USF students win top prize in Hollywood (the one in California)

A team of University of South Florida students led by director Sarah Wilson recently won the best picture award at the 2009 International Campus MovieFest Grand Finale in Hollywood, Ca., over an estimated 75,000 entries from U.S. colleges and universities. That list was pared down through campus and regional competitions to 46 finalists that headed to L.A.

Wilson, a 21-year-old mass communications major at USF, created the short film Rhapsody with co-producers Dan Nguyen and Joyce Yong, and Trey Penton serving as director of photography. As art director, Nguyen also designed the pop-up book animation putting the fable in motion, to the sounds of George Gershwin's stirring Rhapsody in Blue.

As you can see above, it's a nice piece of work.

Rhapsody takes place in a town of color-coded emotions, indicted by the shirts people wear: "blues" like Charlie (Nick Horan) are always sad, "reds" are angry, "yellows" are happy, and so on. All colors exclusively socialize with their own kind, for an allegory of cultural relations.

When Charlie meets "yellow" Sadie (Shannan Stewart) on the first day of high school, they share new feelings and a secret love, eventually "coming out" during a climactic prom, inspiring classmates to feel more tolerant of each other.

Festival rules allow only 10 names to be listed as a filmmaking team, although Rhapsody's end credits list nearly 50 other crew members and extras. Rules also limit production time to a designated 7-day period, although Wilson began pre-production in November 2008, securing ballroom gowns, locations and extras.

Wilson is no stranger to competition; she twice earned first place honors in Bridgestone/Firestone's Safety Scholars contest for public service announcements, and last year teamed with co-director Jesse Newman on Focus, which also won the Southeast region Campus MovieFest award.