In Production Fall 2015 by Dodge College

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CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS

Academy Win

Marks Rising Talent in Digital Arts If winning an Oscar is a virtually unmatched mark of distinction for any filmmaker, winning a Student Academy Award carries perhaps even greater weight for a student filmmaker — as it singles out a film from a huge field of films unknown to the general public and makes people aware of its existence. When Chapman alumnus Daniel Drummond (BFA/DA ’14) picked up the Gold Medal as the Student Academy Award winner in the Alternative category for his inventive film Chiaroscuro in September, it signaled a remarkable level of achievement. With a record 1,686 entries for this year’s awards and only five gold medal winners, Daniel’s film falls in the top .3% of the student work submitted. But perhaps more significant than that, the Academy changed the judging process this year, dropping regional competitions that sometimes included judges who either had little experience in filmmaking or were directly connected to film schools that had submitted films. This year, judging was done solely by the members of the Academy, which, given the deep experience that it takes simply to be elected to membership, put the judging in generally much more discriminating hands. But judging aside, Daniel’s accomplishment is extraordinary for a number of reasons. Not only is he the first Student Academy Award winner from Chapman, but his film takes storytelling to an extremely challenging level — he involves the audience in a story involving purely abstract characters. His success is clear testimony to his commitment to the project. He spent a year and a half making the film,

but beyond that, I saw him as someone who embraced learning about film by taking advantage of every possible opportunity during his time at Dodge. Coming to Chapman from Brazil, Daniel dove right in. He was active in the Digital Arts Club, helping to arrange studio tours, guest speakers and improve classes for student animators. He wrote film reviews for the school newspaper; he was chosen as a Knott Scholar to study with Filmmaker-in-Residence Cathy Schulman, producer of Crash, Horns and other wonderful films; and he spent a semester in Cannes, France, where he dedicated himself to learning the language and the country’s art history, and interned at the Cannes Film Festival during his stay there. But more than that, what I saw of Daniel is what I hope every film student would push him or herself to do. There were many evenings when I came into the Folino Theater for a screening or lecture to find Daniel there, often in the company of his good friend Jack Anderson, also a Student Academy Award semi-finalist. Making time to attend as many film screenings, lectures and seminars as possible is what defines top young filmmakers — they understand that they need to see as many films as they can and learn directly from working filmmakers. They do not limit themselves to material covered in just the classes they are taking but soak up every chance to learn that comes their way. Looking at the creativity and talent of students coming in our doors, I know Daniel’s Student Academy Award won’t be our last. With eight semi-finalists and three finalists, Dodge College saw a banner year. I am excited by what the future holds as we watch our talented students develop their art and craft.

what’s inside Korean cinema

other stuff

features 2

AND THE AWARDS LIST keeps on growing…

The Lake Effect Telling a Story Through Improvised Dialogue

Meeting the Needs of a Growing Market in

Meet the Film Division Chair Eric Young

PETRIE BROTHERS

Dodge College Summer Travel

Students Explore Themes of Injustice, Corruption through Korean Cinema

Events Recap

Intern spotlight

Festival Highlights

Dodge College Alumni Notes

Bring Industry Expertise to the Classroom

Teaching

Studio Exec Helps Students Explore

Austin Ray, right (BFA/TWP'15) and

THE ART OF STORY THE BUSINESS OF THE BUSINESS ACADEMY PRESIDENT BACK in the Classroom

Dodge College

FILMMAKING

Daniel Drummond center, at the 42nd Student Academy Awards with composer

DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING

RANKED #7 IN AMERICA by Remote Control

sound designer Carson French.

In Production: Editor, Janell Shearer; Assistant Editor, Meagan O’Shea; Writers: Brian Hamilton, Sorrel Geddes, and Jeff Heimbuch

AND THE AWARDS LIST KEEPS

From left: Daniel Drummond and his fellow 2015 student Academy Award winners.

DODGE SCORES THREE ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEES AND ONE BIG WIN Numbers often tell the story. Of the 1,686 films submitted to the Student Academy Awards this year, Chapman was recognized with 8 semi-finalists, landing those films among the top 5%; three Chapman finalists among the final 33 films qualifying in five categories, and a Gold Medal win for Daniel Drummond (BFA/DAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;14), in the Alternative category for his film Chiaroscuro. 2

Recipients of the 2015 Women of Chapman Award Thomas Garber (left), Alex Yonks, and Andrew Evers with Women of Chapman member Adrienne Brandes (center).

BY JANELL SHEARER

ON GROWING… The semi-finalists were:

IN DOCUMENTARY: Titanes del Arte (Titans of Art), Mor Albalak, B.F.A. Television Broadcast Journalism ’15

IN NARRATIVE: Unspoken

Unspoken, Eric Otten, B.F.A. Film Production, Directing ’14 Alison & Jeremy, Alyxandra Press, M.F.A. Film Production, Directing ’15

Alison & Jeremy

Prism

Prism, Jackson Miller, B.F.A. Film Production, Directing ’15 The Last Words, Keegan Mullin, B.F.A. Film Production, Directing ’15

IN ANIMATION: Wire Cutters, Jack Anderson, B.F.A. Digital Arts ’14 The Last Words

Hum, Tom Teller, B.F.A. Film Production ’16

IN ALTERNATIVE:

Wire Cutters

Chiaroscuro, Daniel Drummond, B.F.A. Digital Arts ’14

The finalists were: Wire Cutters, Hum and Chiaroscuro.

Student Academy Award – Daniel Drummond and Professor Bill Kroyer.

DRUMMOND REFLECTS ON THE UNBELIEVABLE Hearing his name called to come to the stage and collect the Gold Medal in the Alternative category of the Student Academy Awards was “very surreal,” Drummond says. “I could barely believe I was a winner.” The big reveal came at the end of a week of events for the finalists, including meeting the Academy Governors and other Academy members, having lunch at the ASC clubhouse and, perhaps, most important, “talking to managers and agents about what’s next in our career.” Having spent a year and half making Chiaroscuro, including working on it full-time for the last five months before graduation, as he had completed all of his other class requirements, Drummond estimates he spent about 2,000 hours on the film overall. Next? “My plans are to relocate to the U.S. and keep working with animation, especially as a previs and layout artist. I’m also working on my next two projects, one live-action short and another animation.”

Hum

AND THE AWARDS LIST KEEPS ON GROWING… Continued Seeing Chapman University listed after the names of winners of various contests and competitions is becoming an increasing common phenomenon. Other student accomplishments of note include: JUSTIN SIMIEN NAMED AMONG TEN DIRECTORS TO WATCH The Hollywood Reporter named 1 Justin Simien (BFA/ FTV ’05), director of the hit Dear White People, one of the “Next Gen Directors: 10 Wunderkinds Everyone in Town Is Watching.” The publication invited readers to “Meet the wunderkinds who’ve used talent, passion and perseverance to make a name for themselves, many with their directorial debuts. Now, they’re at the top of every producer’s wish list.”

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS STUDENT NOMINEES In cinematography, the most sought after recognition comes from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). Over the years, Chapman students and alumni have been nominated and/or won this award many times (11 winners over the past seven years). 2 Nicolas Aguilar (BFA/FP ’16), took home the top award in the Undergraduate category for Run. Also among the 13 nominees for this year’s 2015 ASC Gordon Willis Heritage Awards were 3 Sten Olson (BFA/FP ’16) for Darkstar and 4 Justin Alpern (MFA/ FP ’15) for Straw Dolls.

KODAK STUDENT CINEMATOGRAPHY SCHOLARSHIP WINNER Nicolas Aguilar (BFA/FP ’16), was also honored with a first place win in the Kodak Student Cinematography Scholarship, for Run. This year, the Kodak Scholarship Program, a global competition held annually in collaboration with the University Film and Video Foundation (UFVF), received a record-breaking number of applications, with over 55 film schools from around the world nominating students for the Kodak Student Scholarship and Kodak Student Cinematography Scholarship. Aguilar receives a $4,000 tuition scholarship award and a $5,000 KODAK Motion Picture product grant for his first place win.

TELEVISION SCRIPTS AND PILOT RECOGNIZED The interterm television pilot Jersey Chasers, created by Skylar Harrison (BA/SW ’13) and executive produced by Harrison and Ashley Pacini (MFA/FTP ’13), was a finalist in the Independent Pilot Competition of both the 2015 New York Television Festival in mid-October and the 2015 Independent Television Festival! In addition, Professor James Gardner has been named an Official Artist for the 2015 Festival the New York Television Festival.

1 2

From left: Justin Simien, Rebecca Thomas and Damien Chazelle ASC Awards – Cinematography Professor Johnny Jensen and Nicholas Aguilar.

ASC Awards – Sten Olson

ASC Awards – Justin Alpern

Brett Melnick (BFA/TWP ’16) was one of five finalists in the Acclaim TV spec script competition for his episode of VEEP titled “Having Reservations.” This summer Brett served as an intern with the Turner Broadcasting System, working specifically with development at TBS and TNT. Brett wrote the VEEP spec script in Adjunct Professor Bill Rosenthal’s class — Seminar in TV Writing. And Kadyn Michaels (MFA/FP ’14) was one of five finalists in the Acclaim TV pilot writing competition for his one-hour drama Boston. Kadyn’s pilot concerns “a family of grifters who must make peace with the past and each other when threatened by a common enemy.” Since graduation, Kadyn has worked as an editor and sound designer on a number of projects. He was a Post PA on the 4 Netflix show Bloodline produced at Sony TV. He was the Assistant Editor on the Chapman Filmed Entertainment feature The Barber. And he just finished editing a feature length sports documentary. He is also participating in the yearlong Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Program. Kadyn wrote a first draft of his pilot in Adjunct Professor Jim Macak’s summer class on Writing for Television. 5

FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

AND THE AWARDS LIST KEEPS ON GROWING… Continued ALUM RECOGNIZED BY VARIETY AS A BELOW THE LINE STAR Variety’s Below the Line Impact Report for 2015 honored Dodge grad 7 Dylan Highsmith (BFA/FP ’08) as an up-and-coming editor, noting his work on the mega-franchise Fast and Furious, working on Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7 and working again with director Justin Lin on Star Trek Beyond, starring Idris Elba and Zoe Saldana and slated for release next year. The magazine’s “Below the Line Impact Report: Up Next” also recognized producer Nathan Kelly (BFA/FP ’04) who, Variety reports, “started off assisting producers Scott Rudin and Georgia Kacandes and got his break line-producing Save the Date. That ‘opened up the doors’ and led to working on Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, Destin Cretton’s Short Term 12, William H. Macy’s Rudderless and Warner Bros. upcoming We Are Your Friends. He recently completed a pic for Kelly Reichardt and is set to begin on Imperative Entertainment’s Hot Summer Nights.” Save the Date (2012) was written and directed by Chapman alum Michael Mohan (BFA/FTV ’02).

Dan Olson

Sally Ledger

ALUM’S SCRIPT FEATURED ON THE BLACKLIST WEBSITE Alumni 5 Dan Olson (MFA/FP Directing ’07) and Derek Johnson (MFA/SW ’06), saw their script Grand Portage featured on The Blacklist website, which supports quality unmade feature films selected by industry insiders. Every two weeks, a new script that is highly rated by the members is chosen to be featured. Olson reports that the script about a father’s journey dealing with the loss of his wife and son is based on his own fears as a new father and that he is ready for production and that his team is fundraising “to do it right.”

