On Oct. 6 through Oct. 7 VSU’s South Georgia Film Festival student group visited Trilith Studios, taking part in the CineGear ATL Expo in Fayetteville, Georgia.

Students were able to learn about the latest cinematic equipment, meet working crew members of Georgia’s film industry, experience and tour the studios where the most popular movies were shot, and have educational meet and greet sessions with some of the most prominent individuals.

CineGear hosts its Expos in Los Angeles, New York and most recently in Atlanta. It provides regional producers with access to exhibitors like Canon Inc., Godox, Aputure, Hollyland Technology and many more who were present as they showed their new and high-tech products.

While exploring the different exhibitions, many vendors displayed their recent and soon to be released products, gaining countless interactions from the attendees.

“I knew there was going to be a whole bunch of people selling equipment and stuff and I was definitely excited to see what new equipment was coming out. Just walking around seeing the vast of cameras, lights, lenses, all the way down to the smallest thing that deals with the camera or with the production itself was very exciting,” said mass media major Micheal Johnson.

Students got the chance to interact and have riveting conversations with many of the vendors. They also had the chance to have hands-on interaction with some of the finest products in the cinematic industry.

After visiting the vendors at the Expo, students listened to some of the available seminars as most talked about the exploration of the current and future prospects of Georgia’s profitable entertainments programs.

One of the seminars included Lux Machina and Trilith Studios themselves as they unveiled the cutting-edge world of virtual production. The panel’s speakers guided the audience through creating captivating stories through this new digital age. What is referred to as “the volume” allows productions to have an interactive background compared to previous technologies that would be replaced in post-production.

“The LED panels surrounding the sound stage show villages similar to Rivia from the Netflix show The Witcher with birds flying over, smoking all around, and wind blowing the digital grass,” said Dr. Jason Brown, Professor of mass media at VSU.

The trip’s announcement attracted the interests of many students both inside and outside of the mass media program. Some students were quite familiar with Trilith Studios and Georgia Film Academy but seeing more students take interest made the experience more exciting.

“I went last year by myself, but I had fun. It’s nice seeing everyone else’s reactions and perspectives and seeing them ask questions that I would never think of asking. Since it’s my senior year and I know what I want, it makes me feel better that I can ask the questions that I know will benefit me,” said South Georgia Film Festival student group President and senior, Genesis Greenlee.

This is an ongoing story, stay tuned for more.

Written by Jasmine Hightower, Entertainment Editor. Photo Courtesy of Jasmine Hightower and Daune Ryan Kroesser