LSU offers new Film and Media Arts Concentration

Louisiana’s film industry is growing, but it’s not just for the rich and famous.  

Louisiana State University welcomes Film and Media Arts as a new concentration under the Bachelors of Arts and Liberal Arts degree.

Film and Media Arts began as a minor at the University. James Catano, the Director of Film and Media Arts, said the minor contained as many as 90 students in a semester; thus, student interest created a need for the minor to expand into a concentration. The first group of students who enter into the concentration can graduate in December 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts and Liberal Arts with a concentration in Film and Media arts.

Catano, with the help and support of Greg Schufreider and Patricia Suchy, the Director of Graduate Studies and the Director of the Department of Communication Studies, respectively, pioneered the concentration in the wake of University budget cuts.

During Catano’s first year as program director, his concern was the University giving the appearance of creating a program they may be unable to sustain. He waited until his second year, 2010, as director to create a response to student interest and need. With the help of Suchy, he came up with numbers that proved student need, citing approximately 90 students in the Film and Media Arts minor in one semester, and approximately 80 students in the minor consistently every semester.

“We looked at the numbers and discussed as faculty what we wanted, so on and so forth,” he said. “Everything came together and it was clear we could put this together without concerns of finances right at the moment being impacted, and so we put it in.”

Many departments comprise components of the Film and Media Arts concentration, with the majority coming from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Jordy Wax, the co-owner of the Baton Rouge based event production company Contrast Films, had an FMA minor during his time at LSU. He was among early students to graduate with an FMA minor in 2007.    

He began the program after working on a project called The Louisiana Story with Suchy and Catano. Suchy mentioned the minor to students working on the project.

“It sounded right up my alley,” Wax said.

Catano said he believes Film and Media Arts will go into its own free-standing degree if the numbers continue to prove promising. However, concerns regarding state budgeting and staffing still exist.

Because the program incorporates courses from various departments, Catano said they have a small enough budget that the program is unlikely to be cut.

“There’s not enough money to bother taking,” he said.

Within the film industry, two kinds of positions exist: above the line and below the line positions.

Below the line positions are on-site hires and crews for skills like lighting and sound technicians and gaffers.

Catano said the program aims at students interested at above the line positions as directors, producers, screenwriters and cinematographers.

“I learned things like history of film, and learning about the - not just the technicalities of film as it was so much the ideas of what shots mean and the types of stories you can tell,” Wax said. “I thought that was really cool.”

 “We don’t try to train students way in advance. Ok, you want to be a cameraman, great. You want to do sound, great. Those are technical skills that we introduce students to, but not with the idea of them getting a full final training in that,” Catano said. “That can be picked up in lots of professional places. Our goal is to aim students toward knowing their industry as a whole, both nationally and internationally, understanding that film, media, goes far beyond the borders of this country, far beyond the borders of this state [ . . . ] The goal is to get students to know the full industry and not to compartmentalize themselves too soon.”

Wax learned below the line positions through blogs and forums, but he appreciated that the FMA program allowed him to branch further.

 “It would be a lot more difficult for me to get that just standing over someone’s shoulder on a shoot. I think that being in an environment like the Film and Media Arts program allowed us to really have some good conversations about the ideas of directing, and not taking film as literally as maybe a below the line job has to take it.”

The FMA program’s emphasis on above the line also applies to Contrast Films.

“Some of the work we do here can easily be monotonous [ . . .] and I feel like being able to look at things in a different light and just looking at it as more than just a job and looking at it as an art – that type of mentality I can trace back to my time at LSU in the FMA program,” Wax said.

While the concentration focuses on film as an art and industry, it also explores media arts.

Catano defines media arts as the expansion of the concept of film and what has followed since.

“Media arts and our sense of why we added it to the title is simply a way of suggesting the technology has far outstripped the idea that one makes moving pictures in film,” he said.

The concentration uses digital cameras in their production courses, instead of film. Resources at the University also include Studio 151 – a studio that offers HD camera rentals, Final Cut Pro editing software and project feedback. 

Wax advises anyone interested in the film industry to never turn anything down.

“If you have the opportunity to work on a film or work on, even if it’s your friend’s student project or something like that,” he said. “I’m a big believer in every shoot that I’ve ever worked on I’ve learned something on”

Pay attention to class material, but be aware learning does not stop in the classroom, he said.

“Video was just a hobby at one point,” Wax said. “And after studying it in school, I could do it for a living whether it’s just moving lights around or starting your own business.”