PRODUCTION DESIGN STUDENT ACCEPTED

INTO PRESTIGIOUS APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM 6

Sally Ledger (MFA/PD ’15) has been selected as one of five young production designers accepted into the Art Directors Guild Apprenticeship program. She has already been placed as a PA for the art department on the fifth season of the ABC Television production, Scandal, for Buena Vista/Disney. The Guild will also provide additional mentorship, supervision and on-the-job training, Ledger created the look for the 2015 grad thesis film The Right Hand of God. and, at the end of the 18-month program, she will be admitted into the Guild as a full member. “This is quite an achievement for someone in their late 20’s and right out of school,” says Sally’s professor, John Chichester. To put this level of achievement into perspective, Professor Chichester notes that “I was not made a full member of the Art Directors Guild until I was well into my thirties.” 6

PRODUCING STUDENT HONORED WITH KATIE WEINSTEIN AWARD 8

Dylan Highsmith

Elliott Reekers (MFA/FTP ’16) has joined previous recipients, Chris Naughton (MFA/FTP ’15), Molly McKellar (MFA/FTP ’14) and Steven Snyder (MFA/TVP ’13), as a graduate student named in honor of Katie Weinstein, a graduate producing student who passed away suddenly in 2012. In honor of Katie’s incredible work ethic and the impact she made on her fellow students through her kindness and commitment to making production a better experience for everyone involved, her family established this award. The award goes to a graduate student in the producing program who has demonstrated excellence as a producer and includes Elliott Reekers on the set of a stipend to assist with the production costs of the the Chapman production recipient’s thesis film project. Carried Away

ALUMS FEATURED IN SCRIPT MAGAZINE: “WRITERS ON BREAKING IN” 9

Andrew Knauer (MFA/SW ’06) and Arthur Pielli (MFA/SW ’06) were featured as the inaugural interview in Script Magazine’s new series “Writers on Breaking In” in the spring. Knauer and Pielli were recognized for having sold their script “Senior Year” to CBS Films. Broken Road and Benderspink are producing. Benderspink, Gersh and Jeff Frankel rep the writers. Kanuer previously sold The Last Stand (2013) which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Pielli has been working as a staff writer on Randy Cunningham, an animated Disney show.

Check out their advice and experiences building their careers at http://bit.ly/1L5g20A

SENIOR THESIS PROJECTS AWARDED FILM FUNDS The Women of Chapman have announced the winners of their Student Filmmaker endowment funds for films being made this year. SENIOR THESIS

•

Andrew Evers – Cronus, $10,000

•

Brandon Karsh – Any Elsewhere, $8,000

•

Alex Yonks – A Taylor Story, $8,000 DIGITAL ARTS THESIS

•

Danny Corona, Matthew Robilard and Tommy Garber – For Old Time’s Sake, $10,000

9 Arthur Pielli and Andrew Knauer

BY MEAGAN O’SHEA

THE LAKE EFFECT TELLING A STORY THROUGH IMPROVISED DIALOGUE

CHAPMAN CAST AND CREW:

DIRECTOR: KENDALL GOLDBERG (BFA/FP’17)

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: SEBASTIEN NUTA (BFA/FP’16)

NATE: GREYSON SAWYER (BFA/CRPR’17)

GREG: JULIAN CONNER (BFA/FP’17)

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: MEGHAN FASANO (BA/SCREENWRITING’17) JUDIE MUHREZ (BA/SCREENWRITING’18) 8

In August a group of students flew to Chicago to collaborate on the creation of a feature film set on the banks of Lake Michigan. Written and directed by Kendall Goldberg, The Lake Effect follows four childhood friends whose close-knit relationship is threatened by a shocking discovery over a weekend trip to the lake. The concept was written by Goldberg and her writing partner Rachel Borgo (Valparaiso University).

or ten days the crew of ten holed up in an idyllic house on the lakeshore to create the film based off a 20-page script treatment. For the most part, the process was a typical film production, with one interesting exception: the script was just an outline of the plot with no written dialogue.

“It’s inspired by the mumblecore movement,” Goldberg says. “All of the dialogue was completely improvised.” Mumblecore is a subgenre of independent features that comprises nonprofessional actors delivering improvised lines. Directors known for their mumblecore pictures include the Duplass Brothers (Mark and Jay) and Goldberg’s favorite director Joe Swanberg. The end result, posits Goldberg, is a natural form of filmmaking with an extreme sense of realism. Despite the term improvised, there is a method to spur-of-the-moment dialogue. Goldberg and the four other amateur actors had to become intimately familiar with their characters to determine what they would say and how they would behave in different scenes. Instead of relying solely on the creative input of the writer, the group sat down to develop their characters together. “It was a huge collaborative effort, and I think that’s what made it work,” she says.

Director of Photography, Sebastien Nuta, setting up for a golden-hour shot.

Goldberg shares some lessons learned from writing, directing and acting in her own feature. For detailed comments on these lessons, visit her website and blog at www.kendallgoldbergfilms.com Fire pit scene, martini shot of the first night of shooting.

Working with friends is both extremely hard and rewarding.

You are going to get tired — Really, really tired.

Food and sleep are the most important things for your cast and crew.

Keep your shoot days as short as you can and always try to finish on time.

Night shoots will make everyone a little bit crazier. And when I say “a little,” I mean A LOT.

You and your crew will have so many inside jokes by the end of the shoot that you won’t know what to do with yourself.

Always have backups.

Stay creative. Be open to new ideas. Be ready to problemsolve and go back to the drawing boards at any time.

Communicate well with your actors and your crew. Be as specific as humanly possible.

Budget accordingly.

Be prepared to do constant rewrites on set.

If you’re editing your own film, be sure you have enough coverage to get you through the scene.

Acting in your own film is REALLY difficult.

Prepare to close off the outside world.

Keep the energy up to motivate everyone until the end!

Wait to say “Cut!”

You’ll make amazing new friends and become closer with the people you’re already friends with — Maybe too close.

oldberg studied the films of Joe Swanberg, Mark Duplass, and Lynn Shelton, to determine a commonality — everyone involved in the filmmaking process was encouraged to bring in their creative input and ideas. Goldberg gives the example of the film Creep, produced by Mark Duplass and directed by Patrick Brice, which was hatched and filmed during a brief span of time in a controlled environment.

“It’s an interesting and unconventional approach to filmmaking that is slowly becoming more mainstream,” says Goldberg. “This type of free flowing creativity allows for happy accidents, things you can’t think of when you’re sitting down and writing something.” The entire project was funded by an Indiegogo campaign. Goldberg estimates the film’s total cost to come in around $4,000, including post. The film was shot using a fellow Chapman student’s Black Magic camera, which helped propel the story by giving the film a grungy 16-millimetertype effect. The crew used flashlights, a camping lantern, LED panel, and two Lekolites that Nuta hauled half-way across country because the majority of the shooting primarily took place outside at night. “Sebastian (Nuta) is extraordinarily talented, how he worked with all of those limitations. We really had nothing, and no one was a grip on set, they were just all friends who were PA’ing, and he had to teach them everything,” Goldberg says. “I think one of the biggest things we realized was that we had to cut available light instead of manufacturing it.” Goldberg is currently speed-editing the feature, and for good reason. The night before she returned to Chapman this semester she attended a screening and Q&A of Swanberg’s latest film Digging for Fire at The Music Box Theater in Chicago where he expressed an interest in her film. (Fun fact: Goldberg originally met Swanberg while grocery shopping in Park City on Dodge College’s interterm travel course to the Sundance Film Festival.) “Having Joe ask me about the film was the perfect motivation for me to get this project done,” she says. “It was a really incredible experience and I’m ready for the next one.” Goldberg is gearing up to shoot her second feature, a comedy, next summer, featuring name actors with a bigger budget.

Sound Designer Derek O’Rourke (left) and DP Sebastien Nuta (right) shoot out the back of the picture car.

DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING

Meeting the Needs of a Growing Market in

Docs are hot — and they’re everywhere. From the chilling moment when Robert Durst “confesses”—“I killed them all, of course”— in the HBO documentary series The Jinx to the on-going controversy over the captive killer whales in Blackfish, documentary films are capturing more and more prime time and greater audience attention than ever before. In 1996, when Chapman’s film program became a film school, documentary filmmaking was still a niche market. Since then, the market has exploded. Seven of IMDb’s top 10 U.S.-grossing documentaries have been released in the last 10 years, with Michael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11 taking in $119M. Now Netflix is releasing documentary films exclusively online. With these new audiences come new opportunities, and the first students in Dodge College’s new M.F.A. in Documentary Filmmaking are ready to capitalize on this interest and lay the groundwork for their future careers. “One of the things we had to think about when designing this program is how to distinguish it,” says Professor Sally Rubin. “A lot of documentary programs have sprung up in the last two years and we want ours to be unique so that it can remain competitive. With that in mind, we decided to focus on documentary feature filmmaking. “We’ll be teaching students how to shoot and record sound at an advanced level with feature documentary as a reference point. We’ll be teaching them how to do research that is thorough and provides the most effective material for

making a feature-length film. Instead of showing students documentary shorts, we’ll focus on documentary features, because we want students to leave ready to enter the field.” Another advantage that students will enjoy is access to Dodge College’s worldclass equipment and facilities. “Most universities that have documentary programs place them in the Journalism or Communications Departments where they don’t have access to things like a mixing stage or a Foley studio,” says Associate Dean Michael Kowalski. “Because our program is part of the film school, our students have access to all of

“

documentary filmmaking projects, both domestic and overseas, that we have,” says Professor Jeff Swimmer. “Whether they’re participating in Community Voices, International Documentary Production, or something like Project Sikh, students can get right out into the field and start creating films in the real world without worrying about the challenge of fundraising. That’s a big boost, because later on, when they do get funded, they’ll have the filmmaking skills they need to compete. Students who participate in these projects will be able to use some of that material for their thesis and feature-length films.”

”

our students l, o o h sc lm fi e th f rt o Our program is pa s that our Film e rc u so re e th f o ll have access to a s to sound ra e m ca m o fr , ve a ts h Production studen SKI MICHAEL KOWAL ASSOCIATE DEAN .” – g n ti h and lig

the resources that our Film Production students have, from cameras to sound and lighting.”

In addition, students will have the opportunity to travel the world in search of compelling documentary subjects — from Asia to Africa — tackling social, economic and health issues, among many others. “I haven’t heard of another program that has the breadth of funded

Students in the inaugural class are drawn to the growing power of documentary films to make an impact. “I would like to tell stories that ask questions, provoke thoughts, and touch hearts,” says Melissa Hoon (MFA/DOC ’17). “I want to make documentaries that promote social change and motivate personal growth, because the world so desperately needs these things. I want the camera to be my art tool and I want to use it to paint a vision of real change, real happiness, and real peace.” 11

PETRIE BROTHERS BRING INDUSTRY EXPERTISE

BY JANELL SHEARER

rowing up, Daniel and Donald Petrie couldn’t have been more different. Daniel was “a voracious reader” who set out to become a novelist. While Daniel was devouring every book in each series he discovered — from Tom Swift to James Bond — Donald was outdoors, “in the leaf pile,” he says, and dreaming of acting in the theater.

