The skills of Entertainment Business Management students are on full display in each volume of Compendium, as you might’ve noticed in the recent videos from Volume III: Steampunk Neverland on the VFS YouTube channel.

Students bring together and lead the teams that are responsible for some extremely compelling work that has been lauded at festivals and cheered online. But there’s a lot more to it than that, as student producer Aliya Tarmohamed explains below.

For Compendium Volume IV: Psycho Princess, her team created a dark vision that turned the Walt Disney classic The Little Mermaid on its head, employing the talents of some insanely creative makeup artists, designers, filmmakers, writers, and more.

We’re happy to announce their short film will screen at Screamfest LA this month. Horror fans will know the festival for creating a landslide of fan buzz surrounding 2007’s Paranormal Activity.

Aliya was kind enough to take some time out of her swamped schedule to talk a bit about the collaborative process and the massive load of work this project required of her team – which also included Lindsey Mann, Justin Simon, and Samantha Jewell.

Can you explain what an EBM student producer is responsible for on Compendium?

Aliya: Compendium is the first project where we got to experience what it’s like to apply the academic skills we learned in class into a practical setting. We literally manifested something out of nothing in an interdepartmental collaboration of a grand magnitude.

The pre-production phase of the project is where the bulk of our responsibilities occur as producers. It started from vetting the original IP, to developing briefs which get sent out to the Writing for Film & Television students. Choosing a script was one of the most monumental stages of the project, because the script had to meet the logistical criteria of our time and budget constraints.

From there, our other responsibilities included: casting our actors and location scouting. We also got the chance to practice our newly acquired negotiation skills, which is critical when you need to outsource costumes, props, and catering while working within a limited budget and trying to raise production value. We would have weekly meetings with our team, and slowly our crew expanded as the weeks progressed. Our responsibility of scheduling and organizing pre-production meetings and communication via an online tool called Basecamp was crucial in facilitating the success of production.

During production we were the go-to people for problem solving, and ensuring the day went by smoothly and on schedule. During post-production, we oversaw the editing process and provided feedback for our music composer/digital designer, as well as our editor. Our other responsibilities revolved around marketing, which included developing a press kit, maintaining our blog, and promoting through various social media platforms.

What was the inter-program collaboration process like?

Aliya: The inter-program collaboration process was a very unique experience for us. We were in the thick of our program where we were learning how to be leaders, and then all of a sudden we got handed an opportunity to become leaders to a team of faculty, alumni, and students, whose experience ranged from far greater to on par with us.

In our personal experience, we were all blown away by the amount of respect, patience, and professionalism we received from each and every one of our cast and crew.

It was very apparent, especially due to the fact that we were unable to compensate anyone for their labour, that everyone on the project was so dedicated and enthusiastic because of their passion for their craft, and also because they wanted to share the opportunity to continue to grow and learn alongside us. We were extremely fortunate to work with such an amazing group of talented and professional individuals.

How do you personally measure the success of this project?

Aliya: One of our ultimate end goals for the film is to have it stand as one of the strongest assets in our portfolio, and in turn have it generate potential employment opportunities in the industry once we are out of school.

We are already currently experiencing the reality of successfully achieving one of the goals that we had set out for ourselves, and that was to have it screened at a reputable film festival. We recently got the news that “The Little Mermaid” was accepted into Screamfest LA, and will be premiering at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood on October 21 (we have no doubt that the timing of the festival so close to Halloween was very intentional)!

We are all very excited by the potential networking opportunities that lie ahead through the doors that have been now been opened, and putting more of the skills we have learned to the test!

Congrats, Aliya – and to everyone on your team! Best of luck at Screamfest LA!