Students in the intermediate radio, television and film production class, RTVF 350, will showcase five of their films on Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Recital Hall.
The 45-minute showcase is open to the public and tickets are pay-what-you-can, according to the RTVF Instagram page @crc_rtvf.
Three of the films are 10 minutes long and two are under five minutes, said RTVF professor Justin Rettke.
The scripts chosen for the 10-minute films are in the horror or thriller genres while the two shorter films are focused on more serious topics, according to the RTVF Instagram page.
Each of the five films were a collaboration among students in the intermediate film class over the course of the semester, Rettke said. “Not everybody’s doing every role,” said Rettke.
Rettke said that the process started with the pitching of the films during the first week of the semester. A class vote was held to choose which concepts would be developed into full length short films and by the next class day, the student of the selected film was expected to finish the first draft of their script, he said.
“We start at the very beginning of pitching, and we get all the way to the end of the semester with our finished mastered projects,” said Rettke.
Rettke said the filmmaking process has been challenging for students.
“I didn’t expect so much of the scenes we filmed to be cut during the editing process,” said 19-year-old film major Lucas Marquez. “There were ideas we wanted to expand on more which meant cutting some dialogue or scenes that didn’t absolutely need to be there.”
Students of the intermediate film course said they were not experienced with many facets of film making such as editing, sound mixing or directing. Techniques and subjects that were briefly taught in the intro to filmmaking class were expanded upon and used throughout the entire semester, said Rettke.
“Students could only film during lab,” said Rettke. He said that the time restraint on filming added pressure on the students.
“They are based around process, not product,” Rettke said. “You’re not there to make a spectacular finished product, the point of it is to give people experience.”
Marquez said that the showing of his film to a larger audience brings him anxiety.
“Since this is my first film, I’m actually really scared to show people,” Marquez said.
“I know this is my first film and there will be lots of imperfections I can improve on, I just hope people can see I have potential to do better.”
Eleni Goetze, a 20-year-old film and media studies major, said that she is excited for the showcase.
“I’m proud of the work I’ve done,” said Goetze. “I’m hopeful people will realize why I’ve been pouring all these hours into it. I’m really excited.”