Infinity Point Studio founder E. James Omelina and Pop Culture owner Dan Wyatt have teamed up to present a music video competition and festival for budding filmmakers.
Pop Culture’s house band, Kiss Kill, has a new song called “High School Drama.” Omelina, 32, and Wyatt, 37, both Vancouver residents, shot six hours of stock footage that film production students can use to make a music video for the song. Students also can use some original footage that they shoot if they so choose.
There are two divisions of the contest, one for high-schoolers and one for college students. Submissions are being accepted through May 30. The top submissions will be screened and the winning music video announced the evening of June 4 at Pop Culture in Uptown Village. For more information, email Omelina at james@infinitypointstudio.com or Wyatt at popculture@me.com.
The contest is a good way to connect local producers with up-and-coming film-editing talent, said Omelina, lead instructor and vice chairman of the board for FVTV, a local public access television station. Omelina also is the co-producer of “The Tails of Abbygail,” a children’s show that films in the greater Vancouver-Portland area and airs on KOIN Local 6, the area’s CBS affiliate.
Like Omelina, Wyatt has a background in film. He’s excited to help encourage local video production students, which he once was.
“I’m a filmmaker at heart,” the Vancouver native said.
Internship gives student firsthand glimpse of D.C.
Senators need a surprising number of helpers to keep them informed and up to date with constituents, said Kaitlin Sandin, who just finished a “Semester in Washington” program in D.C. as an intern for Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington.
During her internship, the 21-year-old Evergreen High School graduate learned that Murray’s staff of about 60 is not uncommonly large among senators in the nation’s capital — and that there’s more than enough work to keep all of them busy.
“The connection between the senator and our state was amazing. Even if it took a while, every single email was answered,” Sandin said. “They said we averaged about one every 45 seconds.”
Sandin, a political science major in her junior year at Gonzaga University, said she was fascinated watching debates on the Senate floor involving policies that would impact people all across the country.
“It was really exciting to be in the middle of the action,” she said.
On May 30, Sandin will start her next internship, with the European Union delegation to the United States. It’s her “dream internship,” she said, because she wants to eventually work in transatlantic political relations.
“I’ll be doing political security and development,” Sandin said. “I’ll get to watch American politics and explain what issues are relevant and why to the European Union.”
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