Film society provides practical experience

The man receives his assignment. He acquires the goods in a briefcase. The SWAT team is on his trail. They bust through the door. Their target escapes down the back stairs only to run into the rest of the SWAT team in the garage below. After taking out a team of SWAT members singlehandedly, the criminal delivers the package of illegally downloaded music to the client ““ an elementary school boy.

After a weekend of filming and 48 hours of editing the hours of footage, UCLA’s Film and Photography Society entered this five-minute film titled “Gig” in Campus Movie Fest, a competition across college campuses throughout the U.S. that showcases student filmmaking in five-minute movie entries.

“Gig” won Best Drama.

The Film and Photography Society is an up-and-coming student organization at UCLA that brings photographers and filmmakers together to get hands-on practice and provide visual media services for the campus as a whole.

Brian Tan, a third-year political science student, said he began FPS at UC Riverside in 2006. When he transferred to UCLA, he brought his passion project with him.

The film group has followed Tan for years. When he lived for short periods of time in Singapore and Australia, he said he began small collaborative film-making groups that now function under the umbrella organization of FPS.

Tan now hopes for similar success at UCLA.

“The goal is principally to unite photographers and filmmakers and give them hands-on, pragmatic experience that they can’t experience in class,” he said. He and the other members said they believe FPS fills a much-needed niche at UCLA.

According to Tan, who is pursuing a film minor, the UCLA film department is exclusive and highly theoretical. FPS aims to provide an avenue of practical filmmaking for students whether or not they are studying film at UCLA.

Although Tan said they would like to have film department students in the club, FPS finds no support from the department at UCLA. He said they are not able to rent equipment or use studios. Tan said he feels FPS focuses on real production rather than history and theory.

FPS is new with a small membership of approximately 25, Tan said. However, the club has already found ample opportunity on UCLA’s campus. They filmed recent Campus Events Commission events such as the Tokyo Police Club concert and Bruin Bash and have begun discussing plans for a new “True Bruin” video with the office of the Dean of Students.

Penson Liu, UCLA’s Campus Events Commissioner, said he got in touch with Tan from their mutual involvement in the Undergraduate Students Association Council. FPS has covered several of Campus Events Commission events, and Liu said he is happy with the results and plans to request more coverage from the group.

“It’s great for us to get more exposure and build that media so students can go back and relive the events,” Liu said.

Groups can meet with the FPS crew to discuss future coverage, including issues such as the desired feel of the shoot and reviewing of the final products after the event.

FPS strives for a combination of campus service and personal projects. The club’s goal is to make one film a quarter, the officers said.

“We pride ourselves on being diverse, not just in our membership, but in the genres we tackle,” Tan said.

Although FPS functions on mostly out-of-pocket funds, the club has quality equipment, including two high-definition cameras, a dolly, a crane and a steady cam. The group also uses Adobe After Effects, a professional post-production video editing software.

For “Incrimination,” the action film the UC Riverside branch made last year, helicopters from California Aviation Services that fly for the San Bernardino/Fontana Police Department agreed to participate and the filming closed down an entire street. For “Gig” members of the San Bernardino SWAT team were used in the movie.

On the photography front, FPS strives to make the typically reclusive hobby more social and collaborative.

Many students come to the club without much experience. To provide hands-on training, the new club hosted workshops on topics such as script writing and movie editing. Most recently, the workshops are primarily for training members, but all students are welcome.

“Our hope is that after the workshops we can pass on responsibility to more people in the club,” said Castel. The officers said they hope eventually members within the club will specialize in different aspects of production to improve the process.

Next quarter the club plans to hold a premier screening of “Slick,” the high-budget movie filmed over the summer. They hope the premier will have the success the premier of “Incrimination” did at UC Riverside, at which approximately 1000 people were present.

FPS is an opportunity for students simply interested in exploring aspects of film.

“It’s a great resource to help people discover a new skill,” Castel said. “It can help people figure out if in reality they want to go into this industry.”

Castel and Tan consider filmmaking a hobby and are undecided as to their career ambitions.

Tan said he was surprised not to find a similar club already in existence at UCLA, a school so close to Hollywood. The officers said they believe FPS is an effective base for people trying to move on into the film industry.

Castel said people in the business hire based examples of work, rather than a degree.

“This is a chance for people to build their demos or portfolios,” he said. In addition, the club is a source of networking, an important component in the reality of the film industry.

The club is heavily recruiting and the officers said they are avid about their belief that anyone can participate in filmmaking. They said their process internally is collaborative and democratic. “The beauty is everyone has a chance to bring ideas to the table,” Castel said.

FPS has large overarching goals.

“The lofty goal is civil engagement via visual media,” said Tan. In a population that has a short attention span and is accustomed to immediate gratification, visual media is an important tool.

The FPS officers said they are intent on enhancing their relationship with other campus organizations by providing film and photography services.

“We love what we do,” Castel said. “We’re up for anything and everything.”