Imagine working thirty hour weeks. Spending hundreds of dollars of personal money. For one class! For five University film students, this is not a nightmare to avoid but an opportunity of a life time.
As members of Production II, an advanced 400 level film/video class, LSA seniors Jason Gira, Kevin Krupitzer, Jefferson Bilsborrow, Jordon Solomon and Steven Niedzielski are seeing their film making passions fulfilled.
In this class, students work in groups and produce their own film. Through a combination of hard work , community support and some stellar luck, this group has been able to work on a film of greater magnitude than the usual college production.
Producing a film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Next Door," the students started their own production company, UNREEL Productions and recruited professional actors to star in the 24-minute short.
The students' journey began in class when Kevin Krupitzer, director of photography, developed the idea of adapting the Vonnegut story into a movie. Krupitzer said selecting the work of a respected author would eliminate worries about the writing. <
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| CHRIS CAMPERNEL/Daily Producer Jason Gira, director of Photography Kevin Krupitzer, director Jeff Bilsborrow and sound recordist Steve Niedzielski sit on the set of their film. |
The team has spent the last two months gathering resources, finding actors and other crew members, and working on the script. Producer Jason Gira has called the process "hectic and insane," but worth it. "It really has been a profound experience," Gira said.
The group has been able to receive a lot of help from outside the University. "It has been a snow ball effect, everyone has been really impressed and wanted to join the project," Gira said.
No matter how hard the students have worked, they attributed much of their success to the support of the community, such as the antique shop Sarah's Attic.
The film is set in the 1950s and shop owner Melanie Diana contributed a truck load of chairs, desks, tablecloths, and other material.
Good old-fashioned luck can also help. Gira said the team was driving around Ann Arbor, looking for a place to shoot the film, when they spotted an abandoned house. The three story structure turned out to be a turn of the century, historical site and the owner decided to allow them to use it .
Gira said this gave them an opportunity not usually available to college film students. "If we would have done this outside of Ann Arbor, it would have been $2,000 worth of rent," he said. "To have a studio to work in has been amazing."
The group has also been given the opportunity to work with professional level equipment. Film Prof. Robert Rayher, said because of a relationship with Panavisi and the University, his students have access to a camera similar in quality to those Stephen Spielberg uses.
"The camera gives students the sense of not being in school but an actual real world situation," Rayher said.
For group members, their motivations extend beyond the class room. "I am loving it because this is what I want to do with my life," Krupitzer said, director of the film.
UNREEL Productions are working on having the film shown at the Michigan Theater later this spring and hope to enter it in other film festivals. Also, all films produced in the advanced class will tentatively be shown to the public April 30, in East Hall at 7 p.m.
03-18-99
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