Travis Misarti, a sophomore film and media arts major from Scarsdale, N.Y., was a finalist in last year’s Campus MovieFest. He traveled to Hollywood in June 2013 to see his film on the big screen.
The film, titled The Loss of Me, was a collaboration with UT student Olivia Hamilton and stemmed from a short story she wrote about her struggles with insomnia.
Campus MovieFest is a film festival that tours colleges around the country and gives students one week to plan and shoot their own short films. The top three films from each school are selected by judges and the students who created them are given the opportunity to go to Hollywood to have their films shown on the big screen. Campus MovieFest has come to UT for the past nine years.
Misarti and Hamilton worked together on their film, choosing different locations around campus and Tampa to best set the scene for the story. While Hamilton acted out and narrated the story, Misarti was in charge of the filming and editing process.
“I really enjoyed working with Travis. He really understood my creative direction and was always able to figure out exactly what I wanted in each shot,” said Hamilton, a sophomore advertising and public relations major. “Not only did he come up with his own ideas, but he totally got my ideas and ran with them; he’s a great collaborator.”
Although The Loss of Me was a finalist in CMF, the film was not originally chosen in the top three films to go to Hollywood. However, after the finale, the film began receiving an extremely high number of views on YouTube and became the most viewed CMF film from UT. It was then entered into a CMF wild card bracket, where it made it to the finals and was recognized by CMF staff who awarded Misarti and Hamilton with the CMF Staff Pick Award. The Loss of Me would be shown at the Hollywood screening after all.
Hamilton was not able to make it to Hollywood because of an internship in Bali, so Misarti went solo. Once he arrived, he met up with other CMF winners from UT and met student filmmakers from other schools such as Rowan University.
Misarti attended various workshops at places such as RED Studios, where he was given the chance to shoot footage using the highest quality professional cameras in the industry.
“The whole event was surreal, ultimately leading to my film being screened at Universal Studios,” Misarti said. “It was very exciting to be surrounded by people who had the same desire to make a career out of filmmaking.”
After the screenings, Miasarti attended an international award show at Fox Studios with the other student filmmakers. He described the event as “very much resembling an Academy Awards Show.”
“When we arrived at the red carpet entourage style, there was a professional photographer that took our picture, and then we went straight into the event. We got seats in the front row and sat a few feet away from industry professionals such as Josh Peck and Keegan-Michael Key,” Misarti said.
The Loss of Me did not end up receiving the Best Picture award, but Misarti felt that the winning film from The University of Alabama “was very inspiring and definitely deserved the award.”
Misarti competed in this year’s Campus Moviefest as well, working on two films. One was titled Make Lemonade, which is about Chewbacca’s struggling career after Star Wars.
He also worked with UT musician Ziona, editing a documentary on her life and music career. This film was a finalist at UT and won the “Red Bull Gives You Wings” award.
Misarti and 14 other UT film students recently founded the University of Tampa’s first chapter of the Delta Kappa Alpha Professional Cinema Fraternity.
The fraternity began in 1936 and includes big name members such as Alfred Hitchcock and George Lucas.
“We are very excited to bring a fraternity with so much history to the University of Tampa, and believe it will definitely help improve our film program on campus,” Misarti said.
As for the future, Misarti plans to attend graduate school after UT to pursue an MFA degree in film.
“My end goal is to find a career in film editing, and I will do whatever it takes to get there,” Misarti said.
Sonny Billotte can be reached at sonny.billotte@spartans.ut.edu
University of Tampa student is on his way to fame.
Travis Misarti recently decided to travel back to Hollywood after winning the campus’ movie fest. He first went there to view his video on the big screen but now has plans to head back. Major Hollywood Directors viewed his film after hearing how popular it was in the contest. He was receiving constant calls from various producers as well asking to use his film. “I could not be more excited for this opportunity”, Misarti said. “I never thought a small time local contest would get me to this point.”
He has been working on his new piece non stop his friends say. Misarti plans to leave for Hollywood on the first day of UT’s spring break. He was originally supposed to go to Cancun but gave up fun times with his friends to pursue his life goal. Sunday, March 16, is when he is planning on meeting with celebrities, producers, and directors. “I am so nervous but my excitement overrides it”, he says. “When this opportunity comes about you have to take it, this will never come up again I’m sure.”
UT students wish Misarti the best of luck with his travels and hope to be able to call their fellow classmate a star when he gets back.