The doors were shut and the lights turned off as students gathered into the Special Events Center (SPEC) Thursday night for the showing of the new James Bond movie “Skyfall.” It was a part of the Thursday Blockbuster Series put on by the Student Involvement and Leadership Center.
As the movie began, a silence fell over the crowd of about 50 students and community members.
What seemed to be an easily planned event was underway, but just how much planning actually went in to bringing this movie to campus?
According to junior Molly Valceschini, who works for the Student Involvement and Leadership Center as a program assistant, planning events like this is done far in advance.
“All of our events are planned out before the semester even starts,” Valceschini said. “We schedule the budget for them and set a date prior to the semester.”
Erin Vandenburgh, the campus programs coordinator for the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, plays a big part in helping students coordinate events like these.
“We had to choose our films before the semester and before we even knew if they were going to be a hit or miss,” Vandenburgh said. “So it’s kind of a gamble, but usually it turns out really well.”
Vandenburgh said the scheduling for reserving films is “stricter than it has been in the past.”
“It depends on the company that owns the movies and how they interact with the company that we work with which is called Swank Motion Pictures,” Vandenburgh said. “We procure the right to show the movie on campus.”
According to Vandenburgh, the movies shown are protected by a passcode and when the disk is put in to the DVD player a code must be entered in order to play it.
The DVD also doesn’t work after a certain amount of time.
“As soon as that code is entered it’s almost like a time-bomb,” Vandenburgh said.
Vandenburgh also talked about the movie selection process.
“We try to identify movies that we think are going to be really good and sometimes we are choosing films that haven’t even hit the theaters yet,” she said. “We want to try to find movies that are still current and exciting enough for students and are of interest to students, and then hopefully get them before they come out on DVD.”
Vandenburgh said once the movie has been selected and the schedule has been outlined, then the students go about planning and making sure that everything is in order and set to go.
Lauren Kandanko, a freshman, said she enjoyed the movie and the event as a whole.
“I liked both,” Kandanko said. “It was well-run and put on. We always come to these things.”
Junior Caitlain McCarrel said she likes having new movies on campus.
“I love it,” she said. “They’re free and they’re movies that I want to see.”
