{"id":1142,"date":"2019-03-28T16:39:29","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T21:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/?p=1142"},"modified":"2019-03-28T16:52:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T21:52:59","slug":"mountainfilm-travel-study-gearing-up-for-another-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/blog\/2019\/03\/28\/mountainfilm-travel-study-gearing-up-for-another-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Mountainfilm travel-study gearing up for another round"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the week leading up to and including Memorial Day weekend, Winona State University’s film studies department will be hosting a travel-study in which students are given an opportunity to visit Telluride, Colorado, and experience the annual Mountainfilm Film Festival.<\/p>\n

Not to be confused with the town\u2019s other film festival, the aptly-named Telluride Film Festival, Mountainfilm is documentary-based, curating nonfiction stories that explore topics like the environment, culture, recreation, political and social justice issues and more.<\/p>\n

This will be the second year in a row for the travel-study.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The students and professor of the 2018 travel-study to Telluride pose in the town [Photo supplied by J Paul Johnson]<\/figcaption><\/figure>English and film studies professor J Paul Johnson, who is co-leading the travel-study with former director of the Frozen River Film Festival Crystal Hegge, said he hopes students will learn from the festival and the course.<\/p>\n

Johnson said a festival like Mountainfilm provides attendees with a chance to see a breadth of career opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cNovice-level understanding of film is typically predicated on people being aware of \u2026 somebody who\u2019s hitting the headlines with big breakout blockbuster films \u2026,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWhat many people don\u2019t understand \u2026 is that there are thousands and thousands of jobs in this industry at all levels \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Johnson, Mountainfilm teaches people that film jobs burrow deeper than what is displayed on a teaser poster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people who are deeply invested in and working hard at the production of films,\u201d Johnson said, listing grips, gaffers and sound technicians as examples, while also adding there are jobs in filmmaking that do not \u201cnecessarily involve being the director of \u2018Avengers: Endgame\u2019 or \u2018Black Panther.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Another important concept students learn is even the best in the industry start at the bottom.<\/p>\n

This concept was amplified during the 2018 travel-study to Mountainfilm when students had a chance-meeting with Barry Jenkins, director of the 2017 Academy Award winner for Best Picture \u201cMoonlight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said Jenkins, like all students of film, started at the bottom and worked his way up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe remembered very well being at the start of his career,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe remembered getting to go to a film festival for the first time, getting to meet a few directors, going up to a couple of others, tapping them on the shoulder, asking if he could have a minute of their time. He was superbly gracious with students and talking about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said he believes those who attended the 2018 travel-study returned with a greater appreciation for filmmaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guarantee students came back awed \u2026 by that experience and really motivated by it,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI think if you talk to any of them who went there last year, I\u2019m pretty confident that that is what they\u2019ll say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Film student Brynn Artley, a sophomore who took the travel-study in 2018, agreed with Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a ton of fun, highly recommend the trip,\u201d Artley said. \u201cWe saw a ton of different films in the span of three or four days. We wrote up reviews, we made blogs about it. It was just a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Mountainfilm-video-REVISED-.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

While any student can register for the course, Johnson said film majors and minors are ultimately given precedence over others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a built-in selection system, in that it requires a 2.5 GPA,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe do give priority to declared film studies majors and minors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson added a vetting process would only take place if the course had more students than necessary.<\/p>\n

Twelve are enrolled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe rank and evaluate applicants if we have more than 20,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI would not at all be displeased if we had so many people wishing to go on this program that we had to make those kinds of decisions. That would be a good problem to have. But right now \u2026 I\u2019m pretty comfortable with where we\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

A caveat of the travel-study is the price.<\/p>\n

Despite her taking the travel-study this year, Brittany Bluhm, a senior double majoring in English writing and film studies, discussed her past financial constraints and how they kept her from taking the course and attending the festival last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hung up on rent and a lot of medical bills,\u201d Bluhm said. \u201cI was like, \u2018There\u2019s no way I can come up with $500 (the confirmation deposit) to stash toward the trip.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Senior Brittany Bluhm prepares for her first visit to Telluride by reading about the town<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the brochure for 2020\u2019s travel-study to Telluride, the cost fluctuates around $3,000, which includes tuition and student fees for the three credits linked to the program, as well as roundtrip airfare, transportation during the program, lodging, breakfasts and dinners, admission and event fees for all educational activities and the Study Abroad administrative fee.<\/p>\n

The price is discounted, as well, as Bluhm said students taking the course will be volunteering with film screenings and other activities.<\/p>\n

While she was unable to go last year, Bluhm said she understood the reasoning for the price.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, because our film program is relatively new, I can understand why it\u2019s maybe a little bit more expensive,\u201d Bluhm said. \u201cI anticipate the school will contribute more in the future as long as this trip keeps on going.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Johnson, while more people would logically bring the price down, that would also mean jeopardizing the level of attention he is able to give in his instruction for the course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe price\u2014the bottom line for the trip\u2014would go down if we had 20 people instead of 12,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be opposed to having 16 students or even 20 as the cap \u2026 but it would be a different experience for me, a more complex one, and I don\u2019t know if my students would get the individual attention that I know they will get with 12.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said the price of the travel-study is lower than other travel-studies offered by the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny travel-study is an expense,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cOur travel-study to Mountainfilm is about half the expense or less than any of the international studies \u2026 Normally to travel abroad, earn three credits, over a period of one to two weeks, it is going to set a student back probably about $6,000. The price for our students, including the tuition, air travel, lodging, festival expenses, etcetera, is about $2,600.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said he and co-leader Hegge do everything they can to keep the expenses as minimal as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why, for instance, I cook,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s a lot cheaper than having people eat-out in what is kind of a Tony-resort town where prices for that kind of thing are expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cost aside, Johnson said he was satisfied with last year\u2019s study and said he hopes this year\u2019s is a repeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not really anything that we aim to do differently this coming year than we did last year,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe just hope to replicate what we\u2019ve done. It is a really nice experience for students to be able to do this \u2026 We have a really good partnership with Mountainfilm, and it\u2019s a great destination for people to be at.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the week leading up to and including Memorial Day weekend, Winona State University’s film studies department will be hosting a travel-study in which students are given an opportunity to visit Telluride, Colorado, and experience the annual Mountainfilm Film Festival. Not to be confused with the town\u2019s other film festival, the aptly-named Telluride Film Festival, … Continue reading Mountainfilm travel-study gearing up for another round<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283,"featured_media":1147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[467,85,455,491],"tags":[212,447,495,493,494,492,6],"class_list":["post-1142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college","category-events","category-film","category-travel","tag-film","tag-film-studies","tag-memorial-day","tag-mountainfilm-film-festival","tag-telluride","tag-travel-study","tag-winona-state-university"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/DeLaRosa_Mountainfilm-Feature-Photo-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1142"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1171,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1142\/revisions\/1171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}