Sunday, November 14, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

DIGITAL REVOLUTION: Vision of the Future

Students at Community College of Southern Nevada use movie-making equipment just like the pros

Students in John Marsh's Documentary I class at the Community College of Southern Nevada practice setting up lights and microphones. Photo by ISAAC BREKKEN/REVIEW-JOURNAL Student Jimmy Holdeman mans a digital camera during a classroom exercise. Photo by ISAAC BREKKEN/REVIEW-JOURNAL Tessa Jones experiments with a digital camera at the Community College of Southern Nevada. Photo by ISAAC BREKKEN/REVIEW-JOURNAL

Lights ... camera ... action!

That same magical sequence has galvanized filmmakers for more than a century.

For certain fledgling filmmakers at the Community College of Southern Nevada, however, the only thing missing is the film itself.

Instead, they're prowling the hallways of the Cheyenne campus' new telecommunications building, compact digital cameras at hand, capturing footage for their documentary filmmaking class with barely contained fervor.

Accosting unsuspecting bystanders by poking camera lenses and microphones in their surprised faces, the students put their digital cameras through their paces, testing angles, composition and lighting with barely disguised delight.

Observing their eager activity with amusement, Peg Pankowski -- the college's dean of Information Technology and Telecommunications -- wryly notes, "You can't say they're not enthusiastic."

That may be the understatement of the year -- or at least the semester.

The enthusiasm continues unabated as the students report back to their classroom, which is equipped with dozens of Macintosh iMac G5 computers.

Those computers, in turn, are equipped with Final Cut Pro HD, the same editing program Hollywood professionals use to edit studio releases.

And when the students turn their attention to the front of the classroom, there's a former Hollywood professional showing them how to position the camera and angle lights to alter the look of their shot.

John Marsh darts between the cameras and lights, his gray ponytail cascading down his back, assisting students as they prepare for his magical command:

"Quiet, please. Roll camera."

There's no film rolling, of course.

To Marsh and his students, that hardly makes a difference.

Which is exactly why the former Hollywood producer -- whose credits include "I Love You to Death" with Kevin Kline and Tracey Ullman, "V.I. Warshawski" with Kathleen Turner and "Foxfire" with Angelina Jolie -- decided to join the community college as its first full-time videography instructor.

"I thought digital filmmaking was the future," Marsh explains, after his Documentary I students have headed home for the evening. "Four years ago, I saw an iMac and I said, `I can teach with that.' "

After all, it's the same storytelling, Marsh insists. "It's all the same; it's just not film."

In Hollywood, the digital revolution hasn't entirely displaced film.

And at many college-level film programs, from New York University to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, film and digital imagery exist side-by-side.

"The big fight between film and video" has ended, according to Francisco Menendez, who heads UNLV's film department. "People edit everything on computer. And the (digital) cameras have all become 24 frames per second," mimicking the film cameras that have been cranking at that speed since the dawn of sound.

A decade ago, film schools were "a repository of equipment" for cash-strapped students who couldn't afford expensive filmmaking equipment.

At NYU, one of the nation's top film schools, "they have a ton of film cameras on hand" and many students still shoot on film, according to Las Vegan Wolfgang Muchow, who earned his master's degree in filmmaking following undergraduate studies at UNLV.

Muchow and his classmates were "the last class to edit our movies on film" when he left last semester, he notes. (After he graduated, NYU replaced the school's venerable editing machines with computers.)

"One of the great things about learning on film, you learn discipline," Muchow says. With video, however, "you can shoot whenever you want to. ... There's a mentality of run-and-gun."

And that mentality prevails, out of necessity, at the Community College of Southern Nevada.

Its associate degree program -- in media technologies, with a videography and film emphasis -- means "they're trying to cram everything into two years," explains Jim "JR" Reid, president of Las Vegas' JR Lighting and Grip, who teaches classes on the electrical aspects of filmmaking at both the community college and UNLV.

"The kids at the community college are more hands-on type people. They'll make two to three videos a year," Reid notes. By contrast, "UNLV people do one film a year. They take longer with films -- there's more preparation, more involvement. At CCSN, they get the thing cranked out."

Reid also detects another key difference between film students at the two schools.

"The kids at the community college are more interested in what jobs are available," he says.

Which is exactly why the new Morse J. Arberry Jr. Telecommunications Building -- named after the state legislator college officials credit for funding its construction -- now stands at the south end of the Cheyenne campus in North Las Vegas.

"One of the main reasons this was built was because (Arberry) wanted a high-tech building to train students in high-tech, high-paying careers," notes Edie Chiarappa, who heads the college's media technologies department.

The new building "has allowed us to quadruple the space" devoted to digital filmmaking, explains Tom Meyers, the department's assistant chairman. "Instead of one classroom, we have a huge production studio and three state-of-the-art classrooms," along with "five editing suites."

In other words, "we have the palette with which to paint the vision of our future," he says.

"The digital future," adds Bob Benedetto, a screenwriter and former UNLV film instructor who now teaches full time at the community college.

That future has expanded since Marsh began teaching at the college four years ago.

Now, the program has two full-time instructors, 400 students -- and several students already working in the film and video business.

The Jose brothers, for example. Jordan, 21, and Joshua, 22, are completing their final semester at the community college and already have made several of their own films.

But they won't need to look for jobs after graduation, because they already have them: Jordan working at Dynamic Concepts and Dynamic Media Group, Joshua at JR Lighting.

Joshua found his job with Marsh's help.

"John introduces us to a lot of people," he explains. And while he was working as a grip on a professional production, "the key grip liked me and recommended me" for a job with JR Lighting.

"CCSN is one of the best things that's happened to me," Joshua adds. "I want to stay here until I can't learn here anymore."

In Jordan's view, the rapid pace of learning at the community college also adds to the school's appeal.

"When I first took a videography class, I was editing right away, shooting right away," he recalls. And, of course, it helps that "John Marsh is the best teacher I've ever had."

As for the students, most don't get a degree, Marsh says. "They come for two to three classes" because "they want to get the skills and leave."

To that end, Marsh doesn't worry much about aesthetics.

At the community college, "they can learn Final Cut Pro and how a shoot's organized," he explains. From breaking down a script to budgeting and scheduling, from scouting to making prop lists, "we teach proper and organized procedures," Marsh adds. "We're a technical program."

Which is just fine with Marsh's students.

"I came here to get my hands dirty," says Tony Quirk, who's also graduating next month.

In his time at the college, "this department has improved by leaps and bounds," he notes. "It's growing exponentially. I'm sad to be graduating so early."

But at least his departure -- and that of other students -- will make room for others.

That's because, "after the first semester, my classes were full," Marsh explains.

Make that "full but not bursting," he adds, "because people don't know about the program."

Maybe not yet. But give it time.

After all, Marsh reasons, "if you're a good teacher, the students sell the program."