SPRING 2016

CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY DODGE COLLEGEOF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS

TEACHING THE ARTOF

EDITING

Iwas recently invited to be an external reviewer for

the Visual and Media Arts program at Emerson

College. The process of program review brings

in faculty and administrators from other colleges to

observe and evaluate a given program based on a self-

study and on interviews with students, faculty and

administrators at the college. I have participated in

this process many

times at programs

around the country,

and always find the

greatest benefit to be

the fact that it causes

me to reflect yet again

about how and why

Dodge College works

as it does.

Visiting other schools,

learning about the

structure of their

curricula and talking

to faculty and students

about their interests

and issues is always revealing. Sometimes I see things

I wish we had done or wish we could do, but the way

programs develop is also influenced by available resources,

by history, by institutional culture and simply by what

people are willing to do.

Yet more often than not, I come away from these visits

happy with what we have created at Chapman. We’ve

worked hard to build a culture that is student-centric

— one that is designed to serve the students first rather

than being driven by faculty wishes or convenience.

And we’ve continued to build on what I believe is a

distinctive core vision: a focus on industry-veterans

in the classroom, on hands-on/project-based production,

on a common core beginning with Visual Storytelling,

and courses that illuminate “the business of the business”—

how the entertainment industry works, the role of

marketing in getting films seen, and the importance

of producers in developing and driving projects.

Though I hope we never feel satisfied with where we

are — and that we

continue to push to

improve and refine

what we do and keep

up with changing

industry models and

technologies — I do

believe we have an

extremely solid foun-

dation. As you read

in this issue about the

accomplishments of

our students, alumni

and faculty, I hope you

agree. And I hope you

will enjoy learning

about our ongoing enterprises including international

partnerships, innovative courses, and travel opportunities

through which students can explore different cultures

and document their experiences with a camera.

In the coming months, I look forward to sharing more

about upcoming initiatives, including a second film

going into production through Chapman Filmed

Entertainment and the renovation of the building housing

Chapman Studios West to include the Dhont Family

Documentary Center, space for our production design

program, an additional stage and more. Stay tuned. The

future looks bright, but we can never take it for granted.

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

Reflections on what we do and why we do it

Chapman trustee Scott Chapman, right, toured the Shenzhen facility in Marchwith Dean Bob Bassett and Artention Films exec Kim Zheng, center.

featuresother stuff Dodge College On

The World Stage

When the Tables Are Turned:Students Pitch Former Professor

Teaching the Art of Editing

A Storyteller Bound By No Medium: Don Hahn

Look Around Any Direction,360 Video Comes to Dodge College

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On the cover: Savannah Lew

(BFA/Film Prodution’17)

focuses on the art of editing.

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

Geddes, Geddes, Kevin Harman, and Jeff Heimbuch

what’s inside

Faculty Updates and Accolades

The App for Finding Your Political Match

Interterm Classes Dig Into Off-beat Topics

Interterm Travel Course Round-up

Reflections On How We Create Meaning In OurLives: A Tribute to Professor Cory O'Connor

Festival Highlights

Internship spotlight: Mallory Leonard

Dodge College Alumni Notes

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Monica Petruzzelli (BFA/News & Documentary'16)

These challenges and other keyquestions about the value of an artseducation were addressed by deansand professors from 31 film schoolsin 19 countries around the world in-vited to celebrate the 110th anniver-sary of filmmaking in China andthe 65th anniversary of the BeijingFilm Academy (BFA) at the WorldFilm Institutions Forum in Beijingin October.

In 29 speeches over the course of

two days, administrators and faculty addressed the future and structure of film education.

The role of cinema in creating nationalidentity was a theme for Garth Holmes,executive chairman of the South AfricanSchool of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance, who cited theparticular challenges of South Africansociety and the importance of film increating a new cultural identity, onethat takes “all South African cultureinto consideration.”

DODGE COLLEGE ON THE On the world stage, film schools can

play an important and provocative

role – by preparing young artists to tell

their stories through the most powerful

medium of our time. In so doing, film

schools enable the next generation to

challenge the status quo, to support

a diversity of viewpoints, and to

engage in and shape their national

and cultural identities.

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Dean Bassett and Kim Dong-Ho, founding director of the Busan International Film Festivaland now Dean at Dankook University.

Dean Bassett addresses the Forum.

Representatives from film schools around the world gathered to discuss the future of film education in Beijing.

In Beijing

3

The importance of enabling stories told bydiffering voices was frequently reiterated.Film students, various speakers said, are“the authors of future culture.” Thestrength of that culture, said Kwang-WuKim, president and CEO of ColumbiaCollege, Chicago, is tied to the pluralityof voices represented and the interactionstudents have with those of other cultural,racial and socio-economic backgrounds,as well as with other definitions andforms of creative practice.

International co-productions, for example,said Kim Dong-Ho, dean of the Graduate School of Cinematic Content atDankook University, Korea,“will make my cinema andyour cinema more interesting.”

The power and importance of film as an art form was alsoa recurring theme. “Artists arethe engineers of the humanspirit,” said Dong Wei, viceminister of the Ministry ofCulture of the People’s Republic

of China, who opened the proceedings.This sentiment was echoed by VladimirMalyshev, rector of the Russian StateUniversity of Cinematography, representingthe world’s first film school, founded in1919. “Film art is the gateway to the spiritual world,” he said.

Chapman University film school deanBob Bassett challenged film educators to fundamentally rethink the structure of their curricula.

The traditional model of film school education, based on director-driven projects, does not serve students becauseit does not reflect how films are typicallymade in the business today, Dean Bassettsaid. He challenged educators to put student producers in charge of developingprojects and creative teams, includingfinding material and selecting a director.The result, he said, will be stronger teamsand graduates better prepared to work inthe industry where producers not onlyfind financing but also function in a trulycreative role.

World Stage

Live multi-media performances, singing, dancing, and a variety of speakers celebrated the twin anniversaries of BFA and Chinese filmmaking.

While in China, Dean Bassett also explored potential partnerships and exchanges with BFA and film schools in other countries to build on Chapman’songoing international programs offeringfilmmaking experiences abroad. He led a delegation to the southeastern city ofShenzhen, the first and most successful of China’s special economic zones, locatedjust across the border from Hong Kong.

Sometimes referred to as China’s SiliconValley, Shenzhen has enjoyed rapid growthand modernization and is a major financialcenter in China. Dodge College represen-tatives toured the 800,000-square-footfilm hub built to house a Chapman filmtraining program in partnership with Artention Films Company.

Discussions are currently underway with Kim Zheng of Artention to create a curriculum and launch an 8-week certificate program this summer to train film students in Shenzhen.

In Shenzhen

From left, Kim Zheng of ArtentionFilms, and the Chapman delegation of Associate Dean Michael Kowalski,Dean Bob Bassett and Media ArtsChair Janell Shearer met with DirectorMin Yuhui (third from left) and Manager

He Wei (far right) of the Longgang Culture Departmentin front of the facility thatwould house the program in Shenzhen.

Top, Dean Bassett is interviewed by Shenzhen TVabout the possible partnership. Right, green screenstage under construction.

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“Working with Actors” was the themeof the 2015 conference of the Interna-tional Association of Film and TelevisionSchools (CILECT) at the University ofTelevision and Film in Munich, Germanyin November. Dodge College Dean Bob Bassett, Associate Dean MichaelKowalski, Division Chairs Eric Youngand Janell Shearer, and Professor RoyFinch joined faculty from around theworld to explore teaching students howto work with actors.

As summarized by Stanislav Semerdjiev,executive director of CILECT and aprofessor at the National Academy for Theater and Film Arts in Bulgaria,the goal of many of the panels andworkshops was to explore how “to direct for the actors, not direct the actors.” That fine distinction played out in demonstrations that exploredvarious methods of helping both directorsand actors explore character as well asaddressing the role of casting, auditions,improv and the language used by directors to help discover and shape a character and a performance.

Additional sessions addressed helpingactors understand the role of editing increating performance, the differencesbetween scene objectives and characterobjectives, the use of voiceover in tellinga story, and the impact of visual effectsand computer-generated characters onaudience perceptions of performance.

“The wide range of presentations anddemonstrations we saw in Munich provoked a lot of thought and discussionabout how we teach acting,” says DeanBassett. “I am hopeful that we will beable to bring some of these workshopsto Chapman in the future, to help our students explore the very latesttechniques as acting continues to be impacted as much as technology as bythe learning curve of young directors.”

In Munich

The CILECT Conference addressed working with actors from a variety of perspectives.

Associate Dean andsound ProfessorMichael Kowalski visited both theLebanese Academyof Fine Arts inBeruit and TaipeiNational Universityof the Arts in Taiwanto conduct work-shops on post-audioand review theirsound curricula.

From PragueProfessor Michael Kowalski regularly leads

student exchanges with the Taipei National University of the Arts.

Pavel Jech, Dean of Film andTV School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU), in the Czech Republic, one of the world’s oldest and mostprestigious film schools, cameto Chapman in February to talkabout the differences betweenEuropean and American shortfilms and to share his teachingmethodology. He also conductedworkshops for advanced screen-writing and directing students.

In Beruit and Taipei

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Professor John Badham directs his fifth episode for the show Supernatural,entitled “The Vessel.”

“The best way to know about directing is to direct,”says Professor John Badham. “I love being able to keep up with all the technology, all of the newactors, all the various ways of doing things.”

Badham spent the fall filming his fifth episode ofThe CW hit television show Supernatural, starringJared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. The series followstwo brothers as they pursue demons, ghosts andother supernatural beings. In the episode The Vessel,Badham had to direct as if the majority of the showtook place inside a submarine during World War II.Channeling his more than 40 years’ experience,Badham was able to apply techniques used in previousprojects to give viewers the sense that the actors wereinside an actual submarine diving, maneuvering and holding steady deep below the ocean surface –and he did it all with just the camera.

Filmmaking is like a muscle. If you

continue to use and tone it, it beco

mes

agile and adaptable. It lands you g

igs

and garners awards. This is certa

inly

the case with Dodge College facu

lty

who continue to exercise their

filmmaking muscle on top of

teaching full-time.

Photo by

Dea

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r Warne

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FACULTY UPDATES AND ACCOLADES

7FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Photo by

Dea

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Directing Professor Martha Coolidge is also no stranger to episodic television. She has directed episodes of Madam Secretary, CSI:Crime Scene Investigation, and, most recently,Angie Tribeca, which presented a unique set of challenges. Coolidge directed the episodeThe Ventriloquist starring a real ventriloquist.The challenge was to direct the ventriloquist,a comedian but not an actor, while he wasboth acting and throwing his voice.

This past fall, Coolidge’s filmmaking muscletook her to Poland to direct the feature Music,War and Love, a love story set before, during,and after World War II, slated for release laterthis year. Whenever she can, Coolidge bringsstudents to her set, or guest speakers to her

class, so that they benefit from her experiencesand connections.

“Part of being movie professionals, our beingcurrent and working, is extremely importantfor the education of our students and the reputation of our school,” says Coolidge.

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Coolidge on the set of Angie Tribeca.

