Now’s your chance to show what you can do as director of your own short film.

This February, NC State is bringing back Campus MovieFest for another film competition. This event offers students the chance to make their own movies and win prizes in the world’s largest student film festival.

Each team of students that registers will be provided with a loaner Apple laptop, an HD video camera, and technical support. They’ll have one week to make a five-minute masterpiece. Submissions will be judged, and the top movies will be showcased at a Campus MovieFest Finale celebration–red carpet and all. All of the movies will be featured in highlights on the web for the campus to see. In addition to unparalleled fame in Wolfpack Land, prizes include iPads, cash, pitch meetings in Hollywood, and the opportunity to meet movie and TV industry luminaries–well as the chance to enter the regional and national competitions.

Online registration is available now, and the competition begins on February 16, when equipment will be distributed to the teams at the D. H. Hill Library. For the next week, technical help will be available in the library’s Digital Media Lab from morning to night. Teams will make films up to five minutes in length and submit them by February 22.  At the finale, hosted at the Campus Cinema in the Witherspoon Student Center on February 27,  the winners will be announced and receive their prizes. Mark your calendars!

This event is sponsored by the Union Activities Board, University Housing, the IRC, DELTA, WolfTV, and the NCSU Libraries—as well as Panasonic and AT&T.  Watch past award-winning films from other universities and find out more information at www.campusmoviefest.com (or text “info” at 41234)

Take a look at NC State winners from 2010:

Best Picture: Wishphone

Best Drama: Bones of Iraq

Best Comedy: When Ants Strike Back

See a full selection of NC State top picks here.

Thursday, February 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Auditorium, West Wing, D. H. Hill Library

Experience the talent of NC State students as they screen their best short films. Ranging from computer animation to experimental pieces, all films are under five minutes long. During the program, students will talk about their experience making the films, addressing how they developed the initial idea and brought it to completion, their inspirations, and the challenges and successes they had throughout the process. Professors Sarah Stein and Jim Alchediak from the Department of Communications and Professor McArthur Freeman from the College of Design will be on hand to facilitate discussion about the student pieces.

Students showing their films include: Nick Helton, Kat Saville, Lorrie Guess, Adam Osgood, David Hambridge, Pamela Nichols, Caleb Durham, Matt Woldtvedt, Kieran Moreira, Wes Latta, Matt Harris, Marc Russo, Aaron Chen, and Kirby Culbertson.

McArthur Freeman, assistant professor of Art + Design, explains how his students developed their pieces. “Wearing many hats during the development and production of the projects, each student assumed the role of animator, art director, illustrator, graphic designer, writer, and sound designer,” Freeman says.  “Given that it is the first time using the software or animating for many of the students, it can be an overwhelming experience. They must address the technical challenges; But more importantly, they aspire to create compelling stories.”

Culbertson, a graduate student in art and design with an animation concentration who is showing a piece in the showcase, sums up what is great about  the NC State film world: “There is no substitute for working in a creative environment with creative people.”

The program will be a great way to prep if you’re thinking about signing up for this year’s MovieFest.

The program is free and open to the public and light refreshments will be served and  is supported by the Friends of the Library and the Tom Russell Charitable Foundation, Inc.

Take advantage of a host of student-led workshops.

Intro to Photoshop Through Photomontage
led by Emily Struthers, senior in Landscape Architecture

Group Project? It Doesn’t Have To Be Terrible…
led by Travis Conte, senior in Business Administration

Make Engaging Movies: Intro to iMovie ‘09
led by Robby Padia, sophomore in Communication Media

What To Do When Hackers Attack!
Did you know that you are likely to get hacked sometime in the next year? Come to this talk to learn to how project yourself from hackers and learn what to do if you do get hacked!
led by Chris Dzoba, graduate student in Computer Science

Prezi: Presentations Simplified
A hands-on workshop for creating awesome presentations with Prezi!
led by Akshay V.S., graduate student in Industrial Engineering

Intro to 3D Content Creation in Blender
Learn how to create and manipulate objects in 3D, from the fundamentals to topics such as lighting, shading, and rendering.
led by Sam Brubaker, senior in Art and Design

Digital SLR Photography
led by Daniel Marcus, senior in Engineering

For more information, see http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/events/registration/workshop/schedule. Students can register online. Registration is not required but it does guarantee a seat.

