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Exposure provides a forum for student groups and area non-profits at Michigan State University and the Greater Lansing area. On the show, you'll hear discussions about the groups themselves as well as the relevant issues of today.
This is exposures on Impact 89 FM. W DBM East Lansing. The show that lets you know about everything that goes on at the MSU campus that you otherwise might not know about. Tune in every Sunday at 9 AM. I'm your host, Tessa Creusch.
Tessa Kresch:Welcome to Exposure. Hello. Hello. And welcome back to Exposure. You are listening to season 15.
Tessa Kresch:I'm your host, Tessa Kresch. Today, we're stepping behind the scenes with the MSU Filmmakers Club. Since 19 eighties, this club has been a creative hub for all aspiring filmmakers. From brainstorming scripts to final edits, it offers hands on experience in every stage of filmmaking. Joining me today are Logan and Clay.
Tessa Kresch:Thank you both for being here.
Logan:Thanks for having us. Yeah.
Clay:Thanks for having us.
Tessa Kresch:Of course. Could you guys start off by introducing yourselves?
Clay:I'm Clay Wasilewski. I'm currently a sophomore, of course, at Michigan State University. Right now, I'm the president for Filmmakers Club, and then, yeah, majoring in digital storytelling.
Logan:I'm Logan Fouchardi. I'm the secretary of the MSU Filmmakers Club, and I'm a junior. And I am studying digital storytelling here at Michigan State University, and my concentration is filmmaking.
Tessa Kresch:So you're both studying digital storytelling and are very much in the world of filmmaking. Would you say most people who are in the club are also in that major?
Clay:I would say, like, 5050, to be honest. Just because I feel like we have a lot of, like it's mostly, like, freshman. I'd say freshman sophomores, but it's also whittles down probably to juniors and seniors. I'd say, like, the juniors and seniors are probably filmmaking majors.
Logan:I've been working with a lot of, business majors and, com other comm arts side majors like advertising. So I'd say it's very 5050. Actually, you'll you'll meet a lot of people and say, oh, so you're a DS major, and they're like, what's that?
Tessa Kresch:So what inspired you guys to join or become filmmakers in the first place?
Clay:Well, are we going back to, like, say, joining the club or just being filmmakers in general?
Tessa Kresch:We can go back as far as you want to.
Clay:Oh, man. I guess for myself, I always kinda known, like, I wanted to go, like, the creative route. Mhmm. Not necessarily, like, film. Like, I've always obviously loved watching movies, TV, whatnot, but I kinda just knew, at least for myself, I didn't want, like, an office job.
Clay:Yeah. Something more creative, but also, obviously, with creativity comes risk. And somehow I just kinda landed on filmmaking. Like, I remember when I first got here, I majored in journalism just because, like, I knew I mean, it's in the writing, like, kinda field. I was like, okay, man.
Clay:I'll I'll be a writer. But then I realized I was like, man, but this isn't, like, filmmaking, of course. And I remember, like, some sort of career fair. I kinda just went up to a guy who looked like a filmmaker, and I was like, what do you what major are you in? Or what major did you do?
Clay:And he's like, digital storytelling. I'm like, alright. Yeah. I'm already sold, switching majors, and that's what I did.
Tessa Kresch:That's awesome. Am. And are a lot of digital storytelling majors in the club?
Clay:Honestly, not really. Only because I've talked to some friends about it, like, at who are also maturing in digital storytelling. And, basically, what I get from them, like, the gist is, like, yeah, I'm already, like, all filmed out for the week of, like, filmmaking classes and stuff. The last thing they kinda want is, like, another film club, which Mhmm. I get, but I'm also like, I like to go as like, do as much as I can in
Tessa Kresch:the realm of film.
Logan:Right. Exactly. So for me, I actually transferred here my sophomore year to do marketing. So I was in Broad for marketing. And, it it occurred to me one day, I was like, I really don't like this that much.
