FILM PRODUCTION

So you want to work in the motion picture industry?
You say that you want to see your name in lights?
And you want audiences to sit in a dark theater…mesmerized by the stories you tell and the images you’ve created?

The Department of Radio, Television, and Film’s undergraduate Film Production sequence may be the place for you. This sequence is designed for the student interested in joining the ranks of young, professional filmmakers who are blazing new trails with captivating cinematic images and stories.

The Film Production sequence introduces the student to the rudimentary aspects of organizing and structuring audio and visual material in cinematic formats.

Sequence course offerings include: Scriptwriting, Basic Television and Film Production, Cinematography, Film Directing, Third World Cinema, Documentary Film Criticism and Blacks in Film.

The Film Production curriculum enables student to:

• demystify the filmmaking process and encourage the social use of the medium
• write, direct, edit, and exhibit short films on celluloid
• develop critical thinking in order to analyze the powerful aesthetic, psychological, and socio-political influences of the film medium

Film Production students serve as interns for a wide range of media organizations based in the nation’s capital. Such companies include the: National Geographic Society, American Film Institute, Discovery Channel, Howard University’s PBS television station (WHUT-TV, Channel 32) and all of the major broadcasting and cable corporations.

Each semester, some of the best creative works by student filmmakers are critiqued by fellow students and RTVF faculty during the Department’s End-of-the-Semester Screening. Also, non-students can experience the cinematic magic of Film Production majors through screenings at the American Film Institute’s (AFI) Silver Theater in the Washington, DC area, and throughout the United States and the Caribbean via RTVF’s “Black Visions/Silver Screen” tours.

In addition, the Department sponsors its annual Paul Robeson Awards during the spring semester of each year. This awards competition and ceremony recognizes the best RTVF undergraduate and graduate student audio, video and film productions. The awards were named in honor of the creative and socially-conscious legacy of celebrated African American actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson.

Film Production majors hail from around the globe. Students come from throughout the Unites States, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Europe. Our graduates go on to become distinguished independent filmmakers, editors, teachers, cinematographers, writers, and producers.

Our alumni include:

• Christa Dickey, ABC Talent Development Grant Recipient; Paul Robeson Award Winner & Freelance Producer/Director
• Arthur J. (Jama) Fielder, Independent Filmmaker, & Director of Photography for Daughters of the Dust
• Ellen Sumter,Independent Filmmaker, Writer/Director
• Sharon Y. Lopez, Consultant, Special Events Development Communications
• Garland McLaurin, MFA in Film candidate (NYU), Independent Filmmaker& Winner of the "Princess Grace Award”
• Shirikiana Aina Gerima , Independent Filmmaker & Vice President of Mypheduh Films, Inc.
• Joy Shannon, Independent Filmmaker
• James Canady , Producer, Tony Brown’s Journal
• Lester Peguese , Independent Filmmaker (Animation)
• Leslie James , Multimedia Producer & Documentary Filmmaker