Cornell Student's Short Film Exlodes Into Ivy Film Festival

After years stuck in the audience, popcorn will finally make its big screen debut.
Mr. Popcorn, a 90-second animated short film created by Alex Krivicich ’08, was recently chosen as an official selection in the 2008 Ivy Film Festival, an entirely student-run event held annually at Brown University.
Krivicich, a film studies major and Student Advisor for the Cornell Film Club, says the idea for Mr. Popcorn came to him in a dream over a year ago. “I just had this kooky dream about popcorn kernels. I guess that kind of says something about me,” Krivicich said jokingly.
The film, which was made for an advanced film production class last semester, is also part of Krivicich’s senior thesis about the viability of online video communities like YouTube and their implications for young video artists. Krivicich wishes to explore these online communities in greater detail, and has plans for future episodes of Mr. Popcorn already in the works. “The whole idea of having an online series is very exciting to me,” he explains.
But cranking out more animated shorts is no simple task. The first installment of the series took Krivicich an estimated 100 hours to complete using high-end animation software called Maya. He was in charge of animating, modeling, rigging, texturing, compositing and editing the film, as well as designing the soundtrack. “With me, I’m doing everything, whereas with Pixar it’s like an assembly line,” he describes. “To finish everything in a semester is really tough.”
This spring break, Krivicich’s hard work was rewarded with a trip to Los Angeles, where Mr. Popcorn was selected as “Producer’s Choice” in the 29th Annual College Television Awards. When he received word that the film would be screened at this year’s Ivy Film Festival, the Cornell senior was very excited. “It’s very validating to see it do well there and very encouraging to be screened there,” he said humbly.
After graduation, Krivicich plans to work in either New York or Los Angeles as an intern for one of several prominent visual effects houses. He hopes to pursue projects like Mr. Popcorn and establish an online video series where he can showcase his animation. For this Cornell senior, it could be said that the kettle is just heating up.