This year's SunDeis Film Festival hosted a vast variety of student films that ranged from comedies to documentaries. On Saturday, filmgoers had a chance to meet with a group of directors, editors and actors to get an inside look into the filmmaking process, from conception to screen. Films were inspired by a variety of sources including personal experiences and humanitarian causes. Brian Fromm '11 ("Matt and Brian's Excellent Adventure") talked about getting involved with a film festival at his high school and making a movie with his high school classmate Matt Kriegsman '11 after being galvanized by seeing a stop-motion YouTube clip. The festival was canceled, but they showed their film anyway at an impromptu replacement event held at Senior Dinner, an event held the night before graduation, and decided to continue experimenting with stop-motion, as evidenced by the film the duo created for SunDeis. Vlad Sillam '09, who worked on "Reveries and Chimeras," said he was inspired by the Brandeis campus and worked the story around his film locations.

One of the most obvious challenges facing the filmmakers was where to obtain money. Investors are hard to come by, even in the professional film industry-for students, it's even harder. Ilan Amouya '11, who helped edit "La Sombra de Una Historia," was able to get an investment from a contact at MGM and shot the film in Colombia, where he was able to negotiate just about everything. His best deal? "Free actors," he said. "We got them all from one agency and didn't have to pay them anything."

Some of the other filmmakers weren't so lucky. "Matt and Brian's Excellent Adventure" had no budget and no equipment and was shot almost completely on either Fromm's digital camera or his friend's camcorder. "We actually bought a door from Home Depot and then returned it when we were done filming," he admitted sheepishly.

Fromm wasn't the only one "stealing" space. Anthony Scibelli '09, who directed several films, including "Snacktastrophe" and "Triple Word Score," recounted shooting a scene for "Untitled Anthony Scibelli Project": "We shot one scene in the Levin Ballroom for about two hours. We didn't check to see if it was being used; we basically just went in and hoped for the best. There was some kind of event there the night before. In a few frames, you can still see the decorations."

Other challenges? "Cops," said Illona Yuhaev '11 of "Naptime" and "AIA Untitled." "Apparently you're not allowed to film in the middle of the street during rush hour." The crew of "La Sombra de Una Historia" had to deal with a near-rebellion on set (solved with sandwiches), and weather seemed to be a problem for everyone. The biggest problem for "Snacktastrophe", according to Scibelli, was the repeated spreading of peanut butter on bread. Amy Thompson '11, who acted in the movie, cheerfully replied, "It wasn't a challenge to eat it."

One curious audience member asked the filmmakers if they believed the old saying that "you have to make 10 bad movies before you make a good one" was true. There was a moment of silence before Sillam-whose "Reveries and Chimeras" was nominated for five SunDeis awards, including Best Film-said, "This is my first movie." The filmmakers seemed to agree that what matters is the quality of movies, not quantity, and what you learn from the movies you make.

Despite the challenges and the hard work, though, all of the filmmakers said they enjoyed the process. When asked what advice they had for future filmmakers, there seemed to be one consensus: "Just make movies!" said Yuhaev.

"Keep going, keep practicing, keep learning," Fromm said. "What ends up on screen isn't what actually happened on set. Don't be afraid to improvise."

Coming from the director who wasn't afraid to ask a traffic cop to leave the road so that they could shoot a scene, "Don't be afraid to improvise" seemed like sound advice. And considering "Matt and Brian's Excellent Adventure" was nominated for the Best Animation award, it seems to have served him well.

Editor's Note: Brian Fromm is the Copy editor for the Justice.