Logan:It wasn't really, like, the thing I really wanted to do. So I was kind of in, like, a a loop there. And I remember I was sitting there rewatching, like, every Star Wars ever ever made. And I was like, I've always loved movies, and I was just rewatching everything. And it hit me during the third one.
Logan:I was, like, doing research on, like, how do they make this? And I caught myself, like, I think this is what I wanna do. So I just emailed my adviser that night. It was probably not even night. It was 1 AM, I think.
Tessa Kresch:Oh my gosh.
Logan:Yeah. She's awesome. Emailed her at 1 AM. Obviously, she didn't respond. But emailed her, and I was like, hey.
Logan:What does this look like? And got it all figured out. And that's kind of when I realized, like, I'll put something that I've always had a passion for at the top of my goals list and actually study it.
Tessa Kresch:So the filmmakers club is kind of a hub for a bunch of people who are interested in the same thing to talk about the thing they love the most. Can you describe the club a little bit more to me? What's the history of it?
Logan:So history wise, back like you said in the eighties, a guy by the name of Sam Raimi founded the club. He came here 1st semester and founded the club. And if you don't know who that is, he directed the original 3 Spider Man with Tobey Maguire. He's done a lot of other stuff, but those are, like, what most people know him by. So he founded this club and then left to make Evil Dead, I think it's called.
Clay:Yeah. Evil Dead.
Logan:The Evil Dead movies, which is awesome. So that's kind of the history of it. We've been going since then, but really, actually, Clay and I were talking about this, at dinner right before we came here. The filmmakers club is really just a place where we bring people in to collaborate with like minded people. It's like the DS major is very large, and they're not all filmmakers.
Logan:We've got broadcasters with the multicam program, people that specialize in audio. It's not just filmmakers. And we don't wanna be just a club for filmmakers. So if you have any passion for movies and wanna see you know, maybe you like writing, but maybe you are studying marketing. It's a place for everybody.
Logan:And we kind of just to describe the club, we want it to be, like I said, a hub for like minded individuals to come out and be able to express their creativity, network a little bit, and just make friends with people that maybe they wouldn't see on a daily basis.
Tessa Kresch:It seems like a fantastic spot for people who are interested in it and aren't necessarily pursuing it as a career as well.
Logan:100%. Yeah.
Tessa Kresch:What about people who are interested in acting or doing different avenues of filmmaking other than directing?
Logan:Is there
Tessa Kresch:a place for them in there?
Clay:I was gonna say because, like, typically, in terms of, like, just say, like, majors that we get, like, we get film majors, English majors, and even, like, engineering majors. Like, one of our friends is engineering. And so I'd say for, like, acting, I def there's definitely a place for everyone in terms of, like so one of the big things that we do, which I can go in more detail later, we do, like, a, like, semester long short film. Oh. And granted, that's, like, kind of, I guess, out of our hands.
Clay:It's more in the hands of everyone else who's there, and they just collaborate, somehow make a film by the end of the semester. So, like, what I'm saying is definitely for, like, actors, there's definitely a place there. Film majors who, like, love and appreciate film for what it is, they can obviously, like, collaborate and kinda, kinda, like, dive into filmmaking, of course, because film majors is more of a different realm than digital storytelling from what I know.
Logan:And I'd like to add to that too. There are a lot of actors there. So we went through some eboard changes. So I started this year as a member, and I formed a group. So, like, for the red carpet event, I have a group.
Logan:2 of the guys in that group are just pure actors. So a lot of actors do come because if you're listening to this and you're thinking about being an actor or a filmmaker, knowing it all is very important. Like, acting in these things, a lot of actors I mean, we just saw Margot Robbie. She was just a producer and I think a co director for Barbie, but she started as an actor. Like, it's very important to see the way everything runs.
Logan:So I personally know 2 actors just in my group, and there's 5 groups just in my group. There's 2 of them that that's just what they wanna do. Like, they don't care about the directing, the producing. They just wanna be actors, but they're there for the fun of it. Like, they just love how collaborative it is.
