CUTV produces freshly-squeezed content

allison martens

Concordia’s student-run television station, CUTV, will wind down the academic year – one of the most fruitful in its recent history – with the final installment of its Makealottamovies screenings later this month.

The station was once so hard up for content that it ran cartoons on its monitors in the Hall Building to fill airtime. No more.

Through several initiatives – notably, the Makealottamovies workshop series – this year’s CUTV executive has built a thriving community of budding filmmakers who have been producing hours of fresh content.

“We wanted to create a member-driven organization that was more than just an equipment repository,” said CUTV Executive Producer Jason Gondziola.

“When we held the first Makealottamovies workshop, our station manager Dave [Zeglen] said that he’d never seen so many people involved: There were 40 people crammed into our little space. They saw this is a real opportunity to make their own productions.”

Participants who don’t have production experience are paired with those who do to help them turn their ideas into reality. They have one day to shoot, and two to edit their creations, which generally run between five and 15 minutes long.

Misha Warbanski, CUTV program director, said she became involved after realizing that as a journalism student who hadn’t yet taken a television course, she had a “huge gap” in her CV.

“I think I touched a video camera for the first time last September,” she said. “Even in the short amount of time that I’ve been at the station, I’m now able to help people and pass on the knowledge I’ve gained.

“Teaching others is the best way to learn yourself.”

Some students are learning the ropes at the station for credit. This year, CUTV worked with the Theatre Department to allow six of its students to complete independent study projects there.

“The Theatre Department doesn’t have any screen acting courses: The only one is in Cinema. In terms of opportunities on campus for Theatre students to get into film and television acting and production, this is basically it,” Gondziola said.

The station also developed a “talent binder” full of headshots of Concordia actors willing to participate in student productions.

The station has helped many Concordia students crank out their productions. Of note is Sergeo Kirby’s Wal-Town, which documents the big-box experience from an activist perspective during a tour of Wal-Mart stores across Canada.

Slated for release by the National Film Board this summer, it was created entirely at CUTV’s facilities on the seventh floor of the Hall Building last winter.

There, students have access to professional-quality cameras, sound equipment, editing suites and green screen technology. CUTV holds seminars to teach them how to use it: All for free.

Everyone is welcome to stop by to see the fruits of the third and final edition of the Makealottamovies workshop during a screening on April 18 at 8 p.m. at Reggie’s on the Hall mezzanine.

In the meantime, you can learn more about the station and download some extremely clever video shorts at its website, cutv.concordia.ca