NYU, UCLA, USC … KU?

Although Kansas University’s film school hasn’t quite developed the reputation of these other cornerstones of cinematic production, the department is well on its way.

Film studies major Melia Moss, Rockland, Idaho, rewinds a section of 16mm film while working in a flatbed editing bay in Oldfather Studios at Kansas University. Moss was completing a four-minute film for a basic film production class.

“We have one of the better film programs in the Midwest,” said Matt Jacobson, a KU film and video production instructor. “It’s a smaller program, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

Jacobson, who is also the faculty adviser for the student production club KU Filmworks, is one of seven full-time educators devoted to the motion picture/video side of the department of theater and film.

“There are going to be some students out there who are going to say, ‘Well, I can get a digital camera and an editing system on my own. Why do I need to go to film school?’ There are things that we teach that help people to make better movies, to expand their horizons not just in terms of film history and aesthetics, but learning the grammar of film,” he said.

Bringing it home

One of the main avenues for relaying these cinematic grammar lessons involves Oldfather Studios. Less than a decade ago, KU film students were shuffled between a dozen or so unrelated campus buildings when attempting to perfect their skills. None of the places had facilities specifically devoted to the craft.

“Oldfather Studios itself is definitely the most unique film-educational environment that I’ve ever seen,” said Jacobson, who completed his own graduate work at USC. “The idea of having an entire film studio complete with the largest free-span sound stage in Kansas available for our students is pretty incredible.”

The university treats its film program more as a performance art than as a technical trade like journalism or communications, according to Jacobson. Surprisingly, in this age of gutting art programs, KU has remained supportive.

“Even with the financial situation here in Kansas, the university really understands the importance of making sure we have equipment that keeps us in the forefront of film and video production programs,” he said.

Among the other expenditures to which the university has recently committed:

Five Apple G4 editing systems set up with Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere, which are the leading post-production software packages.

Three Canon GL-1 digital cameras added to the stable of two Canon XL-1s.

A 24-track ProTools digital mixing system.

A ‘research-one’ university

Irrespective of the hardware, Jacobson also sees the very nature of community as integral to the success of fledgling filmmakers.

Case in point, the upcoming film “CSA,” for which Jacobson was hired as cinematographer. The picture is the brainchild of fellow KU film instructor Kevin Willmott, who’s established a national reputation through his co-writing of the NBC miniseries “The ’70s.” Much of the intricacies of making the new faux documentary involved the university’s facilities.

“‘CSA’ is a look at an alternate history that would have resulted if the South had won the Civil War,” Jacobson described. “But it’s really about our history. It’s about the choices that led to where we are today.

“One of the things that’s really exciting about ‘CSA’ is that the University of Kansas prides itself on being a research-one university. Everyone who is there, who is either tenured or on tenure track, is supposed to be doing research activity. When you’re a (film/video) production instructor, what that means is instead of research we do production. We’re teaching classes where we’re telling students, ‘Go out there and make movies.'”

That message is apparently being heard loud and clear by students. A number of students are composing feature films. Additionally, there are many graduates who have returned to the community in order to shoot projects here, leading to indie productions of national releases such as “Roads and Bridges,” “The Good Things” and “The Picture.”

“Technology now exists for you to make a movie here,” Jacobson said. “You don’t have to go to Hollywood. You don’t have to go to New York. There are hundreds of subjects that are here in the Midwest.”