Logan:So there's definitely a spot for everybody, especially actors, though, because we we have a lot of them.
Tessa Kresch:Describe a typical meeting.
Clay:Typically, we have our meetings on Wednesdays and Wells, typically room b 122. It's different every day. There's always, like I always have, like, slides to present in front of the group, and we do a bunch of whole, like, wide array of activities. So, occasionally, we'll do, like, a mini filmmaking challenge where it's like, alright. You have the entire hour to film whatever.
Clay:And then, typically, someone will edit it, and then they'll send it in, like, the next week. So then we can, like, kinda watch them
Tessa Kresch:Oh, fun.
Clay:At the beginning. Yeah. So it's a very fun thing. But granted, it's like I know it's, like, very stressful because Yeah. Typically, we'll give them, like, a prompt.
Clay:Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's, like, maybe we don't know it, but it's a little hard. Like, I know one of our last ones, it was, like, have a character of Sparty and have, like, a fight scene or something like that. Oh. But it's a very fun and, like but it is very stressful as well.
Clay:But it's, like, it's a very short term kinda stress thing. Like, it's not meant to be a huge thing.
Tessa Kresch:You mentioned groups. Are those the groups that you're doing these prompts with?
Clay:I think that's how it started out. Mhmm. We're kinda like, alright. Get into your groups. So we kinda like nudged them to like, hey.
Clay:Turn around and talk to people behind you or in front of you. And, like, from there, it kinda just, like, gives birth to, like, their friendship or whatever type of relations they have to because then we introduced the semester short film group kinda later, and then they kinda turned to those same buddies again. And they're like, hey. Do you wanna work on a film together? And then they will.
Tessa Kresch:They're used to collaborating with each other. Exactly. I wanna talk about this semester long film. How does that work?
Clay:It's still relatively a new thing. So the last eboard for last year started it. I don't know how they got the idea, but it's an amazing idea just because it gives a little more, like, I guess, like, of a long term goal for the club. So, like, typically, when you go, we'll have aside from, like, the short fill like, the very short filmmaking challenges, we'll have, like, like, trivia nights. We'll have, like, movie screenings, just like other games and whatnot.
Clay:I feel like when having, like, that long term goal in mind of having a film that you wanna have done by, say, in December and then the next one in April, I think it just, like, broadens your scope of, like, okay. I wanna make a serious, like, short film. And sure, you're given 4 months, but I know some people right now actually are working on, like, films that'll go expand way further, which is great. Because, like, I keep going back to filmmakers is a place where we kinda just, like, get, like, you know, people come together. They love film.
Clay:They love whatever. And you kinda just, like, figure out what you wanna do, and they work great together.
Logan:The kids, they form their own groups. And then we it's not a class, so so there's no firm deadlines, obviously, and we want people to have fun with it. But, like, our event this year is December 4th
Clay:Yep.
Logan:Which is the Wednesday before finals. And so pretty much, like, two and a half months ago, they formed their groups. And we're like, December 4th, we're doing the red carpet event. Produce something for us.
Tessa Kresch:Oh, okay.
Logan:Let's let's look at it. And we do awards. So they'll send it to us before, and, obviously, it's not, like, you know, the Grammys. We're not actually yeah. But it's, like, we'll watch the films and then tailor awards to them.
Logan:So, like, we won for lost in a memory, we won best audio, and we wrote, like what was it? You you had to have won something, like it was, like, best angry scene. He played a bad guy.
Clay:Clay Clay played a bad guy. That was for a separate short film. I don't know if you remember that.
Logan:Oh, it was the one that you and I worked on. Yes.
Clay:Yeah. It was the one I can't oh, man.
Logan:The filmmaking challenge. Yeah.
Clay:It was a filmmaking challenge. It was a late submission, and then I got an award for that, which was funny, like an angry, caffeinated, I don't know, something something.
Logan:So it's such
Tessa Kresch:a very tailored award.
Clay:I've never seen that
Tessa Kresch:on, like Yeah.
