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CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS

If winning an Oscar is a virtually unmatched mark of distinction for any filmmaker, winning a StudentAcademy Award carries perhaps even greater weight for a student filmmaker — as it singles out a film from ahuge field of films unknown to the general public andmakes people aware of its existence. When Chapmanalumnus Daniel Drummond (BFA/DA ’14) pickedup the Gold Medal as the Student Academy Awardwinner in the Alternative category for his inventive film Chiaroscuro inSeptember, it signaled a remarkablelevel of achievement.

With a record 1,686 entries for thisyear’s awards and only five gold medalwinners, Daniel’s film falls in the top.3% of the student work submitted.But perhaps more significant thanthat, the Academy changed the judging process this year, dropping regional competitions that sometimesincluded judges who either had littleexperience in filmmaking or weredirectly connected to film schoolsthat had submitted films. Thisyear, judging was done solelyby the members of the Academy, which, given thedeep experience that it takes simply to be elected tomembership, put the judging in generally much morediscriminating hands.

But judging aside, Daniel’s accomplishment is extraor-dinary for a number of reasons. Not only is he the firstStudent Academy Award winner from Chapman, buthis film takes storytelling to an extremely challenginglevel — he involves the audience in a story involvingpurely 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 embracedlearning about film by taking advantage of every possibleopportunity during his time at Dodge.

Coming to Chapman from Brazil, Daniel dove right in.He was active in the Digital Arts Club, helping to arrangestudio tours, guest speakers and improve classes for studentanimators. He wrote film reviews for the school newspaper;he was chosen as a Knott Scholar to study with Film-

maker-in-Residence Cathy Schulman,producer of Crash, Horns and other wonderful films; and he spent a semesterin Cannes, France, where he dedicatedhimself to learning the language and thecountry’s art history, and interned at theCannes Film Festival during his stay there.

But more than that, what I saw ofDaniel is what I hope every film studentwould push him or herself to do. Therewere many evenings when I came intothe Folino Theater for a screening orlecture to find Daniel there, often inthe company of his good friend JackAnderson, also a Student AcademyAward semi-finalist. Making timeto attend as many film screenings,lectures and seminars as possibleis what defines top young film-

makers — they understand that they need to see as manyfilms as they can and learn directly from working film-makers. They do not limit themselves to material coveredin just the classes they are taking but soak up everychance to learn that comes their way.

Looking at the creativity and talent of students comingin our doors, I know Daniel’s Student Academy Awardwon’t be our last. With eight semi-finalists and three finalists, Dodge College saw a banner year. I am excitedby what the future holds as we watch our talented students develop their art and craft.

Marks Rising Talent in Digital Arts

F R O M D E A N B O B B A S S E T T

Academy Win

featuresother stuff AND THE AWARDS LIST

keeps on growing…

Meeting the Needs of a Growing Market in

DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING

PETRIE BROTHERSBring Industry Expertise to the Classroom

Teaching

THE ART OF STORYStudio Exec Helps Students Explore

THE BUSINESS OF THE BUSINESS

ACADEMY PRESIDENT BACKin the Classroom

Dodge College

RANKED #7 IN AMERICA

FILMMAKING by Remote Control

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30Daniel Drummond center, at the 42nd

Student Academy Awards with composer

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

sound designer Carson French.

In Production: Editor, Janell Shearer; Assistant Editor, Meagan O’Shea; Writers: Brian Hamilton,

Sorrel Geddes, and Jeff Heimbuch

what’s insideKorean cinema

The Lake Effect Telling a Story Through Improvised Dialogue

Meet the Film Division Chair Eric Young

Dodge College Summer Travel

Students Explore Themes of Injustice, Corruption through Korean Cinema

Events Recap

Intern spotlight

Festival Highlights

Dodge College Alumni Notes

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Numbers often tell the story.

Of the 1,686 films submitted tothe Student Academy Awards thisyear, Chapman was recognizedwith 8 semi-finalists, landingthose films among the top 5%;three Chapman finalists amongthe final 33 films qualifying in five categories, and a Gold Medalwin for Daniel Drummond(BFA/DA’14), in the Alternativecategory for his film Chiaroscuro.

AND THE AWARDS LIST KEEPS

DODGE SCORES THREE ACADEMY AWARDNOMINEES AND ONE BIG WIN

Recipients of the 2015 Women ofChapman Award Thomas Garber(left), Alex Yonks, and Andrew Everswith Women of Chapman memberAdrienne Brandes (center).

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

BY JANELL SHEARER

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The semi-finalists were:

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

IN NARRATIVE: Unspoken, Eric Otten, B.F.A. Film Production, Directing ’14

Alison & Jeremy, AlyxandraPress, M.F.A. Film Production,Directing ’15

Prism, Jackson Miller, B.F.A. Film Production, Directing ’15

The Last Words, KeeganMullin, B.F.A. Film Production, Directing ’15

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

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

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

The finalists were:Wire Cutters, Humand Chiaroscuro.

ON GROWING…

Unspoken

Alison & Jeremy

Student Academy Award –Daniel Drummond and Professor Bill Kroyer.

Prism

The Last Words

Hum

Wire Cutters

DRUMMONDREFLECTS ON THEUNBELIEVABLEHearing 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 andagents about what’s next in our career.”

Having spent a year and half makingChiaroscuro, including working on it full-time for the last five months beforegraduation, as he had completed all of his other class requirements, Drummondestimates he spent about 2,000 hours onthe 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.”

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JUSTIN SIMIEN NAMED AMONG

TEN DIRECTORS TO WATCH

The Hollywood Reporter named 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 thewunderkinds who’ve used talent, passion and perseverance to make a name for themselves, many with their directorialdebuts. 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 comesfrom the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). Over the years, Chapman students and alumni have beennominated and/or won this award many times (11 winnersover the past seven years). 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 2015ASC Gordon Willis Heritage Awards were Sten Olson(BFA/FP ’16) for Darkstar and 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 collabo-ration 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.

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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:

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5FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

TELEVISION SCRIPTS AND

PILOT RECOGNIZED

The interterm television pilot Jersey Chasers, created by Skylar Harrison (BA/SW ’13) and executive produced byHarrison and Ashley Pacini (MFA/FTP ’13), was a finalistin the Independent Pilot Competition of both the 2015New 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.

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 TurnerBroadcasting System, working specifically with development at TBS and TNT. Brett wrote theVEEP 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 AcclaimTV pilot writing competition for his one-hour drama Boston. Kadyn’spilot concerns “a family of grifterswho must make peace with the pastand each other when threatened by acommon enemy.” Since graduation,Kadyn has worked as an editor andsound designer on a number of projects. He was a Post PA on theNetflix 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 lengthsports documentary. He is also participating in the year-long Writers Guild Foundation’s Veterans Writing Program.Kadyn wrote a first draft of his pilot in Adjunct ProfessorJim Macak’s summer class on Writing for Television.

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

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ALUM RECOGNIZED BY VARIETY AS A BELOW THE LINE STAR

Variety’s Below the Line Impact Report for 2015 honored Dodge grad 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 directorJustin 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 NathanKelly (BFA/FP ’04) who, Variety reports, “started off assisting producers Scott Rudin and GeorgiaKacandes and got his break line-producing Save the Date. That ‘opened up the doors’ and led toworking 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 picfor Kelly Reichardt and is set to begin on Imperative Entertainment’s Hot Summer Nights.” Savethe Date (2012) was written and directed by Chapman alum Michael Mohan (BFA/FTV ’02).

