2008 Woodie Awards
Ready for a close-up
By: Fan Ji
Issue date: 7/2/08 Section: News
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SWAMP was created in 2000. The club has regular meetings, workshops and social events related to filmmaking and film appreciation.
In a 2002 interview with The Battalion, Vishwanand Shetti, class of 2003, said the club began with a group of students in the film society, but they became more interested in production and directorial aspects of filmmaking rather than viewing the films.
The club has expanded its membership from 12 to 15 to more than 90 participants, during an eight-year stretch.
Many of the members work on more than one aspect of the moviemaking process, whether in front of a camera, behind a camera or in other roles - some SWAMP members have gone on to graduate school in visualization sciences, a department in the College of Architecture, and to work in the film industry.
A lot of the members joined SWAMP with no prior moviemaking experience and came to see what it was like.
"Everyone is encouraged to participate," said Alleigh Schulz, a senior agricultural journalism and French major and the vice president of SWAMP, "Whether it is holding the boom mic - which is my favorite part - acting, being the gopher who gets supplies, working behind the scenes or editing."
New members don't need to worry about how to get started because SWAMP encourages people of various experience levels to get involved. Filmmaking is explained through 10-minute instructional sessions at the beginning of each meeting. The group also has a new member film school, which usually takes place at the beginning of each semester. The group meets every week throughout the year in Langford Building C.
Most of the films SWAMP produces are shorts. These range in length from a few minutes to half an hour. In 2006, SWAMP helped produce five short comedies, four short suspense films, two commercials and one short action trailer, among other projects.
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