Student Filmmakers Put Time, Money Into Creating Celluloid Senior Theses:

"Don't be alarmed if all you see are bug-eyed people. It's pretty normal around here," Lindsay Herman warned me as a prelude to entering Sever Hall's basement, the location of Harvard's film-editing facilities. I looked around and saw the effects of what must be severe claustrophobia and stress on the faces around the room.

At this time of year, aside from students taking film classes, six Visual and Environmental Studies (VES) concentrators who make films as their senior theses frequent this basement at all hours of the day and night.

While most theses-writing seniors stare at their Macs or IBMs, a handful sit in either the basement or fourth floor of Sever Hall (did you know Sever had a basement, or a fourth floor?) chopping and splicing film footage together to meet their April 12 deadline.

"Why a film thesis?", you may ask--what an unorthodox version of traditional 60-100 page treatises! Each concentrates in VES (except one who allies VES with East Asian studies) and they all specialize in film.

Making a film is not just for anyone who had a passing inspiration to direct after seeing Oscars night, lest you too think it would be neat to finish a film and a thesis at the same time. All these concentrators have a serious interest in film and seriously pursue it.

The subjects of their theses are quite diverse. Two films address family issues: Allison Humeneck's project concerns her parents, while Joe Vidaurreta's examines the life of his uncle. Marc Grant follows the daily routine of a Hassidic Jew and Julie Mallozzi records a story about orphans.

And there are a couple of road pictures: Jed Weintrob describes his romp across America as a "fictionary" (combination of fiction and documentary with occasional snippets of Jerry Falwell and Barry Manilow); and Lindsay Herman (whose thesis is actually a video, not a film--the difference being a few hundred dollars more for every hour of film footage but lower picture quality) documents a more serious trek across Japan.

Despite the variety of topics, the familiar bond among all of these theses is the personal interests that they explore. Says thesis adviser Rob Moss, "The beauty of this [assignment] is that the students can pursue what they want to. They are absolutely free from commercial worries."

In the Beginning...

Harvard's film-making track begins in VES 50, Fundamentals of Filmmaking, an introductory film class annually taught by a visiting professor. The course is open primarily to sophomores and targeted at die-hard filmmakers because of the tremendous time commitment (eight hours per week of class alone).

VES 50 culminates in a class project at the end of the year, usually a short documentary. This undertaking completes one of the two required years for doing a film for a senior thesis. VES 150, Intermediate Filmmaking, usually follows.

In the spring of their junior years, those interested in doing theses propose their ideas to the VES departments. "The department is very flexible. They pretty much go for any idea you want to pursue," remarked Humeneck.

Moss says that it is not only entirely incidental that all VES theses happen to be documentaries this year (with Weintrob's dubious exception), but that it is also fortunate for the department. "We try to teach them to do this form and we are glad when they choose this. Most of the students who pursue the film track didn't come here wanting to make documentaries. They chose it because of what they saw in the movie theaters."

After making their proposals, each begins filming, capturing everything from synagogues and Japanese boats to Barry Manilow and Jerry Falwell. The process generally takes anywhere from a month to two years.

Considering the fact that an 11-minute roll of film costs more than $200, where do these students get the funding to make films? From a variety of sources, say the filmmakers. The VES department usually funds a portion of the budgets, but the students frequently rely on their own money. As Weintrob said, "My American Express card is about $3000 out." Others rely on parental support, loans, grants and if they are lucky, a private benefactor.

Because virtually all the concentrators have overextended the VES department budget, it is ironic that they have all chosen to pursue documentaries--which often end up being the most costly type of production for amateurs. Moss explains, "In documentaries, you have to keep re-shooting until you get what you need, whereas in fiction, and I'm assuming you're not paying the actors, you shoot only when you're ready and then stop, so you don't end up with a lot of unused footage."

The Final Cut

After the filming, which can produce from a few minutes up to countless hours of footage, the students start editing (the workday generally lasts between eight and twelve hours--Weintrob keeps a sleeping bag on Sever's 4th floor) until they have produced a short documentary less than an hour long.

As for their futures, each student wants to launch a film career, some making documentaries, some writing screenplays and others directing.

Ironically, professors in the VES department discourage this pursuit. Visiting Lecturer Miklos Jancso constantly tells his classes not to go into film. "Find another profession," his students recall him saying frequently (he himself is a lawyer). Moss says the same. "I don't know why they would want to pursue a career in film. The VES department kind of makes them unmarketable and we tell them [that]."

When pressed to elaborate on this point, Moss said that the VES department intends to be part of a liberal arts education, not train students to sell their works to film companies. Film schools, not institutions like Harvard, focus more on marketing one's work for Hollywood. "A career in film is not something I would wish for any of them," he concluded.

So why would anyone do VES at Harvard? Simply put, everyone, including Moss, agrees that the amazing funds which gush out of the department is probably its biggest asset. This generosity affords students a learn-by-doing experience that many seniors say is unparalleled in typical film schools.

The films will be screened for the public sometime in May, an ending for which these six students are hastily preparing themselves.