SFCM’s Film Club got a new cast in 2024—and they’ve already called “wrap” on their first film.

Freshman Steven Wang came to SFCM reinvigorated by a gap year he spent working on major film productions in China and Japan. “Because I am in the Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program, my first ambition was to become a film scorer,” he explains. “So I thought it would be cool to go to sets and see what's going on with the directing, how films are being made.”

Steven Wang (right) with SFCM's Film Club.

His set visits sparked an interest in film and photography, and Wang spent the rest of his gap year traveling and honing his visual skills with a new camera. “I got really, really obsessed with the art of filmmaking,” he says, “how it's done from pre-production to post-production, the entire process. And then I was like, ‘I'm going to university, there's going to be a lot of people there, and I bet that there's also going to be people who are interested in filmmaking.’”

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The poster for '60 BPM.'

“So to be honest,” he finishes, “my first objective when I came here was to start this club.” It was an advantageous time, with the club inactive due to its previous leaders graduating in 2024. Other students—mostly from TAC, with its emphasis on film scoring—joined as Wang began planning the first project. “I still remember the first club meeting,” he says. “It was the most nerve-wracking thing because I didn’t know how many people were going to show up. At first it was like three people, and I was thinking ‘Yeah, this might not work.’ Then a lot of people showed up late, so now we have a stable, really well-dedicated core of the club, seven or eight people who showed up to every club meeting very dedicated and motivated to make this film.”

Haeun Lee, also a freshman in TAC who served as the director of photography for 60 BPM, the club’s first short, picked up her role after filming started. “The first few weeks of the club, we filmed some short scenes, and everyone was trying a bunch of stuff—directing or cinematography or sound—we switched jobs to see what everyone was good at.”

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SFCM's Film Club at work.

“I tried cinematography and as Steven saw me, he said, ‘Okay you will be director of photography,” she explained. (“I was really impressed,” Wang confirms.) Like a lot of TAC students, iconic composer John Williams is one of her favorites, but Lee hadn’t previously paid attention to things like shot construction or camera movement while watching films. “But right after I held the camera,” she says, “it was so fun and I thought, ‘Okay, this is my job for this club.’”

Other than a new appreciation for camerawork, Lee says she picked up an unexpected side effect of filming. “I learned how to balance the camera,” she says. “I really gained lots of muscle while filming that thing. It doesn't look like it, but it really needs lots of core strength to hold that thing.”

The film was a serious team project, with everyone pitching in as necessary for things like sound design and foley work. “We did almost everything together,” Lee says, “and I really like working as a team under Steven. He’s really good.”

Wang finished the 60 BPM script in early November, storyboarding the film himself “because no one wanted to do it.” It was important for him not to skip steps: “I really wanted to go over scripts, screenwriting, casting, and storyboards to give a full filmmaking experience, not just for me but also to all the people in the club.” Wang also booked halls for shoots and provided much of the equipment, though he says he secured a Tier 1 grant to help out.

Student Haeun Lee works on '60 BPM.'

The film stars Diego Carillo, another TAC freshman who joined shortly after the script was finished. He was the perfect fit, being a piano player with experience in both Shakespeare and musical theatre, though he still had to make adjustments. “I had to teach and correct myself doing certain things. I’d have to remind myself that I shouldn’t be doing these huge gestures like I would with stage acting; I don’t have to project as much.” Carillo, who also wrote the piano piece he plays in the film, will be taking the director’s chair himself this summer for two junior musicals.

60 BPM’s plot came together through shared brainstorming, Wang says. “We found one idea that resonated with all of us as musicians, how sometimes we have to suppress our own identity to play music that's been played thousands of times. We wanted the film to encourage people to play the music that they want to play.”

Diego Carillo being filmed for '60 BPM.'

60 BPM screened at the top of May in SFCM’s Studio G. Wang says that although there were surprises and punches production had roll with on the fly, one thing he learned from his set visits is that every film shoot has a degree of chaos, and he’s looking forward to his second film with the Film Club’s new lineup. “The bigger the film crew, the bigger the mess, “ he says. “I went on the set for a really big director in China's film, and everyone was always running around yelling. I feel like we're pretty lucky because we have a club where everyone's willing to do their job. Everyone found their place quite easily and is happy to do it.”

Learn more about studying Technology and Applied Composition at SFCM.