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Rare is it that an underclassman, usually relegated to back-up or third string duties, assumes a critical role on the offense of a collegiate football team. The chances of sophomore tailback Michael Fullowan being thrust into that position and succeeding immensely goes beyond rare. A third-team all state defensive back in New Jersey, Fullowan arrived on the Cornell campus as a freshman trying to break in as a small linebacker. “He wrestled at 137-pounds in high school. He was kind of a smurf,” said head sprint football coach Terry Cullen about his star tailback. Fullowan did not last long at linebacker, however. After three of the Red’s four tailbacks went down with injuries during the preseason last year, Cullen started looking through his ranks for another tailback. It was at that time he came across the freshman. “I was asking around to see who had played tailback before and [Fullowan] said he had played a little in high school,” Cullen said. “Then, he just lit it up.” In just his second game, Fullowan earned Cornell Varsity Athlete of the week honors as he ran wild over Princeton, rushing for 143 yards and three scores on just 12 carries in Cornell’s 46-18 victory. This was no fluke, though. Fullowan continued to impress teammates and opposing teams alike, averaging 93.3 yards per game for the entire season, including games of 106 yards and 96 yards over Navy and Penn, respectively. At the end of the season, Fullowan had definitely established himself as the Red’s primary offensive weapon, rushing for a total of 459 yards and seven touchdowns. Those stats are not too bad for a guy who began the season trying to earn a spot as a back-up on the other side of the ball. To complete the remarkable story, the 5-7 running back also earned unanimous all-CSFL honors. This marked the first time in Cullen’s long-term memory that the feat had been achieved by a freshman. “He’s the whole package,” Cullen said. “He’s got great hands, great vision and he’s tough…everything you want in a running back.” So tough, in fact, that, when Fullowan suffered a hip pointer during preseason practice this year and the trainer thought it might put him out for the entire season, he was back within just three practices. “He’s flat out tough. He doesn’t back down. A nice kid, but tough,” Cullen said. This season, Fullowan, now bulked up to about 155 pounds, appears to be on track for another stellar campaign. Having already run for a total of 198 yards through the Red’s first three contests, the sophomore has accounted for all of Cornell’s touchdowns, including one beautiful passing score on a halfback option. Meanwhile, with the loss of several key senior wide receivers from last season, coupled with the season-ending knee injury to sophomore wide receiver Eli Northrup, the Red could come to rely on Fullowan even more as its key offensive weapon. “He is real important to our offense. He’s now our best possession receiver,” Cullen said. Opposing teams, however, have not forgotten Fullowan’s impressive performances from last year. Recently, Cullen noted, teams have seemed to be specifically guarding against the run when playing Cornell. In response to this defensive scheme, Cullen hopes to open up the offense through the air and get the ball into Fullowan’s hands in other ways besides just hand-offs. “[Opposing teams] have been ganging up, up front against us,” Cullen said. “We’re trying to work on throwing the ball to [Fullowan].” Through the air and on the ground, it appears that getting the ball into the hands of this converted linebacker can only result in positives for the Red, and the team clearly reaps the rewards of his talent. Archived article by Scott ReichSun Staff
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Two weeks ago, DAZE began following the four members of the Intermediate level filmmaking class. At that point, all four had already broken into the processes of selecting film stocks, choosing cameras, crew selection, auditions, and continual revisions of their scripts. So naturally, a lot has changed since then. Pam Su spent Fall Break filming the live action sequences of her film. But it wasn’t without difficulty. Using a sync-sound camera, the DAT recorder broke, thus disabling the sound function. To compensate, Pam employed a DV camera to record sound while she filmed. Of course, she’s awaiting to receive the film back from the processing lab for the results. Also Amir Noorani’s director of photography, Amir and Pam have begun to lay out a shooting schedule. Since Amir is seeking funding for his project, he is in the process of creating a budget to present to the Financial Aid office. Both Brad Wilson and Pietre Valbuena will be beginning shooting this weekend at locations around Ithaca. Though it seems distant, the screening date of December 12 looms ahead. What we see then will likely be somehow reflective of the works already screened by these students. Last spring, Pietre, Amir, Brad, and Pam all presented films shown in the screening for the Introductory level course. Each was distinctive in its style and approach. Pam’s two entries were visually arresting tone