If you’ve ever wanted a chance to use real film equipment without adding the hours of a class on your schedule, then take a part of Southern’s very own student lead Film Club.

“Film club helps bring everyone together and it helps you find your team,” said Erica Pierno, club vice president and junior film major. “It helps you find the crew you want to work with and your ‘family’ within the department.”

The club consists of mainly seniors, some who have had multiple senior years, and many who have won awards from festivals. That means there’s plenty of experience in the club to be passed from student to student, which can really make a difference in skills and make friendships.

“We help each other with class projects, personal projects, professional projects — we’re always together hanging out too,” said Pierno.

Senior film major and club member, Kevin Dillinger explains how the club has grown in age variety since the creation back in October last year.

“What we’re trying to do in Film Club right now is since we’ve got younger kids, we’re trying to get them to go out and do their own projects — like right now we’re having them write scripts and everything,” said Dillinger.

The purpose of the club is to gain experience through open discussion and lab days, but they become a mock film crew by going through the processes of creating, selecting, and bringing scripts to life in the field using professional tools like cameras, lights, mics and software. Certain films they create even have the chance to enter film competitions such as Campus FilmFest, Statesboro Film Festival, Savannah Film Festival, and Auburn Film Festival.

They also do a small exercise called the “Instagram Challenge” each week to get the creativity flowing. Students go out and make a story to post to Instagram with a short prompt, such as last week’s which Dillinger said they must mention a character named Bob, the phrase “for the toads” must be said and there had to be exercising as an action.

Joining the club is as easy as showing up in Sanford Hall every Thursday at 6 p.m. Checking them out is even easier by searching #FilmClubGSU on any social media outlet.

Pierno encourages students of all ages and majors to “come out and try it, give it a chance, you don’t have to be a film major to do it. A majority of people in our club aren’t film majors, it’s just people who have a passion, an interest, and a drive in doing this that come out. The more people we get out here, the more hands-on stuff we’ll be able to do. The bigger crew we’ll be able to get, the bigger production we’ll be able to make.”