Despite detours and setbacks along the way, both ultimately ended up working in Hollywood, making movies and serving as leaders in key industry guilds for writers (the WGA) and directors (the DGA). Today, producer/writer/director Daniel, who counts among his many credits The Big Easy, Beverly Hills Cop, and Go With Me, which just premiered in Venice, and

agent, Emmy Award-winning TV producer and one of the founding members of Women in Film, and their younger twin sisters both had careers involving acting, producing and writing. Although family connections never hurt, both Petries credit the qualities they try to instill in their students for their success: passion, perseverance and a commitment to the work ethic that it takes to really make it. It’s a business where, Daniel says, new members are welcomed to the WGA with a reminder that qualifying for membership is statistically harder than becoming a major league baseball player. Donald finds his Chapman students “already imbued with passion — they want to be here and they want to learn,” he says. Our job, he says, speaking for himself and Daniel, “is to educate them without dampening that passion.”

Brothers Daniel Petrie (left) and Donald Petrie.

director/actor Donald, whose widely seen films include How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Miss Congeniality, and Grumpy Old Men, are both teaching at Dodge College. It didn’t hurt that they grew up in a well-known industry family. Their father, Daniel Petrie Sr., was an Emmy-winning television director who won Genies, the Canadian equivalent of the Oscar, for best picture and best screenplay for The Bay Boy, starring Keifer Sutherland and Liv Ullman. Their mother, Dorothea Petrie, was also an actress, casting 12

Daniel agrees. What he tries to teach his students can save them “hundreds of thousands of hours of trial and error,” but more important are the lessons about what it actually takes to succeed in this business. “Do you have the humility and the will to go that extra mile,” he asks. “Are you somewhat comfortable with uncertainty?” Those are the long haul questions students need to ask themselves as they work to build a career. Because the family moved so much while they were growing up as their father made films on location — Donald remembers attending five elementary schools and three junior highs and three high schools — Daniel opted out and went to boarding school in high school; Donald found himself always the new kid. He says he was “fast, so I could run away from fights” and “funny,” a skill designed to defuse uncomfortable situations. The funny side led a friend to recommend he check out the drama department, and there he found a home at school after school. Acting in theater eventually got

him an agent and allowed him to begin to direct plays “to showcase myself.”

The brothers agree that a key to success is becoming a student for life.

Along the way, both brothers did what they advise others to do — take every possible opportunity to learn.

“I’m still studying and learning,” says Donald. “There are always new techniques. The films of the 50s are different from the 60s and 70s. You always want to be ahead of the curve, not behind it.”

Starting out as a writer, Daniel was “intimidated by screenwriting as a career” because he was comparing his work to scripts by William Goldman and Paddy Chayefsky — at a time (pre-Internet) when only “the best” were available for people to read and study. Going to work in the mailroom at ICM, he began to read and write coverage of scripts “to impress my bosses” and became a junior literary agent. In the process, he saw how terrible much of the work submitted was at the same time that he saw friends and contemporaries getting

work. “No matter how talented you believe they are, you think, ‘If they can do it, I can do it.’” As Donald continued to pursue his dream of being an actor, he was hired as a P.A. on a film his father directed, The Betsy, for $150 a week. He prepared production reports and call sheets and shared a hotel room with a friend to save $20 dollars a day. But he also worked as a driver for Laurence Olivier and had the incomparable opportunity to run lines with him. To learn more, he cold-called TV shows to see if he could shadow directors and even volunteered on student crews at AFI before he was accepted into the directing program there. “In directing and acting I never felt like I was the most talented,” Donald says. “In order to overcome those odds, I had to work 10 times harder than the next guy.”

Both stress that the changing nature of the business puts even greater demands on those starting out today. In particular, “it’s become a much more entrepreneurial business for the artist today,” Daniel says. Writers can’t go to investors and say “I’d like you to put money into this script and if it’s good enough, we’ll go further with it,” he says. “Studios do that, but filmmakers have to do their own development.”

“At the same time that you’re learning to direct, you have to learn to act,” Donald adds, “because you have to go into a room with producers and writers and be able to pitch and have them invest in you.” “You have to assure people that you are worth investing in,” says Daniel, “that your thoughts are worth listening to and that you are going to be equally respectful of them and inclusive of them. “It’s not for the faint of heart,” Daniel says of “what we have all embarked on.” As teachers, the brothers proceed with “love and encouragement as a goal.” As Daniel says, “It’s a way of saying ‘don’t’ be discouraged if, after a year, nobody has handed you the next X-Men to direct.’” “It’s a process that doesn’t end with a certificate,” says Donald. But “Nike has it right,” he adds. “Just do it” — keep working, networking and become “a student for life.”

ON TEACHING: DONALD “As a director, there’s always a part of you that’s also a teacher. On Mystic Pizza, I remember the cast and bunch of extras had to learn a Portuguese folk dance for end of the movie. I had a dance troop come in to teach the dance. They performed the dance and said, ‘That’s it. Do it.’ The cast looked blindly and they said, ‘We’ll show you again.’ I can’t dance at all, but I could stand back, look, and analyze so that when they were done, I said, ‘Okay, it’s left-rightleft, hands up in the air.’ I could look at the process, break it down and teach it. Often times as a director you have to work with child actors or who knows what, where you are doing the dual job as director and teacher.” DANIEL “Of necessity, when you are confronted with the problems you see your students dealing with, they’re often things that are a little bit second nature to you now, so you haven’t fully considered the fundamentals of those. So I find myself, in the process of trying to illustrate for the students, actually bringing myself back to the fundamentals of my craft.”

13 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

TEACHING

ne of the great ironies of film education is that students today have the tools and the skills to create sophisticated productions that often look highly professional. But where they often fall short is in storytelling — they create films or television shows that look great, but are far less than compelling as stories that move or excite audiences.

Her work as a writer and actor informs Goldberg’s teaching as well as her directing, here on the sets of Neighbors (above) and Muted (below).

That problem, of course, is not confined to students. Many famous writers, directors and producers have helmed projects greeted by tremendous anticipation, based on their previous work, only to preside over a resounding box office dud. While there can be many reasons a film or TV show may fail, a weak, incoherent or incomplete story may be the primary reason. Indeed, the Internet is awash with lists of “bad films made by good directors” and mountains of criticism of the evolving stories on television. Godfather Part III ? Cloud Atlas ? Inherent Vice, anyone ? The second season of True Detective ? Could anyone untangle the many storylines that left viewers tied in knots ? Whatever elements you may like about a given film or television show, a strong story is the key to success. Film schools everywhere proclaim that storytelling is a central element of their curricula. Yet students flounder and stories fail in student film after student film. Why? Why is teaching story, a seemingly simple concept, so difficult? Dodge College Dean Bob Bassett has long pushed for a different approach to storytelling — one that recognizes and embraces story not just in film and television, but across different media and in different forms. That wider direction is being expressed this year in three new classes taught by writer/director/actress Rachel Goldberg, who is teaching Story Workshop, Story for Directors, Story.

HERE ARE GOLDBERG’S THOUGHTS ON A RADICALLY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO TEACHING STORY.

What is your vision for helping students understand the art of story? A: My vision is to immerse students in every form of storytelling beyond just the cinematic — whether that be a photograph from the New Deal-era capturing a moment of the Great Depression, or a contemporary painting exploring the dangers of a society that foregoes tangible human connection in favor of that by machine. By analyzing story in all its myriad forms within literature, fine art and the performing arts, the goal is that students will gain an understanding they can apply to their own cinematic work.

Above photo: Dorthea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” Left photo: Artwork for the cover of a 1959 issue of the French science fiction magazine Galaxie CCI.

In particular, how do you plan to help students understand the differences between script and story and plot and story? The differences between story, script and plot can be difficult to identify. Story is more than plot — the plot is the arrangement of selected scenes from a story, but a story is the full account of an event or series of events. The example I like to use is from The Wizard of Oz. The plot is about a young girl from Kansas who is tasked with returning home after a tornado carries her to a magical place called Oz. But the story is so much more than that — the story includes Dorothy’s childhood, her parents, how and why she lives with her aunt, her relationship with the farm hands and neighbors, and everything else tied to Dorothy. Although these details may not end up on screen, they inform the final product. Both Truman Capote’s personal story and the one he tells in In Cold Blood are far greater than the elements chosen to be explored in the plot of Capote, although it is the whole story which informs that powerful film.

Plot is just one element of the final product — the dialogue, production design, color schemes, visual arc, performances and score all lend to the story being told. The more we are versed in story, the more we can apply informed choices to all of these elements creating a film that is far more powerful than one which relies solely on plot. The script, like the plot, selects and arranges events from the entire story but is a blueprint for the final product. But an effective script utilizes character, dialogue and visual storytelling to convey theme and propel plot. To help students understand these distinctions, I will guide them as they analyze finished films and screenplays — identifying the elements that lend to each, while also challenging them to identify story in other art forms such as fine art, music and dance. 15

FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Why is such a seemingly simple concept so difficult for students to understand? I believe these concepts are difficult to understand because they are not actually simple. Most of us are introduced to the world of film as audience members, and as such we are schooled to speak primarily on plot. It is by watching films that most of us are inspired to then create them, but as audience members we are not versed in identifying the elements which make a character compelling, dialogue intriguing, cinematography powerful, and so on. So as we make the transition to filmmakers, we must now learn to identify and apply the elements used to tell a powerful story. The most talented storytellers understand how to craft their narrative utilizing every element of story available to them, even if those elements remain unnoticed by the majority of theater-goers. The beauty is that regardless of an audience’s cognizance of the craft, they are still affected — probably more so with less awareness to the craft itself.

What are some of the strategies you hope to employ to help students understand story better and to help them tell better, more compelling stories? I ask students to explore personal narratives and hunt for story in the every day. To me, it is important that students identify the stories that are powerful in their own lives. Regardless of whether or not these stories ever end up on screen, understanding who we are and what compels us will make us stronger storytellers. I also plan to challenge my students to identify why they are drawn to certain stories. What is it about their favorite movie that truly moves them? When they find themselves on the edge of their seats, or fighting tears, why? What is it about certain stories and the way they are told that elicits a powerful reaction? By identifying these elements in other stories, my hope is that students will then be able to apply those elements to their own work. Because film is a collaborative art form, I also plan to challenge my students to find the story in photographs, paintings, dance and music. How are those stories told? How can we apply those elements, effectively, to our work as filmmakers? I want to inspire a love for finding stories in a multitude of places. As artists, if we learn to observe, we will find stories wherever we are — waiting on a bus stop, sitting in a diner, reading the newspaper or social media — we are surrounded by so many stories just waiting to be told.

How will the classes you are teaching vary in terms of content, direction etc. I will be teaching two classes on Story — one for 1st year M.F.A. Directing students and one for 1st year M.F.A. Key Collaborators. The classes will be similar in terms of analyzing story in all its forms and applying the elements of effective storytelling to student work, but they will differ in that I will focus on generating story ideas for the Directors so that they have material to continue workshopping as potential film projects. For the Key Collaborators, I will spend more time analyzing art forms that are similar to their disciplines — music for composers, photography and fine art for cinematographers, production designers and costume designers. It is important as key collaborators to not only master the technical aspects of your craft,

but to truly understand story so that your cinematography, score and production design help tell that story. How does music change throughout a film to support the story? How does color palette support story and change as the story progresses? How does framing help tell the story? All of these elements are important and key collaborators who can speak in terms of story will be far more effective in their work. I will also be teaching a class for 2nd year M.F.A. Directing students as they prepare for their thesis projects. The focus of this class will be to generate compelling story ideas that can be used for thesis projects, while continuing our exploration of what constitutes strong storytelling.

