Students keep films short and sweet for “˜Movie Snacks’

Short films ““ once Hollywood’s version of the
three-minute pop song ““ are getting longer and longer.

But “Movie Snacks” plays it right. For the price of
nothing ““ in money, that is ““ and almost no time,
students can catch some of UCLA’s most hidden tiny
triumphs.

Tonight, “Movie Snacks,” a short film festival, will
showcase five student-made films. Particularly noteworthy is that
eligibility requirements demand films be under 30 minutes and made
by undergraduate students, most of whom do not possess academic
film experience.

Nevertheless, the students consider their work more than a mere
hobby. The directors have to express their energies and styles in a
narrow time frame, resulting in unique creative outputs.

“The films we received were great quality within the
confines of limited budgets, equipment and experiences,” said
Richard Kim, president of the Video Production Committee. “We
received movies that compensated their lack of technology with
originality and creativeness.”

While Hollywood consistently gravitates toward pleasing the
common denominator, many of the film directors in “Movie
Snacks” took a less traveled route. Many films can now be
made cheaply using simple Mini-DV camcorders. However, sound
quality is compromised, which explains the high level of silent
film entries in the festival.

“Sound recording quality still remains far behind the
(images’) quality,” Kim said. “Most filmmakers
deliberately dodged the sound recording problems by imitating the
styles of 1920s silent movies.”

Observing and considering the ease with which students’
attention can waver, it was unreasonable to expect them to sit
through 30 minutes of silence. An entry called “Good night,
Irene” found ways to combat the issue.

“I loved the way the filmmaker used different kinds of
music to convey the mood of the story,” Kim said.

Not only does “Movie Snacks” open students’
eyes to a lesser known genre of filmmaking, its larger goal is to
bring all the filmmakers together to a common arena. The event will
be followed with a Q&A session with the director after each
movie to exchange ideas and share passions.

So just when every Thursday night started to become the same old
routine, or students started to find that time may weigh a little
heavy on their hands and they only can take a short break,
“Movie Snacks” just may be the perfect treat.

The “Movie Snacks” festival will start tonight
at 8:30 p.m. in Northwest Campus Auditorium. Admission is
free.