1 -OCTOBER 30, 2019 - VOLUME 55, EDITION 02 - EUGENE, OR-
HORROR FILM COMPETITION
Illustration Credit: Traci Crimmins
Audrey Scully Reporter
Loneliness is a monster The 22 filmmaking teams at the seventh annual 72-Hour Horror Film Competition submitted pieces ranging from riveting to comical to somewhere in between. The Jury Award of $1,134 went to the film “Unwind,” produced by an all-female team from the University of Oregon Film Club.
“Unwind” was produced by Colleen Quinn, Marissa Jensen, Sophie Ackerman and Noa Cohen. This psychological thriller with feminist undertones featured a female protagonist, hallucinating, as a coping mechanism; a perfect ‘50s housewife role that ends with a major twist. The teams were given a mandatory prop and a line of dialogue. The prop was a stuffed animal and the line was, “Loneliness is a monster.”
The “Unwind” team wrote their story concept in three hours and filmed it in one 16-hour day. As with most film projects, there are a lot of decisions to be made when editing. There are continuity errors and such that, with a longer timeline, one could reshoot or use b-roll to cover. “Like usual, in the editing process, you kind of, recreate your vision,” Jensen said. “It was really difficult to try to make the most of our time, while being controlled by, like, what props are up, and how the makeup has deteriorated so far,” Ackerman said. A Lane Community College team also took home an award for their film, entitled “Don’t Go.” This team crafted a story that left the audience in suspense. Their success was predicated on teamwork and improvisation.
“For the most part,” said team leader Kyle Whitaker, “it was just everybody just kind of chips in where they can. And as far as the story is concerned, how we did it was we just kept throwing ideas around in a circle for a couple of hours and just kept taking that stone and using the chisel and making something out of it.” Improvisation was crucial in overcoming the huge obstacle of securing a filming location, as every first choice fell through. Teresa Hughes, an instructor in the Media Arts Department at LCC, offered the team use of her house for the filming. Not having their first choice in location certainly altered some aspects of the story, such as why the character was even in the house to begin with.
Higher wages, smaller classes
David Galbreath Editor-In-Chief
The teachers union is undergoing contract discussions The Lane Community College Education Association – which represents faculty – is pushing for new, improved contracts. Faculty members are currently under an expired contract as of June 30. Faculty have yet to receive any cost of living increases according to Adrienne Mitchell, LCCEA president. “So, we have a contract that exists, but it expired,” Mitchell said. “We’ve been negotiating for many months and essentially working without a contract since July first. So, faculty members are not receiving salary increases.”
Halloween / pg 3
The LCCEA is asking that contract salaries be increased by 1.55% each year. They derived that number from the inflation index provided by the United States Department of Labor. “In the grand scheme of things, we would love to of course love to have a part-time salary where we have full pay equity, but we are nowhere near that,” Mitchell said. Compared to full-time faculty, part-time faculty are currently getting paid 60.6% of wages per credit hour. With their proposal, the union hopes to increase the part-time salary schedule to be raised this year to 68% of full-time equivalent wages. Additionally, the union would like to increase small increments of 1% every year to part-time salaries until they reach the 75% mark. Mitchell recognizes full pay equity is a far reach but not impossible. Article continued on page5
News / pg 4
News / pg 7
Photo Credit: Selina Scott
LCCEA signs on campus
Sports / pg 8