How has your background as a writer, director, actor and teacher prepared you to teach these classes? I began my career in the arts as an actor and soon transitioned to writer/director. What was instantly apparent having studied these art forms is how similar they are — as an actor we need to understand what our character is fighting for (or what she wants), what is in her way, and what she does to get what she wants. We must identify character arc and shape our performance to support that arc, using the text to inform our choices. We are trained to comb the text and analyze it for clues to tell the most compelling stories we can. As I transitioned to directing, I applied those analytical skills to study all of the characters, identify theme and to make motivated choices to support the story. I learned how to incorporate framing, music, costumes, blocking, editing and design to service my story. I utilized the tools I had gained as an actor to help craft strong performances and learned the power of pace. As a writer, it is my job to be sure all elements needed for a strong story reside in the script, so that my directors, actors and designers can identify them when bringing the story to life. Having had the privilege of working and studying film and theater as an actor, writer and director, I gained the tools necessary to understand story from each of these angles. The old adage is that we learn most by teaching, and I find that to be true. As an instructor, I have been fortunate to teach acting, writing and directing students. These years as an instructor have allowed me to hone lesson plans that are effective for all types of artists, but they have also allowed me to grow as a storyteller.

Rachel Goldberg brings a broad educational and professional background to the challenge of teaching the art of story at Dodge. She was recently selected for the Sony Pictures Television Diverse Directors Program, a program designed to get more women and minorities directing TV. A writer, director, producer and actress, she is also in pre-production on the feature Transformation Awaits. She was a guest playwright at Lincoln Center in New York, a Film Independent Screenwriting Lab Fellowship Recipient and a Fellowship Recipient at AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women. She has worked in development and post-production for the likes of Miramax and Departure Entertainment, has been a judge at a long list of film festivals, seen her own films win festival awards across the country, and taught a wide range of courses from directing to screenwriting and acting. Goldberg brings an M.F.A. in Directing for Film and Theater from the California Institute of the Arts along with a bachelor’s degree in Theater and Psychology. She has acted on television and on stage and is currently a board member of the Alliance for Women Directors.

17 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

STUDIO EXEC HELPS STUDENTS EXPLORE THE

become president of Embassy Pictures and executive vice president of 20th Century Fox. “Like any business,” says Shafer, “you start at the bottom, hope someone will recognize your work, and work your way up. What I hope is that students will find something in my experience that sparks their interest and helps them figure out how to navigate their own careers.”

The Shawshank Redemption, a critically acclaimed film that received two Golden Globes and seven Academy Award nominations, probably wouldn’t get made today. Why? In 1994 when the film was released, $5,000,000 was the average amount studios spent on advertising. Today, it’s ten times that. With the abundance of media options vying for viewers’ attention, it wouldn’t make sense to spend that kind of money advertising a movie that Stephen King himself described as “too talky.” And Stephen King wrote the novel! It’s hard to come to grips with these economic realities, but that’s just the nature of the biz. It’s also what Professor Martin Shafer wants students to come to terms with in his new Business of the Business class. 18

“This business is about spending money on productions,” Shafer says. “Whether $100,000 or $100,000,000, you have to have a sense of where the money is coming from and who your market is. Five to six years ago, DVDs accounted for almost 50% of a movie’s revenue. Now it’s only 10%. China wasn’t even a market five years ago, and now it’s the second biggest in the world. You have to keep abreast of it all and find out where the money comes from in order to get your money back, because that’s going to determine how much you have to spend on production.” Martin Shafer started his career more than 40 years ago working as a production assistant on the film Billy Jack. From these humble beginnings, Shafer went on to

Shafer also hopes students will learn from the experiences of other filmmakers he’s inviting to his class, including his longtime friend and business associate, Alan Horn. In 1987, Horn helped Shafer found Castle Rock Entertainment, an independent production company that is responsible for movies like When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers, A Few Good Men, and The Green Mile. In 1999, Horn became the president and COO of Warner Bros. and today serves as the chairman of Walt Disney Studios. “Alan is probably the most successful studio exec of the last 40 years,” says Shafer. “I think students will find it instructive to hear how he runs studios and how he brings projects to the marketplace.” Shafer has seen a lot of changes to the industry over the last four decades. Yet despite all these changes one thing remains true. “People are always interested in is a good story,” he says. “They want to experience something, whether it’s sadness, laughter, or fear. Regardless of genre, people want good stories and the best movies are the ones that can give that to audiences.” And so the challenge for the next generation is to figure out how to monetize those great stories and get them to audiences, no matter how much business models change.

IN THE CLASSROOM

tudents could barely get enough of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs when she was the Filmmakerin-Residence last fall. But the experience was also a two-way street, and Isaacs is back at Dodge this fall teaching Motion Picture Publicity.

The course is designed to help students understand the concepts, principles and methodologies used in creating a motion picture publicity strategy and how publicity supports the motion picture marketing and distribution campaign. As Professor Isaacs points out, good publicity is “extremely valuable in the highly competitive arena of film production and theatrical distribution — and ultimately to box-office success.” And certainly Boone knows whereof she speaks, having spearheaded publicity campaigns for Forrest Gump and Braveheart, each of which won multiple Academy Awards , including Best Picture. In fact, she is sharing the kind of insider insight that students are unlikely to hear anywhere else. ®

“Taking Cheryl’s class has been one of the best classes I’ve taken at Chapman so far,” says Noah Rashba (BA/PRA ’17). “She provides eye-opening insights into the entertainment and advertising industries because of her experience, and tells some of the greatest stories I’ve ever heard. Not only that, but she seems to have answers to almost any question about the industry.” The class will cover many of the essentials of motion picture publicity, including market research, creative advertising, positioning, working with the media, talent participation, local activities, film festival participation, and even crisis management. In addition, the students will create publicity strategies for two films to put their knowledge to the test. “I am encouraged by the attentiveness and participation of the students,” says Isaacs, “and am confident that by the end of the semester they will understand the principles of publicity and its importance to the success of a motion picture marketing plan.” As proof of how much she is enjoying teaching, Isaacs has committed to the spring semester as well, for a class in Movie Marketing.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs: Unbeatable experience Cheryl Boone Isaacs was recently re-elected for a third term as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the organization’s Board of Governors. She is beginning her 23rd year as a governor representing the Public Relations Branch. During her tenure as a governor, she served as First Vice President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer as well as President of the Academy Foundation, the educational and cultural arm of the Academy. In 2012, Isaacs produced the Academy’s prestigious Governors Awards. Isaacs has been a respected motion picture marketing executive for more than 30 years. For the last nine years, her company, CBI Enterprises, Inc., has consulted for companies such as MTV Films, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, The Weinstein Company and Sony Entertainment. She has consulted on marketing efforts for films including The Call, The Artist, The King’s Speech, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, Spider-Man 2 and Tupac: Resurrection. In 2014, she was inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame, was awarded the Trailblazer Award from Essence Magazine and was recipient of the AAFCA (African American Film Critics Association) Horizon Award. In 2013, she was honored by BESLA (Black Entertainment Sports Lawyers Association).

DODGE COLLEGE ADDS MORE FACULTY Our Dodge College faculty continues to grow. Here is what three of our former adjuncts who have joined us full-time have to say about teaching the next generation of storytellers: “My decision to become a full-time faculty member is solely motivated by the experiences I have had with the student body. Their interest and tenacity in pursuing their career objectives led me to believe that all the hours we put into planning, advising and teaching is really being heard. That’s the kind of environment I find equally stimulating and satisfying.” – Russell Schwartz, teaching Entertainment Marketing Promo for Producers, and Marketing, Distribution and Exhibition “One of the great pleasures of teaching here is the college’s commitment to giving every student hands-on filmmaking experience with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. It’s a terrific inspiration to see Dodge College graduates establish careers within the industry as talented professional filmmakers.” – Kiku Terasaki, teaching Adv. Production and Post-Production Set Management and Creative Producing Senior Thesis Workshop “The massive and varied amount of images, stories, and technology that students are exposed to at young and younger ages means that young filmmakers of today possess great technical dexterity. What becomes the focus of much of what I do is to remind them that timeless storytelling is also about eliciting an emotional response from an audience. So the attention is on creating sympathetic characters with rich emotional inner life. This is what drives narrative cinema and without which all that remains is an empty exercise in technical prowess. Chapman’s students are wise enough to understand this.” – Roy Finch, teaching Intro to Visual Storytelling, Audio Techniques, Intermediate Film Production, Production Workshop

MEET THE FILM Eric Young

ERIC YOUNG BRINGS STUDIO EXPERIENCE AND A COMMITMENT TO STORY TO HIS NEW ROLE When Barbara Doyle decided to leave Chapman last year, might there have been a moment of panic in some people’s minds? No doubt. Because replacing the Chair of the Film Division was no easy task. The job itself is vast — it encompasses responsibility for five undergraduate and six graduate degrees, some 44 faculty and 84 adjuncts, some 1,500 students, an endlessly complex production schedule involving students and equipment at all levels, and curriculum development, advising, mentoring faculty and students and just a few thousand other details too numerous to mention.

nd all of that needs to be handled by a person who is organized, committed to working long hours, and ready to give speeches, attend endless meetings, handle phone calls from parents and solve student problems whether those problems originate with some glitch in the system or are of the student’s own making. Big shoes to fill, right? Fortunately, Dodge College had a candidate already on base, and although Professor Eric Young may just be beginning to realize what he’s gotten himself into, the transition has gone smoothly. Faculty and administrators who work with Young are not surprised. “Eric’s experience as an executive at Disney, in running his own production company, as a documentary producer and having an advanced degree in creative writing has given him strong organizational and managerial skills, an understanding of the film business and the filmmaking process and deep insight into storytelling,” says Associate Dean Michael Kowalski. “He is also guided by a deep sense of empathy and fairness, and feels it is essential to know and consider all sides of an issue to resolve a problem. He’s a great addition to our administrative team.” Professor Young brings a decade of experience as a studio executive at Disney as well as hands-on experience in a wide range of film, television, documentary and new media productions. He has worked in development and as everything from a producer to a location scout, in positions from post-production supervisor to production manager. His credits include working on projects from Nightmare Before Christmas to 24, from Making the African Queen to The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk.

My favorite films What are your favorite films and why are those your favorites? Impossible to say because there are so many! I’m drawn to character-based work expressed in interesting, unexpected ways, so favorite filmmakers range from Charlie Chaplin to Alexander Payne. Some favorite films/filmmakers include Ikiru (Akira Korosawa), Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick), My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki), The Tree of Life (Terrance Malick), and Another Year (Mike Leigh). And then, of course, there’s Hitchcock. Of them all, I adore Chaplin who remains one of the great humanists of cinema. His genius transcends the silent film form and is still relevant for audiences today.

DIVISION CHAIR Having joined the Chapman faculty as an adjunct in 2008, Professor Young is familiar with not only our systems and people but also our students and their talents, capabilities and issues. He has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts from UC Riverside. To get a better idea of who Eric Young is as a person and a leader, we asked Professor Young to share his thoughts about where we are and where we’re going at Dodge College.

