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He's a one-man band playing in the film industry two semesters shy of his degree in cinema arts.

But instead of banging on the drums while blowing the trumpet simultaneously, UNM film student Justin Golightly wrote a script, produced it, played the lead, made his own computer graphics and sewed together a green screen for "Illumination," a five-minute film about a man who discovers the meaning of life.

Golightly's enterprising techniques won him a spot on the student-run Traveling Film Festival coming July 20 to the Guild Cinema, 3405 Central Ave. N.E.

"Illumination" will show at 7 p.m. along with four other short films selected by brothers Brian and Steven Amos of Student Films Across America, creators of the film festival. The brothers chose "Illumination" as the best of show in Albuquerque.

"It stops at least in one city in every state, and every city has a local showcase filmmaker, and so for Albuquerque I'm that one," Golightly said.

Brian Amos said he liked Golightly's film because it incorporated an interesting use of green screen.

A green screen is a giant monochromatic screen — or in some cases a sheet — that is used behind an actor to replace the background with a different scene. It's the same device weather forecasters stand in front of during TV newscasts.

Professional green screens can cost anywhere from $500 for a 12-by-12-foot screen and $1,000 for a 20-by-20 screen.

Golightly couldn't afford professional equipment, so he improvised by spending $50 on six sheets of cloth from Hobby Lobby.

The sheets varied in size and Golightly spent almost two weeks sewing them together.

"That part was tedious," Golightly said. "I thought one sheet would do it, but then it ended up that I needed to walk from one end to the other, and I would have to get another sheet."

In the end, Golightly's green screen reached a span of 20 feet long and 9 feet high.

Steven Amos said green screens were not commonly used among the film entries.

"It's interesting to hear about students with no budget and not a lot of resources setting up stuff in their basements and their garages," Amos said.

The entire project cost Golightly $200 and took two months to complete.

Golightly said none of the cinema arts classes at UNM taught him how to improvise when working on a shoestring budget and lacking in studio equipment.

The idea of making a green screen was something he came up with on his own.

"I got my inspiration on it after I saw `Sin City,' " Golightly said referring to the graphic novel brought to the big screen by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller. "I knew that I wanted that sort of make-believe, where I could put the background as whatever I wanted."

Golightly said an advertisement for the student-run film festival on a post-it board at school caught his interest.

Steven Amos said he and his brother used the posters as part of a grass-roots campaign for their nonprofit student-based competition.

"What we did is we got about 10,000 posters originally and mailed posters to every college in America," Amos said.

Golightly said he is excited to see his film at the Guild. He said his family plans to attend the screening with him.

"My parents are really supportive of me," Golightly said. "My dad was a little iffy on it (the green screen) because I had to stay up with it for a couple of days, and he couldn't park his car in the garage, but that's it."