Hello, my name is Jeffrey Palmer and I’m an assistant professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts. I teach film and video production. This is an exciting time to be a part of film and video production as we’re expanding the curriculum adding new instructors and collaborating across the whole department. Last semester we added the course PMA Studios, which gave students a dynamic experience of working at the industry level on a short film entitled “Milkshake Kiss”. We combined three sections that consisted of producing, directing, cinematography, we enlisted gaffers, grip, set designers, costume designers, PAs and of course actors to bring this short film to the big screen. This year we will be building on that experience at placing what we learned into our pedagogical approaches. We will be offering courses in screenwriting, intro and advanced documentary, intro and advanced narrative filmmaking, experimental filmmaking, and cinematography.
Film and video production falls under the PMA rubic for creative authorship, which develops students' creative and technical skills needed to create time-based work such as short films. In film and video production, we design courses that explore all aspects of production needed to be an independent filmmaker or to prepare students to enter the film industry as a screenwriter, producer, director, PA, or cinematographer. For example, Film and Video Production 1 examines three areas of production to create a short film: pre-production, production, and post-production.
We break that down into how to take a story and make it into a script, how to scout for locations, we break down technical skills, such as cinematography and sound design, and we further your conceptual skills in post-production, such as editing and then perhaps marketing your short film after it’s completed or sending it to a film festival, such as the Toronto International Film Festival, National Film Festival for Talented Youth, Asian International Film Festival and many more or some use the film to create a portfolio to apply to MFA programs across the country in filmmaking. Many of our students are now attending programs at Columbia, Chapman, Loyola Marymount, USC, and many others.
Whether you are a future documentary filmmaker, narrative filmmaker, or screenwriter, film and video production will provide a slate of courses that will allow you to explore and the freedom to create in this amazing, exciting, and energetic field of study.