每日大赛

Bypass the primary and secondary navigation and continue reading the main body of the page

每日大赛 Alumni Win Telly Award

Photo: From left, Daniel Farias, Monica Oroz, Ricky Rocha, Amanda Perello, and Alex Wiersma

When Daniel Farias 鈥16 saw news about the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, he wondered what would happen if a similar situation occurred on a college campus.

That sparked the idea for his 20-minute film 鈥淪napshot,鈥 which earned him and his crew a in June. The Tellys 鈥 honoring the best in television, cable, digital, streaming, and non-broadcast productions 鈥 receive more than 13,000 entries annually from around the world.

鈥淓veryone worked very hard on this and I鈥檓 so happy our department and the university helped us get the resources we needed to do this movie,鈥 Farias said. 鈥淚t shows that La Verne really does it right.鈥

Farias wrote, directed, and filmed the movie, while alumna Alex Wiersma 鈥16 and Monica Oroz 鈥16 produced. Ricky Rocha ’16 served as sound designer and Amanda Perello ’16 as editor. All students received bachelor鈥檚 degrees in broadcasting.

The movie features an Iraq War veteran who is applying for college when a hostage situation unfolds on campus. The man鈥檚 military training kicks in and he protects students from harm. Professor of Communications Don Pollock called 鈥淪napshot鈥 an ambitious film that pushed the students to expand their creativity and skills.

鈥淎 lot of times, students work within their wheelhouse,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hey make films about the world they know and what matters to them. This film reached beyond that in terms of broader scope and appeal,鈥 Pollock said.

Farias now works as a production assistant for the Fox sports division in San Diego.

鈥淎 lot went into this in terms of coordination and writing,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e put a small budget idea into a bigger movie.鈥

Pollock said he is proud of the students鈥 achievement.

鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly exciting,鈥 Pollock said. 鈥淭he Tellys are very prestigious, so any chance you have to win, it鈥檚 a feather in the cap for the students and for the university.鈥