People working in the field of telecommunications often focus strictly on the technical aspects of the job, senior telecommunications production major Ann Thurber said.
The Department of Telecommunications will work to emphasize the craft of storytelling at 6 p.m. today in Bracken Library Room 225, with a live videoconference with Iris Yamashita, screenwriter of the 2006 film "Letters from Iwo Jima."
Yamashita, who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing/Original Screenplay, will be speaking exclusively to Ball State University students from Los Angeles, Thurber said.
"We have hundreds of students majoring in production, and all of them need to understand the art of storytelling," Nancy Carlson, chairwoman of the Department of Telecommunications, said. "We believe the power of the film is in the story, so we were searching for a screenwriter rather than a director so that we could better understand the story."
"Letters from Iwo Jima" tells the story of the American-Japanese Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of Japanese soldiers and commanders.
Senior TCOM production major Griff Partington said it's important for TCOM students to speak with a screenwriter of Yamashita's caliber.
"With film, everything is based around story and I feel talking to somebody from Hollywood who developed a script directed by someone like Clint Eastwood would be easier for me to learn from than taking a few classes and trying to figure it out on my own," he said.
Though the videoconference is sponsored by the Writers Guild Foundation and the TCOM department, it will appeal to students of all fields of study, Thurber, who organized the event, said.
"This is for everyone - really, anyone who's interested in history, movies and storytelling of any kind," she said.
Carlson said the videoconference would appeal to students taking courses in modern languages and classics, English, Japanese, history, women's studies, theatre and peace and conflicts studies.
Junior creative writing major Andy Kmiec said that most of the screenwriting experience he's had at Ball State is with short, five-page scripts and he'd like to learn about the process of writing a full-length film script.
"You don't usually hear a lot about screenwriting," he said. "Screenwriting is usually kind of behind the scenes. Also, I'm really interested in Japanese culture, so [the videoconference] is just kind of my thing."
Thurber said Yamashita was selected for the videoconference not only because of her Academy Award nomination but because, as a Japanese woman, she brings diversity to Ball State.
Yamashita has a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California Berkeley and worked as a full-time Web programmer before she received positive feedback on her script and was hired by "Letters From Iwo Jima" executive director Paul Haggis, she said in a Feb. 9 Washington Post article.
"[The videoconference] shows that you don't have to be in L.A. to be current on what's going on in the entertainment industry," Thurber said. "It gives us the same competitive edge as someone who lives in L.A."
Check it outThe live videoconference with Iris Yamashita, screenwriter of the 2006 film "Letters from Iwo Jima" is at 6 p.m. today in Bracken Library Room 225.
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