Arts & Culture
ARRRRRRRRRE ye ready for bloody pirates?
The Pointer
lgern177@uwsp.edu
Pirates will plunder the Michelson Theater stage in the Noel Fine Arts Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point this Friday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m.
But these pirates reside on the screen rather than the high seas and are the design of students in communication 369, titled “making pirate movies.”
“We went into it sort of blindly,” said Val Barbarie, a communication 369 student. “But it turned out a lot better than we had thought. We definitely learned a lot as we went along.”
The students, who call their group Point Pirate Productions, come from a range of departments, from communication to web and digital media development, to theater and graphic design.
UW-SP communication professor Leslie Midkiffe-Debauche created the class in spring 2008 when she heard Hollywood composer Charlie Barnett’s 14-minute musical score, entitled “The Far Tartoogas.”
“I’ve learned so many things,” Midkiffe-Debauche said. “I’ve learned a group of 21 people really can work together on one project and see it through to the end, even when you have to debate aesthetic choices that are hard to make.”
Barnett, whose impressive resume includes creating scores for the Discovery channel, the National Geographic channel and Walt Disney Productions, called the piece “the pirate movie I never got to make.”
“I’m always looking for color, a huge palate for great big, expansive changes,” he said. “Swashbuckling music, the great big sea themes—what could be better than a pirate movie?”
Since the beginning of the academic year, Midkiffe-Debauche and the students have weaved together their time, energy and range of talents to carry this score’s dynamic energy and momentum into a visual realm of narration.
To do so, they’ve also used Stop Motion Pro software and silhouette animation techniques, called rotoscoping, similar to those used in popular iPod commercials.
The film will include the silhouette art of internationally known papercutter artist Shannon Reinbold-Gee, who will also be present at the film’s premiere.
But the students and professor from communication 369 aren’t the only ones who have been hard at work.
The UW-SP student orchestra, conducted by Dr. Patrick Miles, the director of orchestral activities and horn professor at UW-SP, has also been working this semester toward Friday’s showing, during which they will perform Barnett’s score live to the film.
The end product is a whimsical narrative that incorporates a classic structure of storytelling and design with innovative technique.
After the production on Friday night, Point Pirate Productions may enter the piece into film festivals like Sundance.
“It’s so far exceeded my expectations,” Midkiffe-DeBauche said. “It looks so wonderful and I don’t know if I could have even imagined how wonderful this would have looked.”
Barnett said he’s also pleased with the results from this collaborative semester-long effort.
“It’s one of the most artistic things,” he said. “It is so much more artistic than I could have imagined. I’m really delighted.”
Tickets are available at the University Box Office: 715-346-424.
The filmmakers and artists will also be in attendance for a short question-and-answer session after the show.
