Student film ‘The Cryptid Cast vs. Goopy Ganker’ wins BEA Award of Excellence

The Broadcast Education Association’s Award of Excellence won by a team of students enrolled in COMM 464: Fiction II during the spring semester will be collected by their course instructor, Department of Communication Associate Professor Ros Smith, at the 2022 BEA conference at Colorado State University in October.

“The Cryptid Cast vs. the Goopy Ganker” was honored as one of six recipients in the Award of Excellence in the Film & Video Narrative Competition, beating out 146 other student entries, according to Ms. Smith. The film also received the Best Short Feature: Festival Director’s Award at the 2022 Cannes Short Film Festival in July, and has been entered in many film festivals. “They are doing great,” Smith noted.

Seven of the nine members of the core team that produced the film are ’22 graduates who majored in Communication: Video Production. They, and their respective positions in the film, are: Jackson DiCarlo and Ben Anderson, director/writer; Sam Mackintosh-Smith, editor/camera assistant; Jay Gleason and Alec Wright, both director of photography; Kai Guilds, audio director/public relations; and Nicolas Dohre, producer/gaffer. All also had minors in Film Studies, except Mr. Dohre, who had a minor in Creative Writing.

The eighth and ninth members of the core group were current seniors Ryan Champlin, producer/assistant director, and Skyla Cedeno, costume designer/camera assistant. Mr. Champlin is also majoring in Communication: Video Production and has a Film Studies minor. Ms. Cedeno is majoring in Communication: Video Production and has a minor in Theatre Arts.

What did judges say about the SUNY Fredonia award winner?

There was a lot to like about this film, noted a judge, who singled out the “tremendous effort” put into the entire production. “It was obviously a very well thought out and executed project that took a lot of hard work,” the judge wrote. “Kudos to the many crew members and their attention to detail in terms of sets, costumes, lighting and many camera angles and cinematic techniques used in the field and during the edit.”

Production value was really strong, too, the judge added. “The acting was very good for a college project; the characters were convincing and well developed.”

“The acting was very good for a college project; the characters were convincing and well developed.”

The judge remarked that what was a “really good” 46-minute film could have tightened up some of the scenes to make it even better. “But overall, this is a great effort and demonstrates very good movie making skills. Congratulations to all involved.”

Another judge also lauded the impressive collective efforts and team work exhibited in the film, in addition to casting, script and implementation – all stages that can be passed over when working in a team.