EDUCATION SPOTLIGHT

Gold Stars

Santa Monica College’s film school garners top rankings from national magazine

By Bridgette M. Redman

MovieMaker Magazine knows a good film school when it sees one. When it ranked all the schools in the U.S. and Canada, the Westside contained several of their darlings. Among the top 12 in the U.S. West and Northwest are Santa Monica College (SMC) and USC. Joining them in the top 40 in the U.S. and Canada is Loyola Marymount University. “Santa Monica College is a fantastic bet for someone who wants to live in the heart of the film industry without going into debt for years,” said Tim Molloy, MovieMaker editor-in-chief. “If you believe the film and TV industry should be open to people who aren’t the children of millionaires—and we certainly do— we need more institutions with the affordability and drive of SMC.” Salvador Carrasco, the college’s film production faculty lead, learned of the honor in an email from Molloy, an email that also told him MovieMaker plans to feature the college in a future edition. Carrasco was hired by SMC in 2010 to create a film production program from scratch. He said this task included developing a curriculum, recommending instructors, writing grants for equipment and doing all the needed paperwork for SMC to obtain accreditation from the State of California, which they did in 2015. “My premise was to create a filmmaking program that would be competitive vis-à-vis the top film schools in the nation while at the same time offering universal access and being virtually free cost-wise,” Carrasco said. “This goal came about from my own experience as a student at NYU, and then teaching at USC, The Los Angeles Film School, Pomona College and SMC itself. I combined all the variables that I believed worked, didn’t work, and could be improved at those institutions, focusing on the student perspective.” Since his arrival, SMC’s film program has made more than 30 short films, all coming out of the capstone class, Film 33. “All of these films have won awards at domestic and international film festivals,” said Carrasco. “This stems not from any sort of black magic, but from the staunch belief in our SMC academic

PHOTO CREDITS: COURTESY OF SANTA MONICA COLLEGE

Professor Salvador Carrasco is SMC’s film production faculty lead.

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model: we make one film (sometimes two) per semester, and there is a collective sense of belonging about the films in question. In addition, all our instructors are active professionals in the film industry, and we are present on set at all times, supervising and actively teaching our students. This allows us to help them achieve what they set out to do, and they can also take creative risks because we are there to make sure they won’t fail.” Six SMC student films have been selected for the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival including 2021’s Best Short Film winner, “Broken Layers.” Carrasco said his primary goal is that students learn the craft of filmmaking in a way akin to learning a new language and that they develop the inherent soft skills that give them a competitive edge in the film industry. He lists some of those skills as showing up on time, being constantly engaged, having a flawless attitude on set, never speaking behind people’s backs, being respectful and appreciative of other people’s contributions, working hard and ethically and to the best of one’s abilities, and always giving 110%. “In short, behave as moral individuals within a collective endeavor that, when it

(Continued on Page 10) Santa Monica College has been named one of MovieMaker’s 40 Best Film Schools in the U.S. and Canada of 2022, and one of the top 12 in the U.S. West and Northwest alongside Stanford, UCLA and USC, among others.

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Gold Stars

(Continued from Page 9)

comes together, it yields magic in the form of great cinema,” Carrasco said. Carrasco, who is taking a sabbatical this year to direct his next film, said they are pleased that they have launched and sustained the kind of filmmaking program that they set out to create back in 2010. “We are proud that our instructors are active, working professionals in the film industry,” Carrasco said. “We have thankfully received Perkins grants with which we’ve gradually acquired state-ofthe-art film equipment.” They originally taught at an airport hangar, adjusting their shoots to flight paths. However, they have now moved to a new campus, the Center for Media and Design in Santa Monica, which he describes as a superior facility, though one they share with other SMC programs. They have built industry partnerships that help provide them with the support and equipment that they need each year. Partners include Keslow Camera, Roundabout Entertainment and Enhanced Media. They also get a production grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that helps them finance the two films they make each year.

