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The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star
The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

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By Kelly Johnson | January 27, 2005

NIU alumnus Tommy Simpson summed up his clever and humorous approach to art last Thursday night while explaining a chair he built containing a love motif. "You know I’m from Illinois when I get this corny," Simpson said. On Jan. 20, Tommy Simpson made...

Artits of the Week

By Erin Wienke | January 27, 2005

Freshman art education major Laura Gascon dabbles her brush into all sorts of mediums. She took three years of photography in high school and never had a drawing class, but when she entered NIU, she was bombarded with a unfamiliar medium. But she acclimated...

Play the game, you loser

By Greg Feltes | January 27, 2005

My best friend is a hopeless romantic. I don’t mean hopeless in the good 1980s John Cusack way - I mean hopeless in the Peyton Manning visiting Foxboro way. It’s not that he looks like Paul Giamatti or has the intelligence of Jessica Simpson. He doesn’t....

Behind the scenes

By Jessie Coello | January 27, 2005

Audiences will get a taste of behind-the-scenes theater production this spring.

The Department of Communication will shoot a documentary on the theater’s production of the play "The Grapes of Wrath."

Filming will take place through the premiere on April 7.

Communication assistant professor Laura Vazquez will lead a class of 18 people in filming the production.

In late December, Vazquez was preparing to teach a class on documentary-styled studio production. When the marketing department didn’t offer its popular "The Apprentice"-style class this semester, Vazquez was without a subject to film.

"I had a class of media students signed up and wanted a class for them," Vazquez said. "I thought, ‘Should we do a reality show?’"

As Vazquez searched for a subject to film, sources led her to the "Grapes of Wrath" production.

"I was hesitant at the beginning and looking forward to ‘The Apprentice,’" graduate student Brian Eckdale said. "But I think I’m more excited about this production."

Eckdale is one of four student directors. Each director is a graduate student. Half the class will film the technical side of the production, such as costume design, lighting and set design. The other half will concentrate on the actors and directors.

There are differences in filming between "The Apprentice" and "The Grapes of Wrath." While "The Apprentice" was shot in six weeks with a tight schedule for the crew, "The Grapes of Wrath" will have most of the semester to film.

"We will film for three or four months and get to watch the situations really evolve," Eckdale said.

Also, "The Apprentice" had a strict format while "Wrath" is searching for its story.

"As things come along, we’ll be doing character sketches," said Nick Laporta, a senior media studies major. "We’ll go through what we have and make it interesting."

"People in the theater department have more exuberant personalities," Eckdale said. "Those personalities might be more dynamic."

Vazquez said the purpose of filming is to do a reality television show but in a documentary style.

"I’d like to call it a ‘docu-drama’ but that’s the wrong terminology - that implies a re-enactment," Vazquez said. "It’s more savvy reality programming."

A Web site will feature segments of the film and biographies of some key players in the performance. The story of the whole production will be presented in installments for anyone online to access. Vazquez said she hopes to have the site up soon.

Information on "The Grapes of Wrath" is available at www.niu.edu/theater.

The Game: The Documentary

By Lady C | January 27, 2005

G-Unit's member, The Game, sets out to distinguish his solo talents on "The Documentary." Straight out of Compton, his style has a hard gangsta' edge and confronts issues such as death that are relevant to many. The radio has already begun its routine...

“Are We There Yet?”

By Jessie Coello | January 27, 2005

It’s hard to believe family movies are still being made, and it’s even harder to believe they can be entertaining too. Take the "family road trip" movie. The "road trip" gives way to a host of gags and giggles as adventures are on the open road as...

Placebo: Once More With Feeling (Singles 1996-2004)

By Lindsey Rosati | January 27, 2005

Brit-pop band, Placebo, hits the shelves with a new singles collection, "Once More With Feeling, Singles 1996-2004." The album has already been on the UK Top Ten Album Chart, as high as NO. 8, since its first release. Placebo is re-releasing the singles...

“The Phantom of the Opera”

By Richard Pulfer | January 27, 2005

oel Schumacher is probably among the worst-regarded movie directors alive today. Purveyor of such cheese as "Batman and Robin" and "The Lost Boys," it’s tough to imagine Schumacher at the top of any list to direct a big-screen version of Andrew Lloyd...

“Assault on Precinct 13”

By Marcus Leshock | January 27, 2005

"Assault on Precinct 13" is the best B-movie of the year. But that’s not saying much considering how rare the traditional B-movie has become. Also, it’s January. Ethan Hawke plays Sgt. Jake Roenick, a down-and-out cop stuck at a rundown precinct in...

DeKalb gets Digital

By Derek Wright | January 27, 2005

Digital is everywhere. Digital watches. Digital Video Discs. Digital cameras. Digital libraries. Digital classrooms. Digital dating services. Digital postcards. Digital recording. Digital landmarks on the digital highway of digital life. There is even...

Atari Star: Prayer & Pretend

By Kelly Johnson | January 27, 2005

There's not much to be said for an album whose strongest track is a cover song. "Prayer & Pretend," The Atari Star's third full-length on Johann's Face Records, unremarkably showcases the band’s influences in 10 hit-or-miss songs. Traces of Sunny...

Low: Great Destroyer H

By Collin Quick | January 27, 2005

Duluth, Minn., must be a pretty boring town if a band focuses on nothing but melodic tones and layers of vocals, like Low does. The trio never seems to get past the vocal combination of percussionist Mimi Parker and guitarist Alan Sparhawk. Harmonies...

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