Who said UCSD was a science school? Various arts and humanities programs on campus are thriving — including the Muir Movie organization, which will premiere its third annual film on April 20 at Price Center. Muir Movie was started by a group of visual arts students who wanted to have the opportunity to make larger-scale (45-minute) productions than film classes allow. Although John Muir College finances the majority of the $5,000 project, students from all colleges and majors are welcome in the organization.
This year’s film, “Five the Hard Way,” was written by visual arts major and John Muir College senior Matt Mercer. Mercer also co-directed the film with John Muir College junior and literature/writing major Janice Lee. “Five the Hard Way” is a drama that tells the story of an insecure college student named David, who uses film as an escape from reality.
“It is basically about a college-age guy who is a virgin, and he is dealing with the pressure from his friends to have sex,” Mercer said. “I wouldn’t say it is a moral movie. It is just about a guy trying to figure out who he is … and there are a lot of references to movies.”
Although “Five the Hard Way” takes place in a college setting, Mercer said that he and the other filmmakers made an effort to avoid the cliches associated with university life. One way in which the filmmakers tried to make the film more original was by adding a surrealist twist.
“[David] is in an awkward stage in his life, so he kind of gets sucked into the movie world,” Lee said. “There are a lot of examples where he is watching a film and then becomes a part of the film.”
Lee described how she and the other filmmakers were able to use various visual techniques to depict the integration of the real world and the movie world.
“There is a sequence where [David] is watching a film noir and then suddenly [the screen] turns black and white and characters from the film come into his living room and have a conversation with him,” Lee said.
Although “Five the Hard Way” has avant-garde components, it is also a personal film to Mercer.
“There are elements of the story that are based on the experiences I had in college, but the plot and the characters are fictional,” Mercer said.
Lee said shooting the film within the college setting had its advantages: It gave student actors at UCSD the opportunity to participate in the film.
Last year’s Muir Movie dealt with adult characters, so the film organizers decided to cast professional actors in the San Diego area. However, the 25-member cast and crew of “Five the Hard Way” consists entirely of UCSD students.
Pre-production on this years’ Muir Movie began in fall 2004, with principal photography finished by the end of winter quarter. Although Mercer and Lee — who are still in the process of editing the picture — said working on the film was a lot of hard work, they both said they found the experience rewarding.
“The cast and crew deserve the credit. For people who didn’t have any prior experience, they did a great job,” Mercer said.