ALUM’S SCRIPT FEATURED ON THE BLACKLIST WEBSITE

Alumni Dan Olson (MFA/FP Directing ’07) and Derek Johnson (MFA/SW ’06), saw theirscript Grand Portage featured on The Blacklist website, which supports quality unmade featurefilms 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 dealingwith 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

Sally Ledger (MFA/PD ’15) hasbeen selected as one of five youngproduction designers accepted intothe Art Directors Guild Apprentice-ship program. She has already beenplaced as a PA for the art departmenton the fifth season of the ABC Television production, Scandal, forBuena Vista/Disney. The Guild willalso provide additional mentorship,supervision and on-the-job training,and, at the end of the 18-monthprogram, she will be admitted intothe 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 intoperspective, Professor Chichester notes that “I was not made a full member of the Art DirectorsGuild until I was well into my thirties.”

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AND THE AWARDS LIST KEEPS ON GROWING…Continued

Dan Olson

Sally Ledger

Ledger created the look for the 2015 grad thesis film The Right Hand of God.

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PRODUCING STUDENT HONORED WITH KATIE WEINSTEIN AWARD

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 studentwho 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 hasdemonstrated excellence as a producer and includes a stipend to assist with the production costs of the recipient’s thesis film project.

ALUMS FEATURED IN SCRIPT MAGAZINE:

“WRITERS ON BREAKING IN”

Andrew Knauer (MFA/SW ’06) and Arthur Pielli(MFA/SW ’06) were featured as the inaugural interviewin Script Magazine’s new series “Writers on Breaking In”in the spring. Knauer and Pielli were recognized forhaving sold their script “Senior Year” to CBS Films.Broken Road and Benderspink are producing. Bender-spink, Gersh and Jeff Frankel rep the writers. Kanuerpreviously sold The Last Stand (2013) which starredArnold 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 athttp://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

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Dylan Highsmith

Elliott Reekers on the set ofthe Chapman productionCarried Away

Arthur Pielli andAndrew Knauer

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THE LAKE EFFECTBY MEAGAN O’SHEA

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)

CHAPMAN CAST AND CREW:

TELLING A STORYTHROUGH IMPROVISEDDIALOGUE

Director of Photography, Sebastien Nuta, setting up

for a golden-hour shot.

In August a group of students flew to Chicago tocollaborate on the creation of a feature film set onthe banks of Lake Michigan. Written and directedby Kendall Goldberg, The Lake Effect follows fourchildhood friends whose close-knit relationship is threatened by a shocking discovery over aweekend trip to the lake. The concept was writtenby Goldberg and her writing partner RachelBorgo (Valparaiso University).

For 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, theprocess 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 withtheir characters to determine what they would say and how they would behave in different scenes. Instead of relying solely on the creativeinput of the writer, the groupsat down to develop theircharacters together.

“It was a huge collaborativeeffort, and I think that’s whatmade it work,” she says.

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Goldberg 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 PatrickBrice, which was hatched and filmed during a brief span of time in acontrolled environment.

“It’s an interesting and unconventional approach to filmmaking that isslowly becoming more mainstream,” says Goldberg. “This type of freeflowing creativity allows for happy accidents, things you can’t think ofwhen 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-millimeter-type 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 ofthose 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 themeverything,” Goldberg says. “I think one of the biggest things we realizedwas 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 TheMusic Box Theater in Chicago where he expressed an interest in her film.(Fun fact: Goldberg originally met Swanberg while grocery shopping inPark City on Dodge College’s interterm travel course to the Sundance

Film Festival.)

“Having Joe ask me about the film was the perfect motivationfor me to get this project done,” she says. “It was a reallyincredible 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.

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 alwaystry 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 problem-solve 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 haveenough 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 closerwith the people you’re already friends with — Maybetoo close.

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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 atwww.kendallgoldbergfilms.com

Fire pit scene, martini shotof the first night of shooting.

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

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In 1996, when Chapman’sfilm program became afilm school, documentaryfilmmaking was still aniche market. Sincethen, the market hasexploded. Seven of IMDb’s top 10U.S.-grossing docu-

mentaries have been released in the last 10 years, withMichael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11 takingin $119M. Now Netflix is releasingdocumentary films exclusively online.With these new audiences come newopportunities, 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 thinkabout when designing this program ishow to distinguish it,” says ProfessorSally Rubin. “A lot of documentary programs have sprung up in the last twoyears and we want ours to be unique so that it can remain competitive. Withthat in mind, we decided to focus ondocumentary feature filmmaking.

“We’ll be teaching students how toshoot and record sound at an advancedlevel with feature documentary as a reference point. We’ll be teaching themhow to do research that is thorough andprovides the most effective material for

making a feature-length film. Instead ofshowing students documentary shorts,we’ll focus on documentary features, because we want students to leave readyto enter the field.”

Another advantage that students willenjoy is access to Dodge College’s world-class equipment and facilities. “Mostuniversities that have documentary programs place them in the Journalismor Communications Departments wherethey don’t have access to things like amixing stage or a Foley studio,” says Associate Dean Michael Kowalski. “Because our program is part of the filmschool, our students have access to all of

documentary filmmaking projects, bothdomestic and overseas, that we have,”says Professor Jeff Swimmer.

“Whether they’re participating in Community Voices, International Documentary Production, or somethinglike Project Sikh, students can get rightout into the field and start creating filmsin the real world without worrying aboutthe challenge of fundraising. That’s a bigboost, because later on, when they do getfunded, they’ll have the filmmaking skillsthey need to compete. Students who participate in these projects will be ableto use some of that material for their thesis and feature-length films.”

the resources that our Film Productionstudents have, from cameras to soundand lighting.”

In addition, students will have the opportunity to travel the world in searchof compelling documentary subjects —from Asia to Africa — tackling social,economic and health issues, amongmany others.

“I haven’t heard of another programthat has the breadth of funded

Students in the inaugural class are drawnto the growing power of documentaryfilms to make an impact. “I would like to tell stories that ask questions, provokethoughts, and touch hearts,” says MelissaHoon (MFA/DOC ’17). “I want to makedocumentaries that promote social changeand motivate personal growth, because theworld 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 realchange, real happiness, and real peace.”

DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKINGMeeting the Needs of a Growing Market in

Our program is part of the film school, our students

have access to all of the resources that ou

r Film

Production students have, from cameras to sound

and lighting.” – ASSOCIATE DEAN MICHAEL KOWALSKI“ ”

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 Jinxto the on-going controversy over the captive killer whales in Blackfish, documentaryfilms are capturing more and more prime time and greater audience attention thanever before.

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

director/actor Donald, whose widely seen films includeHow To Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Miss Congeniality, andGrumpy 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. Theirmother, Dorothea Petrie, was also an actress, casting

agent, Emmy Award-winning TV producer and one of the founding members of Women in Film, and theiryounger twin sisters both had careers involving acting,producing and writing.

Although family connections never hurt, both Petriescredit the qualities they try to instill in their students fortheir success: passion, perseverance and a commitmentto the work ethic that it takes to really make it. It’s abusiness where, Daniel says, new members are welcomedto the WGA with a reminder that qualifying for membership is statistically harder than becoming amajor league baseball player.

Donald finds his Chapman students “already imbuedwith passion — they want to be here and they want tolearn,” he says. Our job, he says, speaking for himselfand Daniel, “is to educate them without dampeningthat passion.”