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How did you come to teach at Dodge College? My friend Nick Meyer recommended me to Dean Bassett. I had been teaching production and film studies classes at Idyllwild Arts Academy and discovered I loved teaching. Over the years, while I was working in production, I had great experiences volunteering as a coach for youth sports like basketball and track. Teaching naturally evolved out of those experiences.

What do you think makes Dodge College distinctive among film schools?

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Two things: the amount of production activity here that allows our students to work extensively in their craft. Secondly, Chapman Filmed Entertainment, which is a one-of-a-kind resource in film schools.

You’ve had a long and varied career. What do you characterize as your primary strengths/areas of interest? I’ve worked over the years in a variety of mediums including documentaries, movies, television and new media. I love the tradition of cinema as well as the new and experimental narrative forms. I’m also intensely interested in story and performance as the foundations of our art. Stories should be developed so that they are realized in their most suitable form, whether the idea works best as a novel or a film or a video game — all have great power and, at their best, present empathetic characters that help us to discover common threads among all people and cultures. They help us to better understand and care about one another.

How did your career in the industry prepare you as a teacher? How did it prepare you to be Film Division Chair? I understand the filmmaking process from the ground up having worked in the trenches in production, and as an executive for a major studio (Disney) and my own company. So when I’m teaching, I draw from real life-experiences to help the students develop problem solving skills. At the end of the day, our most important ability is to know how to solve the many problems encountered in production.

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What do you see as the challenges of your new position? Helping Dodge College transition to its next phase that involves growing the curriculum to address changes in the industry.

What are your goals as Chair? One goal is to improve students’ knowledge and appreciation of our rich film and television traditions and aesthetics. Without an understanding what’s come before, it’s difficult to innovate and forge ahead as artists. Another goal is to fully prepare our students to enter the profession at a full gallop, thus improving their chances of success. Most importantly, we need to sharpen our understanding of what constitutes great storytelling toward creating meaningful and memorable work.

In what primary areas do you see a need for improvement or changes in the curriculum (where do students need to do/learn more)? At both ends of the process: conception/execution of story, and business strategies. We must focus on helping students learn to create characters with stories that audiences deeply care about, and develop our student’s awareness of how to market their work to reach a worldwide audience.

What changes do you forecast as the entertainment industry continues to evolve? How can or does Dodge College prepare students to meet these changes? Audiences will continue to be increasingly fragmented and the best thing we can do is to expose our students to a full range of the traditional and evolving mediums of film, television, interactive, and virtual reality. In this changing landscape versatility with the ability to write, direct, produce, shoot, edit, perform and design for many mediums is vital. As the author Robert Heinlein once wrote, “Specialization is for insects.”

Eric Young I’ve served in a multitude of roles, but always gravitated toward leadership. To be a good leader one must help others accomplish their goals, which is also something that is very important in teaching.

DODGE COLLEGE BY BRIAN HAMILTON

The clash and union of culture and tradition in Japan were key topics explored by documentary students in Professor Sally Rubin’s Discover Documentary class this summer. “I wanted our students to have the experience of all that Japanese culture has to offer,” says Professor Rubin. “Kyoto, which was the capital for 1,000 years, and Tokyo, a world city, were obvious must-sees. I also wanted students to have the experience of getting off the beaten path and into more rural areas where they don’t often encounter tourists. I felt that was important because I wanted the students to have an authentic, Japanese cultural experience.” While traveling the country, students shot four films. One features a biology professor whose pending retirement spells the end of his research into the scarlet jellyfish, which he believes holds the key to immortality. Another follows the life of a plum pickler who is saddened that his sons won’t take up the occupation that his family has pursued for over 300 years. Another looks at Engetsu Island, whose natural rock archway might topple local tourism if it falls. Finally, the students shot a documentary about the experience of American tourists in Japan. In each of these films, the students grappled with the deeply divided nature of Japan, its struggle to preserve its identity while at the same time creating a new one. “I think it’s easy to attribute the changes in Japanese culture to technology and consumerism,” says Robert Pollack (BFA/FP, ‘16). “However, I think a lot of it is also the result of World War II. War changes how generations respond to and receive information. Today’s generation is working hard for the future and they play just as hard. Older generations in Japan try to make each day fulfilling, because in war, each day is precious.” 22

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of France and the arts? The Louvre? The Mona Lisa? Hiroshima, Mon Amour? It’s probably not animation. Yet the influence of French animation is also enormous, from the first animated film in history, Reynaud’s Pauvre Pierrot to Illumination Studios’ newest blockbuster, Minions. Dodge’s Digital Arts students were invited to explore this world firsthand through Professor Bill Kroyer’s summer class, The Influence of French Animation. Starting in Paris, students visited the Louvre, the Dorset, and the Museé Rodin. They also visited the Cinémathèque Française, a theater with one of the world’s largest archives of films from around the world, and the Aardman Studios Exhibition at Art Ludique, featuring the clay puppets from the films Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run. “Perhaps the most surprising and unexpected experience we had in Paris was when we visited the Natural History Museum,” says Professor Kroyer. “They had skeletons of turtles, monkeys, giraffes, brontosauruses, and whales, nearly every animal that has ever been alive on earth, all arranged by species. As an animator, to see the entire biology of the world in one place like that was wonderful and we spent all morning sketching and drawing.” The students also toured the premiere animation trade schools, Supinfocom and Gobelins, and Illumination Studios, which produced the animated blockbuster Despicable Me. “Illumination Studios doesn’t usually give tours, so they were pretty secretive, but happy to have us there,” says Aharonit Elior (BFA/DA, ’17). “They took us around to different productions and one of the lead animators broke down their animation process for us. It was nice too that their workflow is not all that different from what we’re doing in Digital Arts. Watching the professional application of what I’m in the baby steps of doing helped me see the aim of my student work.” The highlight of the trip was a visit to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, one of the oldest and largest animation festivals in the world. Among the many films students got a chance to see were Long Way North, a visually stunning film that relies on shade and color instead of line work to separate characters from backgrounds. They also saw the director’s cut of Richard Williams’ The Thief and the Cobbler, a film nearly 50 years in the making whose creator was greeted by a standing ovation. Of course, films weren’t the only thing the festival had to offer. “I think what mattered to me the most were the people I met,” says Taylor Reynolds (BFA/DA, ‘17). “Any opportunity to reach out to a larger community of animators is refreshing and it was amazing to be surrounded by so many people who are as passionate about animation as I am.” 23 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Laos is one of those countries that few people know much about. Once one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia, a nine-year U.S. aerial bombing campaign during the Vietnam War devastated the nation. Today its citizens live with political corruption, poverty, and animal and human rights violations. To understand the effects of these events, Chapman students traveled to Laos to produce documentaries for Professor Jeff Swimmer’s International Documentary Production class. Working with local NGOs, the students traveled to the northern part of the country where they visited a reserve for elephants, retired from logging, who might otherwise be released into the wild to starve. They also traveled up the Mekong River on a floating library operated by an organization dedicated to building dormitories for young girls, and traveled with a Laos’ Unexploded Ordinance (UXO) team as they cleared parts of the northeastern provinces of bombs. “Laos is an isolated country that is still struggling with the aftermath of the Vietnam War,” says Professor Swimmer. “Yet despite the atrocities our country perpetrated, when our students asked them whether they were resentful of the United States, they said no. They have separated the American people from the policies of our government. Our students were amazed that a people who have suffered so much at the hands of the United States were willing to break bread with them. It says a lot about the country’s ability to move forward and I’m glad our students got a chance to see that.” While the forgiveness and generosity of the Laotian people is heartwarming, it often hides a deeper, quiet pain not readily acknowledged. “The thing that still haunts me is an interview we did with a Hmong farmer,” says Jack Sample (BFA/TBJ, ’16). “He told me how his three-year-old son found a bomb that he thought was a ball. He threw it up in the air and when he caught it, it exploded, killing him and three other toddlers. The father told me this story plainspoken, no emotion. However, he kept looking me in the eyes, which is uncommon as they are usually so reserved, even when talking about painful subjects. “So I asked him where it happened. He walked to his front door and stood there staring at a place outside. I asked him what it’s like to look out his front door every day and see where his son was killed. He broke down, weeping only for a few seconds, before struggling to regain his strength. Eventually, his friends walked him away, because he had shown too much of what he was feeling. “It was a powerful moment and I respect him for speaking with us, as I respect all of the villagers who spoke with us, because I know how difficult it was for them to talk about their experiences. I hope it was worth it, because I think it’s important for the U.S. to know what the repercussions of their actions are overseas.” 24

With wacky grandmothers and drug dealers at birthday parties, comedy was the subject of Professor James Gardner’s Cross-Cultural Filmmaking class. This summer, Dodge students traveled to Taiwan to shoot a film about a young girl whose friend leaves her with her senile grandmother. Then the students from Taiwan traveled to Orange to shoot a story about a woman whose drug dealer shows up on the day of her surprise birthday party. In both cases, students learned what it was like to shoot films in another country. “The Taiwanese way of filmmaking is very different,” says Professor James Gardner. “Our first day of shooting took place in a mass rapid transportation station. Trains were coming and going and hundreds of people were getting on and off the trains. Meanwhile, we had our madness right in the middle of it all, and this was all permitted by the Taiwan police! That’s something we could never do in the United States. Here, we would have to close the entire station and bring in extras. It’s a lot more costly, but we also wouldn’t have to deal with crowd control and sound issues like we did in Taiwan.” In addition to films, students in Taiwan had a chance to attend a Taiwanese baseball game; visit Mengjia Longshan Temple, the oldest temple in the city, and see Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world. In the United States, students got a tour of Warner Bros. Studios; visited FotoKem, the last film development company in America, and took a trip to Panavision headquarters, the company that revolutionized moviemaking in 1972 with its lightweight, Panaflex 35mm camera. “There’s so much more than you can take away from these classes than just filming with students from another country,” says Nicholas Bradford (BFA/FP, ‘18). “We were able to make connections with people our age who were raised in Taiwan, who could show us the places they go and introduce us to the foods they like and help integrate us into their culture much more than if we were traveling alone. I hope Dodge College will do more classes like this and that students will get an opportunity to shoot more films with students from other countries.”

