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A promotional photo from UW Oshkosh student Steven Heil’s film The Order. Heil (left) wrote, directed, shot, edited and acted in the film.

A University of Wisconsin Oshkosh radio-TV-film program student earned the “Best Student Film” honor at the 2014 Oregon Film Awards.

Steven Heil, a senior in the program, earned the award for, The Order, the story of a woman in a totalitarian society who agonizes about whether to obey an order to send orphans to a concentration camp.

Heil wrote the film’s screenplay and also served as director, producer, cinematographer and editor, in addition to acting in the film. The work was filmed at various locations in Oshkosh using UW Oshkosh radio-TV-film students as actors and crew.

“My hope is that the award will help draw talent and investments to future film projects,” said Heil, a senior on track for May graduation from UW Oshkosh.

The Oregon Film Awards are billed as “Oregon’s most prestigious film honors,… presented annually to independent filmmakers and screenwriters from around the world who produce unique and compelling films and screenplays in several competition categories.” The awards “recognize the very best in contemporary domestic and international independent cinema and screenwriting.”

In addition to the Oregon award, The Order was selected for screenings at the Green Bay Film Festival and the Weyauwega International Film Festival.

Heil said The Order’s biggest inspiration was George Orwell’s novel 1984.

However, professionally, and academically, he can’t ignore the influence of his father, UW Oshkosh Radio-TV-Film Professor Douglas Heil.

“When I was in middle and high school, I would make short movies with my friends for fun,” Steven Heil said. “But when I took my dad’s 114 Media Aesthetics class as an underclassman, I learned valuable tools and techniques to take my filmmaking to a new, professional level. They included the importance of lens choice, f-stops, depth-of-field and framing and shot-placement to underscore characterization and purpose.”

Heil also credits UW Oshkosh radio-TV-film professor and filmmaker Troy Perkins with helping guide his creative journey in the production and editing of The Order.

“After I finished the first edit of my film, my professor (Perkins), in his Advanced Visual Production class, offered many suggestions in fine-tuning the film for the finished cut,” Heil said. “I also give credit to my mother, Diane Heil, who herself was a filmmaking major at Columbia College of Chicago. For my whole life, both of my parents have been showing me the most inspiring films of the past 100 years and teaching me what gives them impact.”

Perkins said an Oregon Film Awards honor, like any other film festival spotlight, helps draw attention to a project and its creator, earning new audiences and “important networking opportunities.”

“Award winning films, especially at the national and international level, can be discovered by production companies, producers, or distributors that can help the filmmaker take the next major step in their career,” Perkins said. “Winning an award like (Heil’s) means developing countless opportunities to meet and partner with other filmmakers. They know that they have the potential to work with an award winning filmmaker.”

Some of Heil’s other films have been selected for screenings at the Phoenix Film Festival (Phoenix, AZ), the Short Shorts Film Festival (Duluth, MN), the Field Film Festival (Wauwatosa, WI) and the Wildwood Film Festival (Appleton, WI).

Heil has also produced and directed ten music videos for area-based bands which have received thousands of views on YouTube.

Upon graduating in May, Heil plans to work on an independent feature film in Wisconsin and then pursue a career in Hollywood directing, screenwriting and acting.

“My goal is to initially produce an independent feature in the Midwest, which can be used to open doors on the West Coast,” Heil said. “Being able to maintain autonomy over my own films is important, so I’ve been studying the independent filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, who has always been able to retain creative control over his projects.”

 

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