Coolidge in Poland on the setof Music, War and Love.

Coolidge's upcoming feature Music, War and Love, a love story set before,

during and after World War II.

9FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Anne Beatts signed a deal with Bento Box Animation Studios (Bob’s Burgers) to develop a series based on the Blues Brothers, as a writer and executive producer,alongside Judy Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.

Barry Blaustein became the first American to win a Taffy Award (the Russianequivalent of an Emmy Award) for his work on the hit Russian TV series FZRUK.Last fall, his script for Coming to America, co-written with David Sheffield, wasnamed one of the 101 Funniest Scripts Ever by the Writers Guild of America.

Dr. Emily Carman’s book Independent Stardom: Freelance Women in the HollywoodStudio System was published by the University of Texas Press. She is the co-editor of Hollywood and the Law (BFI/Palgrave-Macmillan, 2015) and co-author of thechapter “Doing the Deal: Talent Contracts in Hollywood.” She is the author of anarticle in the journal Cinephile, “Stardom as Hollywood Historiography: OnscreenLegend and Off-Screen Practice in Robert Aldrich’s The Big Knife, forthcoming this winter 2016. Carman is the co-curator of the film series Independent Stardomonscreen at the UCLA Film and Television Archive Billy Wilder Theater, HammerMuseum, April 16-May 26, 2016, and is the featured commentator on the short filmMisfit/Landscape (dir. Kimberly Shively, 2016) and the featured guest commentatoron the production of John Huston’s The Misfits (1961), world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, 2016.

Matt Deller’s book, The Knight Proper, based off his original script, has been published at Inkshares.com, a new publishing outfit driven by reader interest.Deller’s script Mountain Man made the 2015 HIT LIST, with Danny McBride’sproduction company, Rough House Pictures, on board as producers.

Ron Friedman recently completed writing the theatrical adaptation of the bookThe Secrets They Kept by Suzanne Handler for Broadway producer Donald Loze. In addition he recently completed writing his partly autobiographical book, partlyinstructional book, I Killed Optimus Prime, and is in conversation with a producerto convert a mega-hit Chinese animated series into a live action series.

Kelly Galindo recently completed her latest book Everything the Director KnowsAbout Acting. This summer she is shooting a documentary in Thailand with DestinyRescue, a non-profit that rescues young girls from sex trafficking. She is also beginningthe rehearsal process for the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, with professorMartha Coolidge directing, set to open this fall in Los Angeles.

Paul Gulino is currently casting a full-length farce, Acting Mad, to be produced atthe Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica in April and directed by Rupert Hitzig.

Badham and Coolidge aren’t the only facul

ty flexing their

creative muscles in the industry gymnasium:

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Kirk Honeycutt’s book John Hughes: A Life in Film: The Genius Behind FerrisBueller, The Breakfast Club, Home Alone, and more was published by Quarto Group.

Christian Papierniak directed and produced the indie comedy Izzy Gets the F–k Across Town, slated for release in 2017. Mackenzie Davis stars as a woman at rock bottom who must find her way across Los Angeles in order to crash herex-boyfriend’s engagement party.

John Phillips’ feature script, Stealing Time, was picked up by DreamWorks in turnaround from Sony. Phillips, along with Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic Park IV), will executive produce. The story involves a scientist who flees into the past to protecthis time machine, forcing his son and grandson to rebuild the device in the presentto rescue him, all while fleeing crooks bent on exploiting time travel. Phillips wasalso hired by cable network Ovation TV to adapt Joel Eisenberg and StephenHillard’s fantasy book series, The Chronicles of Ara, for an eight-part miniseries.

Sally Rubin’s Life on the Line documentary was broadcast nationally on PBS, and screened at the following festivals: Santa Barbara International Film Festival,Mexico International Film Festival (Best Environmental Documentary), Arizona International Film Festival, San Francisco Independent Film Festival, Los AngelesIndie Film Festival, Saint Louis International Film Festival, White Sands InternationalFilm Festival, Viva Latino International Film Festival, Chicago Social Change FilmFestival, Oregon Underground Film Festival, Providence Children’s Film Festival,Big as Texas Film Festival, Boston Kids Film Festival, LA Lift Off Film Festival. The film premiered in May at the Mark Taper Auditorium in conjunction with“The Big Read” Los Angeles.

She is also producer/consulting editor of Mezzo, about a transgender opera singer,funded by Frameline Films, which premiered in San Francisco, also in May. AfterCoal, which Rubin edited, is slated for PBS broadcast through partnership with West Virginia PBS, and will premiere at the Athens Film Festival and Princeton Environmental Film Fests, and at the Hay Film Festival in Wales in the comingmonths. Rubin’s documentary Hillbilly is receiving a National Endowment for the Humanities grant.

Jim Schlenker is the location designer for the upcoming Disney Television animatedtelevision series Tangled, premiering early 2017. The Tangled series is being developedby executive producer/supervising director Chris Sonnenburg (Enchanted) and co-executive producer/creative director Shane Prigmore (The Lego Movie). The series also reunites the feature’s composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater.

Paul Seydor’s book The Authentic Death & Contentious Afterlife of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid was counted among film critic David Thompson’s top six favoritebooks on the creative process, appearing alongside Russian novelist VladimirNabokov and composer Stephen Sondheim, among others.

Jeff Swimmer’s book Documentary Case Studies: Behind The Scenes of the Greatest(True) Stories Ever Told, telling the stories of how Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning documentary filmmakers overcame production challenges in creating their most celebrated films, was published by Bloomsbury Academic. He directed/produced the one-hour film A Golden State of Mind: The Storytelling Genius of Huell Howser, which aired on multiple PBS affiliates.

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Rob Cohen Filmmaker-in-Residence. Photo by Lia Hanson

Director Rob Cohen, the filmmaker

behind the blockbuster hits The Fast

and the Furious, The Mummy: Tomb

of the Dragon Emperor, xXx, Alex

Cross, and others, brings his nearly

three decades of motion picture

experience to Dodge College as

the Marion Knott Filmmaker-in-

Residence for spring semester. “I

had many mentors in college and my

early years take time to teach me,”

says Cohen. “That knowledge helped

me through some difficult times.”

Madeline Warren wrote the instructor’s manual for Macmillan Education to accompany the newly published (2016) filmmaking textbook, Filmmaking in Action: Your Guide to the Skills and Craft by Adam Leipzig (Dodge College adjunctprofessor), Barry Weiss and Michael Goldman.

Gil Zimmerman directed four episodes of the Netflix/DreamWorks TV seriesDragons Race to the Edge. He is currently cinematographer on DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon 3, slated to be released in summer 2018.

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Tinder breaks dating down into its simplest

form: you get a brief snapshot of a person,

what they like, what they don’t, how they

look, where they are located, and you can

make a quick decision as to whether to swipe left

(thanks, but not for me) or swipe right (hey, maybe

“During the 2012 presidential race, I became frus-

trated by how difficult it was to find political news

sources I could trust,” says Scarborough. “I looked

at the wealth of raw political data becoming available,

and realized there could be a much faster and more

accurate way to become informed.”

Scarborough wanted to mimic online dating, since

in both instances, people are looking for a match.

He liked Tinder’s swiping interface, and thought it

would lend itself to political issues as well as be fast,

fun, and easy to use.

He also wanted a simpler way to research the

candidates, as doing it on your own can be a long,

frustrating process.

“As I researched the potential market I found I wasn’t

alone in my disappointment with the current system;

people are more disenfranchised than ever. The 2014

midterm elections saw the lowest voter turnout in

72 years, at only 36%,” Scarborough says.

The app has been in development for nearly a year

and half. In early 2014, after designing a basic proto-

type, Scarborough began looking for a talented

developer, but after several interviews, had not

found anyone that met his needs.

A chance meeting over dinner at his cousin’s house

led him to his cousin’s roommate, an engineer at

Yahoo. A week later, the two of them dove into

building what would become their first beta.

After getting feedback from friends and family,

Scarborough went a step further to validate the

product through beta testing and surveys. Their final

test flight group came to just over 500 beta testers.

“Over three months of surveys and testing, the

response was a resounding, ‘Yes. I need this.

something can come out of this). If only the rest of

our lives were that easy.

Well, when it comes to picking a political candidate,

it can be with Voter, a matchmaking app for politics.

Created by Hunter Scarborough (BA/Public Relations

& Advertising ’12), the app makes it easy to vote

with confidence. You simply answer a few questions

to find out which candidates line up with your own

views (and actually have the track record to back

it up) to find your perfect political match.

The genesis of the app came out of the competing

claims and media hype of election season.

“More importantly, though, my time studying advertising gave me a great appreciation

for what separates the good ad campaigns from the great ad campaigns: empathy.”

ANAPPFOR FINDING YOURPOLITICAL MATCH

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The app helps takes out much of the

guesswork about what candidates stand

for and helps filter out media bias. On top

of that, Voter particularly appeals to young

people who get their news from social

networking apps, and nowhere else.

While the app is currently pre-revenue,

the Voter team plans to be roll out a data

monetization component later this year.

“Monetizing revolves around helping

politicians understand which issues their

constituents care about most,” says

Scarborough. “Candidates can pay for

premium insight into their voting base.

We are very conscious of our users’

privacy, so none of this data can be

traced to specific individuals.”

Scarborough credits his Chapman

education with helping promote Voter.

“Having been a Public Relations and

Advertising major, and film studies minor, I

found myself drawing on all my experiences

at Chapman to make the promotional video

we did for Voter come to life,” he says.

“More importantly, though, my time studying

advertising gave me a great appreciation

for what separates the good ad campaigns

from the great ad campaigns: empathy.

Empathy is the driving force behind

successful products, and it is also the

driving force behind successful advertising.

Dodge College’s ad program engrained in

me the power of empathy—what it means

to step into a customer’s shoes.”

The country needs this,’” Scarborough

quotes users as saying.

The app, launched on September 17, 2015,

currently has over 62,000 active users.

Keeping the information on the app up-to-date

demands on-going research. “To ensure the

highest level of accuracy, we hold politicians

accountable to their actions, analyzing

candidates’ voting records, public agendas,

personal views, speeches, and more,” says

Scarborough. “We present this information

as a percentage, describing how closely

your views align with each candidate.”

Initially, the Voter team was planning to analyze

voting records for Congressional bills, how-

ever, they quickly realized that bills were far

too broad to sum up with a binary question.

“We were searching for a solution when we

realized that amendments, the smaller items

that make up the bills, had voting records

attached to them as well. We now have a

greater number of data points, and each

point is significantly more accurate. This

all translates into more accurate matching

and a better experience for a user.”

In addition to Scarborough’s team of six,

three research associates from Pepper-

dine’s Public Policy master’s program are

responsible for keeping the app up-to-date

with candidates’ public stances. In addition,

they also weigh candidates' voting record

and speech analytics, both of which are

automated.

At the end of the day, though, their

mission is to take the friction out of

becoming an informed voter.

“Uninformed voters don’t vote, or

worse, they do,” says Scarborough.

VOTER IS AVAILABLE FOR

DOWNLOAD THROUGH

THE ITUNES STORE

Dodge College’s ad program engrainedin me the power of empathy—what itmeans to step into a customer's shoes.

