By Alexis Ancel, Staff Writer //

Every year the senior production experience class in the Qubein School of Communication collectively puts together a film project called the “Capstone Project” as a requirement for the Electronic Media Production major.

In the past, these classes have done various projects such as music videos and documentaries and this year the class is producing a 20-minute short film entitled “The One Per Cent.”

The film, directed by Professor Jim Goodman, is produced entirely by the students in senior production experience. The work for this project takes place over the course of the semester and will be completed in May.

The crew is made of up the 19 students in the class, but the actors are pulled from both HPU and the High Point community.

The director selected the script, written by Ashley Angle, from a screenwriting class from last semester.

This drama film is about a waiter at a high-class restaurant that caters to the elite of society who wants to get more out of life and become one of the elite he works for.

Most short movies of this nature aim to have a twist or unexpected turn, so not much of the plot or the message it conveys can be revealed until the first showing.

A major goal of the course is to make the production process very similar to the way a professional movie would be made. Between selecting the script, holding auditions, wardrobe and props, everything both on screen and off is intended to be as authentic as it can be in order to prepare these students for the jobs and internships they will eventually be working.

“It’s really cool to be a part of something in a student setting that’s as close to the real world as possible,” Kelly Schwab, co-producer and first assistant director, said.

This project takes a tremendous amount of collaboration and work both in and out of the classroom to put together and the students devote a great deal of their spare time to working on this project.

The class meets twice a week, but all shooting takes place on the weekends and typically entails eight hours of shooting per day.

Each student has a different role, all of which are essential to creating a successful movie. The editors, for instance, do the bulk of their work after shooting is complete, whereas the producers are responsible for getting everything together beforehand.

“It’s a lot of organizing and preparing,” Michael Shield, producer, said. “It’s my job to have everything on track so that when it comes time to shoot, they don’t need me.”

Shield mentioned how many hours the class cinematographer, Ben Farmer, has spent working on the film and Schwab and the director have additional meetings once a week outside of class to work on it.

All of the work that has gone into and continues to go into this production is all leading up to the premiere of “The One Percent” on May 2 in the cinema.

“There’s a lot of talent in the class and it’s really exciting to see those people come together for the final project,” Shield said.