Portland State Magazine Winter 2013

14 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE WINTER 2013 BACK IN THE DAY when movies were made from film instead of pixels, many entry-level cinematographers could only afford to hone their craft in film school. The apparatus for making motion pictures—complicated film cameras, editing equipment, and untold reels of film to buy and process—was expensive. Today’s digital filmmaking equipment is affordable enough that children are shooting, editing, and publishing their own movies while in grade school. But even with these new tools, there’s much about filmmaking that can be learned in a university setting. Dustin Morrow, PSU film faculty, says that students often enroll with years of experience in DIY digital film production, but the essen- tial characteristics of successful filmmaking still need to be taught. “The point is learning how to use those tools to effectively tell stories, to understand how to use sound and image together, how to edit in such a way to provoke thought or create feel- ing,” says Morrow. “Those are the things that they’re learning, and those are the things they don’t really know.” Morrow teaches digital film production in Portland State’s recently rebooted film program. Back in the 1970s, the Center for the Moving Image at Portland State was one of the most prestigious film programs in the country. Unfortunately, it was eliminated in 1981 because of budget cuts. It wasn’t until 2007 that the film program started up once again, merging with the Theater Arts Department to become the Department of Theatre and Film. For the first few years, the film program focused mainly on film studies, but last year, with the hiring of Morrow, the department was expanded to provide a sequence of courses in production. Student demand was a major factor in establishing the new program, but so was the need to support and take advantage of an active, local film industry. In the past few years, the Portland area has become a hub for film and television production. Shows such as Portlandia, Leverage, and Grimm , as well as feature films such as the first Twilight movie and this summer’s ParaNorman (see story on page 10) have been either shot or produced in and around Portland, and many students in the film program have been able to work on these productions. “There are a lot of movie and television opportunities for students. In fact, some of them are always missing class because they are PAs on Grimm or other shows, which is a double-edged sword. It’s great that they’re get- ting experience, but come on, come to class,” Morrow jokes. FILM SENIOR Clarke Leland is one of those students who have taken advantage of local filming. He’s been a PA, production assistant, for Grimm , does freelance video work, and he works with local company Flying Rhino Productions. Leland has also worked on several produc- tions with other film students, and he runs the department’s new production suite, which includes digital editing rooms, space for group collaboration, and a growing collection of video equipment that students can check out. Since the film program is still new and grow- ing, Leland says it is up to students as well as faculty to lay the foundation for the future. “I have the opportunity to be instrumental here, and I’m trying to be that,” Leland says. “We can make this a holistic film program, and it’s even more advantageous because we’re “There are a lot of movie and television opportunities for students. In fact, some of them are always missing class because they are PAs on Grimm or other shows.”