Hunter Scarborough at work on Voter's analytics.

Chris Trela is an adjunct professor of public relationswho teaches the Media Relations and PR Campaignsclasses in the PR/Ad program.He is also the owner of ArtsPR,a boutique PR agency thatspecializes in public relationsservices for arts organizations,and the editor of the NewportBeach Independent newspaper,where former students nowpitch him.

As a PR practitioner and aneditor, Trela is on both sidesof the pitching fence — andhe knows what works andwhat doesn’t.

In class, he teaches studentsthe many ways that PR practitioners interact with themedia, from crafting pitches

and handling press conferencesto greeting the media at events.He also brings in a variety ofguest speakers who are expertsin their particular industry to give current, real-world examples. Some of his formerstudents are also now amongthose speakers, sharing whatthey’ve learned on the job withthe next generation of PRpractitioners.

line, perhaps another 5 to 10seconds in the opening para-graph of a pitch. What youinclude in the subject line andthe first paragraph can make thedifference between garneringinterest or garnering delete.”

Trela shares real pitches thathe receives at the Independent,both the good and the bad,explaining why one was goodor bad, and how successful they

As for pitching stories, Trelaaims to give his students asmuch direction as possible sothey can craft the perfect pitch.

“An email pitch is usually thefirst point of contact that a PRperson has with a journalist,”Trela says. “Journalists gethundreds of emails a day, sohow do you avoid getting yourpitch deleted? Generally, youhave about three seconds tocatch attention in the subject

were in getting his attention.

“I also share my email exchanges with PR people sothey can see proper etiquettein working with journalists,”he says.

According to Trela, crafting a good pitch takes practice,time, and knowing specifictips and tricks, like puttingthe name of the journalist inthe subject line and keeping it short. Even something as

When the tables are turned: Students pitch former professor

They did not realize how important that

was until they got jobs and started pitching

journalists every day!. – PROFESSOR CHRIS TR

ELA“ ”

For public relations students, pitching the media is one of the most important skills theycan learn. And there is no better proof of the effectiveness of classroom practice thanhaving to use those skills in the real world. But what could be more nerve-wracking than pitching your client to the man who taught you how to pitch?

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pitch

simple as attaching a press release or pasting it into the body of an email can affect how a journalist viewsthe pitch.

Surprisingly, Trela gets formerstudents pitching him storiesalmost daily.

“Several former students nowwork for local PR agencies,and I get pitched by them allthe time,” he says. “In fact,one of them who pitches me a lot is usually a guest speakerin my class, coming in to talkabout how she’s incorporatedwhat she learned at Chapmaninto her job skills.”

“One of the biggest and probably most valuable thingsI learned from Chris was howto craft a successful pitch,”says Hannah Goodman (BFA/Television & Broadcast Journalism ’15). “In my current position as a Content

Strategist for Zillow Group, I apply those skills every daywhen I pitch blogs and outsidesites on a collaboration withour brand. I credit what Ilearned from Chris at Dodgeas one of the main reasonswhy I have been so successfulin my current position.”

Some of the students do notrealize they are pitching toTrela when they send theirinitial email, but most dosoon afterward.

“It was definitely more nerve-racking, since he was the onewho taught me about mediarelations,” says Ranggin Hedayat (BA/Public Relations& Advertising ’14). “I neededto make sure I utilized everything he taught me and pitched him using best practices.”

Trela has received severalnotes from former students,

thanking him for teachingthem proper pitching skills.

“They did not realize how important that was until theygot jobs and started pitchingjournalists every day!” he says.

In one way, the job of teachingnever stops. Trela often provides feedback to his formerstudents when they pitchhim, and it’s always positive.

“I know they’re thrilled whena story runs in my paper oronline, because that’s a successin the eyes of a client, andtheir boss,” he says. “Evenbetter — I tell them I amgoing to share their pitch asan example for my class, and I do. They’re flattered, andI’m like a proud parent showingoff the work of my kids!”

Once a semester, Professor Trela appears in class as Robert Riteway,CEO of Riteway Products, based in San Antonio, Texas. He addressesthe students as though they were his PR team, and tells them he isintroducing a new product developed in partnership with Applecalled the iJava coffee maker that uses Siri as a personal barista.The students have to create an email invite for a media launch event,a photo shot list, press kit, etc. Says Trela of the event: “Somehow I manage to stay in character (complete with Texas accent) for theduration of the class, even answering questions in character.”

Chris Trela

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In Character:

Nothing beats seeing your client in print. For Trela’s former students,proof of their PR skills comes in the validation of being published.

A pitch from Jennifer Main (BA/Public Relations & Advertising ’15) resulted in front page coverage, and an article in print and on the web for the Crystal Cove Alliance. Trela’s assessment: “Jennifer told me they’dsend post-gala info to me for the Crystal Cove Alliance annual gala. The drop box link she sent included photos, photo IDs, photo credit. We used one photo on the front page as a teaser, one with the article, and more for the website version. She did everything we talked about in my class — good subject line, drop box link, info in the body of an email.”

Pitches that got press

Among the guest speakers to Trela's class who share their expertisewith students are:

Jennifer Morris, Ajenda PR (a boutique agency specializing in restaurantclients) discusses pitching, media events, etc. Her assistant is a formerChapman student, and she uses Chapman interns.

Carrie Williams, Devon Hillard and Rubina Jaffer, Kitchen Table PR(a boutique agency that specializes in business, retail and real estateclients including Pacific City, SOCO Collection and The OC Mix,Burnham-Ward properties) talk about interviewing tips, pitching tips,and working with social media influencers. Devon graduated from Chapman last year.

Robin Wachner, director of PR for the OC Fair and event center, discusses how to coordinate TV shoots, creating and hosting mediaevents, etc.

Vanessa Showalter, a PR consultant who works within the business-to-business and non-profit industries, is also an expert on crisis PR, which is what she presents in class.

Katie Coates APR, past president of the OC chapter of PRSA, coverscrisis communications, government PR and working with the media.

Greer Wylder: Lifestyle writer, of Greer’s OC newsletter and website,a daily newsletter and an OC journalist for 20+ years, talks about workingwith bloggers and online media.

From the OC Press Club: panels of local journalists from the OC Register,OC Family, Daily Pilot, etc. talk about how they work with PR people.

From the Huntington Beach and Newport Beach Visitors Bureaus:representatives talk about working with out of town/foreign media whothey bring in to write about their cities for travel or lifestyle publications.

Pros who share their expertise

16

17

EDITINGTEACHING THE ART

OF

ertainly thescreenwriterlays the foundation,although

the film may bear little resemblance to the finalscript. The director, who interprets the screenplay, may have a different visionor be limited by the budget,by the actors’ performancesor by any other of a millionother obstacles or exigencies.And finally comes the editor,who shapes and interpretsthe material, hoping to createor preserve, as needed, a coherent and compelling story.

In handling material createdby others, the editor is oftencaught in the cross-fire ofconflicting opinions. Thus he or she has to be a “slypolitician,” says ProfessorScott Arundale (The Wash,Hairspray, Rambo III, PunchLine), quoting director

Alexander Payne (Nebraska).“An editor has many bosses,”Arundale says. “His first priority is to the story andkeeping to the director’s vision.But he or she must also answerto the producer or the studioor the network or to the personwriting the paycheck.”

When things go south andarguments or differences ofopinion create a stalemate,the editor can be caught in the middle. “To avoid‘shooting the messenger,’”

Arundale advises, the editor“must always maintain a‘can-do’ attitude, even in the face of adversity.”

Fixing technical, coverage or performance problems demands that an editor be a problem solver, Arundalesays, as well as a passionateobserver of human nature.Professor Paul Seydor (WhiteMen Can’t Jump, Tim Cup,Turner and Hooch, Guess Who)looks for “a real sensitivity toward evaluating performance

and narrative as they expressdrama and story.”

To help students understandwhether story is an interestthat drives them, Seydor asksthem questions: “’What’s thelast novel you read? When’sthe last time you went to theMusic Center to see a play orhear a concert? How muchmusic do you listen to?’ In other words, are drama,storytelling, etc. pursuits that are important enough in your life that they are alsopart of your recreation aswell as the work you’d like to do?”

For those who answer yes,there are other expectations:good communication skills,technical skills, enormous patience and an appreciationfor the finest details. Althoughstudents often think, mistakenly, that editors are“not expected to be outspoken”or are rarely asked for an

C

BY JANELL SHEARER

An oft repeated aphorism says that a film is written three times: first by the screenwriter, then by the director and finally by the editor.

Professor Paul Seydor reviews a cut with one of his students.

18

opinion, Arundale points outthat the successful editor musthave a point-of-view and notbe a “shrinking violet.”

To prepare students to workas editors, Seydor and Arun-dale provide a wide variety of exercises and on and offset experiences—from writingscript coverage to supervisingcontinuity to data wrangling— to help them understandthe entire filmmaking processand develop a strong sense of story. Yet teaching whereand when to cut is as muchabout practice as about having clear rules about what works and why.

“It’s very difficult if not impossible to generalizeabout where to cut and why,”says Seydor, “so I show themon a case-by-case, cut-by-cutbasis so that they learn by

example aboutcontext, the needsof story, perform-ance, narrative,and the like.

“The same holds with thevarious editing decisions: Idiscuss at great length theimplications of choosing aclose-up versus an over-the-shoulder versus a cowboyshot (a ¾ shot) or a full-shot.Why you go to the master,when you don’t, when youstay in and when you dropback. Again, these are verydifficult to generalize about,so you simply take them on a case-by-case basis.”

To gain experience in makingcreative decisions, studentsbegin editing short scenesand eventually move to anentire movie, working onmid-level projects in the

second year and editing thesis films in the third year.

Seydor begins in the funda-mentals class by giving students four scenes to cut— and no instructions. “Iwant to see what they do ontheir own,” he says. Then hereviews the cuts, “discussingthe implications of their decisions, correcting themany outright mistakes, and then telling them how I would like the scene to beedited,” thus giving studentsthe experience of working to meet a director’s goals. Finally, they move into fine

cutting, handling such tasksas removing lines.

Students are also required to do basic tracking, effectsand music work so that thedirector, the producer, andthe studio can watch a cut as if were a finished film. To do anything less is to failto communicate the editor’svision for the work. Sound,Arundale and Seydor agree,is critical to selling an edit,yet students often believethat sound editors or otherswill handle that portion of the work after the editor is done.

“Many student editors takesound for granted and yet itis crucial to telling the story,”says Arundale. “I like to show

them how to appreciate pace and rhythm in the flow of dialogue and howthat is reflected in the paceof cutting.”

The same lessons are reinforced by film analysisand by regular practice. Seydor asks students to“bring in examples of editing from films that they think have really goodediting and explain why.”Arundale asks his studentsto cut at least one scene aweek, to get them “battleready” for both their finalprojects and the job market.

Clearly, the practice andmentoring Dodge Collegeediting students get pays off. Seydor reports almost100% employment amongediting grads.