Students who go through the film program at SMC are able to earn an associate’s degree and certificate program. Both of these charge in-state tuition of only $46 per unit. “An important part of our program’s philosophy and drive is that there should be no correlation whatsoever between the amount of money students pay and the quality of education they receive,” Carrasco said. “Personally, I think it’s obscene that students should go into debt for decades in order to receive a proper academic education. Isn’t that what our taxes should be for?” Carrasco has attended and taught at “elite” skills and believes that a major appeal of those institutions are that students have the prestigious label or brand. Some manage to make useful networking skills, akin to a social club. “That is all very fine, but seldom worth the irreconcilable price tag,” Carrasco said. “In a profession that desperately needs more diversity in every sense of the word, we want our students to stand out based on their talent, attitude, hard work and reliability, none of which has anything to do with socioeconomic backgrounds.” The Film 33 class is where students make a film, the culmination of their two-year program. They go on location for eight days and shoot 12-hour days. The resulting films belong to the students, with the school supporting and mentoring them as they do screenwriting, planning, filming, post-production and beyond. “The idea is that by the end of the semester, students know if filmmaking is their calling or not,” Carrasco said. “We are always on the set with our students and that is where the invaluable hands-on teaching takes place. In most, if not all other film schools, students are sent out to film on their own, and then their work is critiqued (sometimes viciously) when they bring it back to the classroom. In my experience, this accounts for a reductive experience where students seek out a familiar comfort zone…rather than challenge themselves into trying out new things and expanding their boundaries.” Because there are mentors with students all the time, they are kept from failing. He said there will be plenty of opportunity for them to fail in the future. At SMU, he wants them to “cherish the magic of cinema and of witnessing how something they imagined can be enhanced, materialize and affect people.” They make only one or two films per semester so that there is time to nurture each project from start to finish. They count on their students to have rich stories to tell from their life experience. The films, he said, are not derivative. Rather, the students are encouraged to make sense of the world based on their own experiences and sensibilities. While the program has been successful so far, Carrasco acknowledges that they are in their infancy and have a lot of room for growth. He hopes that they will receive an endowment that will let them focus on serving their students and making films rather than always looking for funding sources. He eventually wants them to have their own soundstage so that they don’t have to share with others. “What we are doing matters because it’s changing people’s lives and it’s helping make filmmaking less of an entitled pursuit in a culture that sorely needs a reconfiguration of values,” Carrasco said. But he doesn’t want Argonaut readers to take his word or the word of MovieMaker Magazine for it. Nothing, he said, tells their story better than actually experiencing the student work. He hopes that people will visit the YouTube channel, watch some of their shorts and leave comments on them.

Santa Monica College Film Program

smc.edu/filmproduction

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Mariners Chart a New Course at Saint Monica Preparatory

The 2022-2023 school year marks a new chapter in the nearly 100-year history of the schools formerly known as St. Monica Catholic Elementary School and St. Monica Catholic High School. As one school, Saint Monica Preparatory offers a comprehensive Transitional Kindergarten through 12th grade learning environment. SMPREP provides a faith-based education that fosters academic achievement, intellectual curiosity, individual talents and Christian service. It boasts a diverse, close-knit community where students are known, seen, challenged and nurtured. Expanded experiential learning in MakerSpace, Mariner Ocean Research Institute (MORI) and throughout campus connect knowledge learned in the classroom to the real world. International travel awaits students in grades 9-12, Catholic Highlights of Italy tour with private Mass at the Vatican and STEM trip to the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador. In addition to a robust curriculum, Upper School fields 18 competitive Mariner teams, while Lower School offers eight sports beginning in third grade. From fine art to dance, music and theater, the visual and performing arts come alive at SMPREP. Guided by Catholic values, Saint Monica Preparatory allows students to explore areas of learning that stimulate the processes of self-discovery. Stop by the Open House, November 6 from 1-4 p.m. to learn more. New website: saintmonicaprep.org

Carrasco was hired in 2010 to create the program from scratch and since his arrival, SMC has made more than 30 short films that have won various awards.