The winning entries -- judged on innovative use of technology and cinematic quality by a panel of students, faculty and administrators -- will earn dorm-wide prizes for their residence halls and be premiered at 7 p.m. Sunday in Baldwin Auditorium.

The benefits of the project are numerous, said Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta. âIt has forced the students to be more observant and to find the nooks and crannies of campus life,â he said. âBecause Froshlife is restricted to entries from teams based in freshman residence halls, it has also helped to build community and strengthen first-year class identity.â

Apple takes a hands-off approach to the studentâs actual projects, explained Fred Brackett, a company representative. âWe just say, âWe have cool stuff. What do you want to do with it?ââ he said.

Defining the broad theme of âthe first-year experienceâ was the projectâs main challenge, said Sarah Roberts, an OIT analyst and the Froshlife projectâs coordinator.

Trey Sherard and other residents of Randolph Dormitory, one of the seven teams, tackled the challenge by focusing on a seemingly mundane aspect of student life: riding the bus between East and West campuses. In âThe Bus,â the routine journey suddenly turns into a football field clash and then, without warning, a ninja duel for the filmâs protagonist, âlittle Jimmy.â

Jared McCauley led the Jarvis Dormitory film teamâs horror spoof about a zombie roommate who stores dead squirrels in his mini-fridge, struggles to learn the intricacies of instant messaging and downs 26 sodas at a party while insisting the song âMonster Mashâ play repeatedly.

Carter Matschullat took inspiration from The Lonely Island comedy group, a 1987 movie by Arnold Schwarzenegger and roller derby for his film teamâs entry. The silent movie, titled â9:10,â features physical humor as students dash to class in another East-West commuting saga.

âTechnology has democratized the processâ of filmmaking, said Josh Gibson, assistant director of the universityâs Program in Film/Video/Digital. But while technology provides the tools, filmmakers still need to master the basics of storytelling.

Gibson taught a Froshlife training session earlier this month. During his class, he explained that successful short films are like haiku or comic strips, employing a ânarrative hole, or narrative absence.â

Even five-minute films can present hours of obstacles, the students learned.

âThe hardest thing is to keep control of the group. People always want to ad-lib, but the script is pretty much set,â Matschullat said about his cast.

For âThe Bus,â the film team had to gain access to Wallace Wade Stadium, receive permission from Transportation Services to film campus buses, borrow a tai-chi sword and splice crowd scenes shot during busy bus times into scripted scenes shot during off-peak hours.

âStudents will definitely recognize not getting on the bus,â said Sherard of his protagonistâs struggle. The audience will commiserate, he hopes â“ and laugh.