Carnegie Mellon students can teach Hollywood a thing or two about low-budget filmmaking. Students enrolled on 鈥淪o You Wanna Make a Movie鈥濃�攁 yearlong, hands-on course that spans several colleges and departments鈥攑roduce full-length feature films for less than $10,000.
That sum covers the costs of scriptwriting, casting, directing, filming, editing and marketing the final product.
The course launched last April with two teams, each made up of three H&SS students from the Creative Writing Program, hammering out screenplays. In the fall, the writers met with production teams consisting of students from the H.J. Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management鈥檚 Master of Entertainment Industry Management program and undergraduate students from the School of Drama. The Entertainment Technology Center provided the film editors.
Two films are currently in production. 鈥淧lant X鈥� tells the story of a Russian florist trying desperately to deliver flowers to a woman in Downtown Pittsburgh on a day when, unbeknownst to him, the city鈥檚 buses will be shut down. In 鈥淭he Book of Cliff,鈥� a newspaper reporter named Grace comes upon a story about a man dressed as an angel whose self-described good deeds may have a dark side.
The timeline currently calls for the films to be completed and screened on campus by May. By the time the movies are screened, the process will have started anew with next year鈥檚 crop of writers.
鈥淭he whole experience has been so great,鈥� said Sharon Dilworth, an associate professor of English. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen writers work so hard on these films. They have even logged 10 hours on a Sunday.鈥�
Dilworth is teaching the course with Shirley Saldamarco, an adjunct lecturer of film and TV production in the School of Drama.
The course grew out of 鈥淲hen Tyrants Kiss,鈥� a 94-minute film produced in 2004 by a group of 60 faculty, students and staff. The film screened to a packed house at that year鈥檚 Three Rivers Film Festival.
鈥淲hen Tyrants Kiss鈥� was written by assistant professor of dramatic literature Michael Chemers and directed by Michael Scotto (HS 鈥�04), then president of the Carnegie Mellon Filmmaking Club. The cast and crew consisted almost entirely of Carnegie Mellon students, faculty and staff, and much of the film was shot on campus. Aside from a small grant from the Department of English to the filmmaking club, the cost of the film was borne by the cast and crew.
Now-retired English Department business manager Danny Josephs created the story behind 鈥淲hen Tyrants Kiss.鈥� Set in 1937 Pittsburgh, the film follows Sam Harris, a down-at-the-heels con artist, as he desperately tries to navigate a web of lies covering the mysterious murder of his police officer brother.
The filmmakers relied on the filmmaking club鈥檚 equipment and on wardrobes from the School of Drama. Josephs, the producer, doubled as the caterer, serving about 500 meals during the course of the project.
鈥淭hings kept going wrong, and we adjusted, and when you have to adjust with no money, you have to be creative. ... Carnegie Mellon is a rich environment for that kind of creativity and talent,鈥� Josephs said.
Related Links:
School of Drama
Shirley Saldamarco
