By AMANDA THOMAS

ajt008@latech.edu

 

Halloween thrills and chills are stirring close to campus this quarter.

Production of “The Haunting of Jack Howard,” a movie created by two Tech students, has begun with the help of TechTV and the Louisiana Tech Film Society.

Chris Lyon, movie director and a freshman graphic design major, said he and his film partner, Luke Lee, a freshman graphic design major, have always wanted to make a horror movie.

 “What better place than a college campus?” Lyon asked.

The plot stems from the legend of the girl whose ghost haunts Howard Auditorium, Center for the Performing Arts.

The movie’s villain will take the form of Jack Howard, for whom the auditorium is named.

The plot involves Howard’s disappointing attempt to land the lead role in the school play and the revenge he seeks for the remainder of his life and afterlife.

“We’ve taken some creative liberties with the plot,” Lyon said.

The script was thought to be fairly short, Lyon said, but quickly became bigger and will hopefully spawn into an hour-and-a-half-long movie.

All of the filming will take place on campus.

A majority of the scenes will take place in Howard, Lyon said, and maybe a few scenes will take place in the residence halls.

Kyle Sweeney, a graduate student of theater, said the crew will use high-quality video cameras from TechTV.

The crew will also take advantage of moral support from the film society as they slowly, but surely film the production.

“It’s their freshmen year, so they’re going all out,” Sweeney said. “And we’ll be there to help every step of the way.”

Lyon and Lee have been making movies since their freshman year in high school. 

Like the film partners, Sweeney said they all hope to pursue movie making after college.

The best way to learn is by doing, Sweeney said.

“You have to make as many movies as you can,” Sweeney said.

“Then you figure out the bugs ... practice really does make perfect.”

Sam Speed, the director of residential life, will oversee the film as the faculty adviser for TechTV and the film society.

“I like to let the students run TechTV and their projects from the bottom up,” Speed said.

Speed said he simply sets the standards for doing what is appropriate.

Sweeney said the producers really wanted to open this project to anyone and everyone who can help.

The goal is to have the movie completed for a preliminary screening for all who helped in the creation the day before Halloween, Sweeney said.

He said the hope is to then air the movie for everyone on TechTV on Halloween.