The Ball State Daily News Online

Section: NEWS
Originally published: 2/6/08 at 1:56 AM EST
Last update: 2/6/08 at 1:55 AM EST

Senior Danilo Santos' taste in Spanish music has increased his chances of winning an Academy Award.

Santos, with some of his fellow telecommunications students, finished producing the university's first Spanish movie last week. The short film was produced in Spanish and English, Santos said.

The movie, "Taxy," also is the first Ball State movie to include actors from the Screen Actors Guild, Marianni Ebert and David Dorm, he said.

Santos said he plans to enter "Taxy" in more than 40 international film festivals, including the Sundance and Cannes film festivals, after post-production work is finished in June or July. A win at any of the film festivals would make "Taxy" eligible for an Academy Award, he said.

Santos, the movie's head producer and screenwriter, said his inspiration for the movie came from a Spanish song he listened to last summer.

While working as an intern for Sony Pictures in New York City, Santos wrote a rough script and began searching for classmates who would work well on the crew, he said.

"It was hard to sell the story, to find good producers; they're still students," Santos said.

Santos selected telecommunications students and friends for his crew and proposed his idea to the telecommunications department, he said.

Santos said he pitched the idea to faculty members Jonathan Huer, Tim Pollard and Rich Swingley in August. After they agreed to advise the project, Santos faced the burden of budgeting, he said.

The movie's initial budget was $24,000, and in order to meet production deadlines, Santos said, he had to raise the money before January's video shoot. After applying to several organizations with no success, Santos had to find other resources, he said.

"John [Huer] told me, 'Now you have to use your creativity,'" Santos said.

That creativity came in the form of switching out expensive, well-known Spanish actors for ones who wouldn't break the bank.

During his internship with Sony Pictures, Santos befriended numerous Spanish-speaking actors, and they agreed to help him, he said. The actors surprised Santos by paying for their plane tickets to Indianapolis, he said.

Senior Mandy Walker, who helped produce the film, said "Taxy," a "love-hate story" of a taxi driver and the rich woman he drives around one night, was filmed in Muncie and Indianapolis.

Because the film involved Spanish-speaking actors and English-speaking crew members, Santos constantly switched between the languages he spoke when he directed, he said.

Sophomore Kenton Waltz, who also helped produce the film, said he thought he needed to learn a foreign language because it would broaden his opportunities in the film business.

"It hinders me, and another language allows more communication with more actors," he said.

Santos said shooting the film in January was the most difficult part because of cold weather and long hours of filming.

"From Thursday to Sunday, I got around 14 to 16 hours of sleep," he said. "I lost 5 pounds during the filming. I didn't eat at all one day, but it was so fulfilling to work behind the camera and direct."

The crew worked late hours, sometimes until 5 a.m., Santos said, and when the temperature dropped to 3 degrees, he was compelled to keep his crew's spirits up.

"We're not there for money; we're not there for a grade," Santos said. "They could leave at any time, say 'I'm tired,' but they didn't want to leave.

"It felt like we were really making a low-budget, independent film," Santos said.

For more information about the film, check out www.taxythemovie.com.

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