A group of Michigan State University students is making friends, making movies and making memories.

The creative collaborators are determined to master the art of the cinema by sharing their time, learning and enthusiasm for taking an idea from concept to finished film.

“We’re all very passionate and willing to try to make the projects happen,” said Simon Richards, of Waterford, a rising senior studying film production at Michigan State.

“We want to make things to be proud of and make something for people to enjoy.”

Along the way, the students are getting practical experience in the many artistic and commercial elements essential to moviemaking. For Richards, who is producer and assistant director of a short film production now underway, that means addressing everything from renting equipment, hiring actors, arranging for sets and — of course — finding ways to cover costs.

The movie — “Tomato Soup” — is the brainchild of fellow MSU student Branden Conant, who wrote the script. The Spartan senior said the film deals with the nostalgia of leaving home and moving to a new chapter in his life.

A native of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, Conant said the script took some two years to write and refine. The timing coincides, he said, with his own coming to terms with his empty-nest parents selling the home where he was raised.

A promotional ad for the movie spelled out the plot: “An awkward baseball player struggles to let go of the past during his final night before moving away, desperate to find a reason to stay.”

“Saying goodbye brings up a lot of strong emotions,” Conant said. “That’s why I am able to root my story to properly express emotions.”

For his part, Conant said, he was an active Little League player, but lacked the talent for high school baseball. Instead, he said, “I fell in love with movies.”

The movie title comes from Conant’s childhood memories of home lunches of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

“It was my favorite for lunch,” he said. “You can’t go wrong with tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.”

Richards said the “Tomato Soup” effort is the most current of a variety of film projects by the student team. The group evolved, he said, from the MSU Filmmakers Club, a group founded in the 1980s by Sam and Ivan Raimi, Royal Oak brothers with Michigan State connections.

Sam Raimi is a director, screenwriter and producer known for directing the Spider-Man trilogy. Ivan Raimi is a physician and screenwriter whose work includes Darkman and Spider-Man 3.

The Filmmakers Club, Richard said, has brought together like-minded students who share enthusiasm and knowledge to produce a variety of film efforts, ranging from one-minute shorts focused on a single scene to longer efforts suitable for independent film festivals.

“We are committed to quality, not quantity,” Richards said.

Richards said the core group includes several dozen students “trying to learn as much as we can, from our classes and from each other.”For “Tomato Soup,” the team is shooting for a 30-minute movie that is funny and emotional.

Delivering on that goal demands a lengthy, detailed to-do list, Richards said. For “Tomato Soup,” that meant a great deal of planning and discussion, from designing the soup can label and movie promotional logo to arranging for locations to shoot the film.

Add to that, Richards said, arranging for props, costumes, filmmaking equipment and food to feed the production staff and actors. More than 20 team members are expected to be involved in the production, behind the scenes and on camera.

A casting call seeks two actors for four days of filming in August. Payment for each day is advertised at $150, according to a “Tomato Soup” notice on Facebook. Applicants are encouraged to apply at tomatosoupshortfilm@gmail.com.

Conant said a key to making the movie a reality is “planning, planning, planning.

“You have to plan everything down to the people going for the parts to restrooms available during the filming,” he said. “It takes a lot of planning to produce a full day of really good work.”

Cast and crew will be working with a 17-page script to complete the movie for a fall release, Conant said.

Meanwhile, the team is running a fundraising campaign with a goal of $10,000 to cover costs for everything from food served on the set to equipment rentals, Richards said.

The fundraising effort is working with the Seed&Spark crowdfunding platform, a national website dedicated to supporting fledgling moviemakers.

Some funds also could be used to enter the completed movie in state and national independent film festivals. Richards cited festivals in Ann Arbor, Detroit and East Lansing as ideal locations for showings of “Tomato Soup.”

For more information or to donate, visit seedandspark.com/fund/tomato-soup.