Photo Credit: Maxwell Shepherd
SCC's film department: where all the magic happens.
Maxwell Shepherd, Staff Writer
October 17, 2012
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, On campus
It was spring of 2009 and my first semester of college?I was late. I walked into Ian McIver?s Cinema 011 class to find all of the students standing in a circle. McIver had commanded the students tostand up and share one piece of information about themselves as a way to break the ice.
As my turn quickly approached I frantically scoured my mind to find something about myself worth saying. Eventually I settled on informing the class that I was wearing two different brands of socks. We were then herded into teams; I was grouped with a distant relative of Nick Nolte?s, and a girl who had learned to shove nails up her nose at the circus.
My daydream of joining the circus to learn how to spin fire on the backs of elephants with sharp bits of metal jammed in my face were pushed aside when McIver readied to play the first film we would watch that Semester, Shirley Temple?s ?The Littlest Rebel?, starring Shirley Temple as the most adorable racist in the history of film. After 90 minutes of watching a 5-year-old tap dancer glorifying slavery we were free to go. This was my introduction to the Solano Community College film and television program.
Two days later it was time for Cinema 010, also taught by Ian McIver. It was the first time I stepped foot in to Solano?s Studio 121. The heavy metal doors were almost hidden on the side of library amid overgrown foliage. It was in this class where I first crossed paths with Alden ?Sheep Tortilla? Tatum, but it would not be the last. A year later it was time to stop messing around and start making movies. The theory and history of film were out of the way. Cinema 015 is where it got real. It was also where I met truck driving After FX wizard and musician Bradley ?Bradmiral Akbar? Daniel.
?I remember being filled with dreams and aspirations. I knew with film I could bring any vision to life.? Bradley communicated to me over Facebook. ?I wouldn?t know what know today without the friends I made and what I?ve experienced. I?m very grateful.?
Cinema 015 is where students are taught the practical aspects of making movies. The studio lab is equipped with Macs loaded with non-linear editing program, Final Cut Pro, and students are given access to mini HD cameras with which to shoot their projects. Mics, tri-pods and other equipment are available to be checked out. Former SCC student, now member of Room 121 Productions (named in honor of the SCC TV studio), Roberto Berrios, passed through the film program in the late 90?s when things were quite a bit different.
?The times were changing; it was a time of transition. When I first started, we were splicing super 8 film, and scratching liter to create crude animations. We used bulky S-VHS cameras and edited on VTR?s the size of an Xbox 360,? Berrios said.
?The digital era of filmmaking was in its infancy. Sadly, few saw any hope for it. In fact, I quite recall that on the internet and periodicals, digital was seen as a cheap knock-off. A little over a decade later, and it is now causing a revolution in the filmmaking world. With that, I can say that SCC?s film program was (in my time) ahead of its time, leading the path of innovation.?
Like Brad Daniel, Berrios looks back at his time attending the SCC cinema program
fondly and finds its greatest reward to be the friendships he forged.
?My biggest joy is that I have made life-long friends. Regardless of where our paths have taken us, I think that on a personal level, the biggest impact is how many of the alumni have stuck together, have found one another and have worked together. More than anything, I am grateful for all the wonderful friends I have made with the same passion and daring to dream. When Steve and I first conceptualized Room 121, this was at the core of it.?
Look for part two of ?SCC Film Program: A Journey? in our next issue.
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Source: http://www.solanotempest.net/arts-entertainment/2012/10/17/scc-film-program-a-journey-part-i-79057/
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