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Paul Gallegos, director of photography for "The Spider Experiment," looks through a kitchen window screen to frame a shot. The film crew has had seven days to shoot and edit the movie as part of the Duke City Shootout competition.

Galen Clarke/Tribune

MiKaela Barker, 9, mugs for the camera while she waits for the crew to set up a scene while filming "The Spider Experiment." The movie - shot and edited in seven days this week - is in the running for the Duke City Shootout.

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On the seventh day, instead of rest, there will be a sleep-deprived mad dash to perfect the final version of "The Spider Experiment," one of the entries in the Duke City Shootout.

The film competition is scheduled to end at noonon July 28, followed by a 7 p.m. public screening of the seven finished products. That means the staff of "The Spider Experiment" — two editors, sound mixer, director of photography, and husband-and-wife directors — will spend tonight in a panicked state of disarray as they try to perfect their 10-minute film.

"Everybody's excited to see our final product, because we don't really know, shooting in pieces, what it's going to look like," said Linda Peña, wardrobe key for "The Spider Experiment."

Peña is one of many Duke City Shootout volunteers who used "The Spider Experiment" as an experiment of her own.

At the beginning of the summer, the Duke City Shootout has an open call for volunteers every year. No experience is needed in order to assist in the creative process of making a short film. All it takes is the ability to commit to a week's worth of diligent work with a crew made up of other passionate, unpaid volunteers who want to see what it's like to make a movie.

"This is a great opportunity for me and my midlife crisis," Peña said.

Peña, a 45-year-old mother of three, volunteered to be in charge of the wardrobe for the cast of "The Spider Experiment." Her time on set was spent working with energetic kids who constantly wanted to play or go out and soak up the rain.

The experience was a big change from the daily grind of the paralegal life Peña once led.

"I worked as a paralegal and a district court clerk in Las Vegas, Nevada, for 12 years," Peña said. "And all I did was death penalty cases."

Peña said she decided it was time for a life change when she realized the dark and grisly aspects of her job no longer had an effect on her.

She had been eating an apple while reviewing autopsy reports when a young girl working with her said something profound.

"The girl I was training looked at me and said, 'The day I become like you, I need to get out of this,' " Peña recalled.

So that's exactly what she did.

She left her job in Las Vegas, invested her money in real estate and moved to Albuquerque.

This is Peña's first year volunteering at the Duke City Shootout. She said she felt lucky to be working with directors Scott and Paula Merrow in addition to a crew that "shared a great chemistry."

It is also the Merrows' first year as directors. Last year, the husband-and-wife team won the Governor's Cup with a screenplay titled "A Piece of Pie," but someone else was in charge of directing their script.

Paula Merrow said the idea to write "The Spider Experiment" came to her and her husband during a class they took on how to write children's short stories.

"The teacher would give us ideas to write about," Merrow said. "One night we came in and she wrote on the board 'Spider Puke,' and that's how it began."

Merrow said she doesn't expect to win any awards during the July 27 gala presentation.

But, much like every opportunity available via the Duke City Shootout, there's a first time for everything.

Peña said her first time volunteering for the event has given her a newfound respect for the work put in to film production.

"I just learned that it's a whole other world," Peña said. "We were just saying yesterday — we said, 'Wow, it will be nice to get our lives back.' Because film is a whole other world, and you lose touch with reality."

For volunteer Daniel Brown, however, losing touch with reality was a welcome change.

Brown is a 24-year-old UNM graduate. This is his second year volunteering for the Duke City Shootout.

He said working as the sound mixer for "The Spider Experiment" helped cement his decision to put aside his broadcast journalism degree and pursue a career in film.

"I got through with broadcast journalism, and I decided it just wasn't what I wanted to do," Brown said.

About a month ago, Brown applied for a job at PR Newswire. Brown said he wasn't hired because his résumé was full of production experience rather than a public relations background.

"So I decided I should probably do what I wanted to do," Brown said.

And what Brown wanted to do was be a sound engineer, not a public representative.

Working on the set of "The Spider Experiment," Brown had to endure long days and little sleep, yet he said he enjoyed every minute of what he was doing.

"I love being on my feet and not at a desk," Brown said.

Peña also enjoyed the change of pace and said she is interested in directing a movie of her own.

"What I'm going to do next year is turn in a screenplay to the festival," Peña said. "Now that I have an idea of how it works."