FIVE WITH A FALCON: Derek Tirrell, Film/Video Production (COMM '25)

In this episode of Five with a Falcon, Derek Tirrell ('25) talks with fellow  Communications Media major McKenzie Calvao ('25) about finding his passion within the film/video production program, and the sense of place and community he’s nurtured while working on campus as a student tour guide and Student Orientation leader.  Derek also plugs an upcoming short film he’s producing with Ally Thompson and Ania MacIndewar and other students in his Advanced Cinema Production course during in the Spring 2024 semester called Dream Girl.

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Episode transcript available here.

Episode produced and edited by McKenzie Calvao, a member of the Perseverantia staff, and a film/video production student in the Communications Media department.

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Perspectives is an ongoing series of Perseverantia -- featuring the voices and stories of the campus community, including alumni interviews; conversations with students, faculty, and staff; and features events.  The goal of Perspectives is to allow for in-depth exploration of the experiences and issues on the minds of those teaching, learning, and working at Fitchburg State University.

Click here to learn more about Perseverantia. Join us for programming updates on Instagram. Or reach out with ideas or suggestions at podcasts@fitchburgstate.edu.

Transcript

[ Five With a Falcon theme fades in ]

[ 00min 15sec ]

McKenzie Calvao:  Could you introduce yourself?

Derek Tirrell:  Yeah. I'm Derek Tirrell. I'm a film video major in my junior year. I came to Fitchburg State to pursue film and video education. I have a background in public access television through high school, and I really enjoyed that and wanted to come to college to learn more about it. And now that I'm at college, I've gotten very involved with campus through Admissions and student development, and I'm happy to be on the podcast today.

[ Five With a Falcon theme fades out ] 

McKenzie Calvao:  Awesome. So tell us a little bit about your career at FSU.

[ 00min 47sec ]

Derek Tirrell: One of the things that really started my academic career at Fitchburg State was narrowing down what it is I want to do in film video. I came to college knowing I wanted to be in the industry, knowing I wanted to do this type of work. But I wasn't exactly sure what roles I wanted to fit into. What I really liked, what I really like.

And through classes and projects, I feel that I was able to narrow down what it is I want to do in film video. And I've leaned heavily towards the pre-production aspect of things and producing in general, and that's not something I thought necessarily is where I was going to go with it. But I'm really excited about it and I'm happy.

I kind of got to narrow down my career path in the field that I already really enjoyed.

McKenzie Calvao:  So where do you find a sense of belonging at Fitchburg?

[ 01min 42sec ]

Derek Tirrell:  So many places, clubs – intramural sports is super fun.  But I think a big one for me is jobs and you know, teams I've been on I was on the Orientation Leader team. I'm a tour guide and I really have found a sense of belonging in working with other students. And, you know, even though we're all just doing a job where we're bonding or having a good time, and if you see another orientation leader, see another tour guide around, interact, say hi, we have that shared experience.

McKenzie Calvao:  Absolutely. Yeah. So what do you think has been your greatest accomplishment here so far?

[ 02min 20sec ]

Derek Tirrell:  There's a lot of things that I'm proud of that I've worked on, but I think that my proudest accomplishment at Fitchburg State has to be being the Orientation Leader Staff Assistant last year. There are two orientation leaders, staff assistants each year, and they're responsible for recruiting, hiring, training the orientation leader team, leading the team, all those types of things.

And it was just a really satisfying role to be in. It's not something I knew I was going to do when I came to Fitchburg, but after doing one year of orientation, I knew I wanted to be a leader of that team and bringing people together in that way, being able to recruit people I think would be good for the position, hiring them, going through that process, training them and really seeing the orientation leader program, bringing out the best in a group of students and seeing lasting friendships that have come out of two people.

I decided to hire a group of people. I decided to hire, you know, seeing people overcome obstacles. Maybe people are more shy. They found their confidence through a position really satisfying. And I'm really proud of it. That says my greatest accomplishment at Fitchburg State Building, that team.

McKenzie Calvao:  So in what ways do you think you have grown or transformed during your time at Fitchburg?

[ 03min 35sec ]

Derek Tirrell:  I think when I came in as a first year student, I was a little more shy. I've definitely come out of my shell socially, been way more willing to just, you know, well, go up to people, make friends, join clubs, join organizations, stuff like that. When it comes to projects, I felt that during my first year or so, you know, very low levels on projects.

But I know that right off the bat I always wanted to do more projects outside of class. When I was a first year student, I was a production assistant on the senior Advanced Film just because I wanted to get on set my first semester. And that was a very valuable experience. And now in my second half of my junior year, I find myself working on multiple projects that are not even really related to my courses, but just projects I want to be a part of with great creatives that I respect.

[ 04min 30sec ]

Derek Tirrell:  And I think that's one of the best values of, of coming to film school in particular. And I'm sure it's the same for other majors is yes, you're getting an education about the topic, but you're also surrounded by like minded individuals, creatives that want to make cool stuff and that's super inspiring. And to have all those resources here with being able to take out equipment and then just having so many film minds all together in one spot is, is super great.

And I feel that I've over the course of my career here, I've grown and transformed into someone who's going to take more advantage of that. And I'm definitely doing that to the most degree this semester.

McKenzie Calvao:  So the last thing I want to ask you is if there's anything that you want to like, promote or shout out or like have people on the lookout for. Do you have any projects you want to mention?

[ 05min 21sec ]

[ Five With a Falcon theme fades in ] 

Derek Tirrell:  I do, yeah, for sure. So I'm working on a short film called Dream Girl. It is a super ambitious and exciting film that is a horror suspense film with a lot of powerful societal messages behind it. We are launching our crowdfunding campaign soon, so keep an eye out for that. There's also auditions open if there's anyone interested. You can follow us at Dream Girl Film on Instagram.

Definitely check it out. It's going to be an exciting project with a lot of great, passionate filmmakers on it.

McKenzie Calvao:  So awesome. Well, thank you for coming in, joining me for this interview.

Derek Tirrell:  Thank you so much.

[ Five With a Falcon theme fades out ] 

[ 06min 07sec ]

[ Perseverantia theme fades in ] 

Lisa Adams:  This is Lisa Adams from the Communications Media office at Fitchburg State University. And you're listening to Perseverantia, the Fitchburg State Podcast Network.

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