Rose State College Students Produced Award-Winning Film - Becoming One Published May 28, 2024

Filmmaking is a growing profession in the state of Oklahoma, and two brothers from Choctaw are making their names known in the industry. Coy and Mor Radcliff’s first short—an experimental stop-motion film—Becoming One was recently selected as Honorable Mention for the 2024 Experimental Forum Film Festival, an international festival based of Los Angeles, California.

The film came about as the result of a project that Mor, a recent Liberal Studies graduate from Rose State College, completed for an assignment as part of the Special Topics: The Horror Genre film class taught at Rose State College by Professor Marcus Mallard. After completing the course, Mor brought in his older brother Coy to expand upon the film, which utilizes animated puppets created from yarn, green screen work, and cellphone footage as well as rudimentary film equipment. According to Mor, “The inspiration comes from how people can change and what they can become no matter their background.”

“Becoming One has a double meaning,” stated brother and collaborator, Coy, who is a current Rose State Film Studies and Digital Media student. “Many people will see the title and think it’s about two people joining together and becoming one. It also can be the strict opposite as in being separated from something and becoming one again,” he said.

 The goal of the animations was to create a life-like entry with eerie attributes. All the animation in the film is seen as its own character; although, the animation can be individual parts such as the puppets, yarn, still photography, or other objects. “Coy and Mor find inspiration in the world as they see it, and their work shows immense and deep creativity that pushes the limits of not only the content of the film but also the methods in which the two work. Individually and together, these two young filmmakers demonstrate a method of storytelling that is bound to challenge its audiences and have them question what most audiences know about film, which is very much in tune with experimental film,” Professor Mallard said.

The Radcliff brothers’ film Becoming One was one of many films nominated for awards in the Film Studies and Digital Media program’s student awards this year, and it will soon be accessible at the Rose State Learning Resource Center’s special collections—along with all other nominees for this year’s awards.

To learn more about Rose State’s Film Studies and Digital Media degree, please visit rose.edu.