Daniel agrees. What he tries to teach his students cansave them “hundreds of thousands of hours of trial anderror,” but more important are the lessons about what itactually takes to succeed in this business. “Do you havethe 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 weregrowing up as their father made films on location —Donald remembers attending five elementary schoolsand three junior highs and three high schools — Danielopted out and went to boarding school in high school;Donald found himself always the new kid. He says hewas “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 checkout the drama department, and there he found a homeat school after school. Acting in theater eventually got

PETRIE BROTHERS BRING INDUSTRY EXPERTISE

BY JANELL SHEARER

Brothers Daniel Petrie (left) and Donald Petrie.

Growing 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.

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

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

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

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

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

“I’m still studying and learning,” says Donald. “There are always new techniques.The films of the 50s are different from the60s and 70s. You always want to be aheadof the curve, not behind it.”

Both stress that the changing nature of thebusiness puts even greater demands on thosestarting out today. In particular, “it’s becomea much more entrepreneurial business forthe 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 goodenough, we’ll go further with it,” he says.“Studios do that, but filmmakers have todo their own development.”

ON TEACHING:

DONALD “As a director,there’s always a part of youthat’s also a teacher. OnMystic Pizza, I rememberthe 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. Theyperformed the dance andsaid, ‘That’s it. Do it.’ Thecast looked blindly andthey said, ‘We’ll show youagain.’ I can’t dance at all,but I could stand back,look, and analyze so thatwhen they were done, Isaid, ‘Okay, it’s left-right-left, hands up in the air.’ Icould look at the process,break it down and teach it.Often times as a directoryou have to work withchild actors or who knowswhat, where you are doingthe dual job as directorand teacher.”

DANIEL “Of necessity,when you are confrontedwith the problems you see your students dealing with,they’re often things thatare a little bit second natureto you now, so you haven’tfully considered the funda-mentals of those. So I findmyself, in the process oftrying to illustrate for thestudents, actually bringingmyself back to the funda-mentals of my craft.”

work. “No matter how talented you believethey are, you think, ‘If they can do it, I can do it.’”

As Donald continued to pursue his dream ofbeing an actor, he was hired as a P.A. on a filmhis father directed, The Betsy, for $150 a week.He prepared production reports and callsheets and shared a hotel room with a friendto save $20 dollars a day. But he also workedas a driver for Laurence Olivier and had theincomparable opportunity to run lines withhim. To learn more, he cold-called TV showsto see if he could shadow directors and evenvolunteered on student crews at AFI before hewas accepted into the directing program there.

“In directing and acting I never felt like I wasthe most talented,” Donald says. “In order toovercome those odds, I had to work 10 timesharder than the next guy.”

“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 withproducers and writers and be able to pitch andhave them invest in you.” “You have to assurepeople that you are worth investing in,” saysDaniel, “that your thoughts are worth listeningto and that you are going to be equally respectful of them and inclusive of them.

“It’s not for the faint of heart,” Daniel saysof “what we have all embarked on.” Asteachers, the brothers proceed with “loveand 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 nextX-Men to direct.’” “It’s a process that doesn’tend with a certificate,” says Donald. But“Nike has it right,” he adds. “Just do it” —keep working, networking and become “a student for life.”

That problem, of course, is not confined to students.Many famous writers, directors and producers havehelmed projects greeted by tremendous anticipation,based on their previous work, only to preside over a resounding box office dud. While there can be manyreasons a film or TV show may fail, a weak, incoherentor incomplete story may be the primaryreason. Indeed, the Internet is awashwith lists of “bad films made bygood directors” and mountains of criticism of the evolving storieson television. Godfather Part III ?Cloud Atlas ? Inherent Vice, anyone ? The second season ofTrue Detective ? Could anyoneuntangle the many storylinesthat left viewers tied in knots ?

Whatever elements you maylike about a given film or television show, a strong story isthe key to success. Film schoolseverywhere proclaim that story-telling is a central element oftheir curricula. Yet students flounder and stories fail in student film after student film.

Why? Why is teaching story, aseemingly 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 differentforms. That wider direction is being expressed this yearin three new classes taught by writer/director/actressRachel Goldberg, who is teaching Story Workshop,Story for Directors, Story.

TEACHING

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One 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 teachingas well as her directing, here on the sets of Neighbors(above) and Muted (below).

15FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

What is your vision for helping students understand the art of story?

A: My vision is to immerse students in every form ofstorytelling beyond just the cinematic — whether that be a photograph from the New Deal-era capturing amoment of the Great Depression, or a contemporarypainting exploring the dangers of a society that foregoestangible 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 studentswill gain an understanding they can apply to their owncinematic work.

In particular, how do you plan to help students understand the differencesbetween script and story and plot and story?

The differences between story, script and plotcan be difficult to identify. Story is more thanplot — the plot is the arrangement of selectedscenes from a story, but a story is the full account of an event or series of events. Theexample I like to use is from The Wizard of Oz. The plot is about a young girl fromKansas who is tasked with returning homeafter a tornado carries her to a magical placecalled Oz. But the story is so much morethan that — the story includes Dorothy’schildhood, her parents, how andwhy she lives with her aunt, her relationship with the farm handsand neighbors, and everything elsetied to Dorothy. Although thesedetails may not end up on screen,they inform the final product.

Both Truman Capote’s personalstory and the one he tells in InCold Blood are far greater than theelements chosen to be explored in the plot of Capote, although it is the whole story which informsthat powerful film.

Plot is just one element of the final product —the dialogue, production design, color schemes,visual arc, performances and score all lend tothe story being told. The more we are versedin story, the more we can apply informedchoices to all of these elements creating a film that is far more powerful than one whichrelies solely on plot.

The script, like the plot, selects and arrangesevents from the entire story but is a blueprint

for the final product. But an effective script utilizescharacter, dialogue and visualstorytelling to convey themeand propel plot.

To help students understandthese distinctions, I will guide them as they analyzefinished films and screenplays— identifying the elements that lend to each, while alsochallenging them to identifystory in other art forms suchas fine art, music and dance.

HERE ARE GOLDBERG’S THOUGHTS ON A RADICALLY DIFFERENT

APPROACH TO TEACHING STORY.

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.

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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 whichmake a character compelling, dialogue intriguing,cinematography powerful, and so on. So as we make the transition to filmmakers, we must nowlearn to identify and apply the elements used to tell a powerful story.

The most talented storytellers understand how tocraft 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 storybetter 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 thatstudents identify the stories that are powerful in their own lives. Regardless of whether or not these storiesever 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 theirfavorite movie that truly moves them? When they find themselves on the edge of their seats, or fightingtears, 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 studentswill then be able to apply those elements to their own work.

Because film is a collaborative art form, I also plan to challengemy students to find the story in photographs,paintings, dance and music. How arethose stories told? How can we applythose elements, effectively, to ourwork as filmmakers? I want to inspire a love for findingstories in a multitude ofplaces. As artists, if welearn to observe, we willfind stories wherever weare — waiting on a bus stop,sitting in a diner, reading thenewspaper or social media —we are surrounded by so manystories just waiting to be told.

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

Rachel Goldberg brings a broadeducational and professionalbackground to the challenge of teaching the art of story at Dodge. She was recently selected for the Sony PicturesTelevision Diverse DirectorsProgram, a program designed toget more women and minoritiesdirecting TV. A writer, director,producer and actress, she isalso in pre-production on thefeature Transformation Awaits.

