OSU Student Arts Alliance hosts stop-motion film festival

Friday, March 3, 2023

Media Contact: Jordan Bishop | Editor | 405-744-7193 | jordan.bishop@okstate.edu

Free French toast in hand, Oklahoma State University students gathered at the Student Union Theater on Wednesday night for the stop-motion film festival hosted by the Student Arts Alliance.

The goal of the festival was to provide students with an outlet to exhibit their work and to show students the opportunities for creation available within stop-motion. Dr. Kayla Loper, associate director for leadership and campus life, said the idea for the event was presented by students themselves. 

“Multiple students had recently taken a class where they learned to make short stop-motion videos,” Loper said. “They were sharing how much they had enjoyed creating the videos and we started to talk about how we could make an event with this artistic style.”

The festival showed shorts such as Rhett and Link’s “T-Shirt Wars” saga, “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” and the headliner film, “Kubo and the Two Strings.” It also gave students the ability to submit their own stop-motion pieces.

Kyle Kentner, a graduate student in computer science, presented his film, “Sup-Rooted” about a man who is turned into a seed when trying to order a salad at a restaurant. Kentner utilized 3D printing scraps and various foods to tell his story. 

“I had a lot of interest in being a cartoonist as a kid, but I imagine that animation will always be more of a hobby for me,” Kentner said.

The second student film shown, “Shampee” was created by freshman theatre major Owe Morris. The film finds a group of shampoo bottles in an unfortunate situation with a house cat after straying away from the shower. 

“I used to make stop-motion films of my bathroom products when I was in elementary school,” Morris said. “When I saw this festival’s call for submissions, I decided to make an homage to those poorly done videos.” 

The event was organized by Joy Sawyer, a theatre major and vice president of show production for the SAA, alongside her executive team. She said planning consisted of watching over four hours of various stop-motion videos and movies. 

“I tried to select pieces that had different components of stop-motion,” Sawyer said. “I wanted to include a wide variety to show.”

Sawyer hopes that the festival sparks creativity within the student body and builds a community for those who are interested in stop-motion filmmaking.

“We’re hoping to show students how important stop-motion is. The possibilities are truly limitless with it,” Sawyer said.

Story By: Sam Milek | smilek@okstate.edu