Students pursue dreams of movie-making at IU

Senior Joey Mattucci has always been a movie guy.

“When I was a little kid, I used to do triple-headers,” Mattucci said. “I’d go to a movie at 12 o’clock with my dad, and I’d be walking out of there at 11 o’clock at night. We’d pay for one movie and sneak into two others.”

Mattucci wanted to make a career in film, but one day, a high school film teacher gave him some bad news: Going to film school would be hard.

“When you’re younger you have dreams like, ‘One day I’ll be making movies,’ but in reality, I should probably go to school for business,” Mattucci said.

So he followed what he calls his teacher’s “Midwest mentality” and went to IU for business.

But the movie bug never went away.

So three and a half years later, after hearing about the Department of Telecommunications from a roommate, he is now a telecommunications and communication and culture double major.

He is also one of the driving forces behind Dark Hound Productions, a new student organization devoted to producing student films and projects.

Dark Hound is a merger of two student film clubs: Mattucci’s Future Filmmakers Association and Feature Film Production, which seniors Kevin Domer and Erick Cole started in order to produce their feature-length film “Only Human.”

“Only Human” is currently in production and is the largest independent student film in IU’s history. It is the first feature-length film for Dark Hound, and it is using students and people of all ages from across IU’s campus and Bloomington.

“Our main philosophy is to give students hands-on experience outside of class,” Cole said. “Telecomm’s great, CMCL’s great, but a lot of the upper level classes you can’t even take until your junior and senior year.”

Dark Hound is an official student organization, so it was able to acquire $14,000 in grants from the IU Student Association to pay for equipment. Some members have also taken out loans and received donations.

In total, the group has spent more than $43,000 for state-of-the-art equipment.

“It’s almost like we’re trying to provide a teaching experience through doing,” Mattucci said. “Rather than in a classroom, we give you the tools, and if you want to put in the time and try things out, it’s kind of like experiential learning.”

According to Dark Hound’s business plan, potential projects have to be approved by the club. Once approved, a project is assigned members to fill the producer, director and other roles.

With a structure modeling Hollywood production companies, Mattucci said he hopes the club serves as a good resume builder and networking tool.

Steve Krahnke, a telecommunications professor and the group’s advisor, said he participated in a film organization at the University of Michigan when he was a student and that it helped his career.

He also said what students are learning while producing the film “Only Human” is the most important part of the process.

“In my mind, what happens in the end is less important than actually doing it,” Krahnke said.

Both Cole and Mattucci said they hope the club is around in the next 10 years. For Cole, “Only Human” and Dark Hound were opportunities to leave a footprint at his alma mater.

“I always wanted to do something at IU that I’d be remembered for,” Cole said. “I want to leave something behind for a future generation of students.”