Clay:They're very particular, but, like, that's a fun thing. So we'll probably, like, we'll definitely repeat it. Like, it's like a little paper plate or it doesn't matter what it is. It just it melts.
Tessa Kresch:Since being involved, have you discovered what you wanna do within film? Is it directing?
Logan:Oh, definitely. Not not well, directing would be cool. But I definitely found out early on that I wanna be a producer, and I know a lot of people actually in the club that to allude, we're just talking about the short film project. A lot of people actually figure out what they wanna be. I saw last year on a short film project.
Logan:So Clay and I worked on 1 Yeah. And we didn't really have any set roles. My buddy, Jonah, wanted to direct. So I was, like, alright. Be the director.
Logan:Like, if that's what you wanna do, do it. And he was the cinematographer as well. And I was, like, you know, like, I like managing. I kinda like these things. So I was the producer of it, and I really liked that.
Logan:So that that really helps. And I think then too, like, Jonah realized, like, oh, I really wanna be a cinematographer. And then we had a guy running audio for us that has his own band, but he was like, oh, man. This is my first time running audio for a film. I love this.
Logan:Like and he doesn't go here anymore. He transferred out, but he was even, like, texting me at the beginning of this year. He's like, if you're working on something, please hit me up. Like, I'll come out. And it's like, he lives kinda far away, so he's willing to drive for this too.
Logan:So I definitely found out what I wanted to be through the club last year, and I I know it's the same for other people too.
Tessa Kresch:I think there's so much to be said about these extracurricular experiences and how they can teach you sometimes more than the classroom environment can.
Clay:Oh, yeah. For sure.
Logan:Yeah. And that's part of the reason why we do the short film thing. It's funny because I changed my major, like I said, at the end of my 1st semester here. So last spring is when I picked up the DS major. And I showed up to class one day.
Logan:I saw Clay. I actually went to high school with Clay, and I just saw him, and I'm like, oh my gosh, Clay. And then I saw, you know, Jonah, our engineering friend. We're all good friends still. But that was one of those things where you get onto a set to see what it's really like, and by no means was our production last year a real set.
Clay:Oh, no. But, like, I will say, like, going off campus, that's what we did for Yeah. For a film. Because I know a lot of people probably stay on campus. That's great.
Clay:Like, we would be in a dorm. We actually filmed in a dining hall, which granted and you probably should email ahead of time. We did not do that the best way, but, you know, we're we're amateurs. It's fun. But at the same time so we went off campus for the majority of our film.
Clay:And even though, like you said, it wasn't, like, a real authentic I mean, I don't wanna say authentic. It was it wasn't like a real set. It was, like, authentic enough to, like, give that sense where it's like, okay. Yeah. This feels way more real.
Logan:We learned so many skills from it too. So it was like, gosh. It wasn't soft skills, like, talking to people, but in a film sense, it was those soft skills. Like, we didn't have 800 people working for us. We didn't have a payroll.
Logan:It was us 2 and, like, 5 other dudes.
Clay:That was not a big
Logan:And 2 actors, and it was a girl I met 3 days before we shot and a girl I knew from high school. Like, it wasn't, like, a real set, but you learn kind of the flow and, like, okay. I need to get these props. How am I gonna do this? Those skills translate.
Tessa Kresch:Right.
Logan:So in the class right now, we're learning a lot on kind of the more fundamentals. We're learning how to run some cameras, and that's something maybe we'll start that next year, but that's not something we do with the filmmakers club. But you can really get in a team and learn how those teamwork aspects flow and the baseline of, like, what does this look like on set? Like, what would a cinematographer do? Those are things that you learn from experience.
Tessa Kresch:Right.
Logan:And that's something that we can give people through our club. It's that experience. It's nothing professional, but you start understanding more and more what's actually happening.
Tessa Kresch:And how to be resourceful.
Clay:Yes. Exactly. Yeah.
Tessa Kresch:Tell me about this film that you guys worked on. What was it called?
Clay:So, yeah, I was just actually just looking it up.
