LU Juniors and Seniors Create Professional Short Thesis Films to Gain Field Experience

From the classroom to the camera, Liberty University cinematic arts students spend their junior and senior year tediously creating a professional short film.

Senior at LU, Liberty Novoselac, 21, chose to use her thesis film as a vehicle to send a powerful message about the sacrifice behind achieving your goals.

Novoselac’s film focuses on the journey of a young film student who is pushed to the point of emotional ruin by her acting coach. Her coach uses extreme method acting techniques in the name of making her a better actress. The film forces the audience to evaluate how far they are willing to go for what they want, and if it is truly worth it.

“I guess the reason why I chose this specific story is that I view thesis films as an expression of every student and of who they are and where they are at, and mine is no exception,” Novoselac said.

Having done theatre in high school, Novoselac wanted to display the emotional toll that actors sometimes take on while transforming into new character roles. She points out how often life imitates art and the amount of self-reflection that went into the project.

“What are you placing your value on? Is it creating art? Is it creating a good movie or is it on actual people?” Novoselac said. “For me, I believe people are much more important than anything I could create.” 

The process of creating a film is no small task. Novoselac spent her junior year completing weeklong short film projects among other projects that outlined the process of filmmaking before taking on a thesis film.

She began script writing during her junior year and focused on fleshing out the logistics of pre-production of the project while in quarantine. She focused on completing each part of the preparation process to the best of her ability, knowing she would soon step into the role of writer, producer, director and editor of her own film.

Being tasked with creating a budget, utilizing casting websites to find actors and finding sets in light of COVID-19 restrictions became a monumental undertaking for Novoselac, but she is enormously thankful for her crew throughout the process.

“You should hire people that are smarter than you and better at their jobs than you are, and that’s because it’s not about the product.  It is not about me. It’s not about my vision being the only thing ever,” Novoselac said. “Oftentimes if you hire the right people and you get them to see your vision, they will come up with better ideas and better things than you could ever imagine.”

Novoselac estimates to complete post-production sometime in December or January and anticipates the film will be completed around May once audio adjustments, color correcting and special effects are meticulously added.

It is now uncertain, however, how viewers will be able to watch the film.  While the senior thesis films usually premiere at the Cinema Student Showcase at the end of the spring semester, Novoselac is unsure of how the premiere will look in a world rearranged by the coronavirus. 

Premiere or not, Novoselac dreams of submitting the film to festivals in hopes that different audiences will be able to view her film and be challenged by the questions it raises.

“What I really want people to take away from it is that I want them to examine their own lives, especially those who are my age but even those who are older,” Novoselac said. “Like what am I doing? Is this actually worth the pain and the sacrifice? And if not, why do I do it?”

Nadia Vires is a Feature Reporter. Follow her on Twitter at @nadiavires.