When an editing friend recently asked Seydor forcrew for his film, Seydor put the word out to as many students as he could.“And they all turned himdown — because they were all working already!And he’s an editor with a seriously high reputation,”he adds.

Both professors add thatthey have been repeatedlytold by members of theAmerican Cinema Editors(ACE), the preeminent editors guild, that Chapmaneditors are “consistently thebest prepared students outof film school that theycome across.” Or as Seydorputs it “We must be doingsomething right.”

“The editor “must always maintain a ‘can-do’ attitude,even in the face of adversity.”

PROFESSOR SCOTT ARUNDALE

Professor Scott Arundale insists that students also completebasic sound work on their cuts.

19FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

ALUMNI EDITORS: Where are they now?Robin August (MFA/Film Production, Editing ’10) is working with editor RegisKimble, who is set to work on writer Noah Hawley’s (Fargo) new series Legionthis spring.

Nicole Brik (MFA/Film Production, Editing ‘11) is editing a new series BerlinStation for EPIX and will receive her fist editing credit on that. She recentlywrapped the 2nd season of The Leftovers for HBO.

Tim Brinker (MFA/Film Production, Editing ‘07) is currently editing on the series Grimm.

Dylan Highsmith (BFA/Film Production ’08) is working on Star Trek Beyond,directed by Justin Lin.

Mike Patterson (MFA/Film Production, Editing ’11) is working on The Blacklistfor NBC.

Maureen Ross (MFA/Film Production, Editing ’14) is finishing up assisting on a feature at Sony, Miracles From Heaven, due for a spring release.

Rockie (Rachel) Stephens (MFA/Film Production, Editing’12) was an assistant editor on Code Black for CBS.

Wendy Tzeng (MFA/Film Production, Editing ’13) assistedProfessor Paul Seydor on the feature, The Young Messiah,(Focus Features and 1492) released this spring.

Arica Westadt (MFA/Film Production, Editing ’12) is a senior video editor at Fandango Movieclips.

Career highlights so farArica Westadt: I was given the opportunity to make a short film I wrote in Europe. We had a very small crew and I had to wear many hats (writer/director/producer), but it was the most incredible experience.

Robin August: I had the pleasure of working on The Comedians for Ben Wexler. It was a joy to see Billy Crystal, Josh Gad, and Larry Charlesaround the edit bays. Working for Noah Hawleyon Fargo was another highlight. He is incrediblysmart, and thinks about his craft deeply. Finally,getting to join the Ryan Murphy team on AmericanHorror Story: Hotel and seeing how his world

works was another fantastic insight into the industry.

Dylan Highsmith: The test screenings for the Fast films were always a lot of fun.When you’ve been buried in the footage for so long, it’s refreshing to see the filmwith an audience. The energy in those screenings is crazy and you always learnsomething you weren’t expecting. As for my current project, getting to work withJustin Lin again on Star Trek, a franchise that’s been around 50 years (and I grew

Films every editorshould watch:From Professor Paul Seydor:

Literally anything by Peckinpahbut principally The Wild Bunch,Straw Dogs, Junior Bonner, TheGetaway, and Bring Me the Headof Alfredo Garcia.

From Hitchcock Vertigo, Notorious,Psycho, and To Catch a Thief

Virtually anything that JohnBloom has edited, but most importantly Betrayal

Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, Oliver Twist, and Dr. Zhivago(Lean began as film editor)

Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai

From Professor Scott Arundale:

Run Lola Run (1988) dir. Tom Tykwer

Chinatown (1974) dir. Roman Polanski

Apocalypse Now (1975) dir. Francis Ford Coppola

Requiem for a Dream (2000) dir.Darren Aronofsky

Terminator 2: Judgment Day(1991) dir. James Cameron

Whiplash (2014) dir. Damien Chazelle

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up watching) — being in the editing room with iconic characterslike Kirk and Spock and Bones on your screen is pretty incredible.Getting to go on location with a film is generally an added perk —but being on location and standing on the bridge of the Enterprise— it’s tough to beat that.

Mike Patterson: The most excitingaspect of my career so far was editing a scene with Tony Shaloubon this season of The Blacklist thatremained untouched from my firstversion and became a personal favorite of our executive producer,John Eisendrath.

20

Editors as authorsPaul Seydor: The Authentic Death and Contentious Afterlife of Pat Garrett and Billy theKid: The Untold Story of Peckinpah’s Last Western

A reader’s comment onAmazon: A must-read foranyone who wantsto comprehend the battle thatAmerican artistswage for self-expression, or thegroup inspirationgenerated by acollaborative art at its best, or simply how

a film professional approaches the reading of a script. A one-of-a-kind experience.

Scott Arundale with Chapman alum TashiTrieu (BFA/FP ’10): Modern Post: Workflowsand Techniques for Digital Filmmakers

A reader’s comment onAmazon: We’re beyond the dayswhere filmmakerscan fall back onthe weatheredphrase “fix it inpost” to save theirmovies. This textmakes it clearthat in the brave

new world of digital filmmaking making greatfilms begins by understanding the data pipelinebefore the camera begins rolling. I can’t recommenda work any higher.

Advice to future editorsLearn as much about the entire filmmakingprocess as you can while you’re in school.Robin August: Learning the Avid workflow at Chapman was a hugebenefit to my career. Learning how the media gets communicatedfrom camera origin to the off-line edit, to sound, on-line and color,through final deliverables helped prepare me for my daily responsibilities.Having that foundation enabled me to communicate with fellow professionals right out of the gate.

My secondary key responsibilities are sound design, VFX work, temping music, and cutting scenes and recaps for my editor. Here is where my course work became so valuable. I took several sound design classes, a course on making documentaries, a class on recaps,and finally the editing courses where we learned to think critically,and which serves me in my daily conversations with my editor.

Work on set. Learn at least the basic responsibilities of your fellowcreatives. I worked as a script supervisor, a sound mixer, boom-op, art director, camera assist. They will give you an appreciation for all that goes into creating a film or television show.

Dylan Highsmith: Starting my freshman year I tried to cut as manyprojects as I could. That’s really thebest way to prepare. As for classroomadvice, I remember my editing professor telling me that your first cut shouldn’t try to make somethingthat wasn’t intended. Even if you feelsomething isn’t working, cut it as closeto the script as possible so the directorcan see what they have. Your secondcut you can try things, but it’s alwaysimportant to make your first pass asclose to what the director’s vision is and work from there.

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21FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Maureen Ross:The most valuableexperience washow we worked on our short filmswith the other disciplines. Youlearned how towork with the director, producersand the sound

team. Your professors also played the role of studio executives.The creative process we went through with each stage of theprocess is similar to what a feature film goes through.

I can especially appreciate how Paul Seydor ran his class to mimicthe preview process. For features it works the same way: after you screen the film, the filmmakers and studio executives sit atthe back and don’t say anything while a selection of the previewaudience discusses what they did and did not like about the filmwith a focus group leader. I think it’s very important to learn thisprocess early because in features, the numbers, or grade, yourfilm gets in a preview will dictate how the rest of your post timewill be spent.

Do internships and leverage your Chapman connections.Maureen Ross: The best thing I did for my career was getting aninternship. In my thesis year at Chapman I interned at Sony inthe post-production department for features in the fall, and thepost-production department for television in the spring. My internships gave me great experience and I learned a lot abouthow the studio side works, but the most important thing it didwas give me great contacts.

In this industry especially, it’s all about who you know. Startbuilding your network whileyou are in school. That includesyour internships, teachers andclassmates. You never knowwhere that first job will comefrom.

Nicole Brik: I would highly encourage participating in the A.C.E. Student Editing Competition, as well as the A.C.E. internship.

Discover how you work best. Cut for the director.Dylan Highsmith: There’s usually two type of editors. Thosewho try to get every cut perfect before moving on — and thosewho lay things out as roughly as possible and then go back andrefine. Find out which one you are. I’m definitely the latter.

It’s important to put together a first cut as close to the director’sintention as possible — not necessarily as it was intended in the script, but as it was intended on the day it was shot. The director made conscious choices for each setup and take — I’llalways read through all the script notes, watch the dailies andkeep note of when in the scene the camera moves, trying to seehow the director was intending for it to cut together on the day.That’s always my starting point. Any ideas for different ways toplay a scene that I get while I’m cutting I’ll try — and then fileaway as alternate cuts.

Understand the career path for editors.Maureen Ross: The biggest challenge for editing students is realizing that you won’t be able to edit a feature for a longtime. Granted, you can become an editor much faster in the independent or TV track, but in the studio feature world, you are looking at least seven years of assisting, if not more, before you step into the editor’s role. Of course there are alwaysexceptions, but be prepared to assist for a number of years.

You will also start as a post-production assistant, which is theonly non-union position on an editorial crew and does notallow you to use Avid. This is a big adjustment after being the editor on your short films and thesis. But it’s a really greatposition to learn how a cutting room works and ultimately, yourgoal is to find an editorial crew who likes you and continues to hire you for their next projects.

Practice your craft — edit as much asyou can. Get in the union.Wendy Tzeng: Be diligent and be prepared. Do your research on how to accumulateunion hours and get your paperwork in order. Definitelytry to keep in touch with yourcontacts. Sometimes it seemslike luck, but if you’re prepared,an opportunity will come. Andmost importantly, just be nice and respectful. Love the challenge.

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22

Students in Roy Finch’s Modern Horror Workshop got a crashcourse in fear over interterm. Starting with the birth of modernhorror, and using modern directors as examples, the class looked at films to find out what evoked the sensations of fear and dread in an audience. “Why do audiences gain pleasure from un-pleasurable emotions?” Finch asked his students.

To help them understand how to create tension on the screen, Finch showcased techniques, suchas tilted angles and sound design, used by various horror filmmakers. Following their study of the work of horror masters, students each presented a film of their choice to explore the use and effect of horror tropes in filmmaking.

To chart their own reactions to scary material, each student also kept a daily fear journal, to learn more about their darkest fears, exploring the nature of fear itself, and ways in which it can be utilized in storytelling. Finally, they also created short horror films, showing a practical application of the horror tropes they learned, using them to create tension in short sequences.

Horror on screen:what scares you?

Here what the students in Professor Finch’s classreported as their greatestfears in their fear journals:intrudersbeing along at night, being followed

rapebeing tortureddeaththe love of my life dying being put on death row innocentzombiesphysical immobilitybeing stuck in a large crowdflyingnever loving anyone romanticallynever being loved romanticallyabandonmentbeing forgottenisolationlonelinessletting people downresponsibilitydeath (without an afterlife)embarrassmentbeing judgedlosing my mindhelplessnessloss of controlfailurebugsheights

What

scaresstudents?

Usually, making things up on the spot isn’t the best idea when it comes to filmmaking.However, students were able to explore the possibility of creative brainstorming on the spot in the Improv Filmmaking class, taught by Mary Beth Fielder.

The students used improvisation to deepen the rehearsal process, develop script ideas, and to create films on the spot by creating a scene-by-scene outline and allowing actors to improvise while the cameras rolled.

“It’s a great way to help actors break out of a pre-conceived performance and jump intothe unpredictable nature of moment-to-moment life,” says Fielder. “Improvisation providesan intuitive, experiential way of developing characters and stories.”

