As the semester started, clubs began to have call out meetings all across the University of Indianapolis campus. The UIndy Film Club had their call-out meeting on Sept. 9, according to their Instagram (@uindyfilmclub). According to president of the Film Club and senior creative writing major Ethan Thurston, the club regularly meets on Fridays at 3 p.m. on the third floor of Esch Hall in the TV studio, as well as outside of their regular meetings to discuss where they currently are with their films.
“On the days that we meet, in the past we usually try to have discussions about film techniques we can try to utilize like camera angles, transitions, close-ups, writing techniques, stuff like that,” Thurston said. “Just stuff that professionals do on a daily basis that we can try to replicate so that we can make our films a little bit more effective on what they’re trying to do.”
The Film Club is welcoming a new advisor for the club this semester: General Manager of UIndy TV and Assistant Professor of Practice Communication Rick Dunkle. He said that this is his first full-time teaching job, as before he said he worked as a writer and producer for television and taught at other schools. While interviewing for his position, Dunkle was told that there was an open spot for the advising position.
“They even said, ‘It’s not a guarantee, maybe the students don’t want you, maybe you don’t want to do it.,’” Dunkle said. “[I said] I’m pretty sure I’m going to want to do Film Club if there is a Film Club.”
Throughout the last year, the club shot and produced around seven films, which was more than in previous years, according to Thurston. This year, they are also entering a contest known as the 48-hour Film Project. According to their website, they are given a genre, character, prop and a line they must use within their film.
“It’s a 48-hour film festival contest where you don’t even know what it is until you have registered and then they basically tell you what the film is that you’re going to do,” Dunkle said. “And then you have 48 hours, your team, to actually shoot it, edit it, put it together for the contest. They had done it once before as a practice run but not actually completed and entered. This year we are going to enter.”
Thurston said the club is more about writing and producing short films rather than watching movies and determining what is good and bad about them. For Thurston, it has been fun working with people to get their creative ventures for ideas for the short films.
“… I think a lot of people have ideas for stories, not necessarily even films, but they think that it would be too difficult or that they wouldn’t be able to write it or get it created, but I think Film Club is something that kind of lets people pursue those and get them done,” Thurston said.
One thing that inspired Dunkle was when two women said they wanted to get out of their comfort zone when they attended the call out meeting. Dunkle said he encourages people to join because there are always new ideas to be explored and students need no prior movie knowledge to be a part of the club.
“If you have an interest in film or you just want to know about how films are made, obviously with my screenwriting history we will go into that a little bit, but we’re going examine all of that and you don’t need any experience, no prerequisites for Film Club,” Dunkle said.
