September 24, 2007
Radio-TV students capture national honors
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Two students in Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Radio-Television program are the recipients of national recognition for their work.
Timothy P. Wilkerson, a junior from Crystal Lake, took top honors in the iLaugh,com Shortfest Film Festival's 2- to 5-minute live action comedy for his "Simple Tasks" tutorial video, winning $10,000. Meanwhile, Sean Q. Brown, also a junior, from Deerfield, earned $5,000 from VISA for his winning "What's My Score," video.
"They are two of our most creative students in the radio-television department. They have what we call that raw talent that is exciting," said Jan Thompson, an associate professor in radio-television.
The department is within the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts.
Wilkerson and Brown are executive producers of "alt.news 26:46," a student produced, Emmy Award-winning half-hour alternative TV news magazine. The show begins airing again in mid-October.
Wilkerson's entry is a "5-minute tutorial video on how to do the most everyday tasks," such as walking through a door and cooking a chicken. It also explains obvious ways of how not to do things, such as throwing a chicken on the roof to cook, he said.
The video was completed in two months. Shooting took just a few days but time was spent in post-production, giving the piece "the look of a 1970s VHS tape that has gone through the tape deck over and over," he said.
Wilkerson is the son of Patrick and Deborah Wilkerson.
Brown, the son of Quentin and Laurie Brown, shot his winning video in one day outside of his home in late July. The 30-second video, "A Rockstar's Credit Score," details the life of "Scott Blair, Amateur Rockstar," and the consequences of high credit card bills and bad credit.
Blair, one of Brown's friends, is a student at John A. Logan College in Carterville, who is also from Deerfield. The video took about six hours to edit, said Brown, who learned of his winning entry after returning from a church service project in Africa.
"I wanted it to be funny," he said. "I think that is what attracts people to Internet videos. At the same time I wanted to promote the idea of being aware of your credit score."
Brown's video is available at http://www.whatsmyscore.org/contest/videos.php.
Earlier this month, Brown also finished first in The Christopher's 20th annual video contest for students. The "Bright Idea" video is about a Long Island middle school teacher who wants to promote awareness among his students about global warming, said Brown, who received $3,000 for that effort.
The annual contest asks entrants to create a short film of five minutes or less around a theme of "One Person Can Make A Difference," according to the non-profit organization's Web site.