Semester's end finds a majority of the OU student community preparing for finals with their heads in the books. But in the basement of the Old Science Hall film, students taking the Guerrilla Filmmaking course are talking to each other, criticizing and discussing their projects.

The students enrolled in the class will each show the films they've been working on all semester Friday at 5:30 p.m. in room 103 of Old Science Hall.

Jeffrey Van Hanken, instructor for the class, teaches the students aesthetics in the shooting process. Many of the films made this semester focus on the minute details of setting and character tics in place of following a moment of action.

Film and video studies junior Danny Moore is one of the many students in the only "hands on" filmmaking class in the film and video studies program.

Moore's film "Deadbolt" follows a paranoid girl who may or may not be followed through her apartment complex. Through single shots of the blinds from outside the window, dark and narrow hallways Moore utilizes the theories taught in the class.

David West, film and video studies junior, dealt with multiple absences from his actors by crafting a psychological piece about a lonesome murderer. With rapid cuts and use of silhouettes, West created suspense without a full cast. He even cut his own hair to play the role of his other personality.

"I didn't write a script and just went," West said. "Some of us have never made a film before."

Film and video studies junior Taylor Bolding's science fiction type film was postponed when an actor's uncle died. He replaced it with a film completely composed over one weekend about two feuding, Tim Burton-loving roommates.

Other students employed acting help from friends and even drama students. Van Hanken said one of the most common issues students run into is acting.

"It takes a lot of scrounging and scavenging," Van Hanken said. "If this were shot in L.A. then you would have a hundred headshots."

Jeff Mims' film "Death Do Us Part" is a study of alcohol abuse in a relationship. Mims wrote and performed the musical score for the film and used actors from the drama department.

"I've always been a musician and I knew in college it would either be music or film," Mims said. Mims said he plans on improving his film and taking it out on the festival circuit.

Lacey Besse, film and video studies junior, said that most of the students in the class had never made a film before and learned from the experience.

"I think this class shows its tough for us to deal with difficulties, but also everyone still produced a fine movie," Besse said.

At the end of a snowy week Barrett Zimmerman, senior film and video studies senior, was holed up in the Old Science Hall library editing his film "Foggy Robbery."

"I've been in this department for years, and I've learned more in this class than any other I've taken," Zimmerman said. "[I've learned] practical filmmaking."

Anyone interested in seeing the student films for free may attend the final screening.
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