Sitting under night skies with a crowd of international and Italian film fans in Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore at the Il Cinema Ritrovato Film Festival, students in Emily Carman’s Structure and Function of a Film Festival class were forced to consider what it means to see a movie on film. Does picture quality trump all other considerations or does the medium matter as well? Since 2011, 4K projection has dominated the theater-going experience. Older films that once were only screened in small, second-run movie theaters are now available on YouTube and Netflix. Yet these changes come at a cost to the communal experience of watching films in a darkened movie theater surrounded by others. “I feel like every year, students are more and more watching films on their computers and their iPhones and they haven’t really thought about what it means to see films as intended,” says Professor Carman. “I can’t imagine watching a film like 2001: A Space Odyssey on a DVD player. This film was made to be big and immersive, to challenge you and to have you share it with others in a packed house. “The films at Bologna were meant to be seen on a big screen and with an audience. I think students seeing 2001 on the 70 mm film projection became more aware of that and began to think about which of the movies were on film.” The students also saw Casablanca, introduced by Isabella Rosellini; Sherlock Jr., performed with a live orchestra, and a Technicolor, dye-transfer copy of the 1998 film, The Thin Red Line, which was given as a gift to the movie’s director Terence Malick and rarely leaves the vaults for screenings. Of course screening films as they were originally intended requires careful preservation of film prints. Professor Carman’s students learned about what this requires on a tour of the film preservation laboratory L‘Immagine Ritrovata de Bologna, where she interned in 2003. “The students were inspired to see a film lab with all the tools they recognize from their film education here at Dodge,” says Carman, “but also the historic aspects of the film medium, like dealing with negatives and film splices, which you don’t see so much in film schools anymore, because they’re becoming increasingly obsolete. In fact, many students came up to me afterward, saying how much they appreciated the tour and I will keep doing it because I want students to be excited about this aspect of film history.” “Attending Il Cinema Ritrovato was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says Caitlin Manocchio (BA/Film Studies, ’16). “Going to this festival allowed me to see films over a hundred years old that were hand-tinted and shown on a carbon arc projector. Hearing the clicking of the projector, seeing the carbon flame, and having a live orchestra play was a memory I’ll have forever. Experiences like this are why I would persuade Dodge students to talk to Professor Carman about attending the 2016 Il Cinema Ritrovato. I hope I can attend this incredible festival again.”

FOR THE FOURTH YEAR IN A ROW, DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS HAS BEEN RANKED AMONG THE TOP 10 FILM SCHOOLS IN AMERICA BY THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER — HOLDING ON TO ITS SPOT AT #7 THREE YEARS RUNNING.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized in this way,” says Dean Bob Bassett. When I look at the schools that rank above us I see schools that are either very old, very large or very well endowed, in some cases, all three. That says a great deal about Chapman, as a comparatively small institution with a very young film school. I am gratified that we are recognized for our innovation and for our many strengths — in program, facilities, faculty and student and alumni talent.” Although the rankings are not scientific, they are based on careful opinion research and information gathering by the publication, which weighs “multiple factors,” including “prestige, practical experience, inspirational teachers, potential career connections and access to cutting-edge equipment.”

of the Third Kind) weighed in on his experience teaching at Chapman, noting that having lectured at many film schools, he expecteded a familiar experience. What he found was a “striking difference” in the students —“a level of seriousness, focus and downright politeness that I hadn’t seen at other schools. There was absolutely no ‘attitude.’ Maybe it’s the recruitment, maybe the curriculum and policies, but the character of the student body is exceptional. In Hollywood, Dodge students have a well deserved reputation of making excellent employees and, in fact, I employ one myself.”

DODGE COLLEGE RANKED #7 IN AMERICA

The Chapman ranking cited, in particular, the creation of Chapman Filmed Entertainment, the feature film production company created to serve as a transition into the industry for talented alumni, and also the school’s facilities, continuing expansion, and the recent success of notable alumni.

Industry friends as well as those who teach at Chapman shared some of their thoughts directly with The Hollywood Reporter. Veteran producer Michael Phillips (Taxi Driver, Close Encounters

Akin Ceylan, COO of Lionsgate, had similar praise for Dodge College grads. “As someone who works for a studio, I have seen the Chapman University students become professionals and begin to contribute immediately in the workforce. Chapman breeds innovation, creativity, a strong work ethic, accountability, and an entrepreneurial spirit.

“Dodge embodies a culture that endorses to keep pushing the proverbial envelope,” Ceylan concludes. “We need critical and innovative thinkers because our industry demands it in order to stay relevant and I believe Chapman students embrace the opportunity to provide those unique perspectives and will continue to move our industry forward.” 27

FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

outh Korea is one of the few countries whose domestic box office is larger than that of the United States. After decades of hardship under Japanese colonialization, authoritative military governments, censorship, and strict regulation, South Korean cinema is booming. This, combined with its success in the international film festival circuit has led Asian film scholar, Chris Berry, to call it, “a full service cinema” that includes “a range of modes of production and consumption,” distinguishing it from other Asian film industries, like those in Hong Kong and Taiwan, that focus almost entirely on commercial filmmaking.

The success of the South Korean industry is something that Professor Nam Lee wants students at Chapman to understand and appreciate. “When I first came to Chapman,” says Professor Lee, “one of my goals and duties was to create a connection with the Asian film communities. In 2009, I helped organize a film festival at Chapman that would introduce current Asian and Korean films in partnership with the Busan Film Festival. With this venture drawing to a close, I am now trying to continue that effort in a different way, turning the three-day festival into a 15-week class.”

political thriller involving a corrupt millionaire whose questionable investments lead to a criminal investigation, and Memories of Murder, a movie based on the real life criminal investigation of an unsolved murder. Students will also meet Korean filmmakers, like firsttime director July Lung, whose film A Girl at My Door was invited to the Cannes Film Festival this year, and director Seung-wan Ryoo, known for his action films and outspoken criticism of corporate and political injustice. If the descriptions of these films make it seem like South Koreans are preoccupied with issues of criminal and political corruption, that’s no coincidence. “Korea has a long tradition of social realism,” says Professor Lee. “Even commercial movies, like the monster film, The Host, deal with issues of injustice and corruption, with government soldiers chasing the victims instead of the monster. “A lot of this stems from the country’s historical experience. Korea endured 36 years of Japanese colonialization and is the only nation still divided by Cold War ideologies. There is a lot of distrust of government and that distrust is reflected in the country’s films. I want students to see that and to appreciate that good stories come from being conscious of the world around us.”

Lee’s Korean Cinema Today class will introduce students to a variety of Korean films, including Veteran, a

Students Explore Themes of Injustice, Corruption through

Korean Cinema 29

FILMMAKING BY YEARS AGO, WHEN MOVIES AND TELEVISION SHOWS FEATURED SHOTS OF SWEEPING VISTAS OR AERIAL SHOTS OF THE NEW YORK SKYLINE, FILMMAKERS WOULD NEED TO HIRE A HELICOPTER, MOUNT A CAMERA RIG, AND ACTUALLY FLY OVER THEIR TARGETS TO CAPTURE THOSE BEAUTIFUL VISUALS. IT WASN’T CHEAP, BUT IT CREATED DRAMATIC RESULTS.

REMOTE CONTROL

BY JEFF HEIMBUCH

ast forward to 2015, and someone and filmmakers can accomplish the same in their own backyards for much, much less â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with a drone. While the word drone may initially conjure up visions of unmanned military aircraft, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not even close to what is being used for filmmaking these days. Over the last five years, the technology behind drones has taken a huge leap, allowing for simple piloting systems and image stabilization. The emergence of pilotless aircraft presents some very unique opportunities for filmmakers. With drones, aerial shots, and even crane shots become much easier and more viable. Sweeping shots that were only feasible with a flight crew and a big budget are relatively cheap with an inexpensive rig operated by a decent pilot today. The Federal Aviation Administration is starting to allow the use of drones by aerial photography companies working with Hollywood studios. With highdefinition cameras getting more durable and compact, those formerly tough and expensive shots are only going to get easier. The cinematic possibilities are vast. Continued on next page

Alumnus/aerial cinematographer Kurt Soderling uses both drones and helicopters to get the best shots.

John-David Currey (BFA/FTP ’98) runs Fresh Cut Creative, a marketing company he created four years ago. Recently, the company opened Fresh Cut Above, a subdivision specializing in drone footage. What makes Fresh Cut Above unique is that it was one of the first to obtain the FAA exemption to allow it to legally obtain and sell drone footage. But the competition is heating up: Fresh Cut Above is now one of over 600 companies that has the exemption.

“

THERE IS ROOM IN THE SKY FOR EVERYONE, AND ROOM IN THE INDUSTRY FOR MANY NEW WAYS TO FILM. IT’S IMPERATIVE THAT WE EMBRACE THIS AND REALIZE THE RAMIFICATIONS THAT THE TECHNOLOGY BRINGS US: GOOD, BAD, AND INDIFFERENT. IT’S HERE TO STAY. IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET BETTER. KURT SODERLING

”

Soderling demonstrates the functions of the octacopter to his cinematography class.

“I’ve always been a fan of aerial cinematography, for almost 25 years I strapped cameras to my radio-controlled airplanes,” says Currey. “Now, people can get that high-end look for less than $3,000, from what basically amounts to a toy. It’s amazing.” Currey has had his pilot’s license for 15 years, which is one of the basic requirements to get the FAA exemption. He also follows the strict guidelines set out by the FAA to obtain footage, such as not flying within a five-mile radius of an airport, having a safety person, a safety perimeter, and so on. “It’s like the gold rush when it comes to drones right now. Everyone wants to do it, but you have to make sure you do it correctly,” Currey says. Tyler Newman (BA/PRA ’18) a current student, operates Pali Pictures, which also offers drone footage to its clients. “I was doing an editing job for a vacation house in Mexico, and all the footage that was given to me was from a drone,” says Newman. “The shots looked incredible, and I realized that I needed to be able to take my own aerial footage in order to keep up with the progressing technology.” Safety is paramount for all drone pilots, as it seems news stories appear almost daily about drone crashes and accidents.

out there,” he says. “It looks nice, but has no heart. You need to make sure it means something in the larger context of what you are doing. The trick is not just getting shots from above, but also how they fit into greater story.”

“For me, I just make sure to take extra precautions when I fly to avoid any malfunctions,” says Newman. “I learned all the aspects of the drone first, and I read the manual for a long time, when I really just wanted to start flying it. That helped me in the long run.”

“There is room in the sky for everyone,” he says, “and room in the industry for many new ways to film. It’s imperative that we embrace this and realize the ramifications that the technology brings us: good, bad, and indifferent. It’s here to stay. It’s only going to get better.”

However, just because drones are available doesn’t mean that the tried and true method of using a helicopter is going away anytime soon; there are simply things a drone can’t do.

One aspect of drone filmmaking that’s hard to beat is the fact that drones can get footage that used to be unattainable. Good Morning America recently did a story called “Game of Drones,” which featured a shot of an erupting volcano in Iceland, something that is much too dangerous for a human camera operator to go anywhere near. It was not only beautiful, but also was captured, safely, by a pilot a mile away.

“For long distance shots, especially ramping up from a distance into real time, you won’t get away with a drone,” says Kurt Soderling, (BFA/FTV ’87) an adjunct professor at Dodge College and a long-time director of aerial photography whose credits include The Birdcage, Independence Day, Armageddon, and Titanic, among many others. “You can’t do night shots yet, either. And in some cases, it actually is more cost effective to use a full-scale helicopter.”

Hollywood agrees, as many big name directors such as James Cameron are using drone footage. It seems inevitable that as technology becomes more sophisticated, more and more Hollywood productions will use drones to capture shots they could only dream of years ago. “Right now, drone footage adds a cinematic element because aerial footage is something we only have really seen in theaters,” Newman says, “But I think this is going to change within the next couple years.”

Yet getting shots and using them well are two different things, according to Currey. “Drone footage is some of the least emotional and least personal footage

Soderling has used a wide range of camera systems including the Spacecam, Cable Cam, Astrovision and other specialized camera systems. These days, he uses a mix of both drone and helicopter footage, depending on the job. “If you want an establishing shot, wide and sweeping, you’re better off with getting a helicopter. But if you want the close up details, a drone is the way to go,” he says. Soderling never goes anywhere without a drone these days. He sees the future as taking a drone inside his helicopter, so when he lands on location, he has best of all tools.

