The sun starts setting real fast at around 7 p.m.

It seems like it sets even faster when you’re trying tofilm a movie.

“Now, now, now! Go!” yells the director.

He looks like some important player in the industry with hisdark shades, khakis and crisp white shirt.

And the way he barks out directions makes you think he’sgot grand visions for this film.

But he’s not some Hollywood mover and shaker. He’sSacramento State student Greg Stechman.

Stechman is filming a wedding scene outdoors at a veryexpensive-looking house overlooking Folsom Lake in El DoradoHills.

His film is “Michael & Claire: A Portrait of Love andDreams,” a complex comedy that’s been filming sinceJuly 18. He has a cast and crew of 30 and a budget of $200,000 allcoming together for his directorial debut.

But it’s the last day of filming and these shots have toget done now &- Stechman’s can’t let the sun setwithout wrapping this film.

He’s spouting out directions with urgency – yelling atsomeone to put a bow on the dog and instructing the lead actress todescend the staircase before the “magic hour” lightingis gone. He orders the extras in the altar scene to loose theirbeer cans, citing “something needs to be sacred in thismovie.” He dictates parameters for a scene, sayingthey’re only doing two takes and then moving on.

Even though he said he’s nervous having all the peoplearound, he’s acting every bit the maestro of today’sshoot.

The crew scurries around the “set,” a backyard patiofire pit, in preparation for the scene. They hold up a screen tobounce the orange sunlight onto the actors’ faces.

The marker snaps for take one and the surrounding chatter dulls- absolute quiet isn’t necessary because the actors mouththeir lines silently. Dialog will be dubbed in later.

In the next scene, the wedding, the director of photography pansalong with the actress as she walks up to the altar. The extras andguests who have gathered for the wrap party scatter and duck toavoid being in the shot.

Earlier at the wrap party toast, Stechman said seeing everyonecome together on the last day of filming was a culminatingexperience, a little different from the one he thought he’dhave.

“I had no clue I would make this film,” he said tothe crowd.

Originally, he was just the writer.

Stechman was injured with two herniated discs in his neck inDecember 2002 and spent a lot of time lying around. He watchedfilms by Paul Thomas Anderson (“Punch-Drunk Love”) andWes Anderson (“The Royal Tenenbaums”) and got ideas forromantic stories that are a little offbeat.

What he wrote in that time was “Michael &Claire,” what might be termed a romantic comedy.

“It’s pretty easy to pitch it that way butit’s not. It’s a very dark and pessimisticmovie,” Stechman said.

For instance the character Michael never says he’s in lovein the film. Michael also works in the fantasy-driven pornographyindustry as a film editor, a character trait which some people havetaken offense to.

But Stechman claims that details like these add to the overalltheme of love entangled with fantasy in the film’s heightenedsurreal atmosphere.

“None of the characters in the film you would find in reallife,” he said. In more realistically portrayed charactersyou would see balance, but these characters are melodramatic,Stechman said.

And with narcoleptic virgins, overbearing older sisters,sensitive porn directors and alligator print G-string wearing pornstars, the mood is quite exaggerated.

Stechman thought bringing these characters to life in the scriptwas his only role on the film.

He never thought he’d be the one directing this movie,especially while still in college (he graduates this winter).

The original time frame would have had production startnow, with Stechman just doing script re-writes. But when theoriginal director backed out of the picture, the producer decidedto move up production. He also convinced Stechman that he shoulddirect it. The producer thought Stechman should have a film underhis belt before he graduates to get his name out there in thebusiness.

Then the producer quit. But the filmmakers kept the newproduction schedule. Stechman is much happier having it over withnow rather than knowing it’s waiting to be done, he said.

This is his first screenplay of the 12 he’s written thathas been filmed.

The film has $200,000 budget financed by his production company,Burning Grounds. The money came from mostly from the filmmakers andfriends who are investors.

“It’s always hard to secure money especially in thissituation when it’s high risk,” Stechman said.

When it came time to cast, he put out fliers at University ofCalifornia, Davis, Sac State, B-street theatre and more traditionalcasting ads in “The Hollywood Reporter” and”Variety.”

A total of around 30 cast and crew members were set to startfilming July 18.

Lead actress Caroline Sharp found out about the role afterfinishing a production with the B Street Theatre, “LobsterAlice.”

Originally from North Carolina, this is Sharp’s firstfeature film since moving to California a year ago.

Sharp plays Claire, the narcoleptic virgin.

“I did a lot of research because I know nothing aboutnarcolepsy,” she said, adding that she went to the library toread about it. Sharp said she treats her character as a normalperson, unlike other comedies that would exploit the condition forhumor.

Filming has been “tedious and boring,” she says,because of waiting to set up shots. She’s sitting at the wrapparty in a loose white gown wearing purple-tinted sunglasses,waiting to start shooting today.

The experience has been invaluable, she said, becauseshe’s learned about patience and how to work with people.

“We’re all beginners at this so it’s not likeany of us come experienced, we’re just feeling it out,”she said.

She’s doing it to build her resume, to say she’sbeen in a feature film and to meet people in field.

All the actors are unpaid, but Sharp takes it as seriously asany other job, even if volunteering her time and gas money to getto the shoots has been a bit of a hassle.

“It has been a huge time commitment, but it’s theonly way I’m going to get any better, pay or no pay,”she said.

The whole no-pay issue was cause for some disgruntlement amongthe cast and crew, but an even bigger problem was just gettingeveryone there.

“The biggest challenge was scheduling. There was the humanelement with personal conflicts, but the biggest challenge wasscheduling,” Stechman said.

The second big problem was that the director of photography andeditor dropped off the project. They were replaced and the filmkept rolling.

The only paid person on cast is the composer Peter Senchuk, whois a union member who has worked as a professional in theindustry.

Stechman says that he’s a little sad to be in thepost-production stage now.

“It’s like building a house – I wanted to live therelonger than I got to. I think the audience will find that too. Itwas hard to end the film because I wanted to show more of thecharacters,” Stechman said.

But now that the house is built, Stechman’s next task isto sell it. He’s editing now for a release in April, whenthey plan on screening “Michael & Claire” at theCrest theatre. From there they’ll send it to film festivalsin Sacramento, New Orleans, Chicago, Telluride and Sundance.

“I didn’t write it for the audience, which is kindof self-serving. But I wrote it for myself and critics,” hesaid. Once it builds word, it should find an audience, he said.

His production company for the film, Burning Grounds IndependentMedia LTD, will play a big part in getting the film out to thataudience. Stechman founded the company with Anthony Alfano in 2000.It was licensed as a business early this summer.

“With all of the films we will be making, Burning Groundsis the company. You need to have a company to make films,”said Alfano. “Anything we put in and write off will be goingback to this company. It just makes sense.”

Alfano, a graduate of University of California, San Diego, witha degree in business economics, helped finance the film and coveredlegal issues by writing contracts for the cast and crew.

“It’s been a great experience. It’s been moreof a learning experience. We say on the next film we’ll doeverything different because we’ve learned,” Alfanosaid.

One thing he’ll change, he said, is to set up specificdays for filming so people who commit to work on the film must alsocommit to those days.

This is Burning Ground’s second film production, havingproduced “Transpose,” a short film shot in Sacramentothis last spring. They have also shot promotional reels fornovelist Steve Alten, author of “Meg: A novel of deepterror.”

In fact, Stechman and Burning Grounds have projects lined up forthe next couple years. “That’s the way it works in theindustry. You find people you work well with and you stick withthose people.”