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RTV major Ryan McCurdy creates worlds.

Not in the usual sense of the term, but through the art of filmmaking.

Originally from Carmel, Ill., McCurdy had previously intended to go into comic illustration.

“When I was in high school, I was more into art and I always thought I’d be doing comics,” McCurdy said.

He then took up radio for two semesters and from there moved on to TV where he learned the basics of handling a camera.

“Over one summer between my first and second freshman years at Ivy Tech, me and some friends did a web series. It was originally supposed to be six episodes, but we ended up only getting two done,” McCurdy said.

The web-series is available for viewing on YouTube under the name “Welcome Back to Nowhere.”

“That was what really started to spike my interest,” McCurdy said.

“I always felt like doing a TV series but at this level it is really difficult, because it’s hard to grab actors when they have other commitments like school and jobs.”

McCurdy then started to really delve into film, spending entire summers devoted to a single director such as Alfred Hitchcock (“Psycho”).

“It’s kind of hard to say who my inspirations are because filmmaking today is different from what it was in the past. Hitchcock was the first director I really gravitated to just because I found his work to be very interesting,” McCurdy said.

“I started noticing these trends where you would have the early films of the century, then in the seventies you would have the rebirth of Hollywood with Kubrick, Spielberg and Lucas.”

Stanley Kubrick directed films such as “Clockwork Orange” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” while Stephen Spielberg (“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”) and George Lucas (“Star Wars”) were known more so for their films in the science-fiction genre.

Today, McCurdy credits Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Night”) for a lot of inspiration.

McCurdy was an original member of the USI Filmmaker’s Club when it was founded three years ago with junior Gavin Eddings, former club president Joe Barniak and current president Daniel Hiatt.

The Filmmaker’s Club hosted its third annual Mayday Film Festival Friday where McCurdy premiered his newest film “53.” The film has no dialogue.

“The person who is watching kind of has to give it their own interpretation of what is going on,” McCurdy said.

The film is about a time-traveler, portrayed by USI theater major Preston Harris-Dunlap, who travels to the present from 1953 and is pursued by a “time-cop” from the future for illegal time-traveling.

“I didn’t win anything this year but as far as films go, we had a lot of great ones,” McCurdy said.

McCurdy is the founder of Ghost Hat Pictures, which has produced films such as “The Bartman Conspiracy,” “Fagiolini” and “Roomies.”

The company will soon merge with Daniel Hiatt’s Greddy Productions.

“We felt that we work together so much anyway that there is no reason to have our own production companies,” McCurdy said.

He is currently writing the screenplay for another science-fiction film and is set to marry his fiance, Lily Mattingly, in June.

McCurdy is an active member of the fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon.