The Filmmaking Club provides a place where students of any background can practice filmmaking and meet others with a shared passion for the art.
The club meets twice a week, with each meeting focusing on different elements of filmmaking.
“Thursday’s meeting involves giving out a prompt, breaking out into groups, filming for an hour and a half, then coming back and watching the videos from the week before,” Logan Baarda, co-president of the club and a senior in mechanical engineering, said. “We have post-production hours on Fridays where people can come back and finish editing their work to show the next week.”
The club is open to all students and allows students to borrow equipment as well.
“The one thing we want is for people to be active,” Alvaro Escalante, the club’s co-president and a senior in mechanical engineering and electrical engineering, said. “We have equipment now that we can let people borrow. Not all members have personal equipment, such as cameras or sound equipment. For most people, they just use their phones.”
Along with filmmaking and creating short videos, the club also prioritizes community events.
“This month we have our annual Halloween party with a costume contest, as well as a pumpkin carving contest,” Baarda said. “We watch the movies everyone has made for Halloween. It’s just a good time.”
Aashiqua Janmanchi, vice president of the club and a junior in game design, shared what new members should expect from the club.
“Being in a community of people interested in filmmaking, students who join the club can expect to find like-minded people who would also be interested in working on similar passion projects, or casual friends who they can talk to about [their] favorite films,” Janmanchi said.
Members of the club are looking to have a wider range of films produced in the near future.
“I would like to have a better mixture of serious and fun filmmaking that could go to film festivals,” Baarda said. “In the past, we’ve pretty much only done our hour-and-a-half prompts, with some members meeting outside of the club to work on serious projects.”
The club plans to collaborate with other clubs and organizations on campus throughout the year to receive feedback or work on projects with them.
“We’re trying to collaborate with the Gaffers’ Guild,” Escalante said. “We also want to collaborate with the Film Enthusiasts Club, because they meet to watch movies and discuss them. I’m trying to work in something with the Cosplay Club, because some films require costuming.”
Visit the Filmmaking Club’s website to learn more about the organization.