After acting, shooting, and coaching each other in improvised scenes, the students completeda group project based on a story idea which had a role for everyone in the class. They thenturned the story into an outline of the basic set-up and action. Using the film school as theirlocation, they shot in chronological order, shooting one take for each scene. Fielder wantedto help students let go of their inhibitions, and to allow themselves to be vulnerable. “I wantedthem to trust their creative instincts,” she says, “and learn techniques for shooting improvised films while producing compelling work.”

Bringing the creativity of improv to the screen

I N T E RT E R M C L A S S E S

Dig Into Off-beat TopicsBY JEFF HEIMBUCH

Sally Rubin’s documentary production course covered techniques and methodsfor producing and editing environmental and wildlife films. However, instead ofjust sitting around learning about it in the classroom, Rubin took her studentsinto the field, allowing them to produce their own material to explore the challenges of capturing real life in nature.

Most of their weekends were spent around locations in Southern California including Joshua Tree National Park, to give students hands-on opportunities in wildlife documentary filmmaking.

“I want my students to learn how to construct documentary film in these genres, especially emphasizing the many challenges, such as weather andchanges in an animal’s behavior, that may come up in the field and how toovercome them.”

Each group of students completed two films. The first was a short portrait film of their group using no voices and no faces that represented an accurateportrayal of everyone in the group. This helped the students learn how to create a story without words using the environment around them, much likewhen filming wildlife. The second was a seven-minute documentary filmed at Joshua Tree, which they filmed over a three-day camping trip. The topicsranged from the story of the endangered California desert tortoise to a portraitof an environmental activist working to preserve the desert to the story of adesert refuge where visitors can find peace in the natural world.

Taking on the challenges

of filmingin the wild

ExploringDisney, from animationto empireAlthough everyone knows the Disneybrand, there is still a mountain of mis-information, urban myths, and mysteriessurrounding the company’s history, development, and operations. DawnFratini’s Disney: From Animation to Empire class explored the company’sevolution from a small animation studioto a global entertainment empire.

“The Disney Company, as a topic, is rich and complex: it involves Hollywoodhistory, television history, gender andcultural studies, fan culture, media industries studies, and travel and leisurestudies,” says Fratini. Using the historic“backbone” of the company’s legacy, the class looked at how the company affected America’s history using a variety of media studies methodologies.

One surprising bit of history was thestory of how an animation strike led Disney to get involved in the GoodNeighbor Program, created to help stemthe rising tide of Nazism in South America.“The mere act of Walt (and company)visiting some countries in South Americapushed the Nazi agenda to the side, because people were so excited to have Walt in their country,” says Fratini.

“The class was consistently full of surprises for me and for the students,”continues Fratini. “Not only did we learnnew facts, but, covering such a broadrange of Disney history within the contextof American history, really vividly illustrated cultural and economic trends in ways not always expected.”

23On location in Joshua Tree National Park.

T’S EVENING, AND SEVERAL STUDENTS FROM BILL

KROYER’S DIGITAL ARTS INDUSTRY INSIDERS CLASS

ARE SITTING AROUND A LARGE TABLE IN THE FASHION-

ABLE WOMEN OF CHAPMAN ROTUNDA BOARDROOM,

HAVING DINNER WITH PRODUCER/DIRECTOR DON HAHN,

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE FOR SPRING SEMESTER.

A STORYTELLER BOUND BY NO MEDIUM

Don Hahn and documentary filmmaker Mike Carroll.

Photo by

Nicho

las Brad

ford

Don Hahn BY BRIAN HAMILTON

24

25FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

“I don’t know where I see myself in fiveyears,” says Joshua Scheurer (BS/BusinessAdministration, ’17) when asked abouthis plans for the future. “I’ve thoughtabout doing my own startup or gettinginvolved in a startup. I really love theentertainment industry and think itwould be great to be a producer or

director. But to be honest, I don’t reallyknow what I want to do.”

“When I was your age, I had a major inundecided,” Hahn responds. “I couldn’tstand the idea of having to focus on onething. For a long time, I thought therewas something wrong with me, butworking with animators like Ward Kimball (Snow White and the SevenDwarfs), who was in a band and built asteam engine in his backyard, I realizedyou don’t have to narrow your range.The life of an artist is not defined by

position, retirement, or promotions. It’sdriven by a desire to tell stories and tohave a personal impact on the world.”

And Hahn should know. Starting out as an assistant director on Pete’s Dragon,he produced many of Disney’s most celebrated animated films: Beauty and theBeast, The Lion King, The Nightmare

Before Christmas, and The Emperor’sNew Groove. In 2009, he directed andproduced Waking Sleeping Beauty, a behind-the-scenes documentary aboutthe renaissance in Disney animationduring the 80s and 90s. In addition,Hahn has produced several live actionfilms, including Who Framed RogerRabbit, Maleficent and the upcomingadaptation of Beauty and the Beast.

“It’s unusual to find a producer who is successful in all these areas,” says Professor Bill Kroyer (Fern Gully).

“Not only is he successful, but he’s able to communicate it in an articulate and engaging way. It’s an incredible opportunity to expose students to a top professional like that.”

In addition to screening his films and talking with students about his experiences, Hahn is helping this semester’s Pankey scholars to developtheir own films. One of these students isHannah Bradford (MFA/DocumentaryFilmmaking ’17). Bradford is doing apersonal documentary about her mother,who committed suicide last May. She ishoping to use animation to convey herrecollections about the experience in away that’s visually compelling.

“When I talked with Don about my idea,one of the first things he told me wasnot to focus on the animation. Instead,he said focus on the story. Later on, I can learn how to make it move.”

In addition to her experience workingwith Hahn, Bradford recalls watchingHahn’s film High Ground, a documentaryabout a team of veterans who hike theHimalayas in an effort to overcometheir PTSD, and how it inspired her.“Since I saw that film, I’ve been playingwith the idea of hiking the GrandCanyon. It’s something I could say I didfor my mom and it’s something I wantto do personally. I think doing it for myfilm will help tie the story together andgive it a good meaning as well.”

“It’s great to see them light up and seethe possibilities,” says Hahn about thePankey scholars. “They have reallyclever ideas, but often get distracted bythe cool features of the movie and editthemselves unnecessarily. They forgetthat the only reason we go to the movies is to be entertained by a greatstory and to be reminded of what itmeans to be human. It’s fun to remindthem of that.”

Don Hahn imparts his expertise during weekly dinners with students and Pankey Scholars.

Not only is he successful, but he’s able to communicateit in an articulate and engaging way. It’s an incredibleopportunity to expose students to a top professionallike that.” – PROFESSOR BILL KROYER“ ”

From left: Kelly Russ (BFA/News & Doc’18)and Sydney Paley (BA/Film Studies'17) onthe backlot of Kulaloa Ranch.

26

The importance of storytelling in transmittingculture was a key lesson for students inProfessor Terasaki’s Outside Hollywood-

Hawaii class. They visited cultural and politicalpoints of interest including the Bishop Museumand the Waipahu Sugar Plantation on the island of Oahu and the set of HawaiI Five-O, where theymet with the show’s co-executive producer, theprincipal director and a 1st AD along with Donne Dawson, Hawaii’s state film commissioner.

Additional stops included the Kulaloa Ranch filmbacklot where scenes from Jurassic Park and OliverStones’ upcoming feature Snowden were filmed.

“From Donne Dawson, we gained a lot of insightinto the film industry and how tax credit initiativeswork,” says Pauline Yang (BA/Public Administration& BA/Public Relations & Advertising ’16). “Together,these two factors have helped generate $37 billionfor Hawaii’s economy in the past 10 years. In fact,entertainment is right behind military and tourism,generating $250 million in direct dollars spent!”

The film commissioner also shared her sense of responsibility to her culture and to her community.Yang notes that the film commissioner faces realchallenges “when outside filmmakers come with asense of entitlement to the resources and locations

or simply don’t do their research aboutHawaii’s culture,” when they “don’t respectthe locals and the sacred lands and locations

throughout the islands.”

“Much of the culture inHawaii is told by stories of the land,” says ClaudiaMarino (BFA/Creative Producing, ’17). “As a storyteller, it was great to be reminded that some of the most powerful and meaningful stories are right in front of us. We just have to be open and willing to learn about the environment that we are exploring.”

COURSES

INTERTERM

TRAVELBY MEAGAN O’SHEA

Exploring how storytellingshapes culture in

Hawaii

Jon Ryder (BFA/TelevisionWriting & Production’18)lives out his dream as a techincal director.

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

Now in its fifth year,Professor PeteWeitzner’s Net-

working in New York andD.C. course connects studentsinterested in a broadcastjournalism/producing-for-the-news career with top-level alums working for allthe major networks. Thisyear’s excursion saw the addition of four new experi-ences: The Wendy WilliamsShow, The Nightly Show,ESPN, and a tour of theWhite House. “Three-quar-ters of the networks have aChapman connection,” saysWeitzner. “There are manyreasons to get discouraged inthis business so this is a wayto show students this canhappen and these connectionsare closer than you think.”

Sophomore Jon Ryder(BFA/Television Writing &

Production ’18) is a testamentto that connection. Whiletouring The Wendy WilliamsShow in New York City,Ryder was introduced tofreelance technical directoralumnus Scotty Anderson(BFA/FTV/FP ’02), whosecredits include The ColbertReport and NBC Olympics.Ryder, who aspires to becomea technical director becausehe craves the pressure andadrenaline that lies behindthe scenes in TV, was invitedto join Anderson on the setof Fox & Friends. There, hewas able to take on the tech-nical direction of The Afterthe Show Show segment.

“That experience confirmedmy passion for this industry,and that I know what I’m doing and that this iswhat I want to be doing,”says Ryder.

NewYorkReaffirming a passion for news in

Monica Petruzzelli (BFA/News & Documentary’16)agrees. “This trip left me feeling inspired and ready tokickstart my career,” she says.So does Catie Kovelman(BFA/Creative Producing ’19).“Networking in New Yorkwas one of the greatest experi-ences of my life,” she says. “Asa freshman in Dodge, it reallyconfirmed my love for mediaand that I’m studying the

right thing! Seeing everythingfrom CNN and ESPN mademe really excited for the futureand gave me a renewed passionto learn about the industry.”

“The class taught us so muchabout the field that we love so much, and could easilylead to future employmentopportunities,” adds MadisonBader (BFA/Television &Broadcast Journalism’16).

Monica Petruzzelli (BFA/News & Documentary'16)

On the set of The NightlyShow with Larry Wilmore.

28

Two groups of students traveledto the renowned

Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, wherethey drew inspiration fromexclusive film screenings,learned from panel presen-tations, and mingled withfilmmakers and alumnialike at the Dodge Collegereception hosted at theRiverhorse restaurant onMain Street.

“Along with seeing someincredible films, I was ableto attend a panel with JohnKrasinski who discussedhis new films, The Hollarsand 13 Hours,” says HaileyMillar (BFA/News &Documentary ’17). “Heled the discussion withThomas Middleditch(actor/writer) and I learnedwhat it takes to go fromhaving no connections inthe industry to being assuccessful as Krasinski.”

