The Brandeis Film Collective, dedicated to the production of short films, will be releasing a student-produced Halloween film this year. Although the club has kept its lips sealed when asked what the film will be about, it disclosed that it will not be a movie for the faint-hearted.
“We don’t want to give anything away. You’ll have to see it to find out! The one thing we will say is that this film will be frighteningly realistic,” revealed Naomi Rodriguez ’16, who is in charge of public relations. There will be a screening on Oct. 30, the Thursday before Halloween.
The organization is a chartered club dedicated to the production of short films and offers opportunities to aspiring filmmakers, screenwriters, actors and actresses, composers and editors to produce a video of their own making. “We utilize high-quality film equipment and teach club members on how to operate it so that they can be a part of our film crew. Once we have our footage, we take editors down to Getz Media Lab and teach them how to use programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer and Adobe After Effects,” explained Rodriguez. The BFC’s main goal is to educate club members and to expose them to the filmmaking process.
The BFC executive board knew Halloween would be a great topic to focus its first big project on because there are were many possible creative ideas. “The genre could be horror, drama, comedy or action, depending on the direction the production team chose. Our first priority was to find screenwriters to get the creative process started. We used our Facebook page to scout interested writers, actors and actresses, film crew members, editors and film track composers. Then, we posted a sign-up list. Once we received the ideas from the writers, an email was sent out to the list-serv, inviting club members to vote for their favorite idea. When voting ended, the e-board got to work on fusing suggested scenes into one comprehensive script. By this week, we will have found our cast and had our first day of shooting. Also, we will have recorded some creepy music using the recording studio in the library. We are very excited for the Brandeis community to see our final product,” said Rodriguez.
The BFC executive board wants BFC to serve as a creative outlet for anyone who is interested in film. While Brandeis does offer the Film, Television and Interactive Media major and minor, the opportunities for actual filmmaking are limited. Christine Kim ’17, BFC treasurer and a Film and Computer Science double major, said, “BFC supplements the film major with the hands-on production and creative aspects. While in class, we learn about theories and analysis. In BFC, we apply them.” The club promotes the film major, especially the Film Production I course offered each year, which is where some of the club members learned how to use film editing programs. However, Rodriguez emphasized that while the club supports the film major, they support the involvement of students from all fields of study. The executive board, for example, is composed of Health: Science, Society and Policy, business, women’s studies, International and Global Studies and computer science majors.
Although the BFC is endeavoring to produce a longer film this month, it usually aims to create a short video of some sort every week during their meetings, which are on Thursdays at 8 p.m. at Starbucks in the Goldfarb Library. They are constantly on the lookout for creative minds, new ideas and a passion for filmmaking, so all interested students should look for them on Facebook. “Ultimately, the e-board wants to see students take film seriously, even if they are producing a comedy … especially if they are producing a comedy.”
