Muncie residents will help determine the fate of a famous Ball State University alumnus's newest movie.
The screening of "My Name is Jerry," starring alumnus Doug Jones, will first be seen in Muncie at 8 p.m. May 7 at the Muncie Convention Center, according to a press release.
Jessica Seaton, multimedia specialist for the Institute for Digital Entertainment and Education, said the plan for Spring Semester was to push a screening by showing the movie in Muncie first because of the community involvement during filming. All funding for "My Name is Jerry" was used during production, and a viewing in Muncie was going to be used as a fundraiser for the marketing of a future release, she said.
Seaton said students worked with Jay Williams of Craig Murray Productions out of Los Angeles, also a Ball State alumnus.
Williams' focus was on media marketing and traditional trailer marketing, Seaton said. Students developed marketing plans for the movie's release through video conferences.
"It's a good way for students to get professional feedback," Seaton said.
Greg Josken, a member of the "My Name Is Jerry" Web marketing team, said Williams asked students what they were doing.
"It's cool because they are looking to a younger generation to see what we are doing," Josken said.
Most of the marketing has been Web-based because of the limited budget, he said. The target audience was 18- to 34-year-old Internet users. By using Twitter, Facebook and blogs, the marketing team took advantage of all things to get their name out there.
At the Muncie screening, the audience will get questionnaires for feedback about the movie, Seaton said.
"They do it in L.A. at screenings for reviews," Seaton said.
The money raised from the Muncie screening will help promote the movie at Chicago and Los Angeles screenings to gain attention from agents and distributors, she said.
"We will be entering a lot of film festivals now that it's done," Seaton said.
Josken encouraged students to attend the screening because other students were involved. This is the first motion picture backed by a university, he said.
"To be able to say your university created this motion picture, not a lot of people can say that" Josken said.
Actors Doug Jones and Katlyn Carlson along with director Morgan Mead, writer David Hamilton, and producer Rodger Smith will be present at the screening to meet people and answer questions, Seaton said.
She said people should come to the screening because it will be a unique event because it's the first time the movie will be seen by anyone.
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