Area students receive honorable mention for Apple invention

Worthington Daily Globe, Kari Lucin
Article Date: 02/08/08
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LUVERNE - An elite team of four local filmmakers whose combined age is younger than 80 managed to capture one of only 15 honorable mentions in Apple's Voices of Innovation nationwide contest by inventing Apple's newest product - the iPerson.

Although the iPerson played by Grant Lofthus in the 45-second video is only fictional, the production company that created it is real.

The winning movie was the brainchild of Mason Makram, who, like Grant and his brother, Adam Lofthus, is a senior at Luverne Senior High School. Seth Ulmer, the fourth man on the team, attends Edgerton Public High School.



"We decided to make more of a comedy-funny thing about an iPerson," Makram said.

Instead of an iPod to play music or an iPhone to make calls, the team used spray paint and white makeup to convert Grant into a spooky-looking iPerson android. Then, they filmed Grant performing a wide variety of tasks for a manically enthusiastic Ulmer.

Add a twist ending and a loopy soundtrack, and the result is a winning contest entry. For their efforts, Apple sent each of the four students an iPod shuffle and several pieces of Apple software.

Makram and the others have collaborated before - they've worked on several short films and a few long productions over a period of four years, including a seatbelt safety commercial.

Voices of Innovation was a good fit for the team because Makram is a fan of Apple products and even owns stock in the company. The video editing is also done using a Mac Pro and Apple software.

Long before they start filming, though, Makram creates a storyboard for the piece, drawing out each scene and estimating how long it all takes. The storyboarding is highly effective and eliminates most surprises involved in the filmmaking process, Makram said.

The only equipment they use is the camera, with its tripod, and the Mac Pro computer with Final Cut Pro software.

"A lot of it's self-taught," Adam explained, though several of them have taken graphic arts and video classes at school.

The process takes time, which poses a problem for them now that all four are seniors. They have jobs and all work on different days, so it can be difficult to find the time to make movies.

"Once you see it after you make it, it's all worth it," Grant said.

On the Net:
Visit Voices of Innovation and click on "The iPerson" on the right side of the screen to see the video, or visit http://www.six0one.com/ for the students' homepage.

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