FEATURE
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how people use the restraints to make a film. We've had a group of 10-year-olds make a film for fun over the weekend and turn in an incredible, creative film."
Now in its sixth year, the Wild West Film Fest has become a fixture in Lawrence and its filmmaking scene. It has since branched off into a special horror division, the October Horror Wild West, and continues to grow larger every year, with more and more applicants.
Josh Nathan, Lawrence senior, acted in one of this year's placing films, *Pitches*, about a group of student filmmakers coming up with ideas for movies, which was also a Filmworks production. He says that Filmworks is a great way for aspiring student filmmakers in the film major to start making movies early. "In the department, you don't really get to do work until you're a junior or senior; there's a lot of prerequisites," Nathan says. "Filmworks lets freshmen or sophomores get involved."
LOST IN TRANSLATION
The Wild West Film Fest isn't the only festival in town anymore — it now shares the stage with the KU-endorsed International Film Fest. Now in its third year, the University-sponsored three-day festival exhibits a series of foreign films running in the Guanajuato Film Festival, a festival held in Guanajuato Capital, Mexico, since 1997, and hosts films from such diverse locales as Latin America, Sweden, France and the United States. The festival also features a segment of student films, with prizes going to the top three student-created films of the year. Ranging from horror to documentary, the winning films must stand out from a sea of competent, qualified student admissions.
BREAKING IN
For now, though, Filmworks remains the home for many who need a way to get a project off the ground in Lawrence, giving would-be filmmakers the chance to bring their visions to life. "It's something I've always wanted to do, and Filmworks gave me that opportunity," Alex Backus says.
If the measure of a program's success is how many of its graduates are able to find employment in the field, then KU's film department and Filmworks are resounding successes. Kevin Willmott emphasizes the program's capability to prepare students for careers in the real world. "We're trying to offer our students the best opportunities," he says. He says many of the film program graduates go on to join the film industry in California, specifically around Los Angeles, where much of the American film industry is centered.
Going to school for making movies sounds like a blast, but it's not as simple as picking up a camera and getting started. Production classes are only open to juniors and seniors, says Matt Jacobson, associate professor of film production. However, the following classes are available for freshmen and sophomores:
Josh Nathan has participated in internships in California as a result of his activity with the filmmaking opportunities at KU. "I've been lucky enough to work for a couple of production companies during summers in Los Angeles," Nathan says. "It was a great experience, and I hope to be able to move back out there again."
>> FMS 200: Film and Media Aesthetics
An introduction to filmmaking theories and the use of concepts like color, sound and editing. The course's emphasis is on learning to recognize elements of special sound and camera techniques, examples of which will be dissected and discussed in depth.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A FILM MAJOR
>> FMS 380: American Popular Culture
An analysis on how popular culture affects the social dynamics of America, with a focus on film. It covers various decades and sources, but taking the class with a film focus is necessary for applying to be a Film and Media Studies major.
This lecture teaches the basics of filmmaking. Students learn the structure of filmmaking, from lighting to shot types. Selected films are viewed and then analyzed for their cinematography and composition.
>> Film and Media Studies 100: Introduction to the Film Medium
GETTING INVOLVED IN FILMWORKS
KU Filmworks meets every Sunday night at 7 p.m. in Oldfather Studios. | 1621 W. 9th St.
Membership is open and free, but a one-time $20 charge is required to use or check out equipment.
No filmmaking experience required
Photos by Travis Young
Action! (1) KU Filmworks lets students check out the equipment needed to make a film. (2) Siona Baker (left) and Jessica Shuler, Jermore junior, review footage from KU Filmworks' project, *Bird of Prey*. (3) The crew film a night scene for their film *Bird of Prey*.
PREFERENCE
spaced across her lower back, the fuzzy borders of residue and lint that days-old Band-Aids leave after removal. But these aren't from Band-Aids. Each square represents a patch adhered to her skin applying the stimulant methylphenidate to boost alertness, energy and focus. A junior in architecture, Kerwin hoped to bend the limits of time, or at least of her own body, to meet a project deadline. The patches kept her awake for 78 hours straight.
Lizzy Alonzi, a junior in computer science, spent about 30 hours each week on homework for just one programming class. Grueling late nights spent staring at screens in Eaton Hall's computer lab wore down her mental and emotional health every week.
"It's too much," said Alonzi. "It's brutal."
Steven Heger had been dating Erin Brown for six years when he began building Formula-style cars for Jayhawk Motorsports, the University's automotive racing team and capstone project for
"Erin says I love the car more than her," Heger said.
Illustration by Kirk Whit
mechanical engineering seniors. He works 12 hours a day on the car, Monday through Friday, leaving little time for Erin, now his fiancee.
Here and at other universities across the country, time-intensive programs require students to work
50- to 100-hour weeks preparing for careers where such commitments are either compensated or illegal. Along the way, students must choose daily between their professional futures and their own health. Often, they endanger both.
Studio, the class and classroom where design models are built plays a demanding role in the world of architecture students.
"I started hallucinating," Kerwin said of her 78 hours without sleep. "It was before a review, where you take everything you completed before a project — site plans, floor plans and so on. Those are the times you get little sleep in studio."
They learn, work, eat and often sleep there in an attempt to bring design ideas to life as scaled-down buildings.
The patches Kerwin used were prescribed to her as an ADHD medication. Its makers recommend one per day for nine hours. She applied a fresh patch every eight hours, for three days.
When you work 74 hours every week something has to give.
That semester, Kerwin worked at studio most nights from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m., or "around eight hours a night, five days a week." That's 40 hours — for most, a full workweek. The actual class for Kerwin's studio met three times each week for four
and a half hours each class. That's 13 and a half hours. On rough weeks, Kerwin would pull two "all nighters," working straight through until morning. That's 12 more. Adding it up, she often worked 65 hours per week, all for one class. If Kerwin opted to attend her non-studio classes instead of squeezing in a nap, that number rose to 74 hours.
But when you work 74 hours every.
week, something has to give.
With little time to cook healthy meals, she ate mostly junk food, preferably Cheez-Its. She rarely exercised or maintained friendships with students outside of studio. She drank so many Rockstar energy drinks to stay up one semester that, as a joke, she began pinning them on her studio's wall. There were more than 100 cans in all. The high caffeine in energy drinks causes dehydration, and dehydration causes kidney stones, which Kerwin developed in following months.
SEE TIME ON PAGE 3A
INDEX
Classifieds...9A
Crossword...7A
Cryptoquips...7A
Opinion...6A
Sports...10A
Sudoku...7A
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Forecasts by University students. For a complete detailed forecast for the week, see page 24.
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Highway speed limits may rise because of new bill
Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill that will allow multi-lane highways to raise speed from 70 mph to 75 mph. '
FOOTBALL | 10A
Annual football spring game set for Saturday
The coaches will decide if this game will be in a traditional game format or a less-formal defense versus offense game.
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