For Jonathan Mackris(BA/Film Studies ’17), the biggest surprise wasthe enormous presence of alternative media.“Going into the festival, I never would have antici-pated that virtual realitywould become my favoriteactivity, yet it most certainlywas,” he says.

A sense of inclusion wasmost important to CaitlinManocchio (BA/FilmStudies ’16). “I think thefestival promotes minoritiesof all walks of life as wellas individuals from differentsexualities, ethnicities,

races, religions, disabilities,and genders,” she says. “I think that the festivalwants to give filmmakerswho could be easilyjudged unfairly because of their differences achance to share their vision and hopefullychange the way in whichviewers watch films by orabout minority groups.”At other festivals, Manoc-chio was often frustratedby the lack of representationand thus she was thrilledto find that over 40% ofthe films at Sundance weredirected by women.

Celebrating diversityand alternative media at

Sundance

Hailey Millar with director/actor John Krasinski.

Getting into the spirit at Sundance, from left: JJ Gavillet (BFA/Film Production'16), Alex Yonks (BFA/Film Production'16),Jennifer Finkel (BA/Screenwriting'16) and Kayla Moe (BA/Public Relations& Advertising'16).

From left: Jeff Dolen (BFA/FilmProd.’04) and Charles Box(MFA/Film and TV Prod.'09).

From left: Sorrel Geddes (BA/Public Relations & Advertising'05), Ariana Victor (BFA/Film Prod.'17), Gary Lisenbee, Mary Lisenbee,Jason Lisenbee (BFA/Creat. Prod.'16), JJ Gavillet (BFA/Film Prod.'16),and Jacob Braunstein (BFA/Creat. Prod.'16).

29FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

Across the pond, ProfessorDave Kost’s students exploredthe history of filmmaking in

London and Paris. Stops in the UnitedKingdom included the Harry PotterFilm Tour, St. Bartholomew Church,Notting Hill, the Tower of London,Air Studios, and the BBC. In France,the students toured the Louvre, tookin the Eiffel Tower, marveled at the gargoyles at Notre Dame, and discovered inspiration at the gravesiteof Oscar Wilde at the Pere LachaiseCemetery. But it wasn’t all about seeing the sights. Students experiencedLondon and Paris’ current roles asfilmmaking hubs by meeting withagents, producers, and studio executives,including Carlo Dusi, head of businessaffairs at Scott Free London (RidleyScott’s company), and his associates

who recently finished production onthe TV show Taboo, starring TomHardy, set to premiere later this year.

“It was truly a wonderful experienceseeing the differences between how we and other countries work,” saysMeaghan O’Rourke (BFA/Film Production ’17).

Nick Eagleston (BFA/Film Production ’17)agrees. “It was surprising to hear howdifferently things are really run (in Europe) compared to in LA. I can’t saywhich I like better. On one hand, theBrits seem to have greater connection to their writers, more creative knowledgein their producers. However, they alsosimply don’t have as large as an industryas we do and it seems to hurt their budgets and decrease their chances in a global market.”

While touring BBC News, Nate Friend(BA/Screenwriting ’18) was moved mostby a touch of history, listening to a radionews report broadcast during World WarII, when the Germans were bombingLondon. “A reporter was speaking whenhe heard a bomb slam into the BBC building. Then, after a pause, the reportercarried on reporting the news without somuch as a waiver in his voice. Trulypowerful stuff.”

Discovering differenceand history in

Paris AND

London

Nick Eagleston (BFA/Film Production'17) and Annalise Tahran (BFA/TV Writing & Production'16)take a turn behind the news desk during a tour of the of BBC’s legendary Broadcasting House in central London.

At the British Film Institute,students met with London-based agent/producers SandyLieberwson and Steven Keniswho have represented artistssuch as Julie Andrews, PeterSellars, and Peter O’Toole.

LOOK AROUND,ANY DIRECTION:

video co

mes

to Dodg

e Colle

ge

Learn more about VEGO and their 360 video services at http://vego360.com.

30

31FOR STUDENTS, ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF DODGE COLLEGE OF FILM AND MEDIA ARTS AT CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY

However, 360 video isn’t just meantfor Hollywood. Four enterprisingDodge College students have embraced it and created a business toprovide digital content that providesimmersive promotional videos touniversities such as Chapman.

Sho Schrock (BFA/Creative Produc-ing’19) is one of the minds behindVEGO. Schrock and friends all hadan interest in virtual reality. SamWickert (BFA/Digital Arts ’19) was the only one that had some experience in that area, havingworked with 360 video before on hisYouTube Channel, So Krispy Media.Along with Daniel Price (BA/Screen-writing ’19) and Shiv Rajagopal(BA/Film Studies ’19), they came upwith the idea that it could be usedfor non-narrative content, and decided to go into business together.

Shooting 360 video is no easy task;the team uses a custom rig thathouses six 4K GoPros operating simultaneously. The synced footageis then stitched together to create anequirectangular image (a flat image)which can be viewed in 360° with avideo player that supports it. The rigitself was designed and 3D printedby the team, using inspiration fromexisting models, and modified to suit their needs.

“The benefit of using 3D printedrigs over purchasing commercial rigs

he digital landscape is ever-changing, and as new technologies emerge, so do new ways to viewthem. One of the most popular these days is 360 video, an immersive platform that is a steppingstone to true virtual reality content. 360 video allows the viewer to control where to look in an environment using a browser or a smart phone, or simple add-ons like Google Cardboard and a pair of headphones. In fact, films such as Star Wars and Insidious are using 360 video as a wayto promote audience engagement by getting viewers into the action in their worlds.

is that if the rig is not working out,we can always go back and modifyit,” says Schrock. “We are currentlyusing our second rig model, and areworking on designing our third.”

Since 360 video is still a new plat-form, the team had to create rules for themselves.

“We have to be aware of framing,height, location, and subject distancefrom the camera in order to ensurethat the video stitches correctly,” says Schrock. “We have to make sure there is enough motion and thatit’s in the right places to motivate theviewer to look around.”

The VEGO team has already createda 360 video of the Digital MediaArts Center, which can be viewed on the Dodge College YouTubechannel, giving prospective studentswho can’t make the trip to Chapmana unique look at what Dodge Collegehas to offer.

“As content creators, narrative 360video is very new and exciting. Wewould love to see what new forms of entertainment can come from it,”Schrock says. “As a company, however,we believe that 360 video can beused to showcase a wide variety of subjects including campus tours,real estate, and businesses, in a new light.”

While Schrock and his team don’texpect 360 video to replace tradi-tional film or television any timesoon, they do believe we will be seeing more of it in the future.

“It seems to act as a gateway to virtual reality for the general contentconsumer,” he says. “Major studiosare already producing content for VRand companies such as Facebook,Samsung, and Apple have already invested in the technology. It is likely that we'll be seeing more highbudget stand-alone content soon.”

TBY JEFF HEIMBUCH

Team VEGO (fromleft): Shiv Rajagopal(BA/Film Studies '19),Sam Wickert (BFA/Digital Arts '19),Daniel Price (BA/Screenwriting '19), Sho Schrock (BFA/ Creative Producing '19).

lost a friend just afterChristmas with thepassing of my colleagueCory O’Connor. Having been a part

of a number of efforts to recognize hiscontributions to Chapman and to hisstudents, I had many opportunities tolisten to people he affected, to thinkabout our own interactions, and to tryto understand a very complex humanbeing who was, in many ways, very different from myself. In the end, ofcourse, that activity defines what we all do on a daily basis, whether we areconscious of it or not — we try to understand each other and find thevalue in the other and in our relation-ships, no matter how different or mystifying the other might be.

Cory was indeed different. His studentshave described him as eccentric, idio-syncratic, aggravating and confounding— but then again, aren’t we all? Theword that comes up in conversationafter conversation, in Facebook postafter Facebook post, is passionate. Andthat, I know, is as good a definition ofthe man I knew as any.

As a teacher, Cory was so very passionateabout advertising, Internet marketing,and a wide range of subjects, from Twitter to Disney to Nickelodeon, thathe inspired his students to look again atthe material he covered and to find forthemselves the passion he carried for thefield. He often followed those passionsinto obsession, as those who knew him

will remember with a smile, but evenwhen he seemed to launch onto a wildtangent, there was no denying that passion drove his train of thought.

He set high standards for his students— high standards that reached down to the tiniest details, such as how he insisted on page numbers on every assignment, standards that helped prepare them for the world of work. He gave very specific instructions for assignments, demanding effective use of color and images, pushing them tounderstand how the look of what theypresented was also part of the meaning.

Cory and I had many arguments overthe years, about teaching style, gradingstandards and the nature of the assign-ments he gave. I was also deeply embed-ded in conversations about some of the

detailed, lengthy exams. And I thought,“Oh, I can never be as good as he is.”But I came to realize that I didn’t need to be like Jim Miller. I only needed tobe myself.

trials in his personal life, and the natureand depth of both of these ongoingconversations pushed me to try to understand and appreciate someone verydifferent from myself, yet very much thesame in the fundamental human ways.

One of the earliest lessons I learned as ateacher was about using the strengths ofwho you are — not trying to be someoneelse. I remember being intimidated bylegendary Chapman professor, JimMiller, a Southern gentleman with anencyclopedic memory for his subject,history, who entertained his studentswith stories of what “my momma toldme” and tortured them with hugely

on How We Create Meaning in Our Lives

I

Reflections

32

BY JANELL SHEARER

Plaque outside the classroom dedicated in Professor O’Connor’s name.

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That was a lesson Cory taught, in spades — thevalue of authenticity.

As his students know full well, Cory’s biggest mantrawas love. “There’s you and me and there’s whatwe can do together,” he often said, challenging his students to understand that everything from a marketing problem to success and happiness in life is built on the relationships we honor andsustain. And that is the biggest lesson Cory taughtme as a teacher. That although we must challengeour students to learn how to think critically andto grapple with the material that is at the heart of our instruction, the content that we share withour students will not long be remembered nearlyas long as the nature of our interactions; that howwe affect others is the true measure of what wegive to the world.

Cory listened to his students for hours on end,in his office, at his home in the garage loungehe called “the Clubhouse,” over meals in Orangeand Newport, on weekends, late at night, youname it. He made each student feel he or shewas seen and appreciated and that he caredabout their goals and their struggles. WhatCory gave was his time, the greatest gift any of us can give to another, a gift made ironic bythe fact that he had so little of it for himself.

Thank you Cory, for teaching us all, for realizingthat we all impact others based on our own special qualities. Thank you for teaching meabout you, and about me. We will miss you, my friend.

People touched by Cory O’Connor across the decades gathered for a memorial service in the Wallace All-Faiths Chapel, Saturday, January 16. Alumna Ashley Beall (BA/Public Relations & Advertising ’07) was one of the driving forces behind organizing the event. Here are a fewthoughts from her remarks that day:

“My favorite times were sitting in an oversized chair across fromCory in his dimly lit office. I have a feeling this was a favorite moment for a lot of his students. We would talk about class, Ad Club, NSAC, life, internships, and of course, possible careerchoices. It felt like a strange mix of talking to your teacher, a father figure, and some kind of weird therapy. I can still see himlooking at me over the brim of his glasses, and then throwing hishead back in an unexpected bellow of laughter.

