Film explores relationships

A dorm room, a camera and two naked college students. If this seems like your typical Saturday night, that's because it's supposed to.\nStudent filmmakers and seniors Scott Schirmer and Dan Dixon use the art of film to explore human sexuality and gender relations in "Three Animals, One Stuffed."\nThe 32-minute film, which will be shown at 7 p.m today in Ballantine Hall Room 228, follows a one-night-stand gone away. \n"I hope that it (will) make (the audience) think about gender roles and ask themselves whether these differences come from biology or whether it's intrinsic or if it's because of sociology," Schirmer said.\nSchirmer, who wrote and directed the film, is a homosexual: He said it was his amazement at heterosexual relationships that inspired him to write this film.\n"Being gay, I look at heterosexual people and I am always marveled at the fact that they can ever get along," he said. \nSchirmer said he wrote the entire script in one night.\n"This movie was really fast to put together," he said. \nDixon, who served as producer, photographer and editor for the film, said "Three Animals, One Stuffed" was shot over a weekend in March in a vacant room in Collins Living-Learning Center. He said total production cost was about $500. \n"We already had all the equipment," Dixon said.\nSchirmer said the budget included about $20-$30 on condoms that were used as props.\n"The colored ones broke really easy," said Schirmer, "I can't believe people would actually use them."\nSenior Jayson Wickencamp, who plays one of the two characters in the film, remembers the weekend of filming as rewarding.\n"It was a very long weekend, but it was good," he said.\nWickencamp said the characters written by Schirmer are realistic and that people can relate to them.\n"I think there's a little bit of (my) character in everyone," he said.\nWickencamp said Schirmer and Dixon were easy to work with, and that they bought dinner for the cast.\n"It was like working with very professional people," he said.\nSchirmer and Dixon said they were very lucky in finding the right actors for the roles. They said they auditioned six talented actors before finally choosing Wickencamp and junior Lesley Dial.\n"The two that we picked were ready to do these roles without much rehearsal," Schirmer said.\nSchirmer and Dixon, both seniors, met in 1997 and began collaborating on film projects soon after.\nSchirmer said he has wanted to make movies since a very early age. He said "The Empire Strikes Back" was the film that inspired him the most.\nHe remembers going to see it 20 times even though the nearest theater was 45 minutes away. Observing that many people enjoyed the film inspired him to be a filmmaker, he said.\n"I've always told people that around the 18th or 19th time, it became just as interesting to watch other people's reactions," Schirmer said.\nDixon said he did not get seriously interested in filmmaking until he met Schirmer.\n"I didn't realize that making movies was cool until around four years ago," he said.\nDixon said that he has always had an interest in special effects, and that if he were to make a career out of filmmaking, it would be in that area.\nWhile Dixon said he is not very serious about making a living from film, Schirmer has big plans for his hobby. He said if he were to make a living in the film business, it would be somewhere in Indiana.\n"We've got a lot of talented people and we've got a lot of nice venues," Schirmer said.\nHe said the film industry in Los Angeles is too vicious and cutthroat, and that he would be happier where he is.\nFuture endeavors for this filmmaking duo include the upcoming premiere of their tentatively titled "Boy in the Making," which is scheduled to show Dec. 1 in the Monroe County Public Library Auditorium. They are also in the early stages of production for a horror film tentatively titled "House of Hope"