Winter is upon us, bringing with the season the usual assortment of wool caps, gloves and senior film projects.
Yes, 'tis the time of year when those enterprising film students housed in the basement of Carnegie Building put everything they've learned on the line while producing their piéces de résistance.
Ten projects are currently going before the camera, each one rather diverse in nature. From a documentary on body piercing to an experimental film dealing with virtual reality, this year's batch of movie magic has something for everyone.
It is also the time of year when past graduates who still congregate at Carnegie are able to look back with a slight grin, knowing what's in store for this year's class.
"It was easily the worst and best thing I've done in my life," said Steve Kucharski, current lab coordinator of 16mm equipment at Carnegie, who endured the process last year while directing the film Belief.
"It was 17 minutes and 35 seconds in length and it comprises eight months of the worst time in my life -- but I'm glad that I did it," he said.
Along with fellow film students Steve Dandois, Todd Quillo and Keith Fisher, Kucharski made Belief, the story of an angry youth trying to cope with life after a friend's suicide. The film won the coveted People's Choice Award for Best Picture at last year's Can Film Festival, Penn State's equivalent to the legendary festival held annually in France.
Despite the accolades, Belief wasn't an easy shoot. The first day of shooting brought with it cold, drizzly weather and the crew was only able to shoot five scenes during eight hours of filming. Things didn't get much better when the film's lead, actor Jason Testa, moved to New York during production. Each weekend comprised of Kucharski and Dandois shuttling Testa from New York to State College for filming.
"We had one weekend where I stayed awake for five days straight," Kucharski said, boasting that five sleepless nights was a film student record. "I discovered it was possible to 'sleep-drive,' which I actually did."
Group dynamics are an important part of the success of these projects. Mark Kolash, cinematographer and writer of last year's experimental film Running, said that heated debates and arguments were commonplace with partners Avner Sofer and Todd Schlank, yet most were constructive in nature.
"Yet as soon as we'd leave the set and stopped talking about the project, it'd be like, 'Do you want to go down to the bar and have a few?' " Kolash added.
As with everything in life, money always becomes an issue. The projects' budgets usually come in somewhere between $3,000 to $6,000, split evenly within the group. Kucharski said good planning usually can keep costs down, yet rarely does a game plan remain intact.
"I don't think anybody ends up with the film they want to make anyway," Kucharski said, adding that things often get twisted and turned during production.
Yet after all the trials and tribulations associated with the filming process, Kolash said wrapping everything up in postproduction can often be a solemn event.
"(Sofer) and I just looked at one another and said, 'It's over, what do we do now?' " Kolash said. "It's a major downshift because you're moving at such a fast speed to turn out all this creativity, and then all of a sudden, you're stopping and wondering what to do now."
Yet for now, this year's class is not wondering what but how to do it, contemplating every move as time, and winter, moves on.