“He also made me feel special. And I’m realizing, he made a lot ofus feel special. He saw potential in his students and helped us see itfor ourselves. He had so much faith in me that he nominated me for theSpirit of Chapman Award behind my back — and I ended up winning. I never would have dreamed that for myself, but he believed in me.”

O’Connor at Chapman

ALUMNI,

STUDENTS,

FRIENDS AND

COLLEAGUES

REMEMBER

CORY

O’CONNOR

Ashley Beall speaks at O’Connor’s memorial service.

From left, Lani Nguyen (BA/PRA '07), StephaniePool (BA/PRA '07), Ashley Beall (BA/PRA '07), andRob Harrington (BA/PRA '06) gathered to celebratethe life of Professor Cory O'Connor.

Cory O’Connor joined the Public Relations and Advertisingprogram in 2003. A M.B.A.graduate of Harvard University,he brought a wide backgroundin the entertainment industry,including a position with theWalt Disney Company, wherehe served as Senior Vice Presi-dent of Synergy Programmingand Communications, overseeingwork in public relations, community relations, marketing,advertising, sponsorships and television programming. He alsoserved as the chief marketingand communications officer ofthe American Film Institute.

At Chapman, O’Connor taughtcourses including Entertain-ment Marketing and Promotion,Principles of Advertising andInternet Communications, andserved as faculty advisor to the Chapman Ad Club and itsNational Student AdvertisingCompetition (NSAC) teams. He guided those teams to a #1 win in the nation in 2010,three additional spots in thenational competition and rankings in the top 5 in the regional district over 10 differentyears in the competition.

Prism

Hum

Note for Note

GABE SCHIMMEL (BFA/FILM PRODUCTION ’17), RIANI ASTUTI (BFA/FILM PRODUCTION ’18), MONICA PETRUZZELLI (BFA/TELEVISION & BROADCAST JOUNALISM ’16), AMANDA LE (BS/ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLICY ’15)ALZHEIMER’S: A LOVE STORY

DOCUTAH Intl. Documentary Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELEC-TION, Santa Barbara Intl. Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION,Big Sky Documentary Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION,Chagrin Documentary Film Festival – BEST SHORT FILM WINNER,DocuWest Intl. Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Rhode Island Intl. Film Festival – Alternative Spirit Award First Prize WINNER & Best LGBTQ Award WINNER, Laguna Film Festival –Best of Fest Short Film WINNER & Best Documentary Short JuryAward WINNER & Best Documentary Audience Award WINNER

GERRY VAZQUEZ (BFA/FILM PRODUCTION ’16) PRISM

63rd MPSE Golden Reel Awards – NOMINEE; 52nd Cinema AudioSociety Awards Student Recognition – NOMINEE

JACKIE! ZHOU (BFA/FILM PRODUCTION ’15) HUM

63rd MPSE Golden Reel Awards – NOMINEE

JENNA KIRSHON (BFA/FILM PRODUCTION ’15) NOTE FOR NOTE

Arlington Intl. Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, San PedroIntl. Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Sedona Intl. Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, San Jose Intl. Short Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION

34

Navigating the crowded world of film festivals in an ongoing challenge for student filmmakers. Which festivals are worth entering? Where will my film have the best chance of acceptance? Is this festival or that one most likely to get my film the kind of attention that will help build my career? That’s when they turn to Kevin Harman, Dodge College’s new Festival and Industry Relations Specialist.

Raised in the San Diego area, Harman received his undergraduate degree from the Universityof Santa Barbara in Film and Media Studies and an MFA in Animation at UCLA. He has worked

in many film and media-related jobs, including as a freelance animator, a media librarian, a video game designer, and a film festival coordinator and programmer at such festivals as

Sundance, Telluride, and Palm Springs International. Harman also has a love of animation. Stop-motion animation, in fact. He’s done work at Robot Chicken, Moral Orel, and Zombies vs. Ninjas. And he still

works on his own stop-motion projects as time permits.

At Dodge College, his goal is to help students achieve their goals. To do this, he helps students create a festival strategy to reflect theirpersonal goals, garnering numerous festival awards.

To further educate students about the festival world and film marketing, Harman has also created an Industry Dialogues panel series forthe spring semester to point students in the right direction after their films are completed. Topics include meeting festival programmers;publicity, marketing and social media; where to start (Festivals 101) and Life After Dodge: Bridging the Gap. “I’m very excited to utilizemy background and experience to help students maximize their film’s potential and outreach. We’ve had a record-breaking awards seasonalready with one Student Academy Award winner, four DGA Student Film Award winners, and two MPSE Golden Reel award nominations.I’m looking forward to pushing our success even further and helping to raise the profile of the students and of the school.”

FESTIVALHIGHLIGHTS

MEET THE FILM FESTIVAL COORDINATOR

JON MILANO (MFA/FILM PRODUCTION ’15) STRAW DOLLS

Los Angeles Greek Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION,Hoboken Intl. Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Ridgewood Guild Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION,ARPA Film Festival – Best Short Film NOMINEE, San PedroIntl. Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION

KEEGAN MULLIN (BFA/FILM PRODUCTION ’15) THE LAST WORDS

21st DGA Student Film Awards – Best Latino Student Filmmakers,West Region – Award WINNER; Sedona Intl. Film Festival –OFFICIAL SELECTION; Austin Film Festival – OFFICIALSELECTION; San Luis Obispo Intl. Film Festival – OFFICIALSELECTION; Omaha Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION

MARGARET ANDERSON (MFA/FILM PRODUCTION ’15)CASEY AND THE DEATH POOL

21st DGA Student Film Awards – Best Women Student Filmmakers,West Region – Award WINNER, Portland Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Skyline Indie Film Fest – OFFICIALSELECTION; BAFTA Aesthetica Short Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION

THY RIEDEL (MFA/FILM PRODUCTION ’15) LONG LOST

21st DGA Student Film Awards – Best Asian American StudentFilmmakers, West Region – Jury Award WINNER

TOM TELLER (MFA/FILM PRODUCTION ’16) HUM

Melbourne International Animation Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, BendFilm Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION,San Pedro Intl. Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Oxford Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Bahamas Intl.Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Sedona InternationalFilm Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION, LA Shorts Fest – OFFICIAL SELECTION, Arlington Intl. Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION

WESTIN RAY (BFA/TELEVISION & BROADCAST JOURNALISM ’15) THE LISTENING BOX

21st DGA Student Film Awards – Best Women Student Filmmakers,West Region – Jury Award WINNER; LA Femme Intl. Film Festival – OFFICIAL SELECTION

Straw Dolls

The Last Words

Casey and the Death Pool

Long Lost

Hum

35

Justin Alpern (MFA/Film Production ’15),Christopher Naughton (MFA/Film &TV Producing ’15), and Jon Milano’s(MFA/Film Production ’15) STRAWDOLLS for Best Drama

Colin Laviola (BFA/Creative Producing’15), JJ Englert (BFA/Creative Producing’15), and Gabe Figueroa’s (BFA/FilmProduction ’15) COLD WINTER’SNIGHT for Best Children’s Program

Anne Chapin (BFA/Film Studies ’16),Sky Stone (BFA/Creative Producing ’16),and Andrew Evers’ (BFA/Film Production’16) OPERATION DIVORCE for BestChildren’s Program

Nicole Jordan-Webber (BFA/Film Production ’16) and Ceylan Carhoglu’s(BFA/Film Production ’16) GARDENERSOF THE FOREST for Best Documentary

Skyler Stearns (BFA/Creative Producing’15), Melissa Hauser (BFA/Creative Producing ’15), and Jackson Miller’s(BFA/Film Production ’15) GUIDE forthe Loreen Arbus Focus on DisabilityScholarship

Anthony Abaci’s (BFA/Creative Producing’18) PLAYHOUSE OF CARDS for BestSeries – Scripted

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FESTIVALHIGHLIGHTS

Guide

The 37th Annual College Television Awards, the Emmy organization’s equivalent of the Student Academy Awards,

which will take place on May 25th, has bestowed a Dodge-

record SIX nominations for the following films and categories:

37

INTERN SPOTLIGHTMa

llory Le

onard

B.F.A

. Broad

cast Jo

urna

lism How did you find your internship?

I found the internship with EntertainmentTonight through Professor Steve Hirsen,who used to direct episodes of the show.I’ve taken classes with Professor Hirsensince freshmen year, so when it becametime to begin my internship search Ireached out to him for recommendations.He was able to connect me with differentoptions, like Entertainment Tonight andTMZ, and encouraged me to use his namein my outreach efforts.

For this specific internship, ProfessorHirsen provided me with a contact nameso I could follow up on my application materials. I believe this connection playeda key part in me landing the internship. If you know someone and show an interest they’ll give you an edge up on thecompetition.

Students also play a great role in the internship process. I have had friends forward my resume along for consideration,or have told me about un-posted opportu-nities that I wouldn’t have otherwise heardabout. They’re always willing to help out.

What’s a typical day at your internship?I started out with the rest of the interns logging tape and sorting through footage

in a room called “The Vault.” From there I was assigned to help research with anassistant to some of the producers. For example, I would be handed a list ofcelebrities who would be attending a specific event and then asked to find news articles and updates on each one.People at ET are so willing to give you theopportunity to try new things and to talk toyou about how they got to where they arein the industry, all I had to do was ask.

What was the highlight of the internshipfor you?One of my favorite aspects of the intern-ship was the opportunity to get to knoweveryone in the office and going out to different shoots. For example, I was helpingone of the producers conduct research onthe film Star Wars: The Force Awakens forthe press junket and was able to attend. I got to sit in the room while they interviewed Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher,J.J. Abrams and all the new stars in thecast. It was a great moment for me.

What courses or skills that you learnedat Dodge College were most helpful inyour internship?All the upper division classes for my major

that were mostly hands on, like ChapmanNews, Multi-Camera Production, andcourses where we learned technology likeiNews and Avid, provided me with an understanding of the industry-specifictools used at my internship. For example,ET uses iNews so I already knew how touse it and find my way around which washelpful. Having a general sense of how thetechnology and equipment work togetherenabled me succeed in this internship.

What advice would you offer students looking for internships inthe industry?Be persistent. When I started looking for internships I would think of shows that Iliked, Google them, then visit their hiringpage to see if they had an applicationprocess. I made lists that incorporated allthe details such as application materialsrequired, deadlines, contact info, etc. I would ask my professors if they had anycontacts at those shows that I could approach. Once you get your initial application in and you have a contactname, follow up, even if you haven’t heardback. Keep putting your name out there soit’s at the top of their inbox.

BY MEAGAN O'SHEA

MALLORY LEONARDB.F.A. Broadcast JournalismSeniorProduction Intern – Entertainment TonightFall 2015

Leonard has been interning since her freshmanyear at Chapman. Hailing from Salt Lake City,Utah, she took advantage of interning over herinterterm breaks. In addition to EntertainmentTonight, she has interned with a boutiquepublic relations agency, ABC4 Utah, NBC KSL-Utah, Children’s Hospital of Orange County(CHOC), PBS Socal, and is interning withDateline in the spring semester.

