Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is one of ten schools constituting Chapman University, located in Orange, California, 40 miles south of Los Angeles. The school offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, with programs in film production, screenwriting, creative producing, news and documentary, public relations and advertising, digital arts, film studies, television writing and producing, and screen acting.
Dodge College has approximately 1,465 students: 1,209 in the undergraduate program and 256 in the graduate program.
History
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The School of Film and Television was created in 1996 with Robert Bassett as the founding dean. The school occupied a building on main campus named for legendary filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, in honor of support by CeCe Presley, DeMille’s granddaughter. Dean Bassett subsequently led a campaign that ultimately raised $52-million to build and equip a new building. A transforming gift of $20-million from Lawrence and Kristina Dodge led to the naming of Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, housed in Marion Knott Studios, named for philanthropist Marion Knott, who made a major gift to the project and has been a long-time supporter of the film program at Chapman.
Facilities
The school is housed within three buildings in Orange, CA.
Marion Knott Studios, a 76,000-square-foot building designed to replicate a working production studio. Open 24/7 to students, Marion Knott Studios includes the following:
- 2 sound stages (2500 and 5000 sq. ft.)
- Cinematography and Directing insert stage
- Television and Broadcast Journalism Hi-Def stage and control room
- Foley stage
- Locker rooms, hair/makeup studio, green room
- 2 Audition Rooms
- Set Design shop
- Production Design studio
- Production Management Office with Computers, Phones, Fax, Printers, and Meeting Space
- 2 computer labs
- 36 individual editing suites
- 4 mixing studios
- Spirit 4K Datacine
- 500-seat Folino Theater with film and digital projection as well as Dolby Digital surround sound
The Digital Media Arts Center (DMAC), an 18,000 square-foot building for the Digital Arts - Animation and Visual Effects programs, opened for classes in the fall of 2014. The DMAC is a working, industry-standard studio that rivals those of Pixar, Disney, Microsoft, and Google. It combines “hang-out spaces†that include a coffee bar, relaxed indoor lounge and large patio with picnic tables, with flexible classrooms and laboratories that provide Dodge College students with access to the very latest technology so that they are well-prepared to work as professionals on Hollywood’s most technically sophisticated projects. It includes:
- A 32-workstation dual monitor digital arts computer lab with 22â€HD cintiq drawing surface and ergotron extension arm.
- A 25-workstation digital arts computer lab with 22â€HD cintiq drawing surface and ergotron extension arm with 2d animation light-box drawing station.
- 10 private digital arts suites complete with 42†plasma preview monitor, large-format scanners, and 2d animation down-shooters for traditional hand-drawn animation.
- Natural sky-lit art studio, complete with 25 wood-bench stations for still art drawing or painting.
- Screening room with tiered seating and a 4k stereoscopic projection system with a Fuse DCP projection system.
- Multiple laptop bars and student lounge area, complete with full size couches and recliners.
- 1,500-square-foot directing stage, complete with 2k projection and ceiling grid lighting.
- Complete grab-and-go food service area.
- Outdoor patio with tables and seating.
- Flexclassroom with transforming tables.
- A full 65 blade render farm powered by both Quanta and IBM xeon-based computers. The render farm is located offsite at Marion Knott next door, but is tied into each and every station in the DMAC.
