The film industry is notoriously hard to break into. For decades, the belief that making high-brow connections in Hollywood was the only way to establish a film career has discouraged many students from pursuing their passions for film.
In Idaho, it may seem nearly impossible to find opportunities to work on film sets. However, the Film and Television Arts program at Boise State is working to change that.
That’s where the Short Film Lab comes in.
While film students work on several smaller projects throughout their education, the Short Film Lab elevates the student film experience. Over the course of four semesters, students work in teams across all stages of the production process to get immersive, hands-on experience in a more professional production environment.
“Essentially, we try to imitate what you’d experience in Hollywood,” said Darius Dawson, award-winning director and professor in the film department. “We’re trying to imitate what students will eventually experience in the industry as closely as possible, so when they graduate and go into the industry, they’re prepared.”
The program is an evolution of a previous program where students created television pilots. Film and Television Arts faculty wanted to take the program a step further, allowing students to create standalone projects and make the most of their film education.
After two years of the Short Film Lab, the inaugural films of the program will premiere at the Spring Student Film Showcase on May 7. As those films near their premiere dates, other students are preparing to shoot the next batch — a continuing cycle allowing each generation of students to get valuable hands-on experience and create films they are proud of.
The first step in this four-semester process is a course titled “The Writers Room.” In this class, students write original scripts for short films, of which only three are chosen to be produced.
Madeleine Cunningham, a senior studying Narrative Arts, wrote a script in The Writers Room called “Beyond.” Her film centers around an afterlife caseworker whose last case before retirement refuses to cooperate. In the final weeks of The Writers Room, as scripts were narrowed down, other students joined Cunningham to collaborate on the drama-comedy screenplay.
“In this very collaborative project, two other people came on and each had their own different views and ideas to add to it,” Cunningham explained. “It really helped to create a very interesting and dynamic script for us to produce.”
For students like Cunningham whose scripts are chosen for production, the support and validation of their professors and classmates is rewarding.
“I had a lot of support from the film department, and as we moved forward, it became very exciting and a very big learning process for all of us,” Cunningham said.
The students whose scripts are not chosen don’t miss out on any opportunities. All of the students in the Short Film Lab program get to move on to the next course, where they learn all about pre-production.
There are several departments for students to work in as they prepare and shoot each film. Students can work in directing, producing, cinematography, costuming and art.
Hunter Haubert, a junior studying Film and Television Arts, was asked to be the producer for Cunningham’s short film. As a producer, he worked alongside Cunningham and all the different departments to prepare for when they shoot the film in May.
“I got to see multiple drafts of this come to life, and now seeing [Cinnungham’s] most recent and finalized scripts, it’s fun to see her journey and how she’s brought this to life,” Haubert said.
Haubert secured shooting locations, worked with the budget, helped with casting and more. As the team prepares to go into production over the summer semester, Haubert is looking forward to seeing the vision come to life.
“The most exciting part about making a film is actually seeing the final product,” he said. “Production is probably my favorite part of making a short film. To be honest, I love just being there and seeing everything unfold.”
The next batch of short films from the program will be filmed throughout May, as the production course takes place over the summer. Each of the three films held open casting calls so students interested in acting could also be involved.
Brady Love, a junior studying Film and Television Arts, will direct his short film for the class called “Who’s Gonna Save Steve?”, a drama-comedy about a man who wants to become a local superhero for the city of Boise.
As a director preparing for production, Love has worked in casting, finalizing the story with other departments and ensuring everyone is on the same page.
For Love, the ability to collaborate with peers and the funding and support to really make something great has been exciting.
“Everybody is super dedicated,” he said. “It’s people in the film program who really want to make things, and they don’t really care what it takes to get it done. I could present a really crazy idea to my crew, and everybody’s always like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”
After the three films are shot during the summer production course, students will move on to the post-production class in the fall. There, the films will be edited into their final cuts before they are showcased and students submit them to festivals.
Love explained creating a high-quality short film with a team offers tangible rewards for those looking to break into the industry.
“It’s hard in the industry to get more work, especially [right after college], because a lot of the stuff they see isn’t really your best work because of the circumstances of being a film student — short shoot days or no budget,” he said. “This movie is great because everybody can put their name on it, and if it goes to festivals, it could be an opportunity for us to get more work and work our way up to bigger projects.”
The instruction and support students get from the Short Film Lab professors is also highly valuable to students. While they get creative freedom in a professional setting, they also get to continue learning from those with more experience.
“It was like having the professionals there, the people that have been doing this their entire lives, there to pick you up if you fall down,” said Grace Galvan, a recent graduate who will be working on a Short Film Lab production over the summer. “They’re literally just an email, a text or phone call away.”
Galvan said the program allows students to truly immerse themselves in what working on a film set looks like. She said the experience gives students the knowledge necessary to step into those roles on bigger projects in the future.
