Many students are heading north for the winter quarter.
The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television is offering new
courses that have been designed for, and are available to, non-film
students.
This winter expansion of courses will hopefully result in a film
minor that would be available to the general student body,
explained Tom DeNove, the head of production and vice chair of the
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. These new courses are
a test run of sorts to see how students react to the material, to
estimate the demand, and determine how the curriculum needs to be
modified for non-film students, if at all.
New subjects range from the technical appreciation of films, to
an introduction to screenwriting, to actually working with digital
film production. DeNove hopes these classes will give more students
who are passionate about film the opportunity to study the
process.
“One of the reasons people go to a school like UCLA is to
take advantage of all the different departments. (The UCLA School
of Theater, Film and Television has) always been ranked in the top
three in the world, but the student body can’t take advantage
of that unless you’re a film major. To me it’s always
been a crime that we haven’t been able to serve the
students,” DeNove said. “We get so many students trying
to make film their major and we can only take 15 students from the
UCLA student body. There are a lot of very talented, very creative
students who can’t get in.”
This wider dispersion of knowledge is part of a larger
democratization trend in Hollywood. Filmmakers no longer need to
rely on the backing of the studio system, thanks to cheaper, more
accessible digital technology.
“As film is becoming more and more digital, it is becoming
easier to have large numbers of people sharing the
technology,” said Gregori Viens, a film professor whose
Introduction to the Art and Technique of Filmmaking course is open
to non-film students. “It’s much cheaper to get small
digital camcorders and edit on laptop computers. You don’t
need a big room with an editing machine.”
Opening up the department to outside fields is an attempt to
expose a more diverse range of students to the technology and
expertise necessary in filmmaking. Mei Leng Lei is a sophomore
business exchange student from Hong Kong currently taking
Viens’ class.
“I don’t mind if (the class) doesn’t directly
help my major. I am learning things that I might not have a chance
to learn when I work,” Lei said. “It is harder than a
GE, but you can learn more. I’ve always wanted to take a film
class at UCLA because the department is quite famous.”
Though Lei does not plan on working in the film industry,
learning about technical aspects like sound and lighting has been
useful, if only in conversation.
“When (friends) ask if you like a movie, all you can say
is, “˜Oh, it was awesome’ or, “˜Oh, it
sucks,’ but now I can say more,” Lei said.
“It’s exciting to know something that not everyone
knows.”
The professors are excited about exposing a more diverse group
to the filmmaking process, as everyone is capable of telling a
different story.
“We get people from other fields and it’s fantastic.
The discussions in class are very lively because people have a life
outside of film and they have something to talk about,” Viens
said. “The more people you get, the more likely it is that a
great filmmaker will emerge from the community.”
Lei was surprised that her class was not filled to capacity.
DeNove said that word still needs to get around about the film
department allowing more people to take classes.
“The mind-set of the student body is, “˜Don’t
even bother going over to the film department, because you’re
never going to get in,'” DeNove said.
“We’re going to have to change that
perception.”