Film student irritated by lack of interest

I am disgusted. I am a film/business student here at Penn State University, and for more than a year now I have been putting together a short, 24-minute film I have titled THE THIRD KEY.

In the past year, I have rewritten the script, from scratch, more than 27 times, and I have spent my last summer "vacation" working three jobs, 16 to 18 hours a day, everyday, for two months to get the funding for this project.

I have suffered innumerable sleepless nights agonizing over the logistics. I am the producer, director, cinematographer, writer and sound designer on this film. I have given an entire year of my life, every day of every week, solely to the realization of this vision.

Why am I disgusted? Because in a school of 40,000 students, even after extensive networking and advertising, I have gotten no more than 20 auditioners, and have only two crew members whom I personally approached with the responsibilities.

Of all the theater majors, film majors and actors who attend this university, none of them are willing to sacrifice a few hours of their "busy" schedules to work in the field they have supposedly dedicated their lives to?

If you love acting, and you love film, start doing it! You are not going to get a better experience than by working with a group of people who make films, not because they want a good grade or they want to graduate easily, but because they love film!

My name is Alexander Ballas, (aab132@psu.edu.) Contact me if you want to be a part of the crew, if you want to audition, or if you feel you can help in any other way.

There is no experience necessary, just a love and a passion for the industry.

Alexander Ballas
sophomore-film/business

Gen ed requirements limit student choice

I enjoyed reading Tim La Rose's column (March 21) in the Collegian voicing his frustration with Penn State's requirement to take "several thousand general education credits." Although his figures are humorously exaggerated, I unfortunately believe his frustration is justified.

I have stated in writing to the University before that I believe it is concentrating too much on an attempt to teach behavior patterns in place of skills. This is being done by forcing students to take their irreplaceable time and money to complete electives that are at best questionable in necessity and at worst a detriment to motivation.

By wasting a student's time, they are reducing their effectiveness to accomplish real tasks that their future employers will ask of them.

Many students simply fit whatever elective they can in their schedule just to meet the requirement and view the course as more of an insult than a learning experience.

Perhaps if any course were eligible as an elective, at least the students could develop themselves in a direction that suits them, rather than one predetermined, and in my opinion, uselessly limited.

Although La Rose complains about being forced to take foreign language credits, during my turn at the wheel of education I was not permitted to take a foreign language as an elective, even though I would have liked to, in order to communicate more effectively with foreign businesses.

So while the University's policy forces La Rose to take courses he does not value, it prevented me from taking those very courses that I wanted.

I truly believe the University can do better and encourage faculty, the University Board of Trustees and University President Graham Spanier to reconsider the restrictive elective requirements or eliminate them altogether.

Christopher Frame
faculty member

Posing for Playboy can be rewarding

This is in response to Jennifer Domisicz's letter regarding Playboy's "Big 10" pictorial and PSU's participation.

Since she didn't go into the whole morality issue, I won't either.

I do disagree with her trying to discourage our female students from wanting to be featured in the pictorial.

I was in last year's "Women of the Internet" pictorial and have no regrets whatsoever. In fact, it will help me begin to make the right kind of connections for my future in the entertainment field.

And so far, it has. I've had a great time with all of it and wouldn't trade it for anything.

I've received thousands of E-mail messages from readers. Sure, the initial reason was because they saw me naked in the magazine. But, the majority of them were sincere and complimentary, with interests in my studies and my education.

Playboy is not a magazine that exploits it's models.

Hugh Hefner's daughter, Christine, now runs the magazine and I don't think that she would allow that kind of exploitation.

I'm a subscriber and proud to have a Playboy sitting on my coffee table. It's a great magazine. Period. There have been many beautiful women to appear in this well-known magazine that allows them to share their beauty with the world.

There are also so many beautiful women on this campus who I believe should be in it, too. It takes a lot of gut to pose. You have to be confident to shed your clothes for the camera and a pretty good business person to know how to make the most out of the experience.

In case you haven't noticed, many of the women you've seen in Playboy over the years have used their experience to their best advantage.

I know I'm using it to help market myself better and open doors.

I don't think the ad tried to convince us that it's our fantasy. I've had many girls ask me how they could get in, so obviously there's been great interest, or it wouldn't have been mentioned.

And the question should be, do you care so much about what other people think of you, without knowing you, that it would keep you from doing what you want?

All I can say is, if you want to pose, then by all means go for it. But, if you're really that worried about people thinking that you're allowing yourself to exploited, then maybe you shouldn't.

You need to be strong to stand up for your decision when needed and to deal with those people who may whisper mean things behind your back. I should know.

There's so much more I could say about this, but I'd be writing a book. It's your choice.

Pam Luu
junior-film/video