A TV and a laptop give off a soft glow in Mike Hubber's dark living room. The film and video studies senior doesn't have the money to replace the burned-out light bulbs in his apartment because his extra money goes to feed his passion for movies.

"I've gone a month on Ramen and asked people for money on the street because of money lost on making a film," Hubber said. "I don't have anything here. I'm dirt poor."

Many student filmmakers, like Hubber, are starved for resources in their expensive medium. They try to cut every possible corner in order to create a great movie and a respectable resume by the time they leave college and enter a competitive job market.

When Hubber has available funds, he uses it to create a film, he said. One film cost Hubber about $1,000.

Hubber said his specialty is special effects because they can be done very cheaply.

"Toxie's Terrible Roommate" is the title of a short film that is an homage to Hubber's favorite director, Lloyd Kaufman, he said.

The over-the-top comedic horror movie cost Hubber almost nothing due to his special effects.

"I used a lot of stuff that I had around the house," Hubber said. "It probably cost me between zero and $2."

The $2 included a melon left over from his breakfast that he used to make a head that the zombie-like character, Toxie, could crush. He used makeup left from Halloween to make Toxie into a decaying creature that looked as if it came from the dredges of a swamp, he said.

Cutting Costs

Many film and video studies students spend large sums of money on their films.

o Students' films can cost anywhere from thousands of dollars to nothing.

o Some students utilize the university's resources to keep the cost down.

o Many student filmmakers also take on several roles, such as writer, director, producer, actor, camerman and chauffeur, to lower the price of making their films.

Hubber's next movie is going to be his cheapest yet, he said. But it is also his most ambitious, because it will be a drama. He said he looks forward to submitting it to film festivals with hopes of getting some attention. Hubber said he has had little luck with festivals in the past.

"My stuff isn't very well received by festivals," he said. "One of my films didn't even get shown, and I paid a $25 entrance fee."

Though $25 would buy enough light bulbs for his house and provide a few palatable meals, Hubber's passion for making films always comes first.

The price of making a film can rise sharply when a student intends to compete on a higher level. Without money to pay for a crew and equipment, a film may flop even before filming starts.

Brian Cates, another film and video studies senior, is a writer, director, producer, cameraman, caterer, set designer, prop designer, actor and chauffeur for his latest movie, "The Remains." His movie will cost about $1,000, most of which will come out of his own pocket and from tax-deductible donations by his parents, he said.

His costs include a fake corpse for $160 from eBay, $60 on wardrobe, two urns for about $25, half a coffin for about $50, a dolly track for about $50, gas for his crew to be on site in Henryetta for about $150, tapes for about $150 and about $250 to replace the windshield of his car after one actor breaks it with a rock in the movie.

All of this is required for what will be a short, 10-minute comedy, he said.

"It seems with [film and video studies], people are using family for money, part-time job checks and money from excess student loans to pay for films," Cates said.

Cates' film is one of the more expensive films done by film and video studies students this year, he said. Most films are made for $200 or less.

The most expensive parts of the ultimate product are props, catering and paying to house a crew of 12 for two nights almost 100 miles from OU, Cates said.

Levi Lee, a media junior with an emphasis on film and video, said film equipment is very expensive and the school's free equipment is a reliable alternative.

"It's spectacularly free," Lee said. "All that you need is there."

One hundred feet of film costs about $20 a roll and will cover about two minutes and 45 seconds of film, he said.

Lee's seven-minute short used about 500 feet of film costing about $100, he said.

Lee must then pay $20 to $30 a roll to develop the film, and the department does not do that, he said.

"For developing we have to front the bill ourselves," Lee said. "It will cost me $400 to $450 out of pocket."

Once a movie is funded, filmmakers then have to concentrate on bringing together all the elements of a movie, said Ryan Lawson, film and video studies senior.

The most challenging part of being a student filmmaker is gathering the tools necessary to make a good movie, Lawson said.

"You have to scrap for cameras," Lawson said. "You have to work around the things that more financially backed filmmakers don't have to."

The first time Lawson participated in a film was during his freshman year, when he was an actor in a short film that was filmed on-site at a bar in Ponca City.

But things didn't exactly go as planned.

"The equipment that [the director] checked out was horrible," Lawson said. "We had all the crew, the cast, the whole shebang. OU has all this money, and we can't get a decent camera."

But the important thing for Lawson and other filmmakers is the work put into a film and displaying that work to an audience, he said.

"I think we get into the mundane, and when you get out there, we sell ourselves short," Lawson said. "I don't care if a movie takes 6 months or a year, as long as you get out what you envision rather than compromising to get something done."

There were 192 students majoring in film and video studies as of fall 2005, according to OU Institutional Research and Reporting.
hello there & you too