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Rob Walker is a watcher, which makes him the perfect person to direct a film. He can train his digital eye on people just as he has always rested his gaze on them. And he can record their words and actions on film just as has always done in his memory.

On Christmas break from college, Walker returned to his hometown of Hayden with friend and fellow filmmaker Stephen Guiliano. He walked with his friend through the small downtown area, showing him all the things that someone who didn't grow up there never would notice.

His head is full of stories. Not about himself, but about others.

Walker is a romantic, and as he talks, he seems decades older than his 22 years. He seems to be an old man, recounting life, and as a filmmaker, he has the visual sensibilities of someone making films during his grandparents' time. Classics.

People in Routt County may know Walker from the magic acts he liked to perform at community events or for his role in Steamboat Community Players' 2003 summer production of "Cosi."

Walker graduated from Hayden High School in 2000 and is an acting and theatre education major at University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.

He is hard at work on his first film, "The Dance." Walker wrote the script and played the lead role in the story of a confused writing student and a prostitute. The 20-minute short film is shot in a hotel room with the curtains drawn. Walker plays opposite Steamboat's Cheryl Clifford, whom he met while acting in "Cosi."

The film opens with Walker's character on the phone trying to cancel his request for a prostitute to come to his room.

"He's a good writer," Walker said. "His technique is perfect, but when it comes to filling out the details, he is very dry. He doesn't have much life experience."

Walker's character is a virgin, and he thinks having some "life experience" will help him be a better writer. But when the prostitute arrives, he doesn't get what he expected.

"Have you ever had an experience where you met someone for the first time? You connect. You talk for hours, and you change each other," Walker said. "But then you leave, and you never see each other again. That's what this movie is about."

Walker shot the film on a budget of $1,000 with the help of his cousin Monty Velasquez. The budget did not include editing and camera equipment they bought and learned to use for the film.

Velasquez filmed "The Dance" with one Mini DV camera. Velasquez styles himself after filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, director of "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" and "Spy Kids." Rodriguez put out a video titled "10 minute film school" about how to make a movie on a budget using one camera to get many angles. That's the extent of film school training Velasquez or Walker have had.

The rough cut of the film is complete. Walker and his cousin plan to have it finished by May 1 -- the deadline for most film festivals. When complete, Walker plans to have a special showing for Steamboat Springs and Hayden residents.

The cousins already have plans for more projects.

"When I graduate, I want to keep making films," Walker said. "And I want to make them from here. I want to show them here, and I want to see a film culture start here."