This year, the keynote speaker for the Yellowhammer Film Festival is Darren Genet, a cinematographer known for his work on 'Vampire Diaries' and 'CSI: Miami.' The process behind inviting Genet was done through series of networking sessions, similar to those of guests and speakers from past Yellowhammer FilmFestivals.
"I was trying to get another cinematographer from 'Agents of S.H.I.E.LD. on LinkedIn, and he wasn't responding," said co-director of Yellowhammer Chris Stagl.
"I looked at his network for other cinematographers, and oddly enough, this was similar to how I got Theo Love for Yellowhammer One." Students can see many of Genet's work and accomplishments on his IMDb page, with over 50 show credits in cinematography, directing, producing and more.
Most notably is his work as a director and cinematographer for "The Vampire Diaries," where he worked on 40 episodes from 2013 to 2017.
Stag hopes that by bringing on industry professionals like Genet, Yellowhammer will grow via networking with other professionals in the industry.
"The guy that I ended up reaching out to get into contact with Genet was Andrew Toth, the owner of Above Below The Line," Stagl said.
"We locked in Darren as the keynote, and I reached back out to Andrew and told him that we were still looking for judges.
We ended up getting Petr Cikhart as a judge."This year's Yellowhammer has seen an exponential amount of growth with 548 entries. That's double the number of entries from the first two years combined.
Helping Stag this year is Nathan Hobbs, co-di-rector of the Yellowhammer Film Festival and a recent Troy graduate who now works in the film industry. Hobbs participated in the festival as a student but is now getting to experience the festival in a whole new way.
"In school, I learned a lot, but at Yellowhammer I really got to interact with the work environment and industry professionals," Hobbs said.
"It really opened up my eyes for seeing this as a career."
There is a wide variety of presentations meant to help students in attendance, such as making a senior thesis video and animators teaching students how to use Unreal engine.
A unique aspect of Yellowhammer is the emphasis on Alabama students. There is an award titled "Best in Alabama" for both high school and college students.
"Yellowhammer really helped me narrow down what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, Hobbs said. "Yellowham-mer turned a dream into a job for me." The Yellowhammer Film Festival will take place on Oct. 24 in the Claudia Crosby Theatre.
For more information, visit www.yellowham-merfilmfest.com.
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