She was a guest playwright atLincoln Center in New York, aFilm Independent ScreenwritingLab Fellowship Recipient and aFellowship Recipient at AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women.She has worked in developmentand post-production for thelikes of Miramax and DepartureEntertainment, has been a judgeat a long list of film festivals,seen her own films win festivalawards across the country, andtaught a wide range of coursesfrom directing to screenwritingand acting.

Goldberg brings an M.F.A. in Directing for Film and Theaterfrom the California Institute ofthe Arts along with a bachelor’sdegree in Theater and Psychology.She has acted on television and on stage and is currently a board member of the Alliancefor Women Directors.

How will the classes you are teaching vary in terms of content, direction etc.

I will be teaching two classes on Story — onefor 1st year M.F.A. Directing students andone for 1st year M.F.A. Key Collaborators.The classes will be similar in terms of analyzing story in all its forms and applyingthe elements of effective storytelling tostudent work, but they will differ in that Iwill focus on generating story ideas for theDirectors so that they have materialto continue workshopping as potential film projects.

For the Key Collaborators,I will spend more time analyzing art forms that are similar to theirdisciplines — music forcomposers, photography andfine art for cinematographers, productiondesigners and costume designers. It is important as key collaborators to not onlymaster the technical aspects of your craft,

but to truly understand story so that yourcinematography, score and production design help tell that story.

How does music change throughout a filmto support the story? How does color palette

support story and change asthe story progresses? Howdoes framing help tell thestory? All of these elementsare important and key

collaborators who can speakin terms of story will be far more

effective in their work.

I will also be teaching a class for 2nd yearM.F.A. Directing students as they preparefor their thesis projects. The focus of thisclass will be to generate compelling storyideas that can be used for thesis projects,while continuing our exploration of whatconstitutes strong storytelling.

How has your background as a writer, director, actor and teacherprepared you to teach these classes?

I began my career in the arts as an actor and soon transitioned to writer/director. Whatwas instantly apparent having studied these art forms is how similar they are — as an actorwe need to understand what our character is fighting for (or what she wants), what is inher way, and what she does to get what she wants. We must identify character arc andshape our performance to support that arc, using the text to inform our choices. We aretrained 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 learnedthe 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 andtheater as an actor, writer and director, I gained the toolsnecessary 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 honelesson plans that are effective for all types of artists, but they have also allowed me to grow as a storyteller.

The Shawshank Redemption, a critically acclaimed film that received two Golden Globes andseven Academy Award nominations,probably wouldn’t get made today.Why? In 1994 when the film wasreleased, $5,000,000 was the averageamount studios spent on advertising.Today, it’s ten times that. With theabundance of media options vyingfor viewers’ attention, it wouldn’tmake sense to spend that kind ofmoney advertising a movie thatStephen King himself described as “too talky.” And Stephen Kingwrote the novel!

It’s hard to come to grips with theseeconomic realities, but that’s justthe nature of the biz. It’s also whatProfessor Martin Shafer wants students to come to terms with inhis new Business of the Business class.

“This business is about spendingmoney on productions,” Shafersays. “Whether $100,000 or$100,000,000, you have to have asense of where the money is comingfrom and who your market is. Fiveto six years ago, DVDs accountedfor almost 50% of a movie’s revenue.Now it’s only 10%. China wasn’teven a market five years ago, andnow it’s the second biggest in theworld. You have to keep abreast ofit all and find out where the moneycomes from in order to get yourmoney back, because that’s goingto determine how much you haveto spend on production.”

Martin Shafer started his careermore than 40 years ago working as a production assistant on thefilm Billy Jack. From these humble beginnings, Shafer went on to

become president of Embassy Picturesand executive vice president of 20th

Century Fox.

“Like any business,” says Shafer, “youstart at the bottom, hope someone willrecognize your work, and work yourway up. What I hope is that studentswill find something in my experiencethat sparks their interest and helpsthem figure out how to navigate theirown careers.”

Shafer also hopes students will learnfrom the experiences of other filmmakershe’s inviting to his class, including hislongtime friend and business associate,Alan Horn. In 1987, Horn helpedShafer found Castle Rock Entertainment,an independent production companythat is responsible for movies like WhenHarry Met Sally, City Slickers, A FewGood Men, and The Green Mile. In 1999,Horn became the president and COOof Warner Bros. and today serves as thechairman of Walt Disney Studios.

“Alan is probably the most successfulstudio exec of the last 40 years,” saysShafer. “I think students will find it instructive to hear how he runs studiosand how he brings projects to the marketplace.”

Shafer has seen a lot of changes to theindustry over the last four decades. Yetdespite all these changes one thing remains true. “People are always inter-ested in is a good story,” he says. “Theywant to experience something, whetherit’s sadness, laughter, or fear. Regardlessof genre, people want good stories andthe best movies are the ones that can givethat to audiences.” And so the challengefor the next generation is to figure outhow to monetize those great stories andget them to audiences, no matter howmuch business models change.

STUDIO EXEC HELPS STUDENTS EXPLORE THE

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IN THE CLASSROOMDODGE COLLEGEADDS MORE FACULTY

Our Dodge College faculty continues togrow. Here is what three of our former adjuncts who have joined us full-timehave to say about teaching the next generation of storytellers:

“My decision to become a full-time facultymember is solely motivated by the experi-ences I have had with the student body.Their interest and tenacity in pursuingtheir career objectives led me to believethat all the hours we put into planning, advising and teaching is really beingheard. That’s the kind of environment Ifind equally stimulating and satisfying.” –Russell Schwartz, teaching EntertainmentMarketing Promo for Producers, andMarketing, Distribution and Exhibition

“One of the great pleasures of teachinghere is the college’s commitment to givingevery student hands-on filmmaking expe-rience with state-of-the-art equipment andfacilities. It’s a terrific inspiration to seeDodge College graduates establish careerswithin the industry as talented professionalfilmmakers.” – Kiku Terasaki, teachingAdv. Production and Post-Production Set Management and Creative ProducingSenior Thesis Workshop

“The massive and varied amount of images,stories, and technology that students areexposed to at young and younger agesmeans that young filmmakers of todaypossess great technical dexterity. Whatbecomes the focus of much of what I dois to remind them that timeless story-telling is also about eliciting an emotionalresponse from an audience. So the atten-tion is on creating sympathetic characterswith rich emotional inner life. This is whatdrives narrative cinema and without whichall that remains is an empty exercise intechnical prowess. Chapman’s studentsare wise enough to understand this.” –Roy Finch, teaching Intro to Visual Story-telling, Audio Techniques, IntermediateFilm Production, Production Workshop

Students could barely get enough of Academy of Motion Picture Arts andSciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs when she was the Filmmaker-in-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, principlesand methodologies used in creating a motion picture publicity strategy andhow publicity supports the motion picture marketing and distribution cam-paign. As Professor Isaacs points out, good publicity is “extremely valuable inthe highly competitive arena of film production and theatrical distribution —and ultimately to box-office success.”

And certainly Boone knows whereof she speaks, having spearheaded publicitycampaigns for Forrest Gump and Braveheart, each of which won multipleAcademy 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 Chapmanso far,” says Noah Rashba (BA/PRA ’17). “She provides eye-opening insightsinto the entertainment and advertising industries because of her experience,and tells some of the greatest stories I’ve ever heard. Not only that, but sheseems to have answers to almost any question about the industry.”

