ROAR Studios, Loyola Marymount University’s student-run production house, gained national recognition from the College Media Association this past October, with student films winning awards in Best Entertainment Program and the 2018 Film Festival Award. The original comedic short “Coming Out,” written, directed and produced by ROAR’s Aoife Tejada 20’, won CMA’s Pinnacle Award for Best Entertainment Program, while the international film “The Veles Conundrum,” jointly produced with Patrick Reilly ’19 by ROAR and the Los Angeles Loyolan, was awarded the 2018 Film Festival award for long documentary.
Tejada’s sketch “Coming Out” puts a playfully ironic spin on the modern-day dilemma hinted at in its title. It features a young woman named Peddle, who dreams of being an accountant at the Harvard School of Business, and the hilarious family drama that ensues at the breakfast table one morning when she must break the news to her exceptionally artistic parents. “For the most part, I try to find the irony in everyday life or take something that is normal and change one thing about it to make it abnormal,” notes Tejada.
As a junior Sociology major from Orinda, Calif., she notes the challenges of balancing a full-time student schedule with her involvement at student media. “I find that scheduling is extremely difficult. I’m in a sorority and part of student government, so it’s been tricky to find time to make these sketches,” says Tejada. However, she notes her appreciation for ROAR Studios and the opportunities from student media that have helped her to explore passions outside her major. She says the success of “Coming Out” has brought her a new sense of confidence in her abilities as an artist. “It proves to me that I do have a talent, passion and drive that could take me places. For a while, I doubted my abilities, but this was definitely a turning point in telling me that I can be successful in film,” says Tejada. “As a part of ROAR Studios, I feel humbled to leave a mark there as they have left a mark on me.
I will always be so grateful for ROAR Studios, and this is the least I could give back.”
As for senior screenwriting major Patrick Reilly, his inspiration for an investigation into the origins of the 2016 fake news stories featured in “The Veles Conundrum” took place during his time studying abroad in Macedonia during the fall of 2017. The award-winning documentary chronicles his hands-on investigation into the small community of Veles, shedding new light on the mysterious motivations and unheard stories of the hackers themselves. “The fact that I got to go reporting in a foreign country I hadn’t heard of nearly a year before production is one of the memories of college I’ll take with me forever,” says Reilly.
“I thought all the articles and videos made about Veles were trying to represent the people there as villains, so I wanted to go there to learn for myself what was going on. I wanted to give the people there the benefit of the doubt,” says Reilly. According to Reilly, he hopes the recognition of his work will inspire his audience to question their assumptions about those whose stories are rarely told. “I think it’s as easy as the saying “there are two sides to every story,” but it seemed to me like we only heard the one side.”
According to Student Media Advisor Tom Nelson, who oversees the department, these victories are both hard-earned and well-deserved. “They’re very different types of content, but the fact that we can allow students to produce both within Student Media is really a great thing for our students,” says Nelson.
We’re very fortunate to have a program that offers this hands-on experience.”
ROAR Studios and the rest of the Student Media department work to provide content “for students, by students” according to Nelson, all with the goal of fostering an atmosphere suitable for hands-on learning. Since its creation in 2005, ROAR Studios has provided a creative space for students of various majors, allowing them to produce everything from comedic shorts to journalistic-style investigations. ROAR Studios’ student general manager and Film and Television production major Sophie Giessel ’20 notes how this “welcoming learning environment” an essential component in the journey of an idea from script to screen. “By receiving these national awards, it really gives me some assurance that we are taking strides in the right direction,” says Giessel.
Learn more about LMU’s ROAR Studios or visit their Facebook page.