This is the second in a four-part series tracking the creative process as Penn State's film/video students shoot, cut and complete their senior films.

The cafeteria at Park Forest Middle School, 2180 School Drive, was a little busier than usual, considering it's noon on a Saturday. But aside from one 11-year-old girl, those present were far removed from being eligible students.

They were getting some homework done, but it's a little beyond a typical fifth-grade assignment: Six Penn State students were shooting Finding Ifftin, a senior film with an estimated budget of $3,000 and a cast of about 40 extras -- all middle school students.

For writer/director/producer Aundrea Posey (senior-film/video), like many student filmmakers, the senior film project is the culmination of two years of study and considered a final thesis within the program.

Before the 11-year-old actress even made it into the frame, however, there were some technical kinks to work out. As director of photography Michael Craven (senior-integrative arts) was wheeled down the hallway on a dolly for a tracking shot, crewmember Alison Kelly (senior-film/video) had some difficulty steering, mistakenly veering Craven into a side corridor mid-take.

But incidents like this were quickly handled by the crew's professionalism. Craven was retrieved and driven back into position, and the next take promptly started like each before it.

"I absolutely love problem solving on the set," Craven said. "It's pretty much an adrenaline rush the whole time."

Indeed, these interruptions did little to disrupt the crew's almost methodical approach. This new take, like all the others, started with an identical chorus of verbal cues: "Quiet on set!" "Sound ready!" "Camera ready!" "Mark it!" The snap of the clipboard was followed by Posey's call of "Action!"

"She runs a very tight set," said Craven, who is also working on two other student films, Champagne and The Beginner's Guide to Being Unsuicidal. Posey, he added, is "probably one of the most professional people I've worked with."

Posey's screenplay received two of the three Samuel D. Abrams Senior Film Endowments awarded to students in her class. Finding Ifftin sets itself apart from this year's other student films in several ways -- it features an all-black central cast, is the only student thesis shot entirely to reels of film and, at about 22 minutes, it is one of the longest senior films being made.

"Authentically, [shooting on film] was what I was supposed to do," said Posey, whose film The Scarlet Letters LGBT was shown at last year's student film festival. "What better way to [bring my college career to a close] and take that risk? Film takes more discipline and takes time to process."

Pre-production on Finding Ifftin alone lasted one and a half months, including Posey's effort to secure an on-site shooting permit from the State College Area School Board, not to mention organizing the massive cast.

"We called 100 parents and had to explain the story to them to get their child to come and participate," Posey said.

Posey had to offer a plot synopsis of the film's potentially sensitive subject matter in her petition to the school board, as well as to the parents of the student extras.

In the movie, Ifftin Price, a sixth-grade girl, relocates from a big city to a small Pennsylvania town. Ifftin is criticized by her new classmates for not being what they consider conventionally "black" enough, chastising her fairer skin and straighter hair.

Ifftin finds some of her mother's makeup and goes to school wearing blackface in an effort to be accepted. Her mother Elizabeth, who the movie's synopsis describes as "a darker woman, who looks more like the antagonist Janet than she does her own daughter," sees the blackface. Soon, Elizabeth consoles her daughter and helps guide Ifftin through the situation.

Elizabeth and Ifftin are played by a real-life mother and daughter: Renea Nichols, a lecturer in advertising and public relations at Penn State, and her 11-year-old daughter Dani.

Nichols has written books on the subject of biracial children like her daughter Dani, often noting the "sense of rejection from the black community" that these differences cause.

"What Ifftin goes through is real," Nichols said, adding that she's heard this story "over and over again."

"We've all wanted to change something about ourselves," Posey said. "It calls into perspective who we are and who we want to be."

Posey also said audiences in State College aren't familiar with interracial relations, so the film might spark dialogue.

"Hopefully, they'll come out of [the film] saying 'I've never considered this goes on' and 'Wow, that was deep,' " Posey said.

Just how many people will get the opportunity to see the film is not yet certain; the deadline for submissions to the film festival is not until April 18. But don't ask the crew to make any bets about their chances just yet.

"We have a great script, but in no way does that guarantee that we will make it into the film festival," Craven said. "I would make a prediction, but I don't feel like jinxing myself."

After filming has concluded, Finding Ifftin and other candidates for the April 26 student film festival will venture into the editing room to trim and tailor their raw footage.

Post-production will be covered in the next installment of this series.

The reporters also caught up with Per Argentine, whose shoot they profiled in the first installment.

Another film shoot, this one at Webster's Bookstore Café, 128 S. Allen St. the Sunday night after the Ifftin shoot, demonstrated that the mood on a student film set is by no means consistent from one filmmaker to the next.

As showcased in the debut installment of this series, Per Argentine (senior-film/video) and his crew continued filming on Sleep, and the playful attitude stood in stark contrast to the precision of Posey's Finding Ifftin set.

The new scenes were shot between the science fiction/mystery/horror sections of the bookstore on late nights after closing time.

It's a mix of meticulous planning and haphazard execution. For example, Carly Freilich (senior-life science), playing a waitress with the same name, sported a $65 uniform purchased from local diner Baby's, 131 S. Garner St. Compared to Finding Ifftin's $3,000 budget, this seems paltry, but the purchase takes on more significance as a full one-fifth of Sleep's $300 budget.

After filming one shot early in the evening, Freilich waited around for hours before being sent home.

Her second shot, scheduled for the end of the shoot -- which wrapped up at about 2 a.m. -- was postponed to a later date.

Instead, the night was devoted to a scene involving a conversation between Jesse Cramer (sophomore-English), starring as Jeff, a struggling writer, and Rhiannon McClintock, a 2003 alumna, who plays Erin, another waitress.

The filming of the scene was extended by spotty dialogue memorization until, making full use of the bookstore setting, Cramer wrote his lines into the book his character was reading.

"Some actor you are, writing your lines in a book," Argentine joked. Although the wisecracks and horseplay kept the atmosphere friendly, it will be interesting to see if this shoot's delay, coupled with a cancellation earlier that week, will have a more dramatic effect on the final product, especially as the filmmakers head into post-production.