The class will cover many of the essentials of motion picture publicity, includingmarket research, creative advertising, positioning, working with the media, talent participation, local activities, film festival participation, and even crisismanagement. In addition, the students will create publicity strategies for twofilms to put their knowledge to the test.

“I am encouraged by the attentiveness and participation of the students,” saysIsaacs, “and am confident that by the end of the semester they will understandthe principles of publicity and its importance to the success of a motion picturemarketing plan.” As proof of how much she is enjoying teaching, Isaacs hascommitted to the spring semester as well, for a class in Movie Marketing.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs: Unbeatable experienceCheryl 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 FirstVice President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer as well as Presidentof 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 than30 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 SonyEntertainment. She has consulted on marketing efforts for filmsincluding 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).

And 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 bebeginning to realize what he’s gotten himself into, the transition has gone smoothly. Faculty and administratorswho 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 filmmakingprocess and deep insight into storytelling,” says Associate DeanMichael 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 greataddition to our administrative team.”

Professor Young brings a decade of experience asa studio executive at Disney as well as hands-onexperience in a wide range of film, television, documentary and new media productions. He has worked in development and as everythingfrom a producer to a location scout, in positionsfrom post-production supervisor to productionmanager. His credits include working on projectsfrom Nightmare Before Christmas to 24, fromMaking the African Queen to The Dawn of Sound:How Movies Learned to Talk.20

Eric Young

ERIC YOUNG BRINGS STUDIO EXPERIENCE AND A COMMITMENT TO STORY TO HIS NEW ROLE

M E E T T H E F I L M

My favorite filmsWhat 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 film-makers range from Charlie Chaplin to AlexanderPayne. Some favorite films/filmmakers include Ikiru (Akira Korosawa), Dr. Strangelove (StanleyKubrick), My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki),The Tree of Life (Terrance Malick), and AnotherYear (Mike Leigh). And then, of course, there’sHitchcock. 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.

When Barbara Doyle decidedto 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 responsibilityfor five undergraduate and six

graduate degrees, some 44faculty and 84 adjuncts, some1,500 students, an endlesslycomplex 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.

How did you come to teach at Dodge College?

My friend Nick Meyer recommended me to Dean Bassett. I had beenteaching production and film studies classes at Idyllwild Arts Academyand discovered I loved teaching. Over the years, while I was working inproduction, I had great experiences volunteering as a coach for youthsports like basketball and track. Teaching naturally evolved out of thoseexperiences.

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

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 characterizeas 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 wellas the new and experimental narrative forms. I’m also intensely interestedin story and performance as the foundations of our art.

Stories should be developed so that they are realized in their most suitableform, 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 workedin 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 reallife-experiences to help the students develop problem solving skills. Atthe end of the day, our most important ability is to know how to solve the many problems encountered in production.

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, whichis also something that is very important in teaching.

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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 appreciationof our rich film and television traditions and aesthetics.Without an understanding what’s come before, it’s difficultto innovate and forge ahead as artists. Another goal is tofully prepare our students to enter the profession at a fullgallop, 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 studentslearn to create characters with stories that audiences deeplycare about, and develop our student’s awareness of how tomarket their work to reach a worldwide audience.

What changes do you forecast as the entertainmentindustry continues to evolve? How can or does DodgeCollege prepare students to meet these changes?

Audiences will continue to be increasingly fragmented andthe 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 changinglandscape 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.”

D I V I S I O N C H A I R

Eric Young

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 aboutwhere we are and where we’re going at Dodge College.

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The clash and union of culture and tradition in Japan were key topics explored by docu-mentary students in Professor Sally Rubin’s Discover Documentary class this summer.

“I wanted our students to have the experience of all thatJapanese culture has to offer,” says Professor Rubin. “Kyoto, whichwas 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 scarletjellyfish, 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 thathis family has pursued for over 300 years. Another looks at Engetsu Island, whosenatural 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 withthe deeply divided nature of Japan, its struggle topreserve its identity while at the same time creatinga new one.

“I think it’s easy to attribute the changes in Japaneseculture to technology and consumerism,” saysRobert Pollack (BFA/FP, ‘16). “However, I thinka lot of it is also the result of World War II. Warchanges how generations respond to and receiveinformation. Today’s generation is working hardfor the future and they play just as hard. Oldergenerations in Japan try to make each day fulfilling, because in war, each day is precious.”

DODGE COLLEGE

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BY BRIAN HAMILTON

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of France and thearts? The Louvre? The Mona Lisa? Hiroshima, Mon Amour? It’s probably notanimation. Yet the influence of French animation is also enormous, from the first animated film in history, Reynaud’s Pauvre Pierrot to IlluminationStudios’ newest blockbuster, Minions.

Dodge’s Digital Arts students were invited to explore this world first-hand through Professor Bill Kroyer’s summer class, The Influence of French Animation.

Starting in Paris, students visited the Louvre, the Dorset, and theMuseé Rodin. They also visited the Cinémathèque Française, atheater with one of the world’s largest archives of films from aroundthe world, and the Aardman Studios Exhibition at Art Ludique, featuringthe 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 skeletonsof 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 entirebiology of the world in one place like that was wonderful and we spent all morningsketching and drawing.”

The students also toured the premiere animation tradeschools, Supinfocom and Gobelins, and Illumination Studios, which produced the animated blockbuster Despicable Me.

“Illumination Studios doesn’t usually give tours, so theywere 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 fromwhat 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 workto separate characters from backgrounds. They also saw the director’s cutof 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 thinkwhat 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 ofanimators is refreshing and it was amazing to be surrounded by so manypeople who are as passionate about animation as I am.”

FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY23

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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 InternationalDocumentary 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. Theyalso traveled up the Mekong River on a floating library operated by an

organization dedicated to building dormitories for young girls, and traveledwith 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 ProfessorSwimmer. “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 Stateswere willing to break bread with them. It says a lot about the country’s ability to move forward and I’m glad ourstudents 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 andwhen 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 walkedto his front door and stood there staring at aplace outside. I asked him what it’s like to lookout his front door every day and see where his sonwas killed. He broke down, weeping only for a fewseconds, before struggling to regain his strength.Eventually, his friends walked him away, becausehe 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 villagerswho spoke with us, because I know how difficult it was for them to talk about their experiences. Ihope it was worth it, because I think it’s importantfor the U.S. to know what the repercussions of their actions are overseas.”

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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 friendleaves 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’ssomething 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 ofWarner Bros. Studios; visited FotoKem, the last film developmentcompany in America, and took a trip to Panavision headquarters,the company that revolutionized moviemaking in 1972 with itslightweight, Panaflex 35mm camera.

“There’s so much more than you can take away from these classesthan just filming with students from another country,” saysNicholas 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 thefoods they like and help integrate us into their culture muchmore than if we were traveling alone. I hope Dodge College willdo more classes like this and that students will get an opportunityto shoot more films with students from other countries.”

Sitting under night skies with a crowd of international and Italian film fans inBologna’s Piazza Maggiore at the Il Cinema Ritrovato Film Festival, students in Emily Carman’s Structure and Function of a Film Festival class were forcedto consider what it means to see a movie on film. Does picture qualitytrump 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 movietheaters are now available on YouTube and Netflix. Yet these changescome at a cost to the communal experience of watching films in adarkened movie theater surrounded by others.