Currey’s company Fresh Cut Above captures aerial images of the site of the Republican Debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

33 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Entertainment marketing guru Dawn Taubin (The Dark Knight, the Harry Potter film series) moderated the panel, which included showrunners and filmmakers Kerry Ehrin (Bates Motel, The Wonder Years, Parenthood), Deena Katz (Dancing with the Stars, Real Time with Bill Maher), Debra Martin Chase (Missing, Lemonade Mouth, The Princess Diaries), Robin Schiff (Romy And Michele’s High School Reunion, Down Dog), and Janine Sherman Barrois (ER, Third Watch, Criminal Minds).

STREAMING CONTENT ALLOWS US MORE CREATIVITY AND CREATORS.

“

ROBIN SCHIFF

You have to be on staff and get your chops in before you get to

where you want to be. finding

It’s that balance between that thing YOU’RE PASSIONATE about versus what you need to do.

”

We can be more precise and have more auteur storytelling on television. KERRY EHRIN

DEBRA MARTIN CHASE

your own self. KERRY EHRIN

JANINE SHERMAN BARROIS

DEBRA MARTIN CHASE

If it was easy, it would have been done before.

You have to write for

CHANGE IS UP TO

We all work on things we don’t like, but we do it until

we find the right one. DEENA KATZ

YOU GUYS. ROBIN SCHIFF

Mentors are someone who help you get invited to the party … and then not get kicked out of it either. KERRY EHRIN

“25 years ago, it was a boys’ club. There is more equality now, but we’re not done yet. We’re getting there.”

}

Dodge College thanks its sponsors for their generosity in supporting the 2015 Women in Focus Conference: Twyla Reed Martin, Eve Kornyei Ruffatto, Harriet Sandhu, Diana Martin, Bonny Schumacher and Sally Crockett.

Here is a sampling of what the panelists had to say:

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In April, Dodge College hosted a panel of the most prominent women in the television industry participating in an open discussion with students and the community regarding their personal experiences at the 16th Annual Women in Focus conference.

COLOR-BLIND CASTING

ROBIN SCHIFF

and multi-ethnic storytelling is now mainstream thanks to Shonda Rhimes. JANINE SHERMAN BARRIOS

PLAQUE DEDICATED TO

Marion Knott

Although Marion Knott will always live in the hearts of those who knew her, many members of the Dodge College family are also committed to sharing her legacy with new members of our community. This became the inspiration for adding a plaque above her bust in the lobby of Marion Knott Studios — a plaque to tell a little more of her story.

It reads: MARION KNOTT 1922-2014 “A thoughtful philanthropist, trustee of the university, and devoted friend, Marion Knott made immeasurable contributions to Dodge College over the years — contributions that made the school what it is today. Her generosity is evident not only in the facility which bears her name (despite her modest objections to naming it for her), but in classrooms, equipment, and programs. One of her most significant gifts was the $1M endowment of the Marion Knott Filmmaker-in-Residence program, a program that brings veteran filmmakers to campus in order to mentor selected students individually and to share their experiences with the student body at large. Marion believed in the vision of the film school and provided unwavering support without any expectation of or desire for recognition. Her contributions live on as they continue to enable the creative work of our students.”

MICHAEL LYNTON An Interview Touching on The Interview Students were particularly excited to hear Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures, talk about the challenges the company faced in releasing the controversial film, The Interview. Lynton was among a slate of industry heavyweights hosted by Professor Harry Ufland in his Agents and Managers and Internship Workshop Classes. “It was such an honor to be able to hear Mr. Lynton speak about his work at Sony and to get to know the man behind one of my favorite studios. I’d like to thank him for protecting our first amendment rights by making the film, The Interview, accessible to as many mediums as possible, because that was important to our freedom.” – Grant Nguyen (BFA/FP’17) “One part of the talk that I found especially valuable was about how, after making The Interview, Mr. Lynton felt he had a moral obligation to release it. It seems that in the modern day, there is nothing you can say of value that won’t offend or contradict someone. This makes it all the more important to have personal morals and guidelines that you are willing to stand by and defend. I feel that this idea can be applied, not just in the film industry, but in all aspects of life.” – Cullen Peugh (BA/SW’16)

Professor Cory O’Connor, above, who was the driving force behind the creation of the plaque, presided over the dedication as “a way to express my gratitude” for the “something special we have here in Dodge,” largely due to the tireless commitment of Marion Knott. 35 FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Netflix Chief Advises Grads to Break Out of Their Comfort Zone Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos delivered the keynote address to the class of 2015 at Dodge College’s commencement ceremony on May 23. Sarandos implored students to “break convention,” “get out of your comfort zone” and to use those connections: “You have an education, you have a degree, a network of friends and advisers, and much more. Use them to your advantage, because they will help you.” Following commencement, Dodge College welcomed graduates and their families back at Marion Knott Studios for an adventure-filled after party featuring live music and exotic animals in destination-themed spaces. Congratulations, class of 2015 — we can’t wait to see what you’ll create!

LEO FREEDMAN FOUNDATION FIRST CUT 2015: PREMIERING THE STORYTELLERS OF TOMORROW Dodge College premiered its 2015 Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut films to an audience of more than 400 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. “The films we choose to share through the Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut screening showcase our students’ commitment to telling engaging stories with the highest possible production value and careful attention to performance, music, and all of the other myriad components that go into making a film,” says Dean Bob Bassett. The following films were screened: Bastard directed by Joseph Mackedanz (BFA/FP’15); Beware of Bunny directed by Becky Gill (BA/DA’15); Casey and the Death Pool directed by Margaret Anderson (MFA/FP’15); Chiaroscuro directed by Daniel Drummond (BFA/ DA’14); Run, directed by Trevor Stevens (BFA/FP’15), and This is How I Want to Remember H.E.R., directed by Kali Baker-Johnson (MFA/FP’15).

From right: Honored directors Kali BakerJohnson, Becky Gill, Joseph Mackedanz, Margaret Anderson, and Trevor Stevens.

IMMERSED IN THE DOCUMENTARY WORLD: STUDENTS ATTEND FULL FRAME FESTIVAL A group of aspiring documentary filmmakers found inspiration at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina, in the spring. Professor Helen Scheer arranged to take a group of Dodge students to the festival as “Fellows,” where they saw new and classic documentary films and talked with filmmakers about their careers in the documentary world. A few reflections: Top: Fellows Ceylan Carhoglu, Sarah Salvas, Monica Petruzzelli, and Krysta Mortland with producer Ron Davis (center), whose son Jordan Davis is featured prominently in the documentary 3 1/2 Minutes. Bottom: Back row, Helen Scheer, Monica Petruzzelli, Ceylan Carhoglu, Kayla Velloso, Sarah Salvas, (front row) Julie Martorano, and Krysta Mortland.

Sarah Salvas (BFA/News and Documentary ’17): To me, the entire Full Frame Documentary Film Festival was one of connection, inspiration, and enlightenment. This was especially true for a first-time film festival “goer” like myself. I was completely immersed in everything related to documentary, which is unlike anything you can really grasp inside the classroom. Monica Petruzzelli (BFA/News and Documentary ’16): The Full Frame Film Festival reminded me why I set out to pursue documentary making — to inform, inspire and incite change in my community and beyond. Ceylan Carhoglu (BFA/Film Production ’16): This festival is such a supportive environment. You get to ask the directors and producers any questions you have and hear their advice for you. My favorite advice was from Jimmy Chin, the director of Meru: in order to make it in this business he said “Commit and figure it out!”- that’s how he started filming for Nat Geo. 37

FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

INTERN SPOTLIGHT

BY MEAGAN O'SHEA

NICOLE JORDAN-WEBBER B.F.A. Film Production Senior Development Intern – Harpo Films Summer 2015-current

Nicole Jordan-Webber

BFA/TV & BROADCAST JOUR. ’16

Previous internships: Warner Bros., FR Productions, Thunder Road Pictures

“Harpo Studios is the most successful production company in daytime talk, producing The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Dr. Oz Show, and The Nate Berkus Show, as well as having developed Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray. In addition, Harpo creates and produces original television programming for broadcast, syndication and cable.” – www.oprah.com

How did you find your internship? I am part of Delta Kappa Alpha which is a cinematic fraternity on campus. DKA has a nationwide Facebook page where people post opportunities and internships all over the country. Harpo was hiring and I was looking. I had applied to various other studios and production companies all across the board and for some reason I never imagined that Harpo or the OWN Network would need an intern. When I saw the opening at Harpo I was so excited about it. Ms. Winfrey has affected me in a very profound and inspiring way, especially as a woman trying to enter the industry. I respect immensely the content that Ms. Winfrey and her team set out to make so I knew that was the application I needed to spend the most time with.

What’s a typical day at your internship? I park in the designated area and use my badge to enter the building. I have my own desk and a name plaque with my name etched into it. I check both of my email accounts — one for Harpo and the other for the OWN Network. If my supervisor needs something urgently, whether it’s a first edition book hunt for an option,

or to clean the storage area, or a script that needs to be covered, or something that was written on Ms. Winfrey that I need to research to suggest content development, I tackle those tasks first. If it’s a quiet morning I fix myself complimentary coffee and oatmeal and then ask around to see if anyone needs anything. It’s a gorgeous office and I have a view of West Hollywood from my desk. I’m pretty spoiled. I’m the only intern at Harpo so any kind of tasks they need completed I work on.

What has been the highlight of the internship for you so far? I’m not a huge reader. I read often, but it isn’t something I’ve found a passion for, in books specifically, but through this internship I have discovered a passion for reading. The books that come through Harpo are so inspirational and they are such important stories to tell. I can tell why they have been selected for consideration. I’ve just really enjoyed it because a lot of them are stories that inspire me to go back and work harder the next day — at Dodge or at my internship. Harpo has a very specific brand and they are really looking for the stories where you can see yourself in the character and you can identify with their struggle or are inspired to do better

yourself because of said character. It makes me feel like I’m doing something good. Otherwise I would say the sparkling water machine is a major highlight.

What courses or skills learned at Dodge were most helpful in your internship? Harry Ufland has inspired me to be as professional as I can be. He has taught me how important it is to know names in the industry, to leave your mark at every place you work, that way when you come back after graduation they haven’t forgotten you. I highly recommend his classes. I also learned so much about production and pre-production and what goes into both in my Production Set Management class. That was the capstone of my learning process at Chapman. I learned how to schedule, budget, and so I am able to use those skills especially MovieMagic, which I used in my first studio internship with Warner Bros. Aside from that, the Filmmakerin-Residence Program has been a huge asset for me. I consider Gary Foster one of my biggest mentors and I stay in touch with him. My respect and appreciation for everything Gary Foster would speak about and teach us was a huge game

And if you’re wondering if she has met Oprah… I have had the opportunity to say hello to Ms. Winfrey. What’s really cool about the office environment is that Ms. Winfrey jumps in and out of the office quite often. We are all respectful and cordial, it’s a very comfortable office environment. You can tell she appreciates everyone there.

changer for me. You eat dinner with these accomplished filmmakers and it’s a very intimate experience. I think students would be foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity, it’s just a matter of signing up. I think those have been some of the most helpful things I’ve learned at Dodge.

