Titan Terror Project Winners Announced

Westminster College junior broadcast communication major Alyssa Hanna's entry took the grand prize and the audience choice award in the Titan Terror Project showcase before a standing-room-only crowd Oct. 20 in the Sebastian Mueller Theater of the McKelvey Campus Center.

Hanna's winning entry, "Independent," also earned her an "A" in a class taught by Bradley Weaver, Westminster lecturer of broadcast communications. Entry into the contest was a class requirement, with the promise of the top grade if one of Weaver's students was declared the winner.

"I knew I would do well enough to make it into the top 10 and maybe even top five, but I didn't think I would actually win-especially twice!" Hanna said. "I think I wanted the audience choice award more than the grand prize because if I can't make my peers happy, what am I doing?"

The runner-up entry, "Red Light," was submitted by Kurt Roscoe, Westminster assistant professor of art, and his family.

"'Red Light' was a wonderful family experience involving my son, daughter, and wife," Roscoe said. "The concept spawned while brainstorming with Jacob, who mentioned an experience he had a few years ago when he saw some lights deep in the woods behind our home. The lights turned out to be holiday lights, but they frightened him and obviously left an impression."

The project was a collaboration of Westminster's Titan Radio, WCN television station, and Audio Visual Services, with the showcase scheduled as part of Westminster's annual AV Week observance.

"Even with feature films, so few are able to pull everything together to make it work," said Gary Swanson, Westminster director of AV Services. "Our entrants, most of whom were students, really did a terrific job on these and made it very difficult for our judges to choose the winners."

"We'll definitely be doing this again next year," Weaver said. "I want to work with AV Services to reach beyond the campus to solicit entries from residents in Lawrence and Mercer counties. It would be great to stage the showcase in a larger venue and have community participation as well."

The theme of the contest was to shoot a thriller/chiller/mystery mini-movie that avoided graphic or gratuitous violence to thrill, scare, or entertain the audience. The two-minute film was to be produced using a cell phone or other digital camera and computer software-based editing equipment.

The first round of judging pared the original 17 entries to 12 finalists that were screened at the showcase, where instant response clickers were used to immediately tabulate the audience choice.

All 17 entries can be viewed at http://vimeo.com/album/1348528.

Contact Weaver at (724) 946-7238 (e-mail weaverbl@westminster.edu) or Swanson at (724) 946-7188 (e-mail gswanson@westminster.edu) for additional information.