“I feel like every year, students are more and more watching filmson their computers and their iPhones and they haven’t reallythought about what it means to see films as intended,” says ProfessorCarman. “I can’t imagine watching a film like 2001: A Space Odyssey on a DVDplayer. This film was made to be big and immersive, to challenge you and to haveyou 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 1998film, The Thin Red Line, which was given as a gift to the movie’s director TerenceMalick and rarely leaves the vaults for screenings.

Of course screening films as they were originally intended requires careful preservationof 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,” saysCarman, “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 increasinglyobsolete. In fact, many students came up to me afterward, saying howmuch they appreciated the tour and I will keep doing it because I wantstudents to be excited about this aspect of film history.”

“Attending Il Cinema Ritrovato was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” saysCaitlin Manocchio (BA/Film Studies, ’16). “Going to this festival allowedme to see films over a hundred years old that were hand-tinted and shownon 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 haveforever. Experiences like this are why I would persuade Dodge students totalk to Professor Carman about attending the 2016 Il Cinema Ritrovato.I hope I can attend this incredible festival again.”

26

27FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

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 DeanBob 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 avery young film school. I am gratified that we are recognizedfor our innovation and for our many strengths— in program, facilities, faculty and studentand alumni talent.”

Although the rankings are not scientific, they are based on careful opinion researchand information gathering by the publication,which weighs “multiple factors,” including“prestige, practical experience, inspirationalteachers, potential career connections andaccess to cutting-edge equipment.”

The Chapman ranking cited, in particular,the creation of Chapman Filmed Entertain-ment, the feature film production companycreated 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 sharedsome of their thoughts directly with The Hollywood Reporter.

Veteran producer Michael Phillips (Taxi Driver, Close Encounters

of the Third Kind) weighed in on his experience teaching atChapman, 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 thecharacter of the student body is exceptional.In Hollywood, Dodge students have a welldeserved reputation of making excellentemployees and, in fact, I employ one myself.”

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, astrong work ethic, accountability, and an entrepreneurial spirit.

“Dodge embodies a culture that endorses to keep pushing theproverbial envelope,” Ceylan concludes. “We need critical andinnovative thinkers because our industry demands it in orderto stay relevant and I believe Chapman students embrace theopportunity to provide those unique perspectives and willcontinue to move our industry forward.”

D O D G E COLLEGERANKED #7IN AMERICA

28

outh Korea is one of the few countrieswhose domestic box office is larger thanthat of the United States. After decades ofhardship under Japanese colonialization,

authoritative military governments, censorship, andstrict regulation, South Korean cinema is booming.This, combined with its success in the internationalfilm festival circuit has led Asian film scholar, ChrisBerry, 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 some-thing 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 connectionwith the Asian film communities. In 2009, I helpedorganize a film festival at Chapman that would introducecurrent Asian and Korean films in partnership withthe 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.”

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

political thriller involving a corrupt millionaire whosequestionable investments lead to a criminal investigation,and Memories of Murder, a movie based on the real lifecriminal investigation of an unsolved murder.

Students will also meet Korean filmmakers, like first-time director July Lung, whose film A Girl at My Doorwas invited to the Cannes Film Festival this year, and director Seung-wan Ryoo, known for his action films andoutspoken criticism of corporate and political injustice.

If the descriptions of these films make it seem like SouthKoreans 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.”

Students Explore Themes of Injustice, Corruption through

Korean Cinema

S

29

30

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

FILMMAKING BY

31

ast forward to 2015, and someone and filmmakers can

accomplish the same in their ownbackyards for much, much less —with a drone.

While the word drone may initiallyconjure up visions of unmanned mil-

itary aircraft, that’s not even close towhat is being used for filmmaking thesedays. Over the last five years, the technol-ogy behind drones has taken a huge leap,allowing for simple piloting systems andimage stabilization.

The emergence of pilotless aircraft presentssome very unique opportunities for film-makers. With drones, aerial shots, andeven crane shots become much easier and more viable. Sweeping shots thatwere only feasible with a flight crew and a big budget are relatively cheap with an inexpensive rig operated by a decentpilot today.

The Federal Aviation Administration isstarting to allow the use of drones by aerial photography companies workingwith Hollywood studios. With high-definition cameras getting more durableand compact, those formerly tough andexpensive shots are only going to get easier. The cinematic possibilities are vast.

REMOTE CONTROLBY JEFF HEIMBUCH

Continued on next page

John-David Currey (BFA/FTP ’98)runs Fresh Cut Creative, a marketingcompany he created four years ago. Recently, the company opened FreshCut Above, a subdivision specializing in drone footage. What makes FreshCut Above unique is that it was one ofthe first to obtain the FAA exemption toallow it to legally obtain and sell dronefootage. But the competition is heatingup: Fresh Cut Above is now one of over600 companies that has the exemption.

“I’ve always been a fan of aerial cinematography, for almost 25 years Istrapped cameras to my radio-controlledairplanes,” says Currey. “Now, peoplecan 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 setout by the FAA to obtain footage, suchas 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 currentstudent, operates Pali Pictures, whichalso offers drone footage to its clients.

“I was doing an editing job for a vacationhouse in Mexico, and all thefootage that was given to me was from a drone,” says Newman. “The shots looked incredible, and I realized thatI needed to be able to take myown aerial footage in order tokeep up with the progressingtechnology.”

Safety is paramount for alldrone pilots, as it seemsnews stories appear almost

daily about drone crashesand accidents.

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

“”

32

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

Soderling demonstrates thefunctions of the octacopterto his cinematography class.

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

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

However, just because drones are availabledoesn’t mean that the tried and truemethod of using a helicopter is goingaway anytime soon; there are simplythings a drone can’t do.

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

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 helicopterfootage, depending on the job. “If youwant an establishing shot, wide andsweeping, you’re better off with getting ahelicopter. But if you want the close updetails, a drone is the way to go,” he says.

Soderling never goes anywhere withouta drone these days. He sees the future astaking a drone inside his helicopter, sowhen he lands on location, he has bestof all tools.

“There is room in the sky for everyone,”he says, “and room in the industry formany new ways to film. It’s imperativethat we embrace this and realize theramifications that the technology bringsus: good, bad, and indifferent. It’s hereto stay. It’s only going to get better.”

One aspect of drone filmmaking that’shard to beat is the fact that drones canget footage that used to be unattainable.Good Morning America recently did astory called “Game of Drones,” whichfeatured a shot of an erupting volcano in Iceland, something that is much toodangerous for a human camera operatorto go anywhere near. It was not onlybeautiful, but also was captured, safely, by a pilot a mile away.

Yet getting shots and using them well aretwo different things, according to Currey.

“Drone footage is some of the least emotional and least personal footage

out there,” he says. “It looks nice, but hasno heart. You need to make sure it meanssomething in the larger context of whatyou are doing. The trick is not just gettingshots from above, but also how they fitinto greater story.”

Hollywood agrees, as many big name directors such as James Cameron are usingdrone footage. It seems inevitable that astechnology becomes more sophisticated,more and more Hollywood productionswill use drones to capture shots they couldonly dream of years ago.

“Right now, drone footage adds a cinematicelement because aerial footage is somethingwe only have really seen in theaters,”Newman says, “But I think this is goingto change within the next couple years.”

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

34

In April, Dodge College hosted a panel of the most prominent women in the televisionindustry participating in an open discussion

with students and the community regarding their personal experiences at the 16th Annual Women in Focus conference.

Entertainment marketing guru Dawn Taubin(The Dark Knight, the Harry Potter film series)

moderated the panel, which included showrunnersand filmmakers Kerry Ehrin (Bates Motel, TheWonder 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).

