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The FilmMakers Society is a student run organization that seeks to nurture and educate a community of student filmmakers by providing, networking, and managing personnel and equipment resources, allowing students to produce, exhibit, and critique their movie projects at UVA.

Executive Committee
The origins of the FilmMakers Studio are rooted in the mid-1990's when several different groups of student filmmakers began emerging at the University of Virginia. At the time, a number of student filmmakers were already associated with the small CIO known as Audio Visuals Unlimited (AVU) which produced videos to cover numerous UVA events as well as commercials for local businesses. AVU also produced the video "On My Honor" as seen by thousands of first years every Fall.

Also during this time, another group of student filmmakers made up of mostly art and interdisciplinary majors had formed around Bernard Mayes' "Video, Performance, Electronics" class, which was taught in the Art Department. As more and more students grew interested in film as an art form instead of presentation video, a group of active student filmmakers, under the leadership of College student Matt Chayt, banded together in the spring of 1996 and changed AVU's name to the Film and Media Society, better known as FMS. Serving as an outlet for student filmmakers, FMS produced a wide variety of films, from comedies to dramas, from narrative to experimental.

The following year, FMS President Chayt and Vice President Kristin Adolfson founded a student film festival to exhibit the young Society's hard work. On April 17, 1997, FMS hosted the first ever Salmagundi Film Festival, showcasing student films for the UVA community. Adolfson organized the event and was the festival director for the first two years. Meanwhile, Chayt commandeered resources from FMS for the fledgling festival and actually coined the name "Salmagundi."

The non-competitive festival drew entries from all across the nation. A few years later in 2000, Apple sponsored the festival, offering an iPod as the winning prize, making Salmagundi a competitive event. Soon the festival catered solely to UVA talent, and submissions were so numerous that only a handful of the best films were selected to screen.

In 2002 after an overwhelming amount of submissions, Brian Light and Ray McCoy created a second film festival to showcase UVA filmmaking and encourage a wide variety of filmmaking. Thus, in keeping with the non-competitive spirit of the original Salmagundi, FMS started the Final Cut Film Festival in the fall of 2002.

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Executive Committee
By the late nineties and with the coming of the new millennium, interest in filmmaking had universally grown due to the rise of Digital Video Technology. To familiarize newcomers with the technical process of filmmaking, Johnny Lee began the tradition of the Nickel project in November 2000. The Nickel project (begun as the "One Nickel Opera") served as an exciting crash course in moviemaking for newcomers each year and involves the production of short films starring Mr. Jefferson's coin.

Also during this time, the filmmaking community grew throughout the University. In 1999 Kevin Everson began teaching his Cinematography class in the Art Department, stressing the aesthetics of working with 8mm and 16mm film. Cinematography would later become one of the most highly demanded courses at UVA. To date, it is still the only course that teaches film production at the University.

In the Fall of 2000, the Media Studies Department at UVA was created as an interdisciplinary undergraduate major in the College of Arts and Sciences. Focusing on the critical analysis of media and media forms, the program would quickly become one of the most prestigious and highly selective majors at UVA. Though the program is not production oriented, many student filmmakers were drawn to its creative and engaging analysis of film, TV, radio, and other media. Moreover, the program offers supplemental internships and work opportunities that coincide with historical and theoretical studies of media.

Among other changes, the Robertson Media Center opened in September 1999. Offering a full array of analog and digital media collections and services, the RMC provides expertise equipment and resources for the use and development of media materials in instruction and research. Located in the RMC is the Digital Media Lab. It has gone through several different incarnations including the Digital Image Center, the Digital Media and Music Center, the Digital Media Center, and the New Media Center of ITC. Despite the name changes, the DML is primarily used as the hub of digital editing at UVA and has became a central meeting place for filmmakers to gather.

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Executive Committee
By 2003 FMS had gained a significant membership and amassed several thousand dollars worth of equipment. It was still the sole narrative filmmaking group on grounds. Under the direction of FMS President Jarrett Lee Conaway, FMS changed its name to the FilmMakers Studio. While retaining the original acronym, the new name reflected the CIO's stress on active filmmaking as opposed to the appreciation of film as was suggested by the old name.

To encourage filmmaking and accommodate both experience and inexperienced members, FMS attempted to create a makeshift "studio system." Students were placed into small groups known as "studios," which were each directed by an experienced filmmaker. Changes in the executive committee were also reflected nominally. The titles of President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer were changed to President (or the "Director"), Vice-President of Production, Vice-President of Advertising & Public Relations, and the Vice-President of Finances. In addition, the signing of the Director's chair became a tradition.

In the Spring of 2004, 4th year Jarrett Conaway completed "AM:PM," a short 16mm film with a budget of several thousand dollars and a crew that involved most of the resources of FMS. The production drew a large amount of attention and started the trend of student films with larger productions and larger crews that would continue in subsequent years.

