Former Resident Premieres First Feature Film
By Courtney Bryce, The Edmond Sun, Okla.
Jun. 13–EDMOND — When Lance McDaniel, a former Edmond resident, brainstormed for a feature film he looked for something that could be filmed in one location.
As a film student at Oklahoma City University he decided there could be no better choice than on campus. McDaniel and co-writer Sean Lynch came up with the idea for a thriller titled “Unsolved,” which will be shown today and Saturday at this year’s deadCENTER Film Festival in Oklahoma City.
The plot revolves around Amanda Voci, a graduating senior, who re-opens an unsolved murder case for class. The case involved a girl who had been murdered on campus 15 years earlier.
“As they start to unravel the mystery, their lives are put in danger,” McDaniel said.
He said they currently are in the process of finalizing plans for distribution of the film.
McDaniel filmed the project through OCU’s Moving Image Arts Program. Fritz Kiersch, director of the program, is the acclaimed director of “Children of the Corn.” Kiersch said all students, regardless of discipline, were allowed to participate in a five-week summer class last year to put the film together. He said the students did everything themselves from writing the music to promoting the film.
“Every category you can think of, we had someone to do it,” Kiersch said. “The goal of the class was to put students in a position where they were learning by doing.”
He said one of the strongest methods of teaching is to involve students physically and the class gave all disciplines a chance to learn something. For example, Kiersch said it gave film students the chance to learn the assembly process and the business students a chance to learn management skills.
“They discovered more about the process and I think themselves than they expected. All of them loved it. All of them asked for more,” he said.
Kiersch said OCU is the only institution he knows of that offers an opportunity for all disciplines to work together on a film.
“The primary reason I went to OCU is because Fritz has such a great program,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel also directed “Widowbago,” a documentary that won Best Oklahoma Film at last year’s deadCENTER Film Festival. He said he already has started his next project, which is a human rights film based in South America.
He recently graduated from OCU with a master’s degree in film. McDaniel said having the experience of directing a film before graduation makes it more likely for him to get a job.
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