Dodge College thanks its sponsors for theirgenerosity in supporting the 2015 Women inFocus Conference: Twyla Reed Martin, Eve

Kornyei Ruffatto, Harriet Sandhu, Diana Martin,Bonny Schumacher and Sally Crockett.

STREAMING CONTENT

ALLOWS US MORECREATIVITY

AND CREATORS.ROBIN SCHIFF

We can be more precise andhave more auteur storytellingon television. KERRY EHRIN

CHANGEIS UP TOYOU GUYS.ROBIN SCHIFF

“25 years ago, it was a boys’ club.

There is more equality now,but we’re not done yet. We’re getting there.”

ROBIN SCHIFF

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

}}

You have to write for

KERRY EHRIN

You have to be on staff and getyour chops in before you get towhere you want to be.JANINE SHERMAN BARROIS

It’s that balance between findingthat thing YOU’RE PASSIONATE

about versus what you need to do.DEBRA MARTIN CHASE

If it was easy, it would have been

done before.DEBRA MARTIN CHASE

“”

COLOR-BLIND CASTING

your own self.

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

We all work on things we don’tlike, but we do it until

we find theright one.DEENA KATZ

Mentors are someonewho help you getinvited to the party … andthen not get kicked out ofit either. KERRY EHRIN

35FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Although Marion Knott will always live in the heartsof those who knew her, many members of the DodgeCollege family are also committed to sharing herlegacy 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.

Marion Knott

Students were particularly excited to hear MichaelLynton, CEO of Sony Pictures, talk about the challengesthe company faced in releasing the controversial film,The Interview. Lynton was among a slate of industryheavyweights hosted by Professor Harry Ufland in hisAgents and Managers and Internship Workshop Classes.

“It was such an honor to be able to hear Mr. Lyntonspeak about his work at Sony and to get to know theman behind one of my favorite studios. I’d like tothank him for protecting our first amendment rightsby making the film, The Interview, accessible to asmany mediums as possible, because that was importantto our freedom.” – Grant Nguyen (BFA/FP’17)

“One part of the talk that I found especially valuablewas about how, after making The Interview, Mr. Lyntonfelt he had a moral obligation to release it. It seemsthat in the modern day, there is nothing you can sayof value that won’t offend or contradict someone. This makes it all the more important to have personalmorals 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)

PLAQUE DEDICATED

TO

It reads:

MARION KNOTT

1922-2014

“A thoughtful philanthro-pist, trustee of the univer-sity, and devoted friend,Marion Knott made im-measurable contributionsto Dodge College over theyears — contributionsthat made the school whatit is today. Her generosity

is evident not only in the facility which bears her name (de-spite her modest objections to naming it for her), but inclassrooms, equipment, and programs. One of her most sig-nificant gifts was the $1M endowment of the Marion KnottFilmmaker-in-Residence program, a program that bringsveteran filmmakers to campus in order to mentor selectedstudents individually and to share their experiences with thestudent body at large. Marion believed in the vision of thefilm school and provided unwavering support without anyexpectation of or desire for recognition. Her contributionslive on as they continue to enable the creative work of ourstudents.”

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.

MICHAEL LYNTONAn Interview Touching on The Interview

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 muchmore. 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!

36

37FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

A group of aspiring documentary filmmakers found inspiration at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina, in thespring. Professor Helen Scheer arranged to take a group of Dodge studentsto the festival as “Fellows,” where they saw new and classic documentaryfilms and talked with filmmakers about their careers in the documentaryworld. A few reflections:

Sarah Salvas (BFA/News and Documentary ’17): To me, the entire FullFrame Documentary Film Festival was one of connection, inspiration, andenlightenment. This was especially true for a first-time film festival “goer”like myself. I was completely immersed in everything related to documen-tary, which is unlike anything you can really grasp inside the classroom.

Monica Petruzzelli (BFA/News and Documentary ’16): The Full FrameFilm 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 sup-portive environment. You get to ask the directors and producers any questionsyou have and hear their advice for you. My favorite advice was from JimmyChin, 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.

LEO FREEDMAN FOUNDATION FIRST CUT 2015: PREMIERING THE STORYTELLERS OF TOMORROW

IMMERSED IN THE DOCUMENTARY WORLD: STUDENTS ATTEND FULL FRAME FESTIVAL

Dodge College premiered its 2015 Leo FreedmanFoundation First Cut films to an audience of morethan 400 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. “The films we choose to share throughthe Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut screeningshowcase our students’ commitment to telling engagingstories with the highest possible production value andcareful 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 Bunnydirected by Becky Gill (BA/DA’15); Casey and theDeath 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., directedby Kali Baker-Johnson (MFA/FP’15).

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

Top: Fellows Ceylan Carhoglu, Sarah Salvas, MonicaPetruzzelli, 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, CeylanCarhoglu, Kayla Velloso, Sarah Salvas, (front row) Julie Martorano, and Krysta Mortland.

38

INTERN SPOTLIGHT

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 environmentis that Ms. Winfrey jumps in and out of the office quite often. We are all respectful and cordial, it’s avery comfortable office environment. You can tell she appreciates everyone there.

Nicole Jo

rdan

-Web

ber

BFA/TV & BRO

ADCA

ST JO

UR. ’16

How did you find your internship?I am part of Delta Kappa Alphawhich is a cinematic fraternityon campus. DKA has a nation-wide Facebook page where people post opportunities andinternships all over the country.Harpo was hiring and I waslooking. I had applied to variousother studios and productioncompanies all across the boardand for some reason I neverimagined that Harpo or the OWNNetwork would need an intern.When I saw the opening atHarpo I was so excited about it.Ms. Winfrey has affected me ina very profound and inspiringway, especially as a woman trying to enter the industry. I respect immensely the contentthat Ms. Winfrey and her teamset out to make so I knew thatwas the application I needed tospend the most time with.

What’s a typical day at yourinternship?I park in the designated area and use my badge to enter thebuilding. I have my own deskand a name plaque with myname etched into it. I check bothof my email accounts — one forHarpo and the other for theOWN Network.

If my supervisor needs some-thing urgently, whether it’s a firstedition book hunt for an option,

or to clean the storage area, or a script that needs to be covered, or something that waswritten on Ms. Winfrey that Ineed to research to suggestcontent development, I tacklethose tasks first.

If it’s a quiet morning I fix myselfcomplimentary coffee and oat-meal and then ask around to seeif anyone needs anything. It’s agorgeous office and I have aview of West Hollywood frommy desk. I’m pretty spoiled. I’m the only intern at Harpo soany kind of tasks they needcompleted I work on.

What has been the highlight ofthe internship for you so far?I’m not a huge reader. I readoften, but it isn’t something I’vefound a passion for, in booksspecifically, but through this internship I have discovered apassion for reading. The booksthat come through Harpo are soinspirational and they are suchimportant stories to tell. I cantell why they have been selectedfor consideration. I’ve just reallyenjoyed it because a lot of themare stories that inspire me to goback and work harder the nextday — at Dodge or at my intern-ship. Harpo has a very specificbrand and they are really lookingfor the stories where you cansee yourself in the character andyou can identify with their struggleor are inspired to do better

yourself because of said character.It makes me feel like I’m doingsomething good. Otherwise Iwould say the sparkling watermachine is a major highlight.

