Faculty Films Still Going Strong

One of the foundations of our film program is to have faculty who do what they teach and are gracious with their knowledge, teaching through mentoring our students and working side by side on projects.  So when we watch our colleagues work hard on a film for several years and then see the world embrace it, it is so satisfying to everyone in our department who have been behind the scenes all this time.  It is also inspiring for our students, and teaches them that making the film is only half the process.  Getting the film out there is the other half.  

That's why this past year has been so exciting, because we've had the privilege to watch two of our faculty-directed documentaries find great success in the film industry and also reach audiences much beyond the independent film scene.  And it's still going on. Looking back, it was this time last year that Assistant Professor Chase Thompson's documentary Zielinski was about to premiere in Park City at the Slamdance Film Festival.  It was also this time last year that Assistant Professor Chad Freidrich's documentary The Pruitt-Igoe Myth premiered at multiple film festivals simultaneously.  And then both films were also screened at the gem of a doc festival in our own hometown, True/False, a month later.  

And a year later?  Yes, the films are still going strong.  After playing festivals both in the United States and internationally, the films are now reaching audiences through theatrical screenings.  If you are in St. Louis this weekend, you can catch Zielinski at the Off-Broadway theatre.  The Pruitt-Igoe Myth has been picked up for distribution by First Run Features and starts the theatrical run at the IFC Center in New York later this month.  And this weekend Chad is in Chicago receiving the John O'Connor Film Award for best documentary film by the American Historical Association, one of the many awards his film has won this past year.

These two films represent what is best about our film program.  Check out some of their national reviews by film critics and you'll notice a constant theme: the intelligence behind the films.  The tools of the trade are relatively easy to learn, but it's the thoughtful critical analysis of complex ideas in both films that make them so successful.  These documentaries show the complexity of life, people, systems, and raise important questions about our society.  This is exactly what our students are asked to do--and do so well--in their own projects also.  Film is a powerful medium to ask important questions.

So on Monday, when classes start again, our instructors will have more stories to share from the field.  And we couldn't be more excited to work with our students to create their own films, find their own voices, and share their work with the world.  We believe in mentoring our students, and eventually, they mentor us too.  Congrats Chase and Chad, and a big welcome back to the department to all of our students and faculty.  Hope your winter break was inspiring!

After They Leave (or do they?)

Kerri Yost, Sarah Whorton, and new MBA graduate Rosario Chico-Vietti
Graduation is that bittersweet time.  I can remember meeting someone for the first time, visiting Stephens while in high school.  Then, whoosh, time goes by so fast and there we all are again taking pictures together in funny gowns.  This past December graduation was different though--more than just nostalgic but also exciting.  This is because we had our first graduate from the plus-one MBA program.  What is this?  This is a very unique opportunity to start a Master's in Business Administration while still working towards an undergraduate degree in filmmaking.  Rosario Chico-Vietti was the first person in our film program to take advantage of this unique opportunity.  This picture you see could have been from 2010, when Rosario and Sarah Whorton (in the middle) both graduated from Stephens with a BFA in Digital Filmmaking.  Since then, they have both been busy.  Sarah is now working on a new reality show with the History Channel (Ozark Auction, check it out!) and Rosario has been working on her MBA while also freelancing as a filmmaker and photographer. 

It might surprise some people outside of the film industry that a young filmmaker would want to get an MBA. Isn't film a creative art?  Yes, of course it is.  But the reality is that in order for a filmmaker to get that film out in front of others and beyond YouTube, there is a whole lot of business that goes along with it.  Not everyone needs an MBA to do this, but it doesn't hurt and can be extremely helpful if someone wants to go into producing, directing, distrubution, independent filmmaking, etc.  And social media has radically changed the film business in the same way sound did so many decades ago, so having an MBA program that also has an emphasis in social media is especially useful these days.  But the tricky part of getting an advanced degree as a filmmaker is that it is hard for filmmakers to turn down opportunities.  So the plus-one program works out very well.  A student can start her business courses while a junior and senior in her undergrad program, and then finish it online after she graduates, wherever that may take her and without having to turn down that perfect job offer.  This has allowed another recent film graduate, Nicole Martin, also pursue her dreams in education and in her profession.  She's been able to continue working on television shows with Turner Broadcasting out in L.A. while also getting her MBA. She's been promoted several times and worked on quite a few shows at this point in her young career (Hawthorne, Leverage, etc.), but has not had to give up her chance to get an MBA while she does this.

