Reel to Red Productions

Reel to Red Productions was the first internship program of its kind established by Chelse Benham in August 2004 at The University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) in Edinburg, Texas, USA. The R2R paid internship program was a comprehensive and intensive hands-on experience, building valuable and marketable human capital, while simultaneously serving the campus community's needs. It was sponsored by several University departments such as The Office of the President, the Office of University Relations, and the Student Advisory Affairs Committee (SAAC). Benham created and directed the program to provide students with an opportunity to gain valuable television production, motion graphics, website construction, iPhone game construction, animation, marketing and social media experience.
R2R gave students applicable work experience by allowing them to produce and air University programming on the Campus Vision System and to develop special projects such as films, documentaries, animations, graphic design projects, iPhone games and websites. Students learned how to market through social media technologies and built marketing tools for the young demographic.
R2R students worked with a wide range of software such as Final Cut Pro, GarageBand, Soundtrack, Adobe: After Effects, Flash, InDesign, Photoshop, Light Room, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Magic Bullet, Red Giant ToonIt, Motion, Game Salad, Unity and mobile app SDKs. They learned to work with sophisticated production equipment such as high definition cameras, a body flowcam harness unit, and virtual chroma-keying sets.
R2R received many prestigious awards including four Lone Star EMMY nominations with two wins, two Aurora Awards and a . R2R’s documentary, The Heart of Experience, won the City of Basel Prize in Germany.
Going Nowhere
Reel to Red's initial project, a short trigger film called Going Nowhere (2004), was nominated in student categories for a Lone Star Emmy.
Synopsis
High school student Charles Delgado has a premonition of the rewards of making the right choice. Interestingly, he makes a conscious decision to disregard the foreshadowed events.
Recognition
*2005 Lone Star Emmy nomination
*2006 Communicator Award
Dead Letter
In 2006, Reel to Red worked in collaboration with the TRIO program to produce another trigger film. This time, the production targeted prevalent issues in the Rio Grande Valley such as teen pregnancy, dropout rates, alcohol and substance abuse, teen relationship violence, and drinking and driving. The short film can be viewed in its entirety at Dead Letter's IMDb page.
While the previous production of Going Nowhere was nominated for a Lone Star Emmy, Dead Letter was the first production at UTPA to garner a Lone Star Emmy win.
Synopsis
Dead Letter (2006)] follows the story of a pregnant 18-year-old named Abigail. She is in an abusive relationship with her controlling boyfriend, Joey, who does not want her to continue her education by going to college. Her mother disapproves of her relationship because of what she suspects is abuse by Joey. Later in the film, Abigail leaves her house on the pretext of going to see a movie with her best friend Sofia. Her decision may cost Abigail her life. The conclusion is a life lesson Abigail is not soon to forget.
Recognition
*2007 Lone Star Emmy Win
*2007 Ava Awards Platinum
*2007 Videographer Awards Award of Excellence
*2007 McAllen Film Festival Audience Award for Best Film
*2006 Aurora Award Gold
The Heart of Experience
In a multi-organizational effort from several departments at UTPA, two Reel to Red members traveled overseas to document a study abroad trip to Vienna, Prague and Budapest. They followed 37 students and four professors across three countries in 18 days. The documentary captured the students' experiences by including journal readings and poignant interviews. As a part of their course requirements, the students kept a written record of their reactions to Eastern European culture, historical figures, and landmarks such as the Jewish concentration camp Terezín, a beer festival, house, numerous museums and several churches. Students gave presentations about the historical places they visited such as the Charles Bridge in Prague and historical events such as the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich and offered a visual recreation using some classmates.
This is the first documentary attempted and created at UTPA capturing the study abroad experience. The Heart of Experience won the second Lone Star Emmy Award for UTPA.
TheHeartofExperience.org
This project was first time that Reel to Red developed a complementary website for one of its productions. Visitors to TheHeartofExperience.org can watch a trailer, look through photos taken by students, crew biographies, and learn more about the film, the UTPA honors program and UTPA's international program.
Recognition
*2009 Lone Star Emmy Win
The UTPA Today Show
The UTPA Today Show is a 30-minute program produced by Reel to Red highlighting UTPA students, faculty, staff, high-profile visitors, and campus events. The show appeared on Edinburg Cable Network (ECN) and on the Campus Vision System. Some episodes are available online on the group's YouTube page.
Recognition
*2007 Lone Star Emmy nomination
*2007 Ava Award Gold
*2007 Aurora Award Platinum
=="Who Knew?" campaign==
In 2009, the Reel to Red team worked on a series of commercials known as the "Who Knew?" campaign. The goal was to speak to the youth about UTPA using an innovative mix of video, photography, and animation. The selling points in the campaign were those not typically used by the University such as the ratio of females to males, the many celebrities that visited the campus, the large amount of activities to choose from, its affordability, the close-knit community, and its proximity to Mexico and South Padre Island.
ReeltoRed.com and The Webby Awards
Due to having no studio of their own, Reel to Red created a virtual studio to showcase their work over the course of five years. The navigational website opens on a house during a thunderstorm. Clicking on the door, visitors are taken to a studio set in progress. There they find a photo gallery, a screening room, an edit bay, and other links to the Dead Letter comic book, members' biographies, trailers to their award-winning productions and much more.
ReeltoRed.com was nominated for a Webby Award in the Student Website category. After taking more than 27% of votes and beating institutions from North Carolina, San Francisco and Germany, Reel to Red won the first for UTPA.
Recognition
*2010
WebbyAdventure.com
In June 2010, the Reel to Red team travelled to New York City for the 14th Annual Webby Awards Gala. The trip was documented on WebbyAdventure.com, a blog they created to share their stories, photos and video. The blog is hosted by WordPress and Flickr.
Bucky Challenge
In spring 2010, Reel to Red Productions created the first multi-level video game application for the iPhone or iPod Touch for UTPA. The team built the game using GameSalad software by Gendai Games. The game was built to market and capture the attention of a young demographic.
The game features the university's mascot, Bucky, encountering a series of athletic and physical challenges. The challenges include Bucky Frisbee, Bucky Baseball, Bucky Basketball, Bucky Tennis and Bucky Bustle. The entire game takes place on the UTPA campus using real buildings and real locations.
The application will soon be available in Apple's app store.
The End of Reel to Red
Reel to Red closed in 2010, a casualty of the economic downturn that hit universities across the US. In its wake, Reel to Red left many firsts at UTPA and was a point of excellence at the University.
While it may have had many accomplishments and awards, a majority of students and some faculty were glad to see the small film group go mainly because of its commercials that played endlessly and would distract students and professors during class times. It may have been a terrible loss to those who started it, but to the campus, nothing of value was lost.
Filmography
* Going Nowhere (2004)
* Dead Letter (2006)
* The Heart of Experience (2008)

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