Comments from Andrew Cividino, one of the winners of the OFRB - Student Film Competition - 2006 I think as a film student there’s really no better way to learn than to do.  I mean, every production you undertake you expand your skill sets, your confidence and your network of contacts.  So when I got that phone call I wasn’t excited particularly at that point about the chance of winning – that was far from my mind – but just getting the chance to go out and to shoot a production from concept to distribution, I was tremendously excited about getting that chance.  And that’s where the mentors really came in and stepped up and helped us all out. I spoke with people from the other groups and they all agree that the mentors were a huge part of our success.  The cinematographer got to shoot on 35 – got a huge camera package and lighting package.  Our editor and our compositors they got to work with Deluxe and do the whole post process, learn everything about how to go through doing your online edit correctly and all these things.  These are things you need to know to be in the industry but at the same time if you’re not already working it’s hard to get that kind of experience.  When else do we get those opportunities? And that’s something that this competition provided all of us with.  The first time I really really saw it was when I walked into a Famous Players, bought some popcorn and I went to see a flick and before it my thing comes up on the screen and I’m used to seeing it 3 inches by 2 inches wide and it’s 50 feet, huge sound and there’s a packed house and people are actually laughing at the right points and getting involved and I had no idea how tremendous that would feel.  Seeing as a film student your thing, something on the big screen is kind of attached to such a larger dream that you just don’t think it would be possible, certainly not in the near future.  It was really, really rewarding.  We finished the production about a year ago and I think what I failed to realize until recently was just how much the competition has helped me along with my career.  The contacts through the mentors - it leads to work down the road.  The contact with production houses, postproduction facilities – this makes it easier to execute projects in the future.  And having something of this magnitude for your reel – with theatrical distribution, professional production values - that really helps to get jobs down the road and you can show this….it’s a calling card - right there.  I think most important though is the confidence that you get from it knowing that you can take something right from the concept all the way to distribution and knowing that people will actually like it and appreciate what you can do.  That is huge and that kind of confidence really helps you down the road in terms of moving forward with your career.  I was tremendously fortunate to be involved in this project.  Since it’s completion I have founded my own production company Film Forge Productions and I do a lot of corporate and a bit of commercial work with companies like Bell, Motorola, Procter and Gamble and right now we’re developing a short film for Brad Smith who is a well known Canadian author and a lot of these projects have come, directly or indirectly, from this experience whether it is a hook up through a mentor or whether it is just somebody has seen it or you show it on a reel – it’s really really helped me to get moving along in my career. So…to the prospective students for next year’s competition I’d say get your applications ready, really think hard about what you’re going to submit because it’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss out on – it’s a huge chance.  It’s a huge challenge but it’s a lot of fun and it’s really a rewarding experience.

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