at the College Emmy Awards.
Riding a wave of success that recently garnered him second place honors at the 29th Annual College Television Awards, Preston DeFrancis '07 screens his award–winning thesis film, The Big Production at First Look 2.0.
Combining multiple film genres that include sitcom, musical, mystery and more into a movie revolving around an elaborate event staged by a young man who hopes to propose to his girlfriend, The Big Production takes on the stylized point of view of each character when the group of friends each relay how the engagement ring goes missing. The love struck suitor must piece together the wildly divergent stories to gather the clues, find the culprit and accomplish his marriage goal.
Save for a few short exterior scenes, DeFrancis and his crew shot The Big Production entirely on Stages D and E at the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts.
From being named a winner of the Student Groundbreaking Award at the annual art and film festival Hatchfest to The Big Production chosen as the pre-feature short to the closing night selection at the Ojai Film Festival to March 15 when the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded him second place in the comedy category along with a $1000 cash prize, DeFrancis' unique approach to his story has paid off tremendously.
at the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts.
Admitting that the red carpet experience "was crazy after watching them on television and then actually being there," DeFrancis is currently developing a feature comedy/romance while he works full time as an executive assistant at HBO Films.
With his film selected as one of the top six of the First Look 2.0 festival by a professional jury thereby making it eligible for a special invite-only screening event at the Directors Guild of America on April 2, how does DeFrancis feel talking about his thesis film?