Last year, Aidan Ryan was tired of watching movies. It seemed that this was all the film club ever did and Ryan, along with club sponsor Samantha Richardson, had had enough.

This year, under Ryan’s leadership, the film club has shifted from studying film making techniques and watching movies to applying these strategies to their own films. Members of the club will be making one short film every month, allowing them to participate in film competitions, submit their work to ICE awards and upload it to their own YouTube channel.

Club officials and Richardson decided to add cinematography to the club to make the club more interesting and allow others to pursue their love for the making of movies.

“We thought it would be more interesting to start making films,” club president Aidan Ryan said. “We wanted to expand the Hagerty spectrum since we only have a film analysis class, not a film making class.”

Members of the club will learn the basics of film making, starting with writing to develop story ideas, then cinematography to learn how to work the cameras and lastly editing theory, to learn how the mechanics of the shot can affect the audience’s emotion.

“It’s like literary analysis of film meets an acting course, meets a cinematography course and meets an editing course.” Ryan said. “This year our goal is to cram as much film making related things into the year as possible.”

In order for the club to purchase all the equipment needed to start making films, the club is fundraising by selling coffee, tea and cocoa every morning in Richardson’s room. Once the club is able to buy the equipment, students will start to engage in the act of film making, understanding the process of it  and appreciating cinematography even more.

New members decided to join the club this year for many reasons, one being improving their film making skills.  

“I’m really excited to make films because I’ve made videos in the past and I want to make more, but I want them to be better than they used to be,” sophomore Alyssa Hall said.

Film club is planning on meeting every Friday in room 7-212, where they will discuss and learn new film making strategies that will be applied every month when creating their short films.