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Show The THE University o fUtah's Independent Student Voice DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Vol. 115 No. 104 Thursday, December 8, 2005 ©2005 tnmdaUyutahchronicle.com Twinkle toes Digital faith VERSATILE C A M P U S U works to maintain commitment to diversity Former U student \ creates special effects for new IDS film Jed Layton Chronicle Writer Patrick Muir Chronicle Asst. News Editor Two former students of the U and BYU are putting their colleges' rivalries behind them. With less than three months before the release of "Joseph Smith: ..Prophet of the Restoration," former i(U student Brian Rowland, BYU ^graduate Doug Stewart and their special-effects team built a studio, learned new software, set up a computer network and finished 90 special-effect shots for the new movie. The film depicts events in the life of Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from his early youth in Vermont to his martyrdom in Illinois at age 38. "We did not have one hiccup," Rowland said. "If we did, we wouldn't have been able to pull it off." In mid-September, the team moved into an empty house with no heating or cooling system on the LDS film studio lot in Provo. "We set up everything from scratch—without technical support," Rowland, the film's animation compositing supervisor, said. For previous films, the LDS Church outsourced its special-effects projects. "We had the people, and we took advantage and used them," Ron Munns, the film's producer, said. Nine difficult shots required the team to use computer graphics to simulate smoke pouring out of chimneys. The team originally looked into outsourcing the nine shots but decided against it after companies asked for more than $250,000. Instead, the team worked longer hours, including 60 hours straight in the final stretch. The team had to work with new 4K technology, a high resolution that is 4096 x 3072. Standard DVD resolution is 720 x 480, while High Definition is 1920 x 1080. Only a few Hollywood movies, including "Spiderman 2," have used 4K technology. "With incredibly high resolution and having it shown on a 60-foot screen, things had to be as perfect as possible," Rowland said. "There was no room for forgiveness." Each frame used more than 40 megabytes of memory space, and the entire special-effects project used 5 terrabytes, the equivalent of 5,000 gigabytes. Rowland sent the film to one of just two facilities in Los Angeles that do color corrections for 4K ' -• Since 1 8 9 0 See LDS Page 5 The Pioneer Theatre Company is performing the beloved "Nutcracker" ballet Dec. 9-10,13-17, 20-23, 26 and 28-30. Ballet West celebrates 50 years of The Nutcracker' Alexandra Gregory Chronicle Writer Ballet West presents its 50th anniversary production of William Christensen's "The Nutcracker" this month in 25 performances at the Capitol Theatre. This particular version of "The Nutcracker" has history rooted in the U. The production first premiered in Utah on the U campus at Kingsbury Hall in 1955. Christensen, founder of Ballet West, is not only known as the first American to choreograph a full-length version of the ballet, but is nationally recognized for establishing the first ballet department in an American university at the U in 1951. The story of "The Nutcracker" is based on a holiday fairy tale by E.T.A. Hoffmann, in which a little girl named Clara receives a magical nutcracker from her uncle. The nutcracker comes to life and transports her to the dream world of the Sugar Plum Fairy. The ballet is set to the famous score from Tchaikovsky and will be performed by the Utah Chamber Orchestra. Ballet West first originated as Salt Lake City's only professional company in 1963 under the name Utah Civic Ballet. Since then, the company has performed more than 100 works, more than 20 of which were recent additions since the appointment of its new artistic director, Jonas Kage, in 1997. The company is currently made up of 35 dancers and has toured throughout the world, most recently gaining international acclaim by headlining Scotland's invitation-only Edinburgh International Festival in late 2004. Ballet West will hold 7 p.m. performances of "The Nutcracker" Dec. 9-10,13-17, 20-23,2($ a^d 28-30. See 'NUTCRACKER' Page 3 Rise and shine, sleepyhead Early morning classes make for tired students Catherine Callister the class because that was the only time it was offered. Instructors say that many U stu! Jumor^im Glenn starts every dents take early morning classes to morning with a cup of coffee be- accommodate their work schedules cause it's the only way he can stay or because the class is only taught awake through his 7:30 a.m. Native once. American Civilizations class. In his six years of teaching, Phil"It's out of necessity—it wasn't lip Hutchison, associate instruca choice," said Glenn, who took tor in the communication department, has noticed that