A couple months ago, on a lark, I agreed to be camera meat in a local student film. That was an experience, in itself. I learned a lot, including the fact that there's actually a small community of actors in the region who will come out and audition for student film productions. Makes total sense, since since there's more than one film program in town.
And then I saw myself on the screen! Damn, it was surreal.
I was impressed by the short films I saw. Sure, they were undergrad film projects, and there were some cliches I saw that I half-expected to see going in: Mafia riffs, torture pr0n, taboo subjects, Quentin Tarrantino dialogue, and a little John Woo gun-fu action thrown in. But the creativity level was incredible, all the way around. You could tell, warts and all, that at least a modicum of care was taken (by some more than others, but such is the way of any group of people in creative endeavors) to make each film a good product.