FAMU HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH A TASTE OF HOLLYWOOD

Florida A&M University’s senior broadcast students are bringing a touch of Hollywood to that highest ‘Hill’ as they gear up to unveil their short documentaries.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., the FAMU School of Journalism and Graphic Communication (SJGC) will premier four, 15-minute student documentaries that take a critical and not-so-glamorous look into topics ranging from women in the prison system, to the plight of failing schools, to the rising number of single black women, and an inside look at one of the candidates in this year’s historic national election campaigns.

The Student Documentary Night will be held in the SJGC Lecture Hall. A reception is scheduled immediately following the program in the SJGC Gallery.

Professor Kenneth Jones, an associate professor in the Division of Journalism and Coordinator of the broadcast sequence, teaches specialized reporting in television where some 20 students, working in teams of two, vied for the opportunity to showcase their work.

“I choose the student documentaries based off of story content, uniqueness of the story, the high level of production quality and in terms of the ability of the student producers to do such dynamic stories,” said Jones.

The broadcast degree sequence at FAMU continues to enjoy tremendous popularity and impressive growth. There are more than 115 students in the program today and many of them are award-winning journalists. Three of the filmmakers, Driadonna Roland, John Marsh, and Gabrielle Brinson, are Associated Press College Contest Winners.

In addition to these four documentaries, there will also be a special showing of a short movie that was written, directed and produced by Jones called “Effects on Families.” Developed as a promotion piece to accompany a university-wide seat belt safety campaign, the film seeks to increase awareness of safe driving. Even though Jones produced the movie, several students participated in the production of the film as editors, writers and assistant directors.

Student associates in the PRodigy Public Relations Firm, a student-run, campus-based company housed in the SJGC), designed, planned and implemented the marketing and publicity for the spring 2008 Student Documentary Night and reception.