A Million Dreams – Alex Boye
Made by Utah Tech Studios
Behind the Scenes: The Making of “A Million Dreams” – Alex Boye
UT Studios was designated as a public/private partnership by the Utah State Legislature in 2012. As such it functions as an integral part of the Digital Film Degree at Utah Tech University, supplementing the program’s academic offerings.
Our students benefit from UT Studios’ outreach to the commercial production world, working professionally with clients, our faculty and staff to further develop skills that they learn in the classroom. In addition, the compensation received for this work is vital to the growth of the Digital Film Degree. All profits are used to purchase equipment and facility improvement to prepare our students for the technological advancements of current Digital Film production.
UT Studios’ film mission is to provide students with real-world experience in their chosen field and add financial stability to a program which is growing toward Film School status; the future Utah Tech University College of Cinematic Arts.
Our Team
We have big ideas
Patrick Smith
Patrick William Smith is an award-winning narrative and commercial
director/cinematographer. He is the founder and creative director of Kiyo Films (www.kiyofilms.com) – a full-service production studio and creative agency – directing national content for Disney, LEGO, Johnson & Johnson, Quicken Loans, Microsoft, Anheuser-Busch, Gillette, BANDAID, McCormick Spices, Jack Link’s, Crest, Adidas, and Penny Arcade – among others.
As the 3D cinematographer on the sci-fi series “Hard Reset,” Patrick led the camera team that received the “Lumiere Award” for visual achievement for Best Live Action Short at the 2016 Advanced Imaging Society’s Creative Arts Awards at Warner Brothers Studios.
As a director, his narrative piece The Longest Sun – a community-based non-profit film told entirely in the endangered Tewa language – was acquired for archival and exhibition by the Smithsonian Institute and distributed nationally through PBS. His short documentary “Shades of the Border,“ exploring the heightened racial disparity between Haitians and Dominicans after the devastating Hispaniola earthquake, won the “Media That Matters Racial Dialogue Award“ and was distributed nationally as teaching material at Yale and NYU.
His work has been exhibited at international festivals such as SXSW, Slamdance, Austin Film
Festival, etc – and distributed on major broadcast platforms such as DirectTV, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Microsoft Steam & Vudu. Prior to working in Los Angeles, Patrick lived and worked in entertainment in Japan, New Zealand, and Ireland. He is currently serving as a professor and the director of the film program at Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah, and is in post-production on his series directorial debut, “Groundbreaking”.
Ben Braten
Ben Braten has been working behind the camera for the past 17 years, directing and lensing commercials, documentaries, short films and the occasional narrative. He satisfies his obsessive-compulsive urges by locking himself away in dark edit suites for days at a time and running post on everything he shoots. He is well versed in a variety of NLE systems as well as sound finishing and color correction processes.
He teaches production and post-production courses at Utah Tech University and, in his spare time, Ben pursued an MFA in photography.
Tisa Zito
Tisa has fond memories of studying photojournalism at Hofstra University in the darkroom. She graduated with a Visual Communications degree from Monroe Community after studying film at Maryland Institute College of the Arts in Baltimore. She earned her Bachelors of Film and Animation with an emphasis in Documentary production at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. She is the Producer, Director, Cinematographer, and Editor of ForeverMoore; The Angelo Project focusing on the life of the lead singer of Fishbone for which she was interviewed on Fox News and NPR. Her film is now streaming on Apple TV, iTunes, and Amazon. Looking back on unique memories filming for KEZI Channel 9 in Oregon and operating the Live truck at Duck games, she now produces for Utah Tech Creative Studios as well as runs her own company, Old Soul Productions. Previous clients include MDVIP, Boyscouts of America, SAMHSA, & Project Lean Nation. She is a NOLS Mexico graduate and finds peace in photographing the outdoors with Sprocket her basset hound.
Hans Glasmann
Hans opted to study Science and Natural History filmmaking at Montana State University, where he threw himself into the deep waters of environmental filmmaking. Since earning his MFA he has worked on many important and critical films that celebrate and draw attention to the many ecological challenges humanity faces. He currently teaches Documentary Film, Film Editing, and Film Production at Utah Tech University and would have it no other way. He loves local desert ecology and enjoys getting into Washington County’s wild spaces to find whatever creatures will honor him with their presence. As the decisive Porky Pig once said, ‘That’s all Folks’.
Alex Chamberlain
MFA, Art Department Chair. Associate Professor — Animation & Photography
Alex’s objective as an artist is always to communicate and share. His chosen tools are most often animation and photography; sometimes a mix of the two. His life has been fundamentally enhanced by the democratization of creative tools that has happened over the past few decades. He loves to create, Ioves to teach, and loves his desert home.
Wendy Womack
Wendy Bird Womack is a producer, writer, and editor who has worked in many unique corners of the film industry – from LA production offices, to the sets of television hits, to busy production control booths for live news broadcasts. Alongside teaching, Wendy produces commercials and digital spots for global brands as well as independent narrative productions. She loves bringing her practical industry experience into the classroom to foster an environment of active, hands-on learning.
Nate Snow
Dr. Nathan S. Snow is an Assistant Professor at Utah Tech University. A published author and conference presenter, his research focuses on genre and spectatorship, specifically how the moving image elicits emotions and physiological responses in the viewer. Professionally, Dr. Snow has worked for over 10 years as a professional video producer and social media content manager. Additionally, he has published professional film and video game criticism for over 8 years.