The racket of M16 assault rifles could be heard as bullets and smoke grenades whizzed through the air. Amid neon graffiti on concrete walls, two military Humvees and an Audi A4 plunged into the Los Angeles River with a resounding crash.
It was just another day on the set for the Film and Photography Society, which recently finished shooting its new film, “Dilated.”
This 18-minute film, written by third-year film student Mark Lester, is an action flick about zombies ““ but with a twist: The film is from the zombies’ perspective.
“You always see humans being chased by zombies, but we just wondered, “˜What if it was one zombie being chased by hordes of humans?'” said FPS president Brian Tan, a fourth-year political science student.
Erika Drazen, a second-year undeclared student and the film’s assistant director, already has high hopes for the film’s future.
“Hopefully we can turn it into a full-length feature,” Drazen said.
Last year’s short film, “Gig,” nabbed “Best Drama” in 2008’s Campus MovieFest for the UCLA competition, which led to a screening at Paramount Studios. With such accomplishments and aspirations, it makes sense that FPS is “emulating Hollywood,” as Tan said.
“We want to inspire others and challenge them, showing them that what you see in Hollywood can be shot for a fraction of those multimillion-dollar budgets,” Tan said.
Tan originally started the club four years ago in Riverside. After living in Singapore and Malaysia, he began branches of the group there as well, and another branch now exists in Australia, having been created by some of Tan’s filmmaker colleagues.
The group produces one short film per quarter and a short film during the summer, and it conducts a “shoot-out competition” each year in which five groups make five-minute films. The winning group is determined by a panel of industry judges and awarded the exposure of having its film screened before the premiere of the group’s official production during the winter quarter.
With so much work done together, the club creates a very comfortable dynamic.
“Making movies together is better than any icebreaker or Diddy Riese social,” Tan said. “You’re always with one another and so you’re ironing out your differences and gelling with other people.”
Tan said the club’s aims are not only to unite aspiring filmmakers and photographers and those with interests in these fields, but also to let them put their skills to work. As a result, they also film and photograph events on campus.
“The students get professional experience, and the university receives a service for free, which is important now that resources are stretched so thin,” said Debra Geller, chief administrative officer of Student and Campus Life.
“It’s a win-win situation for the students and the university.”
By having the opportunity to capture large events such as Bruin Bash and rub elbows with big acts like LMFAO, the club drums up exposure to its work, improving the possibility of obtaining valuable connections. Its members gain the added benefit of acquiring material with which to boost their reels or portfolios.
“It gives people the chance to say they worked on a project and had their visions translated to reality,” Tan said.
Tan’s own visions are being realized in a big way with the production of “Dilated,” and a large chunk of the budget is coming out of his own pocket.
“I’m basically going broke for this movie,” Tan said. “But this is like my last hurrah, in a way, before I leave UCLA, and I know it’ll be worth it.”
Asher Blumberg, head of the club’s art department and a fifth-year Design | Media Arts student, echoed the sentiment in reference to his sacrifice of his Audi for the Los Angeles River car-chase scene.
“It was like pulling teeth to let them use my car,” Blumberg said. “But if you believe in a project, you have to put everything you have in.”
In fact, the whole cast and crew of the team work for free. “They just believe in the projects,” said Tan.
According to Tan, the club ultimately hopes to have its projects picked up by studios, distributors or festivals ““ or at least to entertain others and enjoy themselves in the process.
“In the end,” as Tan so eloquently concluded, “we just want to have fun in an epic way.”