Eric Hanson and Alex Crawford

attended different schools in different grades in Fayette County, but

they are now working together in Athens on a short film called, "Teaching

Marlow." Hanson graduated from McIntosh High School in 1999, while

Crawford graduated from Fayette County High School in 2003. Their love

of film and making movies has erased any rivalry that was between them.

The two met on the set of a

local cable access show called "After Hours." Hanson does some

camera work and edits, while Crawford is the host. The show interviews

local people on the Athens scene. Hanson had filmed some short sketch-type

films with friends but was interested in doing a longer feature. Crawford

had just the thing, "Teaching Marlow," a short film script about

two friends who wish to shake up their conservative town.

Crawford had written the script

as a student at Fayette County but could not find enough help to film

it properly. Crawford submitted the script in a national short script

contest and it earned an honorable mention. Hanson liked the idea and

the two started pre-production in September.

"We put up signs all over

the campus and the town that read, 'Wanna Make a Film?'"

said Crawford. "About 40 people showed up to the meeting and we got

20 commitments to help that night." The crew varied from college

students with telecommunications experience to a few students from the

local high school who had never done anything like this but wanted to

learn. The next step was finding actors and this proved to be a bit more

difficult.

"We found most of the

cast, but we had trouble finding someone to play Lex," said Crawford,

who described the character as the real pretentious best friend and the

catalyst behind the rebellion against the town. "Alex read the part

while auditioning someone else and everyone thought he did a real good

job with it," said Hanson.

From that point on, Crawford

operated as writer, actor and co-director. Hanson focused on the more

technical aspects of filming, while Crawford would work with the actors.

It was a system that would help them get through a total of 10 days of

shooting.

The budget for the film was

$1,500 and the money came from the producers, Crawford's and Hanson's

fathers. The largest portion of the budget was on equipment rentals, with

the rest going toward food to keep everyone on the set happy.

The movie was shot on a digital

video camera and Hanson estimated there are 22 tapes of footage so far,

with one day of shooting left to be done after the break. Most of the

days they filmed began at 5:30 a.m. and ended, for the actors and crew,

at 5 p.m. "If it was light out, we were shooting," said Crawford.

After filming was done for the day, Hanson and Crawford would watch the

footage and Hanson would start to do some editing.

"Keep in mind, much of

the filming was done during exams," said Hanson, who claimed he did

most of his studying for exams the day before.

Each day was a learning experience,

each deserving of a story itself. For instance, there was the day that

Hanson fell off a dolly into a highway in Madison while filming. There

was also the day that a dream sequence involving a convenience store robbery

was being shot and two real customers thought the robbery was real, despite

signs on the entrance telling them differently.

The pair also find it interesting

that since they established the Web site for their film company, Overexposed

Films, mainly as a way to keep a journal of the production and for the

crew to find out the latest news, they get phone calls and e-mails from

actors, actresses and interns wishing to send them headshots and be involved

in their next production.

Hanson estimates that the editing

of "Teaching Marlow" will take about a month. Both he and Crawford

are planning on entering the film in the Atlanta Film Festival, which

has an entry deadline of Feb. 2. After a screening for cast and crew and

friends and family, the duo are planning on laying low for awhile. Crawford

will go