ACCOLADES
Rosebud Film Festival Top 20 - "Untitled" Alex Stockwell and "Marianne" by Romulo Alejandro
William & Mary's Cans Film Festival Honorable Mention - "Marianne" by Romulo Alejandro

When the name of the group was changed to the FilmMakers Studio in 2003, the FMS acronym was kept to avoid confusion about whether or not the organization was brand-new (the CIO is over 15 years old). However, the new name and different structure led people to believe that FMS was a new organization, and people who knew FMS before the transition continued to refer to it by its old name, the Film & Media Society. Furthermore, an apostrophe was included in the original new name in an attempt to be grammatically correct, but this caused inconsistency problems with its placement--on various documents, the name was spelled either FilmMaker's Studio, FilmMakers' Studio, or FilmMakers Studio. The apostrophe also caused problems in registering the organization on Student Council's new server as the system did not recognize non-alphabetic characters. In the end, FMS officers opted to drop the apostrophe for consistency and convenience. Today, the apostrophe remains a remnant of the initial transition on such things as the FMS bank account and the director's chair.

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Executive Committee
The 2004/2005 year was pivotal for FMS. As in the earlier days of FMS, UVA's filmmaking community was again fragmented into several groups with no unifying identity. The organization had to fix the reoccurring problem of the past year wherein FMS membership was substantial but participation and cooperation remained low. With the guidance of President Kevin Wu and an almost entirely new FMS executive committee, FMS rebuilt itself from the ground up with the intent of fostering a new community based on cooperation among UVA's filmmaking groups and resources.

In the fall semester of 2004 FMS abolished the "studio system" and began teaching classes on student filmmaking. Projects were pitched to the entirety of FMS as the organization acted like one large studio sharing resources and ideas. That same semester, the first annual Adrenaline Film Project of the Virginia Film Festival began and FMS had an impressive showing. Adrenaline, a 72 hour filmmaking competition, was sponsored by FMS and incorporated many FMS teams. It provided a tremendous venue for student filmmaking as screenings of the Adrenaline Film Project sold out two-thirds of Culbreth Theatre. The project also exposed students to Jeff Wadlow, a budding director who's movie "Cry Wolf" would come out the following year.

Recognizing the need for not simply larger but more cohesive student film productions, several students began making high quality short films using unified crews. These crews were assembled mainly from students of FMS and Kevin Everson's Cinematography classes, creating new bonds between the two groups of filmmakers. Production first began on Rom Alejandro's "PlayDate" in the fall and Konstantin's "Sticks & Stones" in the winter. Using members from both crews, Han West's "The Loss of Life" continued the trend of cohesive crew productions in the spring, and Dustin Thompson's summer production of "She Likes It" rounded out the year. Along with numerous smaller short films from the Cinematography classes, 2004-2005 became the most productive year of both FMS and Everson's Cinematography class.

2004-2005 was a year of precedents. For the first time, a large audiences turned out to see screenings of individual film projects. In the fall, the popular mockumentary "Minimum Wage" was the center of attention for a Mock Trial Fundraiser that gained an attendance of 200 people. By spring approximately 400 people attended the multiple screenings of "PlayDate" raising $1,000 for FMS. Such attendance was also comparable to the screenings of "Sticks & Stones," a 16 mm film inspired by the honor code at UVA. Levels of production reached new heights as well. "The Loss of Life" and the Salmagundi Promotional trailers directed by Han West were two of the year's largest productions, having a cast and crew of approximately 30 people. Also that year, the VideoSitters Club was created as a sub-organization to provide videography services to UVA organizations.

The record breaking attendance was due in large part to new advertising strategies that employed the internet, radio, and strategic flyering. A working relationship with Cinematheque was formed during the screenings of PlayDate, allowing FMS trailers to be shown before Cinematheque screenings. Sponsorship began playing a large role in funding student films as the Alumni Association and the ISAPF contributed thousands of dollars to FMS productions. Exhibition was also changing. To get around the expensive cost of projection in Newcomb Theater, Romulo Alejandro put together a Frankenstion of a projection system borrowed from Brown College. It included projection from the rear of the theater (Newcomb's digital projection was traditionally projected from the middle of the theater) as well as stereo sound. This projection system would be used until Newcomb Theater bought a similar projection system in the Fall of 2006. Indeed, the face of FMS was changing as membership and participation remained stable throughout the year. Even the Executive Committee saw changes as the Honorary Executive position was created in response to the large amount of growth that the club was experiencing.

The 2005 Salmagundi was different from past years. Widening the scope of Salmagundi, FMS opened submissions to any Virginia student filmmaker. Moreover, the non-competitive long program was introduced to complement the traditional competitive short program. Two awards were added to the competition: the Audience Award, and the Barry Sisson narrative film award. About 400 people attended Salmagundi and the year ended on a note of high expectation for the next few years to come.

ACCOLADES
Salmagundi 1st Place - "Flowers" by Graduate Student
Salmagundi 2nd Place - "10min Movie" by Graduate Student
Salmagundi 3rd Place - "Spin" by Han West, Romulo Alejandro, Zander Roberts
Salmagundi Audience Award "Minimum Wage" by Mustafa Abdelkarim
Salmagundi Barry Sisson Narrative Award - "Flowers" by Graduate Student

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Executive Committee
With a new Executive Committee under former Honorary Executive member, Rom Alejandro, FMS continued along the path set by the previous year, one dedicated to creating a cohesive community of filmmakers making uniquely independent films. Thus the name was officially changed to the FilmMakers Society - emphasizing the importance of community and social interaction in a medium that is inherently based on cooperation.