his 7:30 a.m. classes "tend to be less awake, less motivated and less talkative" than classes taught later in the day. "As a rule, (students) don't talk as much—they're just not as engaged in the material," Hutchison said. And they tend to get lower grades. After comparing six years worth of classes, Hutchison has noticed that on average his 11:30 a.m. classes get higher grades then his 7:30 a.m. classes. But Hutchison is not sure if this is solely the result of the class time. Many students in his 7:30 a.m. classes have jobs, and he wonders if there could be a relationship between the number of hours students work and their grades. Scott Gibson, a freshman In exercise and sports science, takes a brief nap History professor Janet EllingIn the Crimson Commons Wednesday son said that the 7:30 a.m. class she morning. Gibson's earliest class is at taught this semester went well. 7:30 a.m. In the LDS Institute. "They were mostly history stuChronicle Writer When are you most productive? Morning 22% Results are based on a survey of 1,021 adults ISyears of age and older, conducted April 29-May 2,2005, with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points. dents— they were motivated," Ellings on said. But she said she had a hard time getting enthusiastic about her subject that early in the morning. The geography department chooses not to offer 7:30 a.m. classes. Lisa Clayton, administrative assistant for the department, is in charge of asking the professors at what time they would like to offer their classes. Many of them won't teach 7:30 a.m. classes because the students Source: Opinion Research Co come late and don't pay attention, Clayton said. Some U students, such as Paige Vivian, a senior in exercise and sports science, try to avoid taking 7:30 a.m. classes. But this semester, Vivian was forced into it—because 7:30 a.m. was the only time her Honors Exercise Physiology class was taught. "It's awful—it's hard to get .up early enough, and (it's) hard to be there on time," Vivian said. c.callister@ chronicle, u to. h.edu In spite of a report from the Diversity Committee showing a decline in the number of ethnic students at the U, administrators maintain that the school is committed to diversity. The report—given to the Academic Senate in September— will likely spark a number of proposals within the next few months from the Diversity Committee. Barbara Snyder, vice president for student affairs, said the report has shown that more work on promoting diversity is required. "Diversity has been and continues to be a high priority for the U," she said. "We have realized that the resources we put into diversity are not enough." In President Young's inaugural address last spring, he said that diversity is necessary to train leaders of the 21st century. "Diversity in our student body, faculty and administration is an absolute requirement to ensure an education that truly prepares our students for the roles they will assume in society," he said. Snyder mentioned a few programs the U is currently using to promote diversity, such as University Neighborhood Partners and scholarships designed solely to promote diversity. However, Robert Flores, president of the Academic Senate and former chairman of the Diversity Committee, said that more emphasis must be placed on creating opportunities for students to plan for a college education at a young age. "If you just open your doors and take whoever comes in, you will get some diversity," he said. "But you leave yourself susceptible to societal barriers that will crimp students from coming to our university." Snyder attributed low diversity rates to lower high school graduation rates and a lack of preparation for college among ethnic minorities. "We need to develop relationships with potential students at a much younger age and help them prepare to enter a university," she said. The chairman of the Diversity Committee, Edward Tru- See DIVERSITY Page 5 Previous diversity proposals show mixed results Jed Layton Chronicle Writer As part of its report, the Diversity Committee examined the success of past recommendations to improve diversity. The committee looked at proposals made by the U in the 1999 Shape of the Valley Report and proposals made by Loretta Harper, vice president for human resources at the U, which were made in 2001. Christina Rodriguez, chairwoman of the Shape of the Valley sub-committee, said the university should be self-reflective to recognize areas of weaknesses. "In some respects the university has been fairly responsive," she said. "Yet in other areas, there has not been enough done." The following are recommendations made in the previous reports and the current status of the response to each recommendation. Commit to diversity: President Young has made it clear that diversity remains a high priority at the U. In addition, he recently announced 10 new scholarships for promoting See R E P O R T Page 3 |