Tessa Kresch:Looking it up?
Clay:Well, because No. No.
Logan:I completely forgot what it was called.
Clay:That's why I was looking at the gosh. I was going to the filmmakers This is
Tessa Kresch:the one that you made together or
Logan:Yes.
Clay:This was uploaded 6 months ago to A Loss in a Memory. Okay.
Tessa Kresch:So
Clay:this is the one that Jonah directed. You produced. I was an actor in this film. I think I was also just a writer.
Tessa Kresch:Tell me about the process, what it takes to make a product.
Clay:I remember when when we for first formed our group. Our group was relatively big, so maybe it was, like, 15 ish people. And at some point, like, after the semester, we're like because, you know, not everyone goes to every single meeting. And something that we're also trying to do this year as well, I don't want it to seem like it's a very serious commitment where it's like, okay, guys. This is like, it's supposed to be a very fun, like, filmmaking thing.
Clay:But, like, obviously, some people are way more committed than others, we got. And so I think somewhere yeah. It was probably, like, 9, 8 ish people. So in terms of writing, there were so many ideas, like, thrown around because there was, like, 9 of us. We're, like, just throwing ideas back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and seeing what stuck.
Clay:Eventually, we got something that stuck, and then we just went in the writing phase. And the writing phase took maybe, like, a month and a half. Wow. It was long.
Tessa Kresch:Who led the writing?
Clay:It was almost all of us. That's really cool.
Logan:It was very, very collaborative. We met up at the library once a week for, like I I'm pretty sure we put, like, a 6 hour day in at the library. No.
Clay:I remember that. Yeah.
Tessa Kresch:Wow.
Logan:Yeah.
Clay:So fun, though. Like, it it didn't seem like stressful. I'm like, alright. I'm just out here, like, writing something, and it's hopefully gonna turn out great.
Logan:And this was one of those things where it's like, now that we look now that we know more and look back, that's very unrealistic
Clay:Yes.
Logan:In a real film sense. However, it was seriously, we had people drop because
Clay:It was just kinda like whatever.
Logan:For many reasons, we had many people drop, so is us too and, like, 4 or 5 other dudes. And we would just get together once a week, and we were just bouncing script ideas off of each other. And we we really wrote it together. I wouldn't say that. There are definitely people that contributed more than others, but I wouldn't say somebody really streamlined the whole process.
Logan:We had a very, like, open collaborative discussion about it.
Clay:Yeah. And once we have, like, our ideas set in stone, then it's like because I always worry, like, so many people, people are gonna bounce off each other, and then, like, someone's gonna go astray and, like, have their own idea and then change everything about it. And it's like, I mean, we can do that, but it's like, we we shouldn't because it's gonna change everything, and we don't have the time to do that.
Tessa Kresch:But awesome that you were able to be in on the writing experience because I don't think a tip producer or director typically is that involved.
Logan:Depends on the one. Sometimes, like, let's say, for example, like a Marvel movie. Right? Marvel will write a script, and then they'll probably the producer is there the whole time. So the producer, like, runs everything, which not a lot of people know.
Logan:Everybody thinks the director is the boss. The producer runs it all. So Marvel will have a producer or, like, Lucasfilm for Star Wars. They'll have a producer, and then they might pitch that script to 7 directors. And then there's a bidding war.
Logan:Really, it's a money thing. Or Steven Spielberg just announced a new movie. He wrote that script, or he paid somebody to do it. Christopher Nolan, who's, like, my inspiration, he's a great writer. So he actually like, Inception, my favorite movie, it took him over 10 years to write.
Logan:Wow. So he was writing Inception for 10 years, and this was while he was making the Dark Knight trilogies and while he was working on everything else. And then he goes and pitches those ideas, which is helpful because his wife is always his producer. But, usually, the producer is really involved with the writing team because the producer runs with the money. So he wants to make sure the people he's paying are kinda doing their thing, and then they'll give that to a director.
Logan:So it really just depends on on the production.
