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School's Back in Session
The Big Picture: Robert Nott |The New Mexican - 1/17/2008
FADE IN on Jonathan Wacks and Diane Schneier Perrin, who head up the New Mexico Filmmakers Intensive in the College of Santa Fe's Moving Image Arts department. They're saying the first year of the program went pretty well. They're gearing up for year two, which begins Tuesday, Jan. 22.
Partially sponsored by a $1 million grant from the state, the NMFI provides hands-on training in producing, directing, screenwriting, and editing that leads to the creation of a short film for the producers and directors and a feature-length script for the screenwriters. Wacks is the chair of the college's Moving Image Arts department, and last year he hired Perrin, a producer with about 20 years experience in the industry, to direct the program. She in turn hired working professionals in the business, including screenwriter Tom Musca, to teach.
Last year, 26 students (all but two from New Mexico) took part in the two-semester certificate program. Most of them had little or no previous film training or experience. The program culminated in a public screening of the six completed short films at The Screen at the college in September.
I saw the finished films and thought two of them were pretty good, two fair, and two not-so-hot. But remember, they are student films. "Whether you connected to their themes or not, all six are very credible," Wacks said in an interview at his office. "The production values are very good, and overall, I'm elated with the films."
Actually I thought the technical quality of most of the six shorts left something to be desired in the sound department. To a large degree Wacks and Schneier Perrin are addressing this by adding an editing track to the program so students have the tools and time to properly attend to postproduction.
But Wacks stressed that the main point is that participating producers and directors learned how to make a short film on a tight budget ($10,000 in most cases) and a compact shooting schedule (five days). The main thrust of the program is to build a corps of trained producers, directors, and writers who are ready to work in New Mexico. "We can't guarantee they'll stay, but we want to create New Mexican voices in the filmmaking industry in this state," Schneier Perrin said.
Wacks said several students had landed work on in-state sets as production assistants. Others, like Michael L. Miller and Rorie Hanrahan, came out of the producing program armed with the knowledge to start creating projects for themselves.
"I'm in the midst of putting together a prospectus on a seven-picture slate that I hope to produce here using the New Mexico film incentives as well as some of the federal incentives," Miller said. "The most important thing I gained out of the process was developing the confidence to know that I can actually put together a package and compete in the next level of budget work." He's been in touch with some of the other producer-grads of the NMFI, including Hanrahan. "Most of us are trying to do something either with projects coming in or projects we're developing on our own."
That's not so easy for the screenwriting graduates — though that's not the college's fault. The Writers Guild of America strike that started in November has certainly slowed up any immediate plans the graduates may have had to pitch screenplays. "Strikes happen," explained grad Shannon Y. Richardson. "But none of us expected to meet this situation." She praised Musca's screenwriting course: "It gave me the tools and the leads to write."
The program has a few bumps. Several students said there wasn't a lot of interplay between the student directors, producers, and writers. Others said the program could benefit from some post-college career counseling — an idea that was not included as part of the original setup, but one Wacks said he would like to pursue. Ideally, the college would connect graduates with the New Mexico Film Office to help them find jobs in the film business.
But after sitting in on some of the classes in the program and talking to several instructors, as well as a lot of the students, I'd say Wacks and Schneier Perrin should count year one as a success. NMFI has a far-reaching educational agenda that can help transform the state's film field from a production-services state (i.e. visiting productions come in, we give them some financial breaks, and they agree to hire some below-the-line talent) to an industry state that mentors above-the-line film artists. To be sure, there's a lot more to do to achieve that goal: the state can and should find ways to offer additional financial and production support to resident independent filmmakers, and there's got to be a way to help New Mexico-based actors land more roles in these productions. But NMFI is a visionary beginning.
Starting next week, 26 more students head into year two of NMFI. Interested in the program? Call 473-6400 or check out New Mexico Filmmakers Intensive. Scholarships are available for state residents. And on that note, FADE OUT.
Article Link:
Santa Fe New Mexican Article
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Photos by: Gabriella Marks |
