In addition to being the director of Photography for “Oasis Motel,” the new drama from Shoot the Stars, junior Amy West has been teaching herself to fire dance. Jackalope Magazine recently sat down with her to talk fire dancing, her filmmaking and performing for yourself. Jackalope Magazine: What brought you to SFUAD? Amy West: I am originally from Petaluma, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area.   JM: Oh, that explains the hippy vibe. AW: Yeah, exactly. (laughs) I’m definitely a northern California girl at heart. I went to an art college fair at my high school, and I was interested in getting out of California. I know it’s a little counter intuitive, and I figured there’s probably a shit ton of film students out in California, and Santa Fe looked like it would be a different experience and give me a different perspective.   JM: I’m assuming you were a dancer before you began fire dancing— AW: I was not!   JM: OK, so how did fire dancing start? AW: I have a best friend back home who goes to Reed College in Oregon, which is like a super hippy liberal college, and they have a fire dancing team. We got together over winter break of my sophomore year, after she’d been doing it for a while, and we made a video together. While we were making it, she was like ‘hey you should do this too,’ and I was like ‘Oh my God I want to.’ I had done color guard in middle school and there’s a prop called staff that she bet I could [use]. So we went and got a curtain rod, and I just started playing with it and my friend said ‘you you can do this,’ so I...

With 31 days to the first shooting date of Shoot the Stars—the Film School’s student-run, union-acted program that integrates students interested in working on a film set with a real-world perspective and mentors to advise—crew members met outside the production offices to mark the “official opening production offices” for Season 3 of the program. The narrow halls of Oñate were filled with people discussing film projects of their own and the ones they were all about to embark on together. Naturally, they made their way to their respective departments; each designated a room in the building with a customized 8.5 x 11 Shoot the Stars sign hanging on the door. The art department for both “Oasis Motel” and “The Disposables” yielded conversations with mentors, story ideas and upcoming meetings for their projects, while the EPK team, when not documenting the chatter, sang sad songs of their often overlooked efforts and groundbreaking documentation of behind-the-scenes activity. Film School Chairman Chris Eyre could be seen wandering around the perimeter of the building, making hand gestures that from afar would appear to be accompanying what can only be interpreted as delightful banter. “Come, everyone!” rang Paula Amanda, Film School associate chair. Students hurried outside the building to witness the grand opening to Shoot the Stars Season 3, four weeks prior to principle photography. Amanda and Eyre gathered the producers and directors of both shoots in front of Oñate Hall. “This is the opening to the production offices—officially—and the kick off for Shoot the Stars Season 3,” said Eyre. “Now I never say a ceremony’s a ceremony until you touch the ground, so touch the ground,” he continued, prompting everyone to bend down and touch the earth. Eyre concluded his speech with a message of hope and good fortune. “Let’s just...

Film School Associate Chair Paula Amanda’s ambition to build a professional film “hub” inside the Garson Studios has become reality. As of November, employees of Midthunder Casting, Cosmic Forces, 12FPS, and Film 4 Change have found their new offices packed with zealous film students and their supply of limited resources suddenly replenished by the equipment, expertise and passion of the Film School staff and their Film Biz Hub neighbors.