That year, the main goal of the society was to build a strong infrastructure to support all filmmaking at UVA. However, with no centralization of resources and an overwhelming growth and interest in student filmmaking, the task was a daunting one. Based on the work of the larger productions from the previous year, the Executive Committee realized that although UVA had a substantial amount of film resources there was no vehicle for students to access them. Thus FMS took the position of networking and managing these resources for students. In terms of equipment, FMS doubled its inventory in the Fall due to a discovery of old FMS equipment stashed away by the recently dissolved CIO, Cavalier Broadcasting. In order to make this equipment transparent and accesible to all FMS members, the online inventory was created. With the sudden increase of equipment, FMS began the search for an equipment room. In the Fall, Clemons 201A was a temporary solution, however by the Spring '06 Brown College opened up its basement doors in the Monroe Hill House to store the equipment. Finally, FMS had created the fundamental equipment checkout system that would be the fundamental basis for the organization.

As evidenced by the semester before, social interaction between the fragmented groups of filmmakers was necessary to create cohesive productoin crews and stronger films. The idea as suggested by soon to be executive member Steven Robillard was to create an alternative social scene for University students. Thus, FMS began holding parties to encourage social interaction between its members. Among these parties, the thematic Red Carpet Party was first held to promote Han West's new film "The Loss of Life." A huge success the Red Carpet Party boasted a Red Carpet and photographers taking pictures of anyone who entered the party. The pictures were posted on Facebook after the event.

The Red Carpet Party was a definite success for FMS and "The Loss of Life." which (with its extensive advertising campaign headed up by Steven Robillard) garnered the largest opening attendance ever for a student film: nearly 300 people. Coming off of "The Loss of Life" and other successful film screenings, FMS began focusing on exhbition and criticism of its films. For criticism, Dustin Thompson and Romulo Alejandro who felt the need for harsher criticism of their films created "Cinasty." As a result, advertised as a venue to bash student films and filmmakers, Cinasty became a monthly meeting where students offered their films to the brutal critique of their peers. It quickly became a popular event.

Mediamaking organizations aside from FMS would soon look to the organization for guidance, solidifying FMS as the most effective means of production at UVA. Among these organizations was Cavalier Broadcasting which attempted to rise from the dead in the fall semeseter. With hopes that the VideoSitters Club would also supplement content for Cavalier Broadcasting, FMS tried supporting both organizations with personnel and management from FMS. Unfortunately, in the end neither organization would succeed. FMS would no longer support videography at UVA and Cavalier Broadcasting would be incorporated into FMS as a means to experiment with online broadcasting/archiving of student films. In the spring semester, the new organization called "Mini-Series Productions" was created by Susana Wong and Leslie Buker began in the spring. Centered around the idea of creating a television series that would produce episodes throughout the year, MSP created a large crew trained and supplemented by FMS.

Obviously, with a strong infrastructure in place, production abounded throughout the year on both the student and professional level. A major source of education was the independent film "Swedish Auto" which was being produced in Charlottesville. FMS worked closely with the production to provide numerous interns for the film, and students got a lot out of being on a professional set. On the student side, during the spring semester a record number of 6 productions occurred at one time, denoting the sustainability of the organization through the newly established systems of production created in the previous semester.

The tenth annual Salmagundi Film Festival celebrated how far FMS had come since its humble beginnings. Jarrett Lee Conaway, president 2003-2004, was invited back to talk to students about continuing film outside of UVA. Also, Richard Herskowitz contributed the new "Ken Jacobs Experimental Film Award," encouraging experimental film in the usually narrative heavy festival. Along with these new additions to the festival, the Film Festival Committee tried non-competitive exhibitions of long programs throughout the day to supplement the traditional competitive short program. And, while the unprecedented success and productivity of the year was celebrated, the turn out to the festival was less than expected. Paradigmatic of the year, Salmagundi emphasized the need for more effective publicity in the next year and the challenge would be met with enthusiasm.

ACCOLADES
Adrenaline Film Project Audience Award - "Sweet Dreams" by Romulo Alejandro, Dustin Thompson, Zander Roberts, Jonney Taee
Rosebud Film Festival Best-in-Show Documentary - "Happy Birthday Grandma" by Han West
Salmagundi Best in Show - "Acting Exercise #1" by Romulo Alejandro
Salmagundi Runner Up - "Triumph" by Leslie Buker
Salmagundi Audience Award - "Great Falls Park" by Mark Bruner
Salmagundi Barry Sisson Narrative Award - "True Story" by Stephanie Via [from Hollins University]
Salmagundi Ken Jacobs Experimental Film Award - "Portrait of a Persona" by Dustin Thompson

Authors include (but not limited to) Brian Light, Kevin Wu and Romulo Alejandro.
Compiled and edited by Romulo Alejandro and Han West.