Media Contact:
David Hiscoe, NCSU Libraries,  (919) 513-3425

In preparation for gift buying and leisure reading around all the upcoming holidays, the NCSU Libraries has developed a blog of book reviews and recommendations. End-of-year “best of” lists are a perennial favorite, and North Carolina State University is proud to offer these great reading suggestions to our friends, both on-campus and off-campus.

Entitled The Best Book I Read This Year, the site contains brief book reviews by NC State students, faculty, Friends of the Library board members, and library employees—along with everyone else in the community who has a favorite that they want to share. With content including reviews of fiction from a variety of genres as well as great non-fiction works, “The Best Book I Read This Year” is a valuable tool for selecting the very best books to give as gifts or to read during winter vacations.  Some are best sellers, some are classics, some are downright quirky–but they are absolutely guaranteed to be the top of the pile by people like you who love books and the communities that they form.

Submit a favorite or browse for a gift idea from The Best Book I Read This Year.

For more information, please contact Marian Fragola, Director, Program Planning and Outreach at the NCSU Libraries at (919) 513-348 or marian_fragola@ncsu.edu.

The NCSU Libraries has found that some of the greatest instructors on campus especially when it comes to emerging technologies are our own students. And we’re proud to help them pass their knowledge on to you with seminars like the ones listed below.

Inkscape
Learn about Inkscape, a free vector-based graphic editing program.  Bring your laptop with Inkscape already loaded, if you like, and learn about it in a progressive series of classes offered by Joby Jull, a Junior majoring in English.  These classes are in the Presentation Practice Room in D. H. Hill’s Learning Commons.

Classes are 6:30 – 7:30 pm.

• Tuesday, February 23
• Tuesday, March 2
• Tuesday, March 23

Digital SLR Cameras
Daniel Marcus, an Engineering Junior, is holding two identical sets of photography workshops, and an additional class on April 21 on outdoor photography.  Except for the outdoor class, all sessions will be held in the ConeZone, near the Creamery on Floor 1 of D. H. Hill’s West Wing.

Classes are 6:00-7:30 pm.

• Wednesday, February 24 — Getting to Know the Settings
• Wednesday, March 3 — Lighting and Composition
• Wednesday, March 10 — Digital Techniques
• Wednesday, April 7 — Lighting and Composition
• Wednesday, April 14 — Digital Techniques
• Wednesday, April 21 — Taking it Outside!

Please let us know what else you would like to learn about or if you have classes you would like to offer (rob_rucker@ncsu.edu).

by Jackie Gadison

Hannah holding Remy, a Welsh terrier.

When Hannah Hope joined the Veterinary Medicine Library (VML) in August of 2009, she found the perfect place for an animal lover—and we found the perfect student employee. First, there was the incredible enthusiasm to gain knowledge about how the NCSU Libraries works and how she could assist learners with library resources on medicine and animal care. Then there was the long history of devoting as much time as possible to animals. Hannah works at an animal shelter in her hometown of Greensboro, NC, where she helps dogs, especially those who have been abused, to achieve positive behaviors through training. That’s on top of making ample time for her own two pets: Pumpkin, a mini Holland Lop rabbit, and an aquatic frog named Bert.

In her first semester at VML, Hannah learned the basics of “how to do things in the library and be creative in finding library resources and information for patrons.”  She takes her diverse work duties seriously as she gains experience.  A junior double majoring in psychology and anthropology, Hannah is also working on a minor in French,  a skill that is often useful with the international health resources at VML. She plans to enter NC State’s Public History graduate program and to become an archivist. We are fortunate to work with Hannah and share in opportunities that present experiences for her professional plans. She sums it up by saying “I love working here.”

Hannah has chosen the right fit and surrounded herself with clinicians, researchers and fellow animal-loving students, as well as the latest scholarly materials. Coming to work each day she passes through the halls of the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) Veterinary Teaching Hospital.  And when the Randall B. Terry, Jr. Companion Animal Veterinary Medical Center opens in January of 2011, she will be able to look out from the VML onto the national model for excellence in companion animal medicine.  As Hannah says “I will be near the cutting edge for animal care.”

When not at the VML or her classes, Hannah supports the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team as a dedicated season ticket-holding fan. She is also a world traveler, having been to Italy, Monaco, Belgium, France and now Germany as part of her family vacation in December. Hannah plans to continue working at the Veterinary Medicine Library for several more years—that’s our hope too!