Are you a student who’s always had an affinity for movies? Do you have an appreciation for shot types, storyboards, camera angles, and the effect that color has on the feeling of a movie? If so, then Elgin Community College’s film club is the creative haven to be.
Founded by second-year students Naomi Gebremichael and Tiffany Lu, the club aims to bring together a group of like-minded, movie-loving students to analyze film’s creative and aesthetic aspects.
“I actually really didn’t like movies for a while,” Gebremichael admitted. “Since both my parents worked, I would be left at daycare [when I was little] and they just me stuck in a room and made us watch the same movie on repeat. I watched Stuart Little 2 on repeat every single day.”
It wasn’t until quarantine that Gebremichael would eventually find love and appreciation for film, stating that Little Miss Sunshine and Lady Bird are among her favorites.
“I used to be really pretentious with movies, like a little bit of a film snob,” Gebremichael said. “I only really wanted to watch the pretentious genres, like the French New Wave or the Film Noir. Now I really don’t care.”
Upon enrolling at ECC, Gebremichael and Lu noticed that the club organization roster was lacking a club dedicated to film appreciation, so the two took it upon themselves to start the club from scratch.
“At our high school, [Lu] had started [film club] there, but due to club politics, it fell apart for her,” Gebremichael said. “Then, she asked me if I wanted to start one here with her because there was a bunch of paperwork that she didn’t want to do, so I agreed to do it.”
The club is advised by Instructor of Film and Digital Media Mary Scherer, who is a new teacher at ECC.
“We both had an interest in film,” Lu said. “At our high school, we had a film club, and we were really interested in their mission of creating a film and analyzing films, so we thought it would be fun to bring students together who have the same interests as us.”
During meetings, Gebremichael and Lu will do PowerPoint presentations about aspects of film and go over all the technical elements that go into making a movie. The pair are also hoping that the club will be able to create a short film themselves, taking everything they learned from the club presentations to the big screen.
“We’re doing a little short film about parallel parking, which isn’t what we originally planned to do, but we feel like it’s a good exercise for new students in film club to ease their way into learning how to create short movies,” Lu said.
Further down the line, Lu described how the club is planning on creating a student-produced short film, where everyone in the club will have a say in what the film will be about; everyone will be able to act, write, edit, or participate in other jobs such as sound techs.
“Our main goal this semester is to create a short film that’s high quality and that can be on the Internet without it being embarrassing,” Lu said. “We want to collaborate with other clubs possibly. [We want] to host a film festival where not only people in the club but everyone who’s created short films can showcase their stuff.”
You can find more information about the film club on their Instagram.