What courses or skills learnedat 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 inthe industry, to leave your markat every place you work, thatway when you come back after graduation they haven’tforgotten you. I highly recom-mend his classes.

I also learned so much aboutproduction and pre-productionand what goes into both in myProduction Set Managementclass. That was the capstone of my learning process at Chapman. I learned how toschedule, 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 Filmmaker-in-Residence Program hasbeen a huge asset for me. I consider Gary Foster one of mybiggest mentors and I stay intouch with him. My respect and appreciation for everythingGary Foster would speak aboutand teach us was a huge game

changer for me. You eat dinnerwith these accomplished film-makers and it’s a very intimateexperience. I think studentswould be foolish not to take advantage of the opportunity, it’sjust a matter of signing up. Ithink those have been some ofthe most helpful things I’velearned at Dodge.

What advice would you offer students looking for internships in the industry?Apply to all the big studios andapply early. Those deadlinescome a lot sooner than youwould think, literally a seasonahead of time. People in the industry like when you showhow excited you are. I know sometimes people areafraid to network. Put yourselfout there. As long as you show-case that you’re talented andpassionate and that you’re goingto work hard and not let themdown you’re not wasting theirtime because they can use yourskills. And don’t be afraid of whoyou’re talking to. You should beconfidant in what you have to offer.

BY MEAGAN O'SHEA

NICOLE JORDAN-WEBBER B.F.A. Film ProductionSeniorDevelopment Intern – Harpo FilmsSummer 2015-current

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

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

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

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

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 AcademyFoundation) – 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 – OFFICIALSELECTION

REVOLVE: Oakland LGBTQIA Pride Creative Arts & Film Fest – OFFICIAL SELECTION

CTLPDX International Film Festival: Pride – OFFICIALSELECTION & 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 – HONORARYMENTION

Casey Acaster (BFA/TBJ ’14) State of Emergency

Pasadena United Nations Association Film Festival; Sedona International Film Festival; American Docu-mentary Festival; Frozen River Film Festival; CinemaVerde Film & Arts Festival

Matthew Szewczyk (MFA/FP ’15), Where We Go From Here

The Anthem Film Festival – WINNER, Best NarrativeShort and Audience Choice Award

Shelby Thomas (BFA/FP ’14), Barstow

2015 Prescott Film Festival – WINNER, Best Emerging FilmmakerShortlisted 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 ScholarshipAward – First Place ($4,000 tuition scholarship awardand $5,000 KODAK Motion Picture product grant)

Jackson Miller (BFA/DA ’15), Prism

2015 Student Academy Award Semi-Finalist; SAGFoundation 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 choiceaward for best student short

Shortlisted for BAFTA U.S. Student Film Award; 2014Cecil Award Best Picture – Undergraduate; 2014 BestDirector – Undergraduate

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

Melanie de Arakal (BA/PRA ’15) currently works as a PPC advertisingspecialist at 10th Degree DigitalBranding.

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

Jean Barker (MFA/FP ’14) won the DGA Student Jury Award forWomen Filmmakers for her work as the director and writer of her filmOne More Day.

Stephanie Baum (BA/PRA ’12) isnow working in the public relationsdepartment at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.She worked at both the Oscars andthe Student Academy Awards.

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

Darren Bunkley (BFA/FP ’98) isEmmy-nominated as a supervisingproducer for The Amazing Race.

Melissa Cano (BFA/TBJ ’15) was featured in an Orange County Registerarticle about her successful life after graduation receiving multiple job offers.

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

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

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

Brendan Kelly (BFA/CP ’12) is currently an assistant to Australianfilm producer Bruna Papandrea.

Amy McBeth (BFA/FP ’15) receiveda credit as editorial Intern for thePixar Animation Studios film, InsideOut, as well as a credit on the shortfilm Toy Story That Time Forgot.

Mark Miller (BFA/FP ’06) wona Saturn Award for Best Blu-Ray Release for the self-produced film,Nightbreed.

Jenny Mueller (BFA/FP ’06) receivedan Emmy nomination in the categoryof Outstanding Production Designfor a Narrative Program (Half-Houror Less).

Sarah Paciocco (BFA/CP ’15) is joining PopSugar Studios as VideoBrand Partnerships Coordinator.

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

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Eric Player (MFA/FTP ’08) is crowdfunding on Indiegogo for his latestproject, Academic Malfeasance.

Michael Pruss (MFA/FP ’05) produced the film Equals, starringNicholas Hoult, Kristen Stewart and GuyPearce, which was shown atthe Toronto Film Festival and theVenice Film Festival. Pruss attendeda press conference with the stars inJapan last year to announce the startof the film.

Mike Spagnoli (BFA/FP ’14) workedas 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, inthe Summer Writing Project hostedby Black Hill Press.

Matthew Szewczyk (MFA/FP’15) won best Narrative Short and4

The Audience Choice award forWhere We Go from Here at the 2015Anthem Film Festival. He was also awarded a $10,000 grant by Taliesin Nexus to direct my nextthriller The Return.

Yakai Wang (MFA/PD ’13) recentlyproduction designed two featurefilms, Retake with alum director Nick Corporon (MFA/FP ’09) andCafé con Leché.

Yukari Watanabe (BFA/DA ’15) isworking in the Post/VFX depart-ment at Bix Pix Entertainment for Amazon’s award-winning original series Tumble Leaf.

Toby Wossokow (BFA/FP ’15) directed an Elton John music videowith an alumni-filled crew.

Carly Yates (BFA/TBJ ’14) isworking for Katy Sweet and AssociatesPublic Relations on the red carpet asa Public Relations Associate.

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Kevin Wolf filmming Necker Island forextremechallenge.com

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Dodge catches up with the Chapmanstudents who made Variety ’s “110 Students to Watch” list in 2015.

Melissa Hauser (BFA/FP’15) Over the summer, Missy worked as acasting director on about a half dozenfilm projects and spent time travelingbefore beginning her job in the mailroom at William Morris Endeavor.

Justine Stewart (BFA/DA’15) After concluding her internship withJumpStart, Justine started a full-timepositon as a software engineer withThales Avionics in Irvine, Calif., designinguser 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 Franciscoand works for GoPro. Additionally, hestarted a production company thatmakes videos for startup companies.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866

Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDOrange, CAPermit No. 58

For more events, visit events.chapman.edu

Community Voices Documentary Screening – December 9

Laos Travel Course Documentary Screening – December 10Community Voices Documentary Screening – December 9Community Voices is a social issue documentaryfilm program that links Chapman University documentary film students with Orange-Countybased organizations.

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

NWD 346-01 Networking in NY and DCJanuary 5-17, 2016Now in its 5th year, students travel to the networksof ESPN, CBS News, CBS Sports, NBC News, NBCSports, Colbert, Fox News, CNN, Good MorningAmerica, MLB Network, Bleacher Report, Discovery Networks and visit iconic landmarkssuch as the Capitol, Liberty Island, Ground ZeroMemorial, Central Park and Broadway.

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

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

FTV 361-01/561-01 Structure and Function of Film Festivals (Sundance)Session 1: January 21-26, 2016 Session 2: January 26-31, 2016This course is taught at Dodge College and then on-location at the internationally-celebratedSundance 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, 2016Promoting 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, 2016Featuring 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, 2016Designed 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 21Celebrating the class of 2016 with a keynote address by Academy President and Dodge Collegeprofessor Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

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

UPCOMING EVENTS AND CLASSES: For more events, visit events.chapman.edu

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