenox, the son of Judy Dean of Milwaukee, Wis., and James Dean of New Lenox; Kwang Woo Noh, a doctoral student in Mass Communication and Media Arts; Hong Zhou, a visiting assistant professor in SIUC's Department of Cinema and Photography; Evan M. Kimball, a senior in Cinema and Photography from Carbondale, and Lindsay P. Greer, a second-year graduate student in Cinema and Photography from Claire, Mich., the daughter of Michael and Shelley Greer.

Photo by Jeff Garner, University Communications

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Some of the nation's best independent films have been showcased during the first 29 years of the Big Muddy Film Festival at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

As the student-run film festival celebrates its 30th anniversary starting later this month, another extraordinary lineup of documentary films is among the festival's record 78 juried films. The 11-day festival is Feb. 21 through March 2 at various venues on campus, in Carbondale and around Southern Illinois. A record number of competition films prompted organizers to begin the festival ó one of the oldest film festivals affiliated with a university ó a day earlier than initially planned.

A total of 29 documentaries highlight this year's competition. The festival also features 26 narrative films, 13 experimental films and 10 animations films. A complete listing of competition films is at http://www.bigmuddyfilm.com/30th-2008/films.htm.

Retired Department of Cinema and Photography assistant professor Michael D. Covell founded the festival in 1979; about 50 films were considered. The festival's scope and international presence continues to grow ó pre-screening committees reviewed more than 300 competition submissions from more than 20 countries.

The film festival gives Southern Illinois "a unique window on the world of independent film," said Gary P. Kolb, interim dean of the College Mass Communication and Media Arts. The student-run festival, which has a faculty coordinator, is a unique feature in the United States, he said.

"It remains one of our best drawing cards in recruiting students and faculty to come to the Department of Cinema and Photography at SIUC," Kolb said. "We are very proud of the success the festival has attained and its future looks bright."

The festival retains its premiere status and continuing growth due to the "energy and commitment of the faculty and especially the students involved with the festival," Kolb said. The festival also maintains its strong commitment "to socially relevant themes in several of its program showcases," and provides a way for the audience and filmmakers to "share common concerns about their world."

"More than anything, the festival is about people coming together for a cause they are passionate about," he said.

Hong Zhou, a visiting assistant professor in cinema and photography, is coordinating the event ó a process that started in August and hasn't slowed down.

"It has been really exciting and rewarding to look at all the films and be able to be a part of it," said Zhou, who came to SIUC this fall from Toronto, where he was a cinematographer/videographer editor.

"You feel the pulse of what is going on in independent grassroots filmmaking around the country and world. You feel that you are in touch with them. It gives a good feeling and encouragement."

Internationally recognized film artists Usama Alshaibi, Jonathan Caouette and Naomi Uman are serving as jurors.

The documentaries "show various aspects of human lives and situations ó postwar recuperation, urban poverty, health issues, immigration and accommodation, harmony and conflict," said graduate assistant Kwang Woo Noh, a doctoral student in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts.

This year's committee focused on keeping Covell's original purpose and grassroots independence characteristics, along with expanding the international attention that Sally G. Shafto, last year's festival coordinator, was implementing, he said;

"Big Muddy has provided SIUC students and heartland residents with the opportunity to see the other side of the world and different voices. This year we still continue this tradition," he said.

Nineteen foreign films are in the competition; the films are from Argentina, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.

The festival committee is finalizing plans for a March 1 retirement reception honoring Covell, who retired in summer 2007 after teaching at SIUC for 32 years. Several Department of Cinema and Photography alumni will return for the reception at the Touch of Nature Environmental Center, said Deborah Tudor, associate professor and department chair

Covell is synonymous with the festival. He is teaching a cinematography workshop at SIUC this semester, Tudor said.

"When people around the country think of the Big Muddy Film Festival they think of Mike as well," she said. "It's part of Mike's legacy to the students. Mike worked for many years very selflessly and has given a lot of extra time to the festival. It means a lot to him and we are happy we could hold this event while the festival is running."

Tudor also stresses the students' role in the festival's continuing success.