poems. “Subway,” a short film, used both Photoshop and Flash programs to animate live action video like that seen in Waking Life. “On Climbing to the Terrace of the Phoenix” served as a meditation in the visual style of Leighton Pierce on the rituals of Buddhist monks at the Chuang Yien monastery in Ithaca. Brad’s two entries, “Rejected Applicants to the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters” and “Penny: A Musical” were irreverent, raucous romps that included girls turning into plants (“Rejected Applicants”), underwater duets (“Penny”), and dead Trekies (“Penny”). Pietre’s two entries, “Mono No Aware” and “Was Tut Dir Weh” were stark, at times violent sequences of imagery, highly personal in their approach and subject. Amir’s entry, “Alone,” tracked the self-destructive thoughts of an anonymous male in his walk up Ho Plaza on a cold, empty day. In Their Own Words… Brad Wilson My film is progressing well, and I’m in rehearsal for several crucial scenes which I’ll be shooting over the next few consecutive weekends. Hopefully, weather will be good enough to allow for some cinematic killin’. Meanwhile, I’m balancing my shooting schedule with my rehearsal schedule for Risley Theatre’s production of Oedipus, in which I’m playing Oedipus. This Saturday, I’ll be shooting the scene where a group of Wiccans forces my main character to eat a squirrel head, and so I’ve been busy in my Frankenstinean workshop, turning a cute stuffed animal into a sinister decapitated squirrel. Ah, the magic of the movies. Pietre Valbuena About my 377 film: was tut dir weh? Although fictionalized, this was quite the personal project for me, a film about disconnection and my own amorality. It was inspired by someone who had a profound effect on my life, someone both brilliant and mercurial. She showed me the sad, true composition of my character, and for that I am forever in her debt and forever grateful. I shot it all on DV, composed and performed all of the music, and did the drawings for the dream sequence/flashback which appears toward the film’s finale. And it was because of my personal stake in the film that the project proved so emotionally draining. In my 377 film I was able to make use of my strengths, which lie not in screenwriting but instead in the visual: shot composition, camera movement, blocking, staging and editing. I have some measure of skill in storytelling with pencil, pen and ink, so my eye/feel for that carried over into filmmaking. About the new movie: my last film was so personal and so important to me. I wish it rather than my new project got this kind of press. I have less personal stake in this new film and so I had no passion for the project. That more than anything else was providing the greatest challenge. I have all parts cast but one — I still need an 30-50 y/o Asian man to play a character’s father. If worse comes to worse, I’m going to ask my father to play the part, so I have that covered at least. I’m getting hyped up for the new project in part because I’ve more thoroughly visualized it and am now more interested in committing it to the screen. I intended to shoot most or all of the movie on film, but I am now shooting the majority of it on DV — the 24 frame camera — due to cost constraints, time constraints and my own impatience. I am set to begin shooting this weekend. Amir Noorani Frustration: the one word that probably resonates among all filmmakers, regardless of background. Though, up until now, production had been moving along as scheduled, I myself have run into more than a few problems. I still cannot find an Indian or Pakistani adult willing to play the roles of Mother and Father in my film, and while the call backs I held on October 2nd went well and I was able to find my lead actress Sonal Jagasia, I also just found out that the Resident Performing Teaching Assistant (RPTA) I had slated to star along side Sonal can no longer perform due to a medical emergency. If there is one thing I have learned so far, it’s that you always need to expect the unexpected and be prepared for disappointment and failure. With that being said, I should still be able to finish the film on time if all other things fall into place. I am still lacking permission on several locations that I had in mind, however, once that occurs and I am able to replace my lead male and find two willing South Asian adults to play mother and father, I should be ready to begin production. Despite all these obvious setbacks I am still very excited about production of the film and Pam and I can’t wait to get started. It will be a nice change to move from the administrative details of the film, i.e auditions, call-backs, location scouting, scheduling, budgeting, etc and move on to the actual production aspects of the film. Response to the film has been tremendous so far, so I am expecting quite a large crew which should help with a lot of the detail work of production. Hopefully with a little luck everything will fall into place and I will find the rest of my cast and hopefully secure all the perfect locations, until then, you might see me on campus with a few graying hairs. Archived article by Zach JonesArts & Entertainment Editor