Frights and films: Rider highlights horror genre

By Madison Lewis 

STUDENTS, teachers and film buffs alike congregated in the Rue Auditorium for two consecutive days of horror film discussions, student films and featured speakers who are well regarded in the industry.

The event, The Horror Film and Modes of Monstrosity hosted by the Department of Media Arts, dedicated March 5 to three student panels and one featured speaker, Dr. Barry Keith Grant. 

The student speakers conversed about movies like “Jennifer’s Body,” “The Purge,” and “It.”

Grant, professor emeritus of film and popular culture at Brock University, Ontario, talked about documentary-esque horror films like the “Blair Witch Project,” among others.

Cynthia Lucia, director of film and media studies, said that the symposium occurred annually for 20 years with a different theme every year – the theme “documentary” being last year’s.

There were three general events; student panels, student film festivals and guest speakers.

She described the student panels as an analytic presentation of a particular film. 

It was an opportunity to look closely at aesthetic decisions.

“Hearing people respond to their work and when they are thinking about cross fertilization between their work and the work of others on their panels,” said Lucia.

In preparation for the event, Lucia sent an email to potential student speakers in the film, theater, English and psychology departments. 

The email detailed how to “Adopt-a-Horror-Film.” 

According to the email, interested students had to “put together a 15-20 minute presentation on the film to share with those attending symposium events.”

“They … used scholarship from key works of literature on the horror film to support their own thinking and to help enrich their own thinking,” Lucia said. 

The students had the opportunity to present their personal films to the professors and student filmmakers in the crowd. 

The filmmakers stood proudly in front of the large screen that displayed their creations after the film was shown to the intrigued crowd.

After they explained their design, budgeting, casting and aesthetic choices, the audience offered helpful feedback and sung praises.

“It’s an incredibly valuable experience to hear people respond to your work and also to find a format that will speak to a wider audience,” she said.

Scott Alboum, at one point, addressed the filmmaker and the audience to ask about if his interpretation of the film was valid, or if he misunderstood the creative choices. The filmmaker responded and said it was up to interpretation.

Reylan Alexis film and television major spoke about the movie “The Night of the Hunter” and presented as a co-director of “Two moves ahead.”

“To the credit of … Dr. Lucia who teaches a lot of the film analysis courses,” Alexis said. “She gives us the language to be able to explain what we’ve seen in an academic sense and once you have the foundation of the language down, you can expand that to more complex ideas.”

He appreciated the feedback from the crowd, planning on implementing some changes for his films.

Dr. Shawn Kildea, the chairperson for the Media Arts Department, Scott Alboum, video technologies coordinator, Kelly Bidle, dean of the college of Arts and Sciences and associate dean Brooke Hunter were in attendance and offered feedback for the student films. 

“The joy of filmmaking is the conversation that happens after the filmmaking,” he said.

Junior film and television major James Felcon, co-director of the film “Two steps ahead” and the cinematographer for the film “Dear Vivian” attended both days of the symposium.

“A lot of the time in the film community, people don’t produce work they have pride for; they produce it for a grade,” he said. “It felt like we have been doing things wrong for a long time,trying to make films for a grade.”

Felcon found it validating to be supported by his knowledgeable peers and professors. 

“[The event] taught … me that when you are passionate about something and make something for yourself, oftentimes people will just naturally respond to it better.”

Felcon found that there was a stark difference between the film symposium and his classes.

“In film classes … you’ll hear … ‘it was good’ or just go on their phones midway through,” he said. “It was nice having people take an interest. I wasn’t at all nervous standing up there. It was comforting.”

The second day of the symposium concluded with the featured speaker Dr. Ashley R. Smith, ’09 Rider alum. She talked about how female authorship impacts the horror film industry.

“As a college, this is what we’re all about … Expanding intellectual and creative opportunities,” said Lucia.