By Scott Spjut
BYU”s iOscars were as close to the real Oscars as possible. The emcee was tuxed, the jokes were funny, the academy was attentive and they even rolled out the red carpet … uh … plastic.
Twenty-seven films were shown. The topics varied from romance to science fiction to music videos to stereotypes to public service announcements.
“The movies were great,” said Jason Miller, from Auburn, Calif., president of the Mac Users Group on campus. “A lot of good things connected with the audience.”
The academy – the audience – voted for first, second and third overall films. Four film students were also enlisted to judge the films in other categories.
The audience voted “Trimester” by Joel Frost as first place. It”s the story about a father who does such things as watch “Baby Einstein” movies and place speakers playing music by Queen on his wife”s belly in order to bond with the embryo inside.
“I always have these grandiose ideas,” Frost said, a BYU graduate from Show Low, Ariz. “I woke up at 4 in the morning with this idea of a father trying to bond with his unborn son.”
Joel Frost and his wife, Ami Frost, borrowed a video camera from a neighbor. They shot the film one night and edited the film the next night.
In the film, the wife is irritated by the husband”s obviously silly attempts to bond with the fetus. The acting wasn”t very hard for Ami Frost because she really was irritated with her husband”s silly attempts to make a movie late at night, Joel Frost said.
The surprise of winning was handled well by Ami Frost, but Joel Frost may have gotten a little carried away.
“I had no concept of my surroundings,” he said. “I totally ditched my wife running down the red carpet.”
During their acceptance speech, Ami Frost assured the audience she really was pregnant, and Joel Frost assured the audience the baby was his.
The audience voted “Basackwards” by Anson Gessel as second place and third place went to “The Three Masters” by Chris John, which also won the judge”s choice award.
The award for best use of the film”s theme – 3: The Magic Number – went to “3=MC2” by Westin Hatch. Best soundtrack went to “Safewalk III” by Ramsey Dewey.
Best special effects went to “The Dorm Room: Episode 1” by Brett Bird, which was done in the style of the TV show “Arrested Development.”
There was a tie for best cinematography. “Red Shoes” by Matthew Mitchell and “Life Death Grief” by Jared Moench both won.
More information about iOscars can be found at ioscars.byu.edu and any who wants a DVD of all of this year”s films can contact the Mac Users Group for a copy.
