Recent Ball State University graduate Jaron Henrie-McCrea joined a select group of prominent filmmakers June 12 by winning a Student Academy Award during the 32nd annual Student Academy Awards ceremonies in Los Angeles.

Henrie-McCrea, a 23-year-old Indianapolis resident, received a gold Student Academy Award and a $5,000 cash prize from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finishing first in the alternative category for the romantic comedy "Knock Knock." 

"This chunk of metal is an illustration of compassion and support from Ball State's telecommunications department as well as the entire university," said Henrie-McCrea, who graduated in May and will attend film school in the fall at Columbia University in New York.

"Ball State offers a lot of support to its students by creating an environment that allows them to flourish," he said. "We were able to create this movie because Ball State nurtures creativity. And faculty see that creativity and nourish it. They let the students run with their ideas by providing support and materials."

A group of Ball State faculty and students attended the ceremonies, including Chad Cooper, a senior from Rensselaer, Ind., who served as the director of photography for "Knock Knock," and actors Martin Monahan of Logansport, Ind., and Shannon Bracken of Oaklawn, Ill. Monahan and Bracken are students from Ball State's Department of Theatre and Dance who also graduated with Henrie-McCrea in May.

The film received sponsorship from Ball State's Center for Media Design (CMD), which is part of Ball State's digital education initiative funded by a $20 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. The camera and editing systems Henrie-McCrea and Cooper used were purchased through the grant.

Rodger Smith, the CMD's associate director and executive producer of "Knock Knock," said Henrie-McCrea's Student Academy Award is a tribute to Ball State's efforts to foster an environment that rivals film schools found at such universities as Columbia, the University of Southern California and New York University.

"Ball State's interdisciplinary approach allows students from different academic colleges to work together on creative projects," he said. "Working with faculty and staff through the CMD, undergraduate students have the opportunity to develop and flourish in the many roles needed to create cinema."

By being the first Ball State undergraduate to win a Student Academy Award, Henrie-McCrea will forever be linked to a select group of recipients who have gone on to achieve prominence as professional filmmakers, including Spike Lee, Bob Saget and John Lasseter.

Lee went on to a career in which he produced "Malcolm X," "Jungle Fever" and "Do the Right Thing." Saget has become a Hollywood actor/director/writer while Lasseter went on to receive an Oscar and three Academy Award nominations for such movies as "Toy Story" and "Monsters, Inc."

"I now have this bar that is forever set high that I have to meet," said Henrie-McCrea, who turned 23 the day before the ceremonies in Hollywood." The pressure is on and that is good. I would expect nothing less. In this business you want your quality to evolve and get better and better.

"There is going to be no dwindling of my passion for movies," he said. "I am looking forward to being stressed out, not eating and not sleeping for days."

(Note to editors: For more information, contact Henrie-McCrea at (317) 201-3220. Still photographs of Henrie-McCrea receiving his award can be viewed on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Web site. Photos may be accessed by completing the academy's registration form at http://photos.oscars.org/apply.php. Conditions for use of the photographs are also posted on the academy's Web site. For more stories, go to the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news.)