Buttery popcorn, well-cushioned chairs and a surround sound system that amplifies the sound of a pin dropping, are pretty common elements in most movie theater experiences.

For most big-budget Hollywood blockbusters, themes that include violence, sex, drugs and car chases are pretty standard as well. For the few who aren’t drawn to these themes, there are alternatives which provide a breath of fresh air in a room congested with cigarette smoke.

The alternatives may not be as catchy, as clich‚ or in some cases, as well assembled as the large-scale productions, but every independent work of art is created with a purpose. And every independent film is fueled by the courage and fervor of its creator.

Indie power

Ever since the beginning of movie production, there have been large movie studios whose goal is to produce highly-packaged films designed to attract pocketbooks.

When a director or writer is interested in making a movie, he or she often approaches one of these studios to gain support. If the studio likes the writer or director’s ideas, the studio buys the rights to the film and takes the reins.

As long as the writer signs on the dotted line, the studio has the authority to alter the script to insure that it will appeal to a wide variety of moviegoers.

If the studio feels the script doesn’t have enough potential to bring in the desired cash flow, the studio rejects the film and moves on.

But rejection doesn’t stop some writers and directors from pursuing the future of a film with a worthwhile message.

These non-conventionalists abandon the corporate norm and set out to produce a film on their own — independently.

Though these independent films may not have as much financial freedom as most corporately-owned films, they have the creative freedom to devise a plot that isn’t tailored to pocketbooks, but to the agenda of its author.

With this freedom, these independent films can embrace obscure subjects the average public might shun. In the process, the films tend to attract audiences who want more than the average Hollywood car chase.

“The people that support [independent] films want something with substance,” said B.C. Mahon, owner of Des Moines art house The Varsity. “They want something that intrigues; something other than the regular Hollywood fluff. Our pictures involve more concentration, but not necessarily deep thought.”

And once people are drawn in by the independent film bug, viewing these shows becomes a hobby. Mahon said there is a general crowd of about 50 to 200 people whom he recognizes as regular attendees of The Varsity’s films.

“They’ve helped keep the place open for years,” Mahon said.

Keeping the industry alive

In order to keep a theater such as The Varsity open, there has to be enough interest, and unfortunately so far, there hasn’t been enough to build such a structure in Ames.

However, Iowa State film professor Loring Silet said because Ames has a college campus, he thinks the city might potentially be able to support an art house in the future.

“It’s more difficult [to see an independent film] the farther away you get,” Silet said. “You need a concentration of people who have had a little broader exposure.”

Even though Ames is a small city, Silet said ISU has drawn a wider independent film following in the past. He said the university used to provide many different services for independent film enthusiasts at local theaters and through the English department.

Currently, the only place to see an independent film is at Student Union Board (SUB) films, which are shown weekly in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union.

Timothy Jennings, SUB films director, said SUB films tries to keep the independent film industry alive in Ames by making non-traditional films available to the ISU community.

“We try to show some kind of foreign film every semester,” Jennings said. “We try to hit as many genres as we possibly can. We’ve done just about everything except a western — we’re going to do that next semester.”

The reason SUB films is able to bring in such a wide variety of films is partially due to the fact that it uses lots of distributors. Silet said the distributors, not the theaters, pick the films that are played in the theaters.

One of the reasons Ames theaters don’t show many independent films is because the distributors Ames theaters use don’t offer them. Silet said most of the Ames theaters use large-scale distributors who purchase the big budget Hollywood films.

“You can’t make as much money distributing foreign films,” Silet said. “People who are marketing these films aren’t getting as much money.”

As fewer foreign films are becoming available for viewing, the market has been dropping accordingly.

“People will become unaware of the films,” Silet said.

Breaking the mold

Right now, the Pioneer Room in the Memorial Union (where SUB films play) is the closest thing Ames has to an art house.

Silet said if an actual structure was built for the purpose of housing independent films, he thinks the Ames/ISU community might be more interested.

“There seems to be a growing interest in movies,” Silet said. “Maybe the movie-going public is changing.”

Silet noted that independent films such as “Shakespeare in Love” and “Life is Beautiful” are both being shown in Ames at theaters that normally only play mainstream shows.

“People are looking for films which are a little different,” Mahon said.

Whether this growing interest of independent films is conscious or not, Silet said he hopes the Ames community will continue to expand its interest in independent films.

“There are multiple places to see different films and multiple ways to look at them,” Silet said. “It’s really OK to go to a movie where people talk to each other and not just blow each other up.”