Although working on an MBA and on a busy television show might seem impossible, graduation is a time to remind me that anything is possible.  Truly.  And this December the proof was there.  I watched Rosario walk across the stage, and then be surrounded by her family, only this time the family also included her husband and baby boy.  There are different stages in our lives, and there are degrees that fit different stages in our lives.  I'm so glad Stephens could be her home for both stages.  

This Is What The Future Looks Like

Citizen Jane filmmakers producing a television show for CATWe just wrapped up our first Citizen Jane Film Academy, which is a hands-on summer filmmaking program for 8th and 9th grade girls.  In four weeks these young women learned every aspect of filmmaking from pre-production to post production and most everything in between.  And as usual with teaching, I walked away learning much more as well.  For instance, I learned that you can teach a 12-year-old girl to edit in one day. Yes, that's right!  On Final Cut Pro no less.  We were all surprised at how fast they learned, but also their strong sense of storytelling.  They realized very quickly that the technical skills are all to support the story.   And the stories they chose to tell were original, honest, and exactly the opposite of how young women are portrayed in the media these days.  

Why does this matter right now?  Because it is scary to think that when there is more media than ever before surrounding us every day, there are actually less women in the film industry than there used to be.  There are less women making films today than there were even 10 years ago, according to the latest Celluliod Ceiling Report.  And this is in every aspect of filmmaking.  But we're working on changing this and it is why Stephens is interested in educating girls at a young age.  In order to change the industry, we have to make sure young women know they can have a voice.  They need to understand that film is a real career option for them.  That being a woman behind the camera should not be the exception, but the norm.  Because if not, where would we get to watch original films like this?

"Studio A" is Renovated at Last!

Studio A Ribbon Cutting from Columbia Access Television on Vimeo.

It seems like every time I walk down the hallways of Helis these days a once old and dusty room is a new creative space.  Over the past few years we've added a new editing lab, equipment room, student lounge, and screening theatre/classroom space.  We've been using every inch of these new spaces to support our growing film and integrated media students.  But perhaps no physical space is as symbolic to us as our television studios, also called the Patricia Barry Studios in honor of a Stephens gal herself who helped create the studios in the first place.  Studio A is living history, and particularly the history of women behind the camera at a time when this was a very unusual sight.  Our hallways are full of old black and white photos of women in high heels and skirts behind the camera in the studios and I always wonder where these women are today (so if you are one of them, please contact me and update us!).  But our television studios also started to look historical and were long in need of a renovation.  

Then about seven years ago a beautiful relationship was established.  Columbia Access Television was created and needed a studio space to support the community.  We needed more real-world opportunities for our students and renovated studios.  With the support of Columbia Access Television and the City of Columbia, we renovated the smaller studio (Studio B) a few years ago and we finally just completed the renovation of the larger Studio A earlier this year.  We now have a digital HD studio that can support the creative work of our filmmakers and journalists and we just completed our first semester of working in the new space.

And just as they say, if you build it, they will come!  Students not only use the studios in our production classes, but they go further and create their own television shows that are broadcast to over 60,000 people in the Columbia area through Columbia Access Television.  The shows range from the zany (anyone remember Wild and Weird with Wendy?) to the informative.  What they all show is the passion, initiative, hard work, and talent of our Stephens students.  And when I see these young women in the studios today, I can't help but think of all the women who have created media in this space over the years. Although the equipment is different and perhaps the clothes and hairstyles also, the women today look a lot like the women who have worked in these studios before . . . like trailblazers.  

Welcome to our new blog!

Yes, it seems ironic that our department, the Film and Media Department, is only just now creating a department blog.  It might seem like we're a few years late on this, but I can tell you why.  We've been very busy!  And now we have a forum to tell you exactly what is keeping us busy.  I'm starting this blog to help connect our community of media makers, both past and present.  You will get updates, highlights, interviews, and info about what our students are doing today and also what our alumna have been up to lately.

There's a lot of news to share already, but I will keep things brief and give you nuggets through out the summer. Let's be honest, this is also a forum for a little bit of bragging, which I'm very happy to do about our hard-working journalists at Stephens Life.  This year was an extremely good year for Stephens Life and the proof is that they recently won BEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER by the Missouri College Media Association.  They also won the Sweepstakes Award for winning the most awards overall in different categories.  I'm so proud of our Stephens Life staff and advisor Emily Mead.  As many of you who have worked on Stephens Life already know, it's a lot of work to produce a newspaper every two weeks with a small staff.  Our staff not only learn reporting and writing skills, but also photography, graphic design, and web skills as well.  And they have to publish and produce the paper while they are learning all of these things!  So if you haven't checked out the paper lately, click here and you'll see what I'm talking about:  Stephens Life