In the name of filmmaking, student director Max Rifkind-Barron, CC ’11, was kicked out of Butler Library.
Rifkind-Barron’s project Anhedonia—about a college student’s addiction to studying and his roommate’s comical obsession with stopping him—is part of a handful of projects making up the inaugural production season of Columbia University Film Production. While Butler may seem like a logical location for a film about study-crazed students, some unknown school rules threatened to get in the way.
“We had a problem,” Rifkind-Barron explained, “Apparently you’re not allowed to shoot in Butler at all.”
Due to its complexity, filmmaking is an art notorious for setbacks, making teamwork and planning paramount in its execution. While a few obstacles (like Butler security guards) are inevitable for even the most experienced filmmakers, CUFP hopes production season will create a network to overcome these hitches with finesse and creativity—a strategy that is working, as Rifkind-Barron’s project has made it to post-production.
Though primarily known as simply a free on-campus source for undergraduates to rent camera and sound equipment, CUFP launched its first annual production season this semester to expand the club’s scope. “We had been trying to reshape the club’s direction from just being a rental company to actually developing our own projects,” production season coordinator Clea Litewka, CC ’10, explained. To become more like a real production company, CUFP is using its production season to guide a handful of short film projects from the early writing stages to final cuts.
Writers and directors were selected to participate in production season by online application—writers submitted a five-page screenplay sample and directors submitted a résumé. After selecting the writers and directors, CUFP led a series of workshops to equip participants with the support to make their artistic visions into concrete projects.
The writers’ workshops, organized by Litewka, used a collaborative atmosphere to create individual scripts that were both well-structured and feasible for campus shooting. “My idea for the writers’ workshop was that it would be peer driven,” Litewka explained. “I tried to choose people who seemed to be pretty strong writers so they could give feedback and comment on one another’s work.” Writers spent several sessions building their individual scripts, concluding with a table reading that brought writers and directors together. Final drafts were then submitted and the projects turned over to the directors.
Similar to the writing workshops, directing workshops were designed to give directors the information and assistance to bring their ideas to screen. Directors were given tutorials in directing actors, working with the camera, editing, and planning the particulars for their individual films.
Beyond simply being information sessions, the workshop process provided writers and directors with the chance to network with other undergraduate filmmakers, forming contacts that are essential to coordinate the complex process of filmmaking at an undergraduate level. “It’s hard to find your voice as an undergraduate here because so much emphasis is placed on the graduate film program,” Rifkind-Barron said, “and we don’t get any of their resources, we don’t get any of their counseling. It’s just off-limits to us.”
While several films are still wrapping up their shooting and post-production phases, CUFP is plans on having a screening of all the production season projects by the end of the semester, marking a solid step in advancing Columbia’s undergraduate film.
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