Tessa Kresch:Yeah. And then what's next? What's the next step after the script is written?
Clay:Well, I know when we were writing the script, I know we were also, like, working on the storyboard kind of at the same time. Mhmm. And I that can, like, typically, I guess, that's how it goes.
Logan:So the typical process would go to you'd write the script and then shot list and storyboard. We knew none of that. Our storyboard sucked. I
Clay:don't even think we shot list. I didn't think
Logan:We didn't shot we didn't do a shot list. Our storyboard was terrible. We had, like, the very basic version of it.
Tessa Kresch:So just like stick figures? Is that what that looks like?
Clay:Well Shot list is more of, like it looks like a very it's, like, kind of like a big Excel sheet, and you're kinda just like, alright. It's kinda like the prioritize, like, where actors will be and, like, prioritize, like, their time. Because, like, for example, if you have an actor who's only in one scene at the very end, you might wanna shoot that first so you don't waste their time. And it's, like, in terms of financing and stuff, like, in an actual set, you're not gonna wanna keep them their entire time because
Tessa Kresch:That's very considerate.
Clay:Yeah. And this is considerate. Yeah.
Logan:Yeah. But a storyboard, like, I am no artist. My stick figures are worse than most. So it would be like a stick figure set up just kinda like, oh, this is kind of what I want it to look like, and they're gonna be doing something with their stick arms and then translating that. That's what we did.
Logan:That's not always how it goes. A lot of professionals actually do that. See, I would say we did we did a very minimal storyboard.
Clay:Yeah.
Logan:And then,
Clay:I feel like then what? We just got into kind of casting and just went right to it.
Logan:We went right into casting, which was a very short process and, which you
Tessa Kresch:just girl you met 3 days ago and a friend from high school.
Logan:Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.
Clay:I was kinda, like, somewhere in between all this process, I was like, yeah. I'll be fine acting, and then somewhere that way, like, Clay, we need you. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Clay:Not my strong suit, but I don't mind acting. It's a
Tessa Kresch:And I am the best angry
Clay:Apparently. Something Best angry cafe. It's because I always like to think about this, though, where we got from that process of, okay. Now we have a story. We have like, not only do we have an idea with, like, everything.
Clay:Now we just need to actually, like, execute and do it. Something that I love about filmmaking, I love like, it's kinda like frantic type of energy in terms of, like, okay. Let's do this, and it's like you only have this amount of time to do this. And it's like, alright. Let's let's make a masterpiece or something.
Clay:And I don't know. I just I love that energy. I feel like I can only feel from, like, filmmaking where I I only describe it as, like, frantic, but, like, in a good way where it's like it's so exciting. And there's so many moving parts, and so many people have other responsibilities and different jobs, and then there's just so many different things happening. It's a very fun process, and that's kinda what it was like when we were shooting this where, okay, I was acting.
Clay:In general, it was directing. You were producing. We had so many things happening all at once.
Logan:We did 2 shooting dates. The first date, we shot I would say we probably shot for about 3 and a half hours. And then the 2nd day at the apartment, that was our long day.
Clay:Yeah. That's what I immediately jumped to. Yeah.
Logan:We probably did that. I mean, no. It's probably, like, 8 hours. I think we started at 2 PM, and I think we probably wrapped up around 10, 10:15. Yeah.
Logan:We got
Clay:food and everything.
Logan:Yeah. That that includes we did take a break there because that's always important.
Clay:You gotta do that. Honestly, it's such a good morale boost. Like, in terms of, like, our other filmmaking projects, like, for our classes and stuff, taking a break and, like, eating, like, we just get pizza in between or something. Yeah. It's it helps tremendously.
Clay:It's insane.
Tessa Kresch:Yeah. I mean, it is, like, long nights, crazy hours, and everybody's balancing this on top of school. So it really speaks to how passionate everybody is and that everybody gets that thrill of being on set. You talked about these moving pieces. We've talked sound and producing, directing.
Tessa Kresch:What are the other ways that people can be involved on set?
