OU Film in the Past: An OU Film Co-op

Warren Theater employee Alexander Ansari was not always a man who helped present movies, but make movies of his own. In his sophmore year at the University of Oklahoma, he was searching for a club that dealt with movies and film.

(PHOTO: Audrey Ansari)

The club he ended up finding wasn't concerned with watching movies, but instead wanted to make them in a student film co-op group. The club initially allowed each student to submit their own script and poll on which one they would film. The group settled on a script called "Chalk", a story about the "hypocrisy of drug arguments" in which chalk represented drugs. The group shot the film in two days at downtown Norman using equipment borrowed from the Oklahoma City Community College. With no previous experience, Ansari was responsible for lighting, audio, and the props for the film. "I basically followed directions and finding my way very slowly." Ansari would eventually save that film when the car they were using as a police car suffered a flat tire, and he was the only one would could change it. He wasn't there for the finishing of the film, but the whole experience would excite and hook him on the art of film-making.

Ansari would go on to create a couple more films in that club, two of those he would write himself, but he was most likely in a predecessor to the Student Film Production Club which now does similar activities. Vice President Sean Collins of the SFPC says, "its a way for students to come together with the equipment that we've got as a club and basically have a little community of filmmakers to help each other out with projects." Ansari seconds this idea, "I think that there's a lot of creative students there and a lot of good ideas that could be fostered by such a club or program. It's essentially just a bunch of students getting together and making something happen."

Such student film clubs are excellent for honing skills and learning the processes with low-budget films and documentaries. Ansari today is not making movies. During the middle of his college years he would switch over to journalism, but he served as one of the predecessors to a great idea and is very much a part of Oklahoman film history.

Alexander Ansari's Red Bull Film Story. Ansari talks about one of his college productions about a red bull contest. AUDIO: Matthew Shaffer, runs :59