At the end of a long week, it is not unheard of for students to binge watch their favorite Netflix show. Movie watching gives viewers the chance to relax, unwind and escape for a little while. The Film Production Society is taking the viewer experience to the next level by allowing students to watch and judge a series of student film work.

The Film Production Society is holding its first annual Campus Film Symposium Friday at 7 p.m. at the Behavioral Science Building room 101. The free event showcases a series of short student films and allows the attendees to vote on their favorite film.

The event will start with a highlight reel which previews the six student entries and then lead into the viewing of six short student film pieces, where audience members can evaluate. There will be awards and the viewing of the Film Production Society’s own film “The Runner.”

The Film Production Society, created by first year biomedical sciences major Jacob Berg and formed last semester, serves as a place for students to get involved with creative film work. Outside of working with CTV, CSU’s  student broadcast program.

“One thing that CSU didn’t seem to have much of was a creative film program, and so we wanted to give the students who wanted to do that a chance to try it out, even if they didn’t have prior experience,” Berg said.

The club, while not officially connected with the university due to issues regarding film ownership, is sponsored by the University Honors Program and the Office of Undergraduate Research and Artistry. It has allowed students with a variety of different film backgrounds to come together and collaborate.

“We just have this huge range of experience from people who have never acted before to people who have been doing this for a huge amount of time,” Berg said. “We’ve got people with fighting experience, people who just want to try this stuff out, people who never knew they were good at acting until they came into this and then we just had people volunteering out of the woodwork going ‘that looks really cool. I want to try that.'” 

First year Allyson Fyfe, art and anthropology double major, got involved with the club after being encouraged to go to one of the club meetings by her roommate. She became a film editor for “The Runner,” and made an on-screen appearance. After participating in her first day of filming, Fyfe said she got hooked.

“It was just a really good time, and I was like this is something that I want to keep doing,” Fyfe said.

Her involvement in the club has not only been a source of enjoyment, but it has also helped her focus her art major. Fyfe’s film work has lead her to look into an art concentration in electronic arts, which includes video editing and animation.

The idea for the film symposium came from the desire to give students the chance to showcase their work and give them a goal to work towards.

“It kind of took off from (students) wanting to have somewhere to send movies to,” Berg said.

One of the student submissions is a four minute introduction to graduating mathematics major Dylan Drendel’s documentary “Let’s Talk about Education.” The documentary is part of Drendel’s honors thesis and aims to take an objective look at education.

“My goal (of the documentary)  is just to get people to think about it and open a discussion about education,” Drendel said. “The whole documentary is about starting that discussion.”

For both Drendel and Berg, they hope that the symposium will inspire students to get involved with videography. 

“I just want to inspire people to go out own their own and tell their own story,” Drendel said. “Just grab a camera and go. It’s easier than it’s ever been before.”

For more information regarding the Film Production Society visit their associated Facebook page or email starwatchersstudios@gmail.com.

Collegian Reporter Nicole Towne can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @nicole_towne21.