Rated T for talent

Young Chang

The somewhat obscene lyrics of a song by the Swedish group Clawfinger

will bring together five young filmmakers today for 15 minutes of campus

fame.

Their film “The Conditioned Response” will debut tonight at Orange

Coast College’s Film and Video Festival, but each member of the

production team wants a career that will last more than a fleeting

quarter of an hour.

Producer Elisabeth Morth, who also wrote “Response,” hopes the 32nd

annual event will get her work noticed.

“I just hope for people to watch the film and hopefully appreciate

it,” said the 26-year-old film major who moved to the United States two

years ago from Sweden.

William Hall, chairman of the film and video department at OCC, said

the festival serves almost as a report card from the school to the

community on how students are doing.

More than 1,000 students are enrolled in the college’s film and video

program, which produces about 300 projects every year. Half of these

students continue on to four-year schools to earn bachelor’s degrees, and

the other half try to go directly into the business.

The festival previews the best of OCC’s best.

“So everyone could come see our creativity and proficiency,” Hall

added.

A team of judges watched more than 60 film entries and chose about a

dozen for the three-hour festival, which is generally rated PG-13. Each

work had been previously turned in for a grade at an OCC film class, and

genres include comedy, documentary, experimental video, music video and

even foreign-language projects.

“We picked [the films] to show a variety of styles of filmmaking,”

Hall said. “To highlight not only our advanced students, but even our

beginning students because we make sure even our beginning students have

the opportunity to be shown in the festival.”

The longest film is 25 minutes, and the shortest is about a minute.

They may, technically, fall in the short film category, but each of OCC’s

dozen works tells a complete story.

“The Conditioned Response” is a psychological thriller about an insane

writer who obsesses over a girl.

Morth was inspired to write the script after hearing the opening

lyrics of the Clawfinger song “The Biggest, the Best,” which go something

like “Nobody is perfect but I’m pretty [expletive] close.” As the

producer, she played the role of mom and oversaw her directors, actors

and editor.

For first-time director Jerome Hurd, who had only worked on shorter

pieces, including music videos, before his involvement in Morth’s

project, the experience taught him that everyone looks to the director

for pretty much everything.

The 20-year-old, who admitted his first hurdle was to stop being

nervous, said he learned how to talk to actors -- to encourage them while

being honest about needed improvements. He also learned how to better

work with technicalities, such as lights and cameras.

“This experience has taught me more than any other class,” Hurd said.

Editor Kana Hotta and directors of photography Jed Scus and Krystof

Andres worked to keep the mood of “Conditioned” dark by using minimal

lighting and music.

The black and white film was shot in Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and

Irvine -- in venues that included the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Hotta’s

apartment.

“Everything actually went very smoothly,” Hurd said.

FYI

* WHAT: Orange Coast College Student Film and Video Festival

* WHEN: 7 to 10 p.m. today

* WHERE: Orange Coast College’s Robert B. Moore Theatre, 2701 Fairview

Road, Costa Mesa

* COST: $5 donation to be collected at the door

* CALL: (714) 432-5180