Logan:Well, depending on what you're doing for your project, the scope. Really, a real set, you're gonna have, PAs, production assistants. And, I mean, they are, like, almost like the backbone of it. Like, they're setting everything up. They know all the moving pieces.
Logan:So, like, we talked about all these things, but lighting is huge. Having people that know what they're doing with the lights are huge. On set
Clay:That at audio.
Logan:Yeah. Audio audio is huge. On set, really making sure people are staying on task. That's kind of a producer's role. And then, there's the 1st AD, 1st assistant director that it's kind of their role to make sure everybody stays focused.
Logan:So there's a lot. I mean, you can even edit on set. You can be an on set editor if that's something you want. They you could film a scene really quick, pop out the SD card, throw a new one in, give the SD card to the editor, and the editor can just start right there to make sure they got everything covered so we don't need to do a reshoot.
Tessa Kresch:Wow. I've never heard of that.
Logan:In in the real do this in your film or
Clay:no?
Logan:No way. No. No. You can do that. If you're listening to this and you're a filmmaker, think about that if you haven't thought about it because it saves you time.
Logan:And in the real world, not saying this isn't real, but when you're getting paid to do this stuff, that time's money. You know, like, if you're on a big production and let's say you're using an a list actor and you didn't get everything on the day of because, you know, you didn't have somebody editing on set. Okay. Now you need so called a a list actor to take more time out of their schedule.
Clay:And they may not be able to do that because they gotta sign a contract, and that contract's already over. They could be on the other side of the world. And if you ask, hey. Can you come back? And they were like, I can't.
Clay:And then it's also like, how much are you gonna pay me? It's like Yeah. Yeah. It'd be way more expensive. So you really gotta keep those contracts in line.
Logan:And you gotta pay the whole crew too. So these are things that we'd recommend doing now. We're all gonna we're all filmmakers. We're all made stuff, and it's important. A lot of professionals tell young people to think of yourself as that.
Logan:So you're not, like, demeaning yourself as, like, oh, I'm just a kid. No. You're a filmmaker. So if you wanna make sure that you're set up with these good habits for when somebody's paying you, or if you're lucky enough, you might be paying somebody in the future.
Clay:That's what I'm saying. Yeah.
Logan:So, like, making sure you think of all these things because that's super important. So there's way more that goes into it. There is more that goes into it now that I'm learning about it than I thought when I was watching return of the Sith in my basement doing research.
Clay:I was gonna ask, what what third Star Wars movie was it? Was it return of the Sith? Or no? Revenge of the Sith.
Logan:Revenge of the Sith. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Logan:Yeah. Revenge of the Sith. Like So we're gonna do that. When I'm doing the research on it, I I mean, I'm seeing all the big names. Right?
Logan:But there's there's 8 or 9 big titles and then 15 minutes of credits. So you sit there, 8 or 9 titles don't go through 15 minutes of credits, and those people are making a living. The the really tiny names that you can't even read in the theater Mhmm. Are making a living just by being that really tiny name. So there's just so much more that goes into it than I ever imagined.
Logan:And I sound I know I sound dumb saying this, but, like, dude, if you would've told me that on some of these major movies, like, I've done a lot of research on Inception. That's my favorite one. Like, I would've been like, oh, yeah. There's probably, like, 25 people on set. Yeah.
Logan:A professional would sit there and laugh at me and think 25. How about 200? Yeah. You know?
Clay:No. Because, like, if you actually, like, sit and watch, like, a full movie, like, sit and, like, watch the credits afterwards, like, say something like Star Wars, for example Yeah. It's gonna go on for maybe, like, 20 maybe not 20 minutes, but, like, I mean, it might. I don't know. It depends on the genre of the movie.
Clay:So, like, if it's action, probably be a huge bunch. If it's something like sci fi fantasy, also huge just because it's like, I don't even know the whole realm of, like, VFX. Special effect. Yeah. It's like all of those artists and, god, that's gotta be expensive as well.