"The students' enthusiasm is really what keeps this rolling from year-to-year since they are the volunteers who do the work," she said.

Eight independent documentary films are competing for the John Michaels Film Award, which honors the film that "best reflects today's political, social, environmental or human rights issues, and presents the most relevant and significant contribution to the discussion of today's issues," Zhou said.

Those films include:

• "Cartoneros" - Argentina filmmaker Ernesto Livon-Grosman exposes how thousands of unemployed workers daily sort and classify garbage left by Buenos Aires residents.
• "A Soldier's Peace" - Filmmakers Kristen and Marshall Thompson tell Marshall Thompson's story of trying a 500-mile peace walk through Utah upon his return from Iraq, where Thompson, who opposes the war, was a military journalist for the U.S. Army.

• "Gulf War Syndrome" - Filmmaker Gary Null examines the effects of soldier's exposure to deadly chemicals while the government denies it.

• "The Face of AIDS," - Filmmakers Doug Karr and Edward Boyce look at the impact on the lives of women living with HIV/AIDS in Malawi.

The diversity of subjects and themes in the films is a strong point, Zhou said. Several filmmakers focus on very personal issues, which is a growing trend, he said.

When a film is more personal, the filmmaker can provide a "more meaningful, more in-depth study," Zhou said.

"They are personal, but at the same time, they really show a broader relevance  whether there are social, political, economical or environmental implications," Zhou said. "These are personal films. They are very energetic and creative in their style and camera work."

Other documentary films include:

• "99 to 1: Ovarian Cancer and Me"  - Filmmaker Phoebe Brown's story after learning she developed ovarian cancer, a probability doctors believed was 99 percent unlikely.

• "C Red Blue J"-  An experimental documentary feature using director Christopher's Sollars' family to illustrate complications of division during the 2004 presidential election.
• "Not Broken"  - Armando Ibanez shares how people of different faiths √± Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or agnostic √± utilized their faith in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to help themselves and other victims.
• "Made in China" -  Filmmaker John Helde looks at his father's childhood as a white American growing up in China in the 1930s, and tracks down his father's China-born peers to bring additional perspective.

Audience members will also get a chance to choose their personal favorites again this year for the Audience Choice Honors.

Non-competition film categories, Midnight Movies and Children's Movies, return this year and will be shown at various times. The films ó in their rare original 35mm film prints ó include "Easy Rider," "Chinatown," "Paprika," "The Journey of Natty Gann," and "Turtles Can Fly." The festival is also paying tribute to renowned directors Ingmar Bergman and Michalangelo Antonioni with their respective critically acclaimed films, "L'Avventura" and "Through a Looking Glass."

The specific show schedule and film location is at http://www.bigmuddyfilm.com/30th-2008/schedule.htm.

Tickets for shows at venues on campus ó Student Center Auditorium, Wham's Davis Auditorium, and Parkinson Lab Auditorium ó are $3 per person. Tickets for shows at Kerasotas University 8 Place Theater (1370 E. Main St., Carbondale), and the March 2 "Best of Fest," at Liberty Theater (1333 S. Walnut St., Murphysboro) are $5. Screenings at the Longbranch Coffeehouse (100 E. Jackson St., Carbondale) the Interfaith Center (913 S. Illinois Ave., Carbondale) and juror presentations at the SIUC Student Center Auditorium are free.

For more information, call 618/453-8301. Additional information on this year's festival is available at http://www.bigmuddyfilm.com/30th-2008/. The Web site features a complete history on the festival, including previous years' posters dating back to the first festival in the spring of 1979.

Caption:

Big Muddy Film Festival entry ó Filmmaker Phoebe Brown's introspective personal film, "99 to 1: Ovarian Cancer and Me," is one of the 29 documentaries highlighting the 30th annual Big Muddy Film Festival at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Brown's 19-minute documentary on learning she developed ovarian cancer ó a probability doctors believed was 99 percent unlikely ó is one of 78 films that will be shown during the 11-day festival, which runs Thursday, Feb. 21 through Sunday March 2. One of the oldest film festivals associated with a university, organizers received more than 300 competition submissions from more than 20 countries this year.