From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Thu Oct 24 2002 - 16:57:47 EDT
October 25, 2002 == MEDIA ADVISORY
A three-part video series produced by the Calvin Media Foundation at Calvin
College has won a prestigious national award. "Eyes Wide Open," a series based
on a book on popular culture by Calvin professor William Romanowski, earned a
2002 Aegis Award, a national video competition featuring peer judging by fellow
directors, producers, writers, editors, cameramen and other professionals from
the video industry. Past winners include the Discovery Channel, Microsoft,
Warner Brothers, TV stations across the country, other colleges and universities
and social service agencies. Only about one in five entries wins an Aegis
Award.
The Calvin Media Foundation has sold the Eyes Wide Open video series to a
number of colleges and universities around the country. It also is targeted for
use by adult Sunday school groups, high school and college church youth groups
and more. In fact, the video series began as one component of a new course by
the Student Life Division at Calvin College designed to introduce first-year
students to the idea of cultural discernment, recognizing that popular culture
is one of the most influential forces in contemporary society.
Says Romanowski: "While most students at Christian liberal arts colleges spend
a good amount of time watching movies and television programs or listening to
music, they do not necessarily engage popular art and culture as Christians.
This is also true of adults who harbor Christian convictions and also consume
their share of the mainstream media. While they think their faith should matter
when it comes to popular art, in the absence of distinctly Christian critical
tools, many simply defer to vague personal tastes and preferences. For some,
'Christian' means simply the absence of depictions of sex, violence or
profanity. This video series employs a different approach. The central question
it addresses is: How might a Christian faith perspective shape our appreciation
and evaluation of popular artworks?"
Thus the purpose of the video series is "to provide an additional resource for
Christians who are searching for a faith-based criticism of the popular arts and
culture."
The videos are closely related to the book in content and are intended to bring
the key ideas and themes of Eyes Wide Open to life visually by featuring clips
from over 120 movies, TV programs and music videos for analysis. "These are
educational videos that are loaded with ideas and information," says Romanowski.
"They are meant to be engaging while also generating substantive discourse."
In addition to writing the book, Romanowski also narrated the award-winning
video series. Talented Calvin video producer Rob Prince produced and edited the
videos and also coordinated a trip to Los Angeles where some scenes were filmed
on a Hollywood lot. Calvin vice president for student life Shirley Hoogstra was
executive producer of the series.
For more on the Eyes Wide Open video series see
http://www.calvin.edu/calvinmediafoundation/ewo/ewo_home.htm For more on the
Eyes Wide Open book see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2000_01/eyes.htm
For more on the Aegis Awards see http://www.aegisawards.com
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