Clay:Yeah. But it's like I'd assume, like, maybe, like, something like maybe, like, a romcom. Maybe not too many on set. May I could be wrong.
Tessa Kresch:You'd still be surprised.
Clay:Yeah. Exactly.
Logan:So Maybe 400 and not a 1,000. But
Clay:But that's something I definitely recommend. Like, after watching a movie, just sit and watch the credits and see how long it goes and if you can any of the name jump out to you.
Tessa Kresch:Absolutely. And it takes the experience in order to learn all these little facets of film that watching a movie just couldn't do.
Logan:100%.
Tessa Kresch:Do you showcase your work to the public as part of the clip?
Logan:We have a red carpet event, which not
Clay:not Woah.
Logan:It's public. I'm putting into quotes here. If you are a student, we're actually Clay and I are just talking, we're gonna market it this year. We want students to come. That's something where I wouldn't say public as in community members are really going to.
Logan:However, it's public to the students here, or faculty if they wanna come watch it. And I know just to allude to this a little bit, the project I'm working on this year, we're not gonna have done by December 4th. So I'm in very minor works right now talking to Clay because I know another group is doing something kind of on a larger scope of actually doing something where we market a test screening, because that's very important. So that might be something that we have open to the public late winter, early spring. So my group can showcase few things.
Logan:The other group can showcase, or we can just show off some of the work that everybody's done in a test screening. So as as of right now, it's not public as in community members, more public to students.
Tessa Kresch:Absolutely. And if anybody's interested in getting involved in the Filmmakers Club, how can they go about that?
Clay:So we have the GroupMe. We have an Instagram, and we have the YouTube. So for our YouTube, the MSU Filmmakers Club, you can find us at the MSU Filmmakers Club 5:30. Is it
Tessa Kresch:there that you can watch people's films?
Clay:Yeah. A lot of them. Some of them are sometimes, like, just some of the shorter filmmaking challenges we've done throughout this semester, but also just, like, our other, like, semester long films. For the Instagram, it's just the MSU Filmmakers Club. That's actually just type in MSU Filmmakers Club.
Clay:It has a little camera logo on it with, of course, a few Spartans. Then, yeah, there's a link for you there, and it should have GroupMe.
Logan:Oh, I will add this talking about actors earlier. The GroupMe is actually a big place where filmmakers will try to get actors. So that is something there too where maybe there is a place for you at the meetings. But if you can't make the meetings and you're an actor, I'd say probably 1 or 2 a week come by the group me of, like, hey. I'm filming this short film for class.
Logan:It's gonna be x amount of minutes. I'm looking for a male that can do x, y, and z, and a female that is blonde. Please hit me up. So there are there's definitely a good space for actors in the GroupMe to really showcase their talent as well. Because, like, I know Clay and I are in a lot of the same classes together, and we're gonna be throughout the rest of, like, our time here.
Logan:But, I mean, we produce a fair amount of content, and we need actors. So groups text all the time. Like, hey. I need actors, and the filmmakers club people go to to do that.
Clay:They the GroupMe and the Instagram are very big. In terms of, like, the GroupMe, of course, we have just, like, people search for actors, but also just there's just events going on in terms of people post about, like, film screenings or maybe there'll be an actor in town or a director in town that haven't last year once. And, of course, our Instagram is just good for keeping up to date on, like, what we'll be doing in the following weeks and what to expect. So it's very great places to connect to both of
Logan:those.
Tessa Kresch:And that's it for today's show. Thank you everyone who's involved in the making of this podcast. If you like what you've heard, come back next week. I'm Tessa Creusch. You've been listening to Xposure.
Tessa Kresch:This was this week's episode of Exposure. Keep in mind that the views and opinions discussed on Exposure are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff at Impact 89 FM. If you're interested in going back and listening to our archive of stories, feel free to check out our site at impact89fm.org. And of course, if you're interested in what's going on next week, you can tune back in and we'll see you back here. You've been listening to Exposed.