DODGE COLLEGE

Michael Aronson (MFA/FilmProduction ’11) is completing post-production on his short film, Nutcracker.

Rahul Bansal (BFA/Creative Produc-ing ’15) is working as a floater atAnonymous Content.

Alan Baxter (BFA/Film Production’02) was awarded second place in the Slamdance Screenwriting andTeleplay Competition 2015 for hisscreenplay, Escape/Artist. He is repre-sented by The Muraviov Companyand Kaplan Stahler Agency.

Mike Bernstein (BFA/Film Produc-tion ’06) was hired as a film directorat Saturday Night Live to create digitalshorts.

Jason Brescia (BFA/Film Production’09) wrote and directed, Bridge and Tunnel, which was released oniTunes, Amazon, and other VODservices. The film’s cinematographerwas Trevor Wineman (BFA/FilmProduction ’11) and it was edited by Alex Oppenheimer (BFA/FilmProduction ’08).

Hayden Boal (BFA/TelevisionBroadcast & Journalism ’13) is the director of development at Critical Content, formerly namedRelativity TV.

Ian Dalesky (BFA/Film Produc-tion ’11) was hired as a producer’s assistant on Hawaii Five-O in LosAngeles after three seasons as a production assistant in Hawaii.

Patrick Dawn (BFA/Film Produc-tion ’11) worked on Hawaii Five-0 asa production assistant and is currentlyassistant directing.

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1 Aubrey Davis (BFA/Creative Producing ’13) is working in televi-sion development and production at Lord Miller Production Company(The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, TheLast Man on Earth).

Matt Dekneef (BA/Public Relations& Advertising ’09) is working as thedigital media manager for HawaiiMagazine.

Sasha Demello (BFA/Film Produc-tion ’11) wrapped the Hawaii portionof Kong: Skull Island as the art department coordinator.

DJ Dodd (MFA/Film & TV Producing’12) has several films set for upcom-ing release including The ShadowWithin, starring Lindsay Lohan,which he co-produced; Dark, starringAlexandra Breckenridge, which he executive produced alongside JoeDante, and Mothers and Daughters,starring Susan Sarandon, CourtneyCox, Christina Ricci, Sharon Stone,Mira Sorvino, and Selma Blair, whichhe executive produced.

Portia Fontes (BFA/Film Production’06) wrapped Kong: Skull Island as the assistant location manager andwas the assistant production office coordinator on the latest Zac Efroncomedy, Aloha.

Kelly Galuska (BA/Screenwriting’06) won Best Animated Series at theCritic’s Choice Awards and received aWGA nomination for her episode ofBoJack Horseman, “Hank after Dark.”

Jeff Garvin (BFA/FTV/FTP ’98) recently celebrated the launch of hisnovel, Symptoms of Being Human.

Joshua Guereque (BFA/FilmProduction ’14) is an associate producer for Anaheim Ducks Entertainment.

4

Rebecca Haber (BA/Public Relations & Advertising ’15) is an account coordinator at CBS LocalDigital Media in New York City.

Traci Hays (BFA/Film Produc-tion ’11) directed the short film,Frederick, starring Josh Mann andJames Morrison.

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Mischa Hedges (BFA/Film Production ’06) produced and directed the documentary, Of the Sea:Fisherman, Seafood & Sustainability,which was produced by his company,TrimTab Media.

Adam Herbets (BFA/Television &Broadcast Journalism ’14) receivedtwo Golden Mike Awards for hiswork on an investigative piece for KBAK (Bakersfield) and for excellence in photojournalism.

Alex Hillkurtz (BA/Communi-cations ’90) recently storyboarded his 50th feature film. His credits

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include Almost Famous, Argo and Unbroken. He also directed secondunit on It’s Complicated and The Intern.

Houston Hooker (BFA/CP ’15) isworking as a post-production assis-tant on Hawaii Five-0 in Los Angeles.

Ryan J. Kaplan (MFA/Film Produc-tion, Editing ’12), Rachel Werth(MFA/ Film Production, Directing’12) and Beth Wickman (MFA/Film Production, Producing ’11)completed a concept trailer for theirfirst feature film project, titled RainBRO. They recently launched

an Indiegogo campaign in hopes ofgetting enough seed money to go intopre-production this fall.

Melanie Kocher (BA/Screenwriting’15) is a page at NBC Universal.

Leon Langford (MFA/Screen-writing ’13) had his script, Backlash,picked up by Michael Tadross Jr. andDanny Roth.

Anna Lee Lawson (BFA/FilmProduction ’02) was one of the actors and Charles J. Gibson(MFA/Film Production ’13) workedas a director of photography on The4th which made its premiere in the NEXT category at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Erin Lim (BFA/Television &Broadcast Journalism ’13) is one of the newest correspondents for E! News Hollywood. Prior to joiningthe team based in Los Angeles, shehosted for E! Asia based in Singapore.

Rachel Lim (BFA/Creative Producing’14) previously worked in PantheonMedia as a producer and is now working with Vertigo Pictures as anassistant producer.

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Kaelyn Moore (BFA/Film Produc-tion ’15) is working as a talent assistant at Paradigm Talent Agency.

Jennifer Mueller-Robins (BFA/Film Production ‘06) is a set decoratorand won an Emmy award for produc-tion design on Silicon Valley. She has also worked in various art departments on several productionsincluding Alvin and the Chipmunks,Sons of Anarchy and Scandal.

Brendan Nahmias (BFA/Television& Broadcast Journalism ’12) is workingas the Manager of Development &Producer for Original Series at Portal A,

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Ezra Lunel (MFA/Film Produc-tion ’13) was brought on as an adjunctfaculty in the Fine & Performing ArtsDivision at Santa Ana College. He isteaching courses in film/televisionscreenwriting and film history.

Kelley Mack (BFA/Film Pro-duction ’14) completed her secondshort film, The Perfect One, which sheproduced, acted in, and edited.

Samantha Militante (BA/Public Relations & Advertising, BFA/Television & Broadcast Journalism’14) is currently working as a series assistant at FX Networks.

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an award-winning content studio thatdevelops, produces, and distributesvideo built for the digital age.

Ty Sanga (MFA/Film Produc-tion ’09) will be directing Family Ingredients, which is the first showfrom Hawaii PBS to be picked up fornational primetime PBS.

Kevin Staniec (BFA/Film Production’01) was listed as one of “OC’s 100Most Influential People” by The Orange County Register. He is executivedirector at 1888 Center, which is dedicated to preserving and promotingliterary arts in Orange County.

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Do you have a recent accomplishment you’d like to share? Email Alumni Coordinator Sorrel Geddes,sgeddes@chapman.edu, so we can share your successwith the Dodge College community. 40

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Evan Seccombe (BFA/FilmProduction ’09, MFA/ProductionDesign ’11) is working as an art director at Kreate, Inc.

Casey Stolberg (BFA/Film Production ’15) completed a docu-mentary for USC Keck School ofMedicine highlighting multiple sclerosis within the Latino communityand is preparing for his first featurefilm this August, an independentdrama set at the Salton Sea.

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Bruno Tatalovic (MFA/FTP ’09)completed post-production on hissecond feature film, Lux in Tenebris,starring Oscar nominee Eric Roberts.www.facebook.com/Lux.movie

Alex Theurer (BFA/FTV ’06)co-wrote and produced Sleight, whichwas bought by WWE Studios andBlumhouse Productions after premiering in the NEXT category atthe 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Ariel Thomas (BFA/Creative Producing’13) continues to work in thewardrobe department on the currentseason of Hawaii Five-0.

Paarth Trivedi (BFA/Creative Pro-ducing ’15) began working for Skydance Media as the executive assistant to SVP of Marketing andSVP of Corporate Communications.

Robert Watts (BFA/Film Pro-duction ’07) and Matthew Celia(BFA/Film Production ’07) completeda virtual reality/360 video for Paramount Pictures for the homevideo release of Paranormal Activity 6.

Kc Wayland (BFA/FTV ’08) is now represented by Paradigm Tal-ent Agency.

Nicholas Wiesnet (BFA/FilmProduction ’11) was nominated forbest cinematography in the musicvideo category for Hook N’ Sling“Break Yourself ” featuring The FarEast Movement at the 2015 Camer-image International Film Festival.

Carly Yates (BFA/Television &Broadcast Journalism ’15) was hiredby Warner Brothers to do publicityand social media for the studio tours department.

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Daniel Steele on set

In February, some 200 people gathered

for a fund-raising Super Bowl Party held

in honor of Dan Steele (BFA/TBJ ’15), who

died tragically last year in an accident.

Organized by his parents, Trish and Kevin

Steele, the event featured silent auction

baskets with tickets to Jimmy Kimmel

Live, NFL gear, tickets to sports events

and more. The $16,000 raised at the

event will go towards the Dan Steele ’15

Endowed Memorial Scholarship, which

has now surpassed $68,000. Interest

from the funds will be awarded to selected

students with demonstrated financial need

in Dan’s memory.

Following his graduation, Steele was

picked up by the NFL Network, where

he worked as a production assistant. The

week of his death, he had just been promoted

and given his own production booth, “a big

deal for production assistants at the network,”

says his professor, Pete Weitzner.

Dan SteeleHonored byScholarshipFund-Raiser

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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 10SUMMER CLASSES:

Cross Cultural Filmmaking: Mumbai, IndiaTravel Dates: June 21-July 20This cross-cultural filmmaking travel course is designed to give students

the opportunity to work collaboratively with a group of students from

Whistling Woods in Mumbai on two school-sponsored short film projects,

one in India and the other in Orange.

Discover Documentary: IrelandTravel Dates: June 4-16, 2016This course emphasizes visual anthropology and ethnography by exploring

other cultures and spiritual traditions through the medium of documentary.

Students will spend 12 days touring Ireland creating short documentaries

profiling their experiences.

II Cinema Ritrovato Film Festival: Bologna, Italy Travel Dates: June 22-July 2, 2016Students explore living film history through tours of the film restoration lab

and cinematheque, visiting the walled city of Bologna, enjoying world

famous cuisine, marveling at historic medieval architecture, and enjoying

great films in contemporary theaters and at outdoor evening screenings

in the charming Piazza Maggiore.

Cross Cultural Filmmaking: Seoul, South KoreaTravel Dates: June 9-July 8This cross-cultural filmmaking travel course is designed to give students

the opportunity to work collaboratively with a group of students from the

Seoul Institute of the Arts on two school-sponsored short film projects,

one in South Korea and the other in Orange.

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

Commencement Ceremony –Saturday, May 21, 4 p.m.Wilson Field Commencement featuring

commencement speaker Cheryl Boone

Isaacs, President, Academy of Motion

Pictures Arts and Sciences

After Party – Dodge College, 5:30 p.m.

Community Voices DocumentaryScreening – Thursday, May 5, 7 p.m.A social issue documentary film program

that links Chapman University documentary

film students with Orange-County based

organizations. Each semester, groups of

students produce short character-driven

portrait films that highlight causes the

partner organizations aim to serve.