The student-led documentary Capital in the Sixties has received positive responses from current students and alumni after several on and off-campus showings.
Behind the camera, students from the class who created the film are pleased with the documentary’s success and the work they put into it.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen something I’ve done on that big of a screen,” senior Amy Marado said.
Marado was the film’s head editor and worked with other students to cut together all of the documentary footage into the production that made it to the big screen.
“I was in charge of every single big sequence [of footage] that we had, and putting it all into one,” Marado said.
She said that she felt working on the documentary helped her truly appreciate the importance of post-production, and helped her grow substantially as a professional filmmaker.
Capital in the Sixties was made as part of a joint effort between Capital’s film and history departments. Marado was impressed by how instrumental the history students were in the documentary’s creation.
“It was cool because those kids [were] actually interested in the history so it made it easier for all of us to create the project … it came together a lot easier,” Marado said.
Matthew Longfellow, a first-year social studies education major, was one of the students from the history department who took part in the class behind the film.
“It was a good learning experience working as a team, especially in a team with a lot of different skill sets … and having to communicate and have it all come together,” Longfellow said.
Longfellow did research for the film, but also made a unique contribution to the documentary.
Longfellow created a short, thirty-second animated sequence showing construction changes to Capital’s campus during the sixties. Longfellow has been animating for the past four years, but said that this was the first time he had used his animation skills in a professional capacity.
According to both Marado and Longfellow, who spoke with alumni at the some of the film showings, many Capital graduates were impressed with the accuracy of the film and how it made them reflect on their memories of the ‘60s.
Some alumni reached out to Dr. Betsy Pike, the film’s director and faculty advisor, to provide feedback.
“As a past member of The Screen Actors Guild, a very proud 1971 Capital University graduate, and, most of all, as a continuing member in good standing of the human race, I want you, and everyone, to know that Capital in the Sixties is the most beautiful documentary I have ever seen,” alumn Mac Michael said.
“During the credits, I found myself in tears. Somebody actually made a movie about us. Wow! We had no idea what we were doing, but whatever we were doing, you showed the world, we did it right, and we did it together. Life is a team sport. We played well, in victory and defeat. Capital University gave us the strength and the courage to keep playing,” Michael said.
“Thank you and all the students who worked so diligently on Capital in the Sixties. Your tremendous work and finished product certainly captured our lives … We so appreciated your dedication, not because we were not left on the cutting room floor, but because your work is now a part of our legacy,” alumna Carolyn Seitz said.
Capital in the Sixties will be having another on-campus showing April 26 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Huntington Recital Hall. DVDs of the documentary will be sold starting on Alumni Weekend, which will begin April 25.
More information on Capital in the Sixties can be found at capitalinthe60s.com.
