Mher Alaverdyan is hiding an eager grin with his clenched fist
as he watches two actors reading lines from his screenplay, vying
for his approval and auditioning for roles in his directorial
debut.
As he anxiously mouths each and every line, completely in sync
with the auditioning actors, it becomes quite apparent that the
second-year psychobiology student is on the brink of giggling.
Alaverdyan used to just watch movies. But now, with the help of
the Video Production Committee, he’s finally getting a chance
to make his own.
The UCLA student, along with others, is taking advantage of the
opportunities offered by the VPC, a club that aims to provide
students who are interested in filmmaking with the guidance,
training, equipment and crew needed to get started in film
production.
“Film is a completely different art form than anything
else,” said committee chair Neal Mhaskar, the only VPC member
who attends the UCLA School of Film and Television. “One
person can initiate it, but they really need others to help them
out to make things happen and that’s what the VPC
does.”
The VPC, founded two years ago by the residential life cable
studio, was originally a counsel responsible for approving and
allocating resources for video productions proposed by students.
After its first year, the club evolved.
VPC members began shooting productions themselves, completing
three major short features since ““ including “Plain
Jane,” a romantic comedy, a MasterCard commercial parody and
“Brush,” a darkly comedic look into dental hygiene.
Alaverdyan, the newest member of the VPC to write a screenplay
and undertake the responsibilities of directing his own
short-length feature film, is relatively new to film production and
his greenness often shows.
Through the course of his first audition, Alaverdyan discovers
that pages from his script are missing, asks the club chair what a
headshot is, and suggests, half jokingly, that maybe he would
appear more professional if he had a notebook to make random
scribbles on as actors audition.
But at the VPC, experience plays only a minor role.
“The VPC is a place where you can learn all of the
different aspects of film production without knowing anything ahead
of time,” said fourth-year communications student Erin
Dunlap, who wrote and directed her first film ““ a short
romantic comedy ““ with the assistance of the VPC last spring.
“All you need to do to fit in is have an interest in
filmmaking.”
After that interest is established, the VPC works to train its
members through regular workshops, covering various crafts such as
editing, cinematography and lighting, as well as job shadowing
““ a sort of hands-on training provided by more experienced
club members on the sets of club-sponsored productions.
“If you’re working on a high-budget film,
you’re not going to have someone holding your hand and
cleaning up after you when you play around and make a
mistake,” Dunlap said. “At the VPC, you do.”
Alaverdyan’s experience in film production before joining
the VPC last spring amounted to little more than an introductory
video production course at a local community college and shooting
short films in his backyard with the family camcorder.
“I used to make little stop action animations with toy
soldiers. It would look pretty crappy, but I used to do that kind
of stuff in sixth grade when we bought our new camcorder,”
Alaverdyan said. “I would just shoot little toy figures all
day.”
Given the highly selective nature of film school admissions,
such informal experience is often the extent to which cinematically
inclined students are given the opportunity to express their
creative energies. That’s where the VPC steps in.
“When you don’t have a lot of experience in
something, it’s hard to get into it and the VPC allows a
little inlet into that whole field,” Alaverdyan said.
Though some VPC members are only hobbyists, several look to
pursue careers in the film industry after graduating, hoping that
the skills and experience they garner through the VPC will make up
for a lack of formal film school education.
“More than your major, it’s your experience
that’s going to get you a job in the film industry,”
said Dunlap, an aspiring director. “Now I have something to
put in my portfolio.”
Other than the indirect support provided by the Office of
Residential Life, which pays for the cable studio equipment that
the VPC uses, the VPC depends solely on donations from its members,
in the form of props, costumes, coverage of minor expenses, and
even food for the production cast.
The VPC will continue to produce 10- to 15-minute shorts, with
Alaverdyan’s the first of the year, said VPC faculty adviser
Jeff Lew.
Alaverdyan plans on beginning shooting for his film, tentatively
titled “Fiction,” winter quarter.
“It’s crazy. I don’t know. I’m
overwhelmed,” Alaverdyan says with a laugh. “It should
be fun.”