Chapman Studios West is a 38,000-square-foot building that supports Dodge College’s documentary filmmaking program in the Dhont Documentary Center. It includes:
- 900-sq.ft. screening room with seating for 50
- 2,000-sq.ft. cinematography stage
- 6,000-sq.ft. scene shop with cutting-edge equipment including a Computer Numerical Control or CNC Machine that cuts material through computer input
- 7,000-sq.ft. props/set warehouse that includes 18,000 individual props inherited from Laguna Playhouse available to check-out for student productions
- 2 Editing Suites
- 1 Sound Mixing/Color Correction Finishing Suite
- Conference Room
- Student lounge
Programs
Undergraduate
Film
- B.F.A. Creative Producing
- B.F.A. Film Production
- B.A. Film Studies
- B.F.A. Screenwriting
- B.F.A. Screen Acting
- B.F.A. Television Writing and Production
Media Arts
- B.A. Public Relations and Advertising
- B.F.A. Digital Arts - Animation and Visual Effects
- B.F.A. Broadcast Journalism and Documentary
Graduate Conservatory
- M.A. Film Studies
- M.F.A. Film Production
- M.F.A. Film and Television Producing
- M.F.A. Production Design
- M.F.A. Screenwriting
- M.B.A./M.F.A. Film and TV Producing
- M.F.A. Documentary Filmmaking
Joint degrees
- J.D./M.F.A. Film and TV Producing (with Chapman University School of Law)
- M.B.A./M.F.A Film and TV Producing (with Argyros School of Business and Economics)
Minors offered in Dodge College include Film Studies, Broadcast Journalism, Television, Advertising, Public Relations, Visual Effects, Production Design for Film, and Documentary Film.
The Summer Film Academy offers two-week courses to students entering their junior or senior year in high school, which "serves as an introduction to basic narrative and production techniques in film."
Faculty
The combined filmography of the full-time faculty teaching at Dodge College includes more than 500 feature films and includes:
- Scott Arundale, editor (Rambo III, Hairspray)
- John Badham, director (Saturday Night Fever, WarGames, Short Circuit)
- John Chichester, production designer (Cowboys & Aliens, The Book of Eli, Alien: Resurrection)
- Martha Coolidge, director (Rambling Rose, Real Genius, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge)
- Bill Dill, cinematographer (Soul Food, American Playhouse)
- Johnny E. Jensen, A.S.C cinematographer (Lost in Yonkers, Rambling Rose)
- Bill Kroyer, animation director (Tron, FernGully)
- Alex Rose, producer (Norma Rae, Overboard, Frankie and Johnny)
- Paul Seydor, editor (White Men Can't Jump, Tin Cup, Turner and Hooch)
- Dawn Taubin, marketing executive (Harry Potter series, The Matrix, 300, The Dark Knight)
- David Ward, writer/director (The Sting, Sleepless in Seattle, Major League)
Adjunct faculty include:
- Anne Beatts, writer (Saturday Night Live, Murphy Brown)
- Fred Cline, writer/director/storyboard artist (Bebe's Kids, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius)
- Peter Debruge, film critic (Variety)
- Mary Beth Fielder, director/producer (thirtysomething)
- Bill Freiberger, writer/producer (The Simpsons, Drawn Together, The PJs)
- Ron Friedman, writer (G.I. Joe, Gilligan's Island, The Transformers)
- Christine Fugate, director (The Girl Next Door)
- Cyrus Nowrasteh, writer/director (The Path to 9/11)
- Jeff Phillips, writer/director (urFRENZ)
- Michael Phillips; producer (Taxi Driver, The Sting, Close Encounters of the Third Kind)
- Michael Schiffer, producer/screenwriter (Call of Duty, The Peacemaker, Crimson Tide, Lean on Me, Colors, Very Bad Things)
- Tony Spiridakis, director (Queens Logic, The Last Word, If Lucy Fell)
- Jeff Stanzler, writer/director (Sorry, Haters)
- Harry Ufland, producer (The Last Temptation of Christ, Crazy/Beautiful, Snow Falling on Cedars)
- Andrew Wagner, director (Starting Out in the Evening, The Talent Given Us)
Conferences and festivals
Women in Focus
An annual conference celebrating the women who have been successful in the often male dominated film business. Dodge College invites women who work in film as panelists, to show clips of their work and discuss the challenges facing women in the industry. Past panels have included female directors, producers, production designers, editors, cinematographers, studio executives and more:
- Anne Beatts
- Diablo Cody
- Gabriella Cristiani
- Anne Fletcher
- Lesli Linka Glatter
- Catherine Hardwicke
- Felicia D. Henderson
- Nina Jacobson
- Michelle Manning
- Sally Menke
- Nancy Meyers
- Jennifer Yuh Nelson
- Polly Platt
- Maya Rudolph
- Penelope Spheeris
- Laura Ziskin
Sikh Arts & Film Festival (SAFF)
The Sikh Film Festival is an annual three-day festival showcasing a diverse assortment of Sikh-centric films, books, art performance pieces and music and is held at Dodge College. The next festival is scheduled for November 22â€"24, 2013 at Marion Knott Studios.
Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut
Select student films are screened for industry representatives at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) in Los Angeles each fall and in New York each spring. The Leo Freedman Foundation First Cut LA was held at the DGA complex on September 27, 2013 and in New York on March 23, 2013.
UFVA Conference
Dodge College has hosted the University Film and Video Association (UFVA) Conference three times, in 1996, 2006, and 2013.
Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision (CILECT) Conference
Dodge College hosted the CILECT Conference in 2014.
Filmmaker-in-Residence
Each semester, an industry veteran spends 15 weeks at Dodge College screening films and working individually with 10 selected students. Filmmakers-in-Residence have included directors Jonathan Sanger, Randal Kleiser, Richard Benjamin, Tony Bill, William Friedkin, Harold Becker, Carl Franklin, Martha Coolidge, Arthur Hiller, Mark Rydell, Daniel Petrie Sr., John Badham, Peter Medak, Jocelyn Moorhouse, and Betty Thomas; animation director Bill Kroyer; producers Mace Neufeld, Cathleen Summers and David Foster; production designer Polly Platt; editor Bob Jones; writer/directors Dan O'Bannon, David Ward, and Leslie Dixon; and television director Sheldon Epps.
International connections
- A scholarship program enables students to travel to various countries to create documentaries about NGOs; students have visited Botswana, Cambodia, Cameroon, Ghana and Tanzania
- Students participate in an exchange program with the Seoul Institute of the Arts and Dongseo University in Korea, the Graduate Institute of Filmmaking of Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan, and Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore
- Chapman is one of 14 U.S. colleges and universities elected to membership in the Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision (CILECT), the preeminent international body of film schools
- Chapman offered a B.F.A. degree in Creative Producing in Singapore, in partnership with the School of Film and Media Studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, however, that partnership has since ended.
Notable alumni
- Mike Bernstein, director (Saturday Night Live)
- Jason Michael Brescia, writer/director (The Newest Pledge)
- Darren Bunkley, producer (The Amazing Race), winner (64th Primetime Emmy Awards), nominated (65th Primetime Emmy Awards), winner (66th Primetime Emmy Awards)
- Mark Hammer, writer (You'll Be The Death of Me)
- Andrew Knauer, writer (The Last Stand)
- Travis Knox, producer (The Bucket List)
- Chris Marrs Piliero, winner, VMA Music Award
- Michael Pruss, senior VP of Production for Scott Free Productions
- Michael Mohan, director (Save the Date)
- Olatunde Osunsanmi, director (The Fourth Kind)
- Scott Spear, director (Step Up Revolution)
- Ben York Jones, writer (Like Crazy)
- Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, creators (Stranger Things)
- Harshvardhan Kapoor, actor (Mirzya),(Bhavesh Joshi)
- Justin Simien, creator (Dear White People)
Chapman Filmed Entertainment
- In March 2011, Dean Robert Bassett created Chapman Filmed Entertainment, a film production and distribution company. Composed of industry veterans, advisors, and Chapman faculty, Chapman Entertainment will produce five to ten pictures per year in the micro-budget range (budgets range in the $250,000-$625,000 range). The company's first film, The Barber, was released in 2014. A character-driven thriller, The Barber examines two men fixated on what triggers the enormity of evil: a father whose life is destroyed in pursuit of a killer, a son caught in a deadly charade as he tries to unravel his father’s obsession. The film stars Scott Glenn (The Silence of the Lambs, The Bourne Ultimatum, Training Day), Stephen Tobolowsky (Memento, Groundhog Day, Buried) and Chris Coy (Random, Greenberg, Hostel: Part III).
References
External links
- Chapman University: Dodge College Website
- Chapman University â€" official website
- Chapman Filmed Entertainment - official website
- Like Dodge College on Facebook
- Follow Dodge College on Twitter
- Official Vimeo Channel
- The Hollywood Reporter Profile