Filming on the fourth Indiana Jones movie is currently taking place at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, where some of the college’s students and teachers are serving as extras during the shooting of the film’s opening scenes, according to an article in The New York Observer.

The article states that to film the scenes — which include star Harrison Ford — a whole block of storefronts were transformed to make the scenery look like 1957, and some extras interviewed said they had to wear period garb. The Unofficial Indiana Jones Movie Blog has photos from the New Haven set.

IGN reported that the plot for Indy 4 — rumored to be titled Indiana Jones and the City of Gods — has Communists replacing Nazis as the villains, with something very big happening in the archaeology field that will lead to all sides vying for Indy’s expertise.

The NYO article has interviews with several extras, one of whom describes in further detail the opening scene. Read about it here after the jump (POSSIBLE SPOILERS).

“It’s the opening scene of the movie,” Ms. Dunn [an extra] burbled excitedly. “[Harrison Ford] is teaching a class and he hears some noise outside, which turns out to be an anti-Communist rally, and he goes out to investigate and he recognizes one of his old rivals from one of the other movies and he jumps on a motorcycle and ends up being chased by some guys in a car.”

That’s not all. “I’ve heard rumors that the archeological artifact that they’re looking for is the fountain of youth,” Ms. Dunn said. “But I don’t know.”

The Steven Spielberg-directed Indy 4, which along with Ford, stars Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, and Jim Broadbent hits theaters May 22, 2008.