What advice would you offer students looking for internships in the industry? Apply to all the big studios and apply early. Those deadlines come a lot sooner than you would think, literally a season ahead of time. People in the industry like when you show how excited you are. I know sometimes people are afraid to network. Put yourself out there. As long as you showcase that you’re talented and passionate and that you’re going to work hard and not let them down you’re not wasting their time because they can use your skills. And don’t be afraid of who you’re talking to. You should be confidant in what you have to offer.

Interested in joining Delta Kappa Alpha? Visit the chapter’s website for more information http://www.chapman.dka.org/

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS Wire Cutters

Jack Anderson (BFA/DA ’14) Wire Cutters Anchorage International Film Festival – RUNNER UP, Animation Sonoma International Film Festival – WINNER, Best Animated Short BAFTA US Student Film Awards – NOMINEE Nashville Film Festival – WINNER, Best Student Short Daniel Drummond (BFA/DA ’14) Chiaroscuro Student Academy Awards – WINNER, Gold-Alternative Category San Pedro International Film Festival 2015, Long Beach International Film Festival 2015 Alyxandra Press (MFA/FP ’14) Alison & Jeremy The Panavision New Filmmaker Grant – RECIPIENT LA Indie Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION 42nd Student Academy Awards (SAA) – SEMIFINALIST 36th College Television Awards (Television Academy Foundation) – FINALIST Paradise Now Art Exhibition (England) sponsored by M20 Collective – OFFICIAL SELECTION San Pedro International Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION The Arlington International Film Festival (AIFF) – OFFICIAL SELECTION 16th Woodstock Museum Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION 17th Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION REVOLVE: Oakland LGBTQIA Pride Creative Arts & Film Fest – OFFICIAL SELECTION CTLPDX International Film Festival: Pride – OFFICIAL SELECTION & AWARDS (6): Trans Best Of Fest Winner; Runner Up: Best In Fest; Honorable Mention: Love; Honorable Mention: Acceptance; Honorable Mention: Ally; Honorable Mention: Lesbian Rochester International Film Festival – HONORARY MENTION

Casey Acaster (BFA/TBJ ’14) State of Emergency Pasadena United Nations Association Film Festival; Sedona International Film Festival; American Documentary Festival; Frozen River Film Festival; Cinema Verde Film & Arts Festival Matthew Szewczyk (MFA/FP ’15), Where We Go From Here The Anthem Film Festival – WINNER, Best Narrative Short and Audience Choice Award Shelby Thomas (BFA/FP ’14), Barstow 2015 Prescott Film Festival – WINNER, Best Emerging Filmmaker Shortlisted for BAFTA U.S. Student Film Award Nico Aguilar (BFA/FP’16), Run 2015 ASC Gordon Willis Student Heritage Award – WINNER 2015 KODAK Student Cinematography Scholarship Award – First Place ($4,000 tuition scholarship award and $5,000 KODAK Motion Picture product grant) Jackson Miller (BFA/DA ’15), Prism 2015 Student Academy Award Semi-Finalist; SAG Foundation Short Film Showcase; Prescott Film Festival: Audience Choice Award: Best Narrative Short Alex Fichera (BFA/FP ’15), Murphy’s Law Cinegear Award Eric Otten (BFA/FP ’14), Unspoken 2015 College Television Awards (student Emmys) – WINNER, Loreen Arbus Focus on Disability Scholarship Sedona Film Festival – WINNER , Audience choice award for best student short Shortlisted for BAFTA U.S. Student Film Award; 2014 Cecil Award Best Picture – Undergraduate; 2014 Best Director – Undergraduate

Unspoken

ALUMNI NOTES DODGE COLLEGE

Daniel Cotroneo (BFA/FP ’06) was nominated for an International Cinematographer’s Guild award for his work as a rising director of photography.

Melanie de Arakal (BA/PRA ’15) currently works as a PPC advertising specialist at 10th Degree Digital Branding.

DJ Dodd (MFA/FP ’12) produced the Sundance film, 10,000 Saints, starring Ethan Hawke and Emile Hirsch. Another film he produced, Wild Oats, will hit theaters in 2015, and a new series he developed for Investigation Discovery will premiere in the fall.

Michael Aronson (MFA/FP ’11) is going into production on a crowdfunded short drama, Nutcracker, focusing on the lengths an inner-city girl is willing to go to be validated by a group of coworkers whose behavior is distorted by rape culture. 1

Jean Barker (MFA/FP ’14) won the DGA Student Jury Award for Women Filmmakers for her work as the director and writer of her film One More Day. Stephanie Baum (BA/PRA ’12) is now working in the public relations department at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She worked at both the Oscars and the Student Academy Awards.

1 Brenda Brkusic (BFA/FP ’04) received two Telly Awards for her work as a producer for Mia, a Dancer’s Journey and is currently working on a new series, Buried History with Mark Walberg, slated to air nationally on PBS stations.

Darren Bunkley (BFA/FP ’98) is Emmy-nominated as a supervising producer for The Amazing Race. Melissa Cano (BFA/TBJ ’15) was featured in an Orange County Register article about her successful life after graduation receiving multiple job offers.

Jack Anderson (BFA/DA ’14) was honored as a finalist in the BAFTA U.S. Student Film Award for his work on his senior thesis project, Wire Cutters.

2 Rachel Karten (BFA/FTV ’03) is a personal assistant to actress Uzo Aduba, who took an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Crazy Eyes/ Suzanne Warren in Orange is the New Black. Karten (second from right in photo) joined Aduba on the red carpet at this year’s awards ceremony.

Brendan Kelly (BFA/CP ’12) is currently an assistant to Australian film producer Bruna Papandrea. Amy McBeth (BFA/FP ’15) received a credit as editorial Intern for the Pixar Animation Studios film, Inside Out, as well as a credit on the short film Toy Story That Time Forgot. 3

Mark Miller (BFA/FP ’06) won a Saturn Award for Best Blu-Ray Release for the self-produced film, Nightbreed. Jenny Mueller (BFA/FP ’06) received an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour or Less). Sarah Paciocco (BFA/CP ’15) is joining PopSugar Studios as Video Brand Partnerships Coordinator.

Do you have a recent accomplishment you’d like to share? Email Alumni Coordinator Sorrel Geddes, sgeddes@chapman.edu, so we can share your success with the Dodge College community.

Dodge catches up with the Chapman students who made Variety ’s “110 Students to Watch” list in 2015. Melissa Hauser (BFA/FP’15) Over the summer, Missy worked as a casting director on about a half dozen film projects and spent time traveling before beginning her job in the mailroom at William Morris Endeavor.

Eric Player (MFA/FTP ’08) is crowd funding on Indiegogo for his latest project, Academic Malfeasance. Michael Pruss (MFA/FP ’05) produced the film Equals, starring Nicholas Hoult, Kristen Stewart and GuyPearce, which was shown at the Toronto Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. Pruss attended a press conference with the stars in Japan last year to announce the start of the film. Mike Spagnoli (BFA/FP ’14) worked as an assistant editor on the feature, Chronic, a 2015 Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival. Kevin Staniec (BFA/FP ’01) was one of three finalists for his novella submission, The Memory Thieves, in the Summer Writing Project hosted by Black Hill Press. 4

Matthew Szewczyk (MFA/FP ’15) won best Narrative Short and

The Audience Choice award for Where We Go from Here at the 2015 Anthem Film Festival. He was also awarded a $10,000 grant by Taliesin Nexus to direct my next thriller The Return. Yakai Wang (MFA/PD ’13) recently production designed two feature films, Retake with alum director Nick Corporon (MFA/FP ’09) and Café con Leché.

Justine Stewart (BFA/DA’15) After concluding her internship with JumpStart, Justine started a full-time positon as a software engineer with Thales Avionics in Irvine, Calif., designing user interfaces for their In-Flight Entertainment division. Additionally, she teaches a game course at Chapman. Kevin Wolf (BFA/FP’15) Kevin currently lives in San Francisco and works for GoPro. Additionally, he started a production company that makes videos for startup companies.

Yukari Watanabe (BFA/DA ’15) is working in the Post/VFX department at Bix Pix Entertainment for Amazon’s award-winning original series Tumble Leaf. Toby Wossokow (BFA/FP ’15) directed an Elton John music video with an alumni-filled crew. 5 Carly Yates (BFA/TBJ ’14) is working for Katy Sweet and Associates Public Relations on the red carpet as a Public Relations Associate.

Photo credit Eric Ward

Kevin Wolf filmming Necker Island for extremechallenge.com

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UPCOMING EVENTS AND CLASSES: UPCOMING EVENTS

For more events, visit events.chapman.edu

Community Voices Documentary Screening – December 9

Community Voices Documentary Screening – December 9 Community Voices is a social issue documentary film program that links Chapman University documentary film students with Orange-County based organizations.

Laos Travel Course Documentary Screening – December 10 Premiering short documentaries created this past summer in the Destination Documentary: Laos Travel Course Program.

NWD 346-01 Networking in NY and DC January 5-17, 2016 Now in its 5th year, students travel to the networks of ESPN, CBS News, CBS Sports, NBC News, NBC Sports, Colbert, Fox News, CNN, Good Morning America, MLB Network, Bleacher Report, Discovery Networks and visit iconic landmarks such as the Capitol, Liberty Island, Ground Zero Memorial, Central Park and Broadway.

FTV 301/601 Outside Hollywood: Hawai’i – January 5 -18, 2016 This course examines filmmaking on the culturally diverse island of Oahu and includes presentations by guest speakers and visits to popular film and television sets.

Laos Travel Course Documentary Screening – December 10 FTV 361-01/561-01 Structure and Function of Film Festivals (Sundance) Session 1: January 21-26, 2016

Session 2: January 26-31, 2016

This course is taught at Dodge College and then on-location at the internationally-celebrated Sundance Film festival in Park City, Utah. There are two sections of the class being offered this year: the first session focuses on the business of the festival and the second session operates in conjunction with The Sundance Institutes’ Ignite Program and focuses on the films themselves including panels and discussions designed just for students.

Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut Encore Screening in New York – March 19, 2016 Promoting the top films from the previous year, every spring in New York City and every fall in Los Angeles for industry, media, alumni, prospective students and parents. More info: Chapman.edu/firstcut.

17th Annual Women in Focus Conference – April 8, 2016 Featuring a panel of the most prominent women in the entertainment industry participating in an open discussion with students and the community regarding their experiences in the business. More info: chapman.edu/wif.

Chapman University Preview Day – April 9, 2016 Designed to give prospective high school students, transfer students and parents an in-depth look at what it means to be a Chapman student.

Commencement – May 21 Celebrating the class of 2016 with a keynote address by Academy President and Dodge College professor Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

FP 363/653 Film Capitals of the World: London and Paris – January 5-19, 2016 Students will experience the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, The Champs Elysees, Piccadilly Circus, Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey, and much more while learning about the history and business of film in Europe. They will visit film facilities and locations, meet film professionals, and get to know these amazing cities.

NEW FOR 2016 – FEBRUARY 1, 2016 Pankey Filmmaker-in-Residence with Don Hahn

Don Hahn

Dodge College is pleased to welcome producer Don Hahn as the Pankey Filmmaker-in-Residence for spring 2016. Hahn’s credits include Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frankenweenie, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, among others.