HutchCC media production students talk about the program and their short film

By Zariah A. Perilla-Best / Staff Writer

Almost everyone has seen a movie, but even more are being produced daily.

Hutchinson Community College Media Production and Analyst Trainer Bobby Obermite said that nearly five to 10 films are being produced every 10 days at Hutchinson Community College.

The Media Production and Communication department is located inside Building 12, which is off the main campus, about a half mile north at 1800 N Plum St, so it may not be as well known to HutchCC students. But it has amazing opportunities. Opportunities that HutchCC students Nicole Ingold and Joy Reiss took advantage of.

They combined to produce a short film called “Pretty Now?”, which is about bringing awareness to eating disorders. A heavy topic, but one they hope drives a much-needed conversation. The film aims to bring light to it, as well as provide information on how to get help.

Ingold and Reiss discussed how they bonded over eating disorders, and how they both struggled with them for years while discussing it in class one day, and the negative effects on being on opposite sides of the spectrum. Thus, they decided that this would be the focus of the film.

The two entered this film into a first-year filmmakers contest called “First-time Filmmaker Online Session partnered with lift-off global network”, and “Pretty Now?” ranked 41 out of 115 entries.

The film’s aim may help bring perspective of what it’s like to face their challenges. What it’s like to walk in their shoes.

In addition to “Pretty Now?”, Ingold and Reiss recently released another short film called “Piano Man,” “which is a love story about a woman who sees a guy every time she hears a certain song” and although they have no other films in the making, they said they have ambitions to produce more in the near future because of how the curriculum is set up.

“The student’s are required to come out with a short film about once a week, and with how many students there are that means about 10 films are produced,” Obermite said.

He wishes that it was more popular but unfortunately “It’s like our own little world.

“There’s kids who are born and raised in this town who don’t even know about how amazing our program is. And then they go to some college like KU and, as far as I know, they don’t have a program for film there.”

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