BSU students finish working on 'My Name Is Jerry'
Filming for the movie "My Name is Jerry" comes to an end as the new school year begins, but the film is about halfway from being a finished project. "My Name is Jerry" producer Rodger Smith said he hoped post production would be complete by January but would like to have the rough editing, color, music and original score completed by Thanksgiving. The next step in the post-production process is marketing, he said, although he is unsure of how the movie will be released or even when it will be released. "The process of getting an independent film to a theater is risky," Smith said. "It costs $250,000 to $300,000 just to get ready for a theatrical release." Smith said the movie would be taken to film festivals in hopes of being acquired. Other options would be selling the movie to a cable network or having the movie released straight to DVD, he said. "My Name is Jerry" will have some type of release in Muncie, Smith said; however, he said he was unsure at this time what exactly that would be. Smith said everything was filmed on budget and on time with only one day of delay. "Things ran smooth," Smith said. "We had police hired. They worked for the us and not the city." Additional security was hired for the set of "My Name is Jerry." Smith said the team thought ahead so there would not be any complications. "You know, we were very fortunate, and the people we had were pros," he said. "[The city of Muncie] loved it - they loved the idea of it. It was something positive for the community and Muncie loved it." Smith said the film had gotten Muncie and Ball State University a lot of attention. "The national attention is phenomenal and lots of people are coming to ask questions," he said. Smith also said the film would set up future successes at Ball State University. Any weaknesses in Ball State's programs were exposed because of the large scale of filming, he said, and these weaknesses will better enable students for production in the future because they will be better prepared. Although professional actors worked on "My Name is Jerry," Ball State students participated in much of the production as well, which is work that the students said taught them more than what a classroom alone could. "The amount I've learned, I don't think I can explain," Adam Turkette, Ball State student and hair, makeup and wardrobe worker said. Keith Jackson, Ball State student and "My Name is Jerry" audio technician, said there was nothing like the experience of working on a real set. "You can't learn this in a classroom," Jackson said. "You have to go out and search for it." Production manager Zach Baliva said he never had an opportunity when he was in school for film, directing and screen writing to get the experience of working on a real movie set. "Just being able to work on a project like this that is also a teaching project is pretty unique and exciting," Baliva said. Smith said the immersion project would provoke change in the future. The Institute for Digital Entertainment and Education will be holding more workshops, he said, and he sees things as changing academically, too. "I am hopeful that people will look at not just a film but how they look at media artistically," Smith said. "My Name is Jerry" was one of the best experiences that they were able to pull off, he said. "It was the most strongest, professional experience," Smith said. "It was great."
Filming for the movie "My Name is Jerry" comes to an end as the new school year begins, but the film is about halfway from being a finished project. "My Name is Jerry" producer Rodger Smith said he hoped post production would be complete by January but would like to have the rough editing, color, music and original score completed by Thanksgiving. The next step in the post-production process is marketing, he said, although he is unsure of how the movie will be released or even when it will be released. "The process of getting an independent film to a theater is risky," Smith said. "It costs $250,000 to $300,000 just to get ready for a theatrical release." Smith said the movie would be taken to film festivals in hopes of being acquired. Other options would be selling the movie to a cable network or having the movie released straight to DVD, he said. "My Name is Jerry" will have some type of release in Muncie, Smith said; however, he said he was unsure at this time what exactly that would be. Smith said everything was filmed on budget and on time with only one day of delay. "Things ran smooth," Smith said. "We had police hired. They worked for the us and not the city." Additional security was hired for the set of "My Name is Jerry." Smith said the team thought ahead so there would not be any complications. "You know, we were very fortunate, and the people we had were pros," he said. "[The city of Muncie] loved it - they loved the idea of it. It was something positive for the community and Muncie loved it." Smith said the film had gotten Muncie and Ball State University a lot of attention. "The national attention is phenomenal and lots of people are coming to ask questions," he said. Smith also said the film would set up future successes at Ball State University. Any weaknesses in Ball State's programs were exposed because of the large scale of filming, he said, and these weaknesses will better enable students for production in the future because they will be better prepared. Although professional actors worked on "My Name is Jerry," Ball State students participated in much of the production as well, which is work that the students said taught them more than what a classroom alone could. "The amount I've learned, I don't think I can explain," Adam Turkette, Ball State student and hair, makeup and wardrobe worker said. Keith Jackson, Ball State student and "My Name is Jerry" audio technician, said there was nothing like the experience of working on a real set. "You can't learn this in a classroom," Jackson said. "You have to go out and search for it." Production manager Zach Baliva said he never had an opportunity when he was in school for film, directing and screen writing to get the experience of working on a real movie set. "Just being able to work on a project like this that is also a teaching project is pretty unique and exciting," Baliva said. Smith said the immersion project would provoke change in the future. The Institute for Digital Entertainment and Education will be holding more workshops, he said, and he sees things as changing academically, too. "I am hopeful that people will look at not just a film but how they look at media artistically," Smith said. "My Name is Jerry" was one of the best experiences that they were able to pull off, he said. "It was the most strongest, professional experience," Smith said. "It was great."
