The Film Production Class is a two-year, non-transferring credit in College
Publications (JOU 1111, JOU 1121, JOU 2111, and JOU 2121). Students
finish the program with a resume of 10-25 professional film shoots and
learn numerous film-crew responsibilities. The class includes 2 hours of
lecture each week accompanied by 2 to 8 hours of hands-on laboratory
time per week.
MORE INFORMATION INSIDE
Hold the mouse button down and drag from the corners to turn the pages.
Landon Skipper adjusts his cameraon the Simon’s Friends shoot. In 2010-2011, Skipper and fellow stu -dent Blake Bush competed for and won the class film project, produc -ing their film, Heroes of the Round, now available on Amazon.com.
Pearl River
Community College
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Pearl River
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Careers in the film industry range from operating a camera to design
-ing sets. On each PRCC set, you will see professionals-in-training doing their job in coordination with other professionals-in-training. The photo at left shows HPN! Produc
-tions makeup artist Lynette Shorba “spritzing” an actor on the “Good Enough” set. Every shoot employs the highest standards of movie-making professionalism . This al
-lows students to learn to become film professionals who practice elevated production values. Film
-making is not just an art, it is a craft that must be repeatedly practiced to be perfected.
Film Industry Jobs
This is a partial listing of job types that are available on many productions. This is only a
partial listing of the job types to select from. The available jobs depend on the type of
pro-duction and can include positions as varied as jobs from the construction trades,
transpor-tation, food industry, as well as jobs involving high-level computer skills, artists, musicians,
and many more.
Casting Unit Production Manager-1st Assistant 2nd Assistant Director-Script Supervisor-Key Production Assistant-Production Accountant-Location
Manager-Publicist-Art Director-Production Designer-Publicity Designer-Key Makeup Person-Key Hairdresser-Costumer Designer-Set Hairdresser-Costumer-Property Manager-Set Decorator-Director of
Photography-Camera Operator-1st Assistant Photography-Cameraperson-2nd Assistant Photography-Cameraperson-Film Loader-Continuity Stills Photographer-Production Stills Photographer-Documentary
Videographer-Mixer/Recordist-Boom Operators-Sound Assistant-Key Grip-Best Boy Grip-Set Ops Grips-Dolly Grip-Construction Foreman-Construction Grips-Gaffer-Best-Boy
Electric-Editor-Assistant Editor-Lead Compositor/Visual Effects Supervisor-Compositors-Sound Designer-Composer-Mixing Engineer-Foley Artist-Literary Agent-Executive Producer-Show
Runner-Teleplay/Screenplay Writer-Director-Producer-Associate Producer/Production-Associate Producer/Post-Production Coordinator-Set Designer-Construction Coordinator
Many skills in the cosmotology field are employed in the televi -sion and film industries. Hair stylests, makeup artists, costum-ers, and other related jobs are found on most any set.
Explore your possibilities
College Publications
Film Production
(JOU 1111, JOU 1121, JOU 2111, JOU 2121)
PRCC’s Film Production class is a two-year, non-transferring class designed to prepare the student for work in the film industry. The class primarily offers the student hands-on experience working on professional sets as crew members in the
Healthy People Now! program, in PRCC commercials, PSAs and other college re
-lated film productions, and in class films and projects.
The class consists of a 2-hour lec
-ture held each week plus 2 hours to 8 hours of laboratory time per week. The laboratory time is usually on a Saturday. For all this, the student will earn 1 credit hour per semester.
Even though the credit DOES NOT TRANSFER to a four-year college or univer
-sity, the class goes a long way toward pre
-paring the student to excell at an accredit
-ed film school. Also, the productions that the student works on are eligible for inclu
-sion in the student’s resume. (The number of productions a crew member works on largely determines whether the person will be hired on a professional set.)
During the freshman and sophomore years, the student will be expected to work in every crew position at least one time.
The student will also be expected to produce several films on his/her own, including: a shot types film demonstrating the different types of shots employed in filmmaking, a 3-10 minute black and white silent film demonstrating the student’s ability to tell a story using only the art of cinema, and a class film and class project which will be completed each year by both freshman and sophomore classes.
The cast of On the Run enjoy a brief break in filming. In front is Jada Rau, who played the angry Jade. Behind Jada are (from left) Amelia Andersson, Dalton Mitchell, and Wesley O’Mary. Even though the shoot was outdoors and the weather was cold, no one complained. Why? We were having too much fun to notice the cold!
(Below) Dalton Zachary Mitchell, Logan Halliburton, Hailey Laird, and Chesney Mitchell on the Left Alone set.
Each shoot begins with the pre-production meeting at 8 a.m. on the scheduled Saturday. This is where final assingments are announced (above). Setting up and tearing down is a shared experience where everyone gets a chance to be involved (below). Brandon Hudson, one of the actors from Taylor’s Requiem, test drives the Sony high-definition camera (right).
Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs)
What can I expect to learn from the class?
You can expect to learn the basic formula for writing, staging, directing and producing (filming) a project from concept to finished product.
How will this class help me find work in film?
You will learn the nomenclature of a film set. You will learn to operate basic equipment. You will work on professional sets in a professional environment. You will understand the process by which a film or television production goes from concept to fin -ished product. With these experiences you will be able to perform satisfactorily on a professional set, assuring your hiring on future productions.
Can I get the same experience without going to film school but just going out and finding a job on a film set?
That largly depends on you. Many persons can find work because they know someone in the industry, or because they’ve met some -one with some “pull,” they can get hired for a basic position. This person must learn very quickly and can not afford to make mis -takes that will cost the production time or money. The chance of success for a person with no prior knowledge is questionable. By spending 2 years learning the “basics” of filmmaking, you will have a much better chance of getting hired now and later.
What will I learn in the classroom?
The class environment will familiarize you with nomenclature (the language of the industry) and technique (the “how-to” of working in film or television). You will also learn film history, different film types, lighting, script writing, different types of jobs on a produc -tion crew and much more.
Will I learn anything about what happens to a film after it is shot?
After filming, post-production (editing, foley, sound, etc.) begins. Post may not be where you want to go with your career, but it will be useful to know the ins and outs of a post-production studio. During the time you learn about post production, you will learn ba -sic editing and compositing.
I’m not a writer. Why do I have to learn how to write a script?
When a contractor builds a house, the first thing he does is draw up a set of house plans. Without plans, the house is doomed to failure. The same is true on a film set. Without a good script, it is impossible to consistently produce good films. The script is the fil
-maker’s blueprints for the film. Unless you know the correct format a film script or an audio-video script uses, you will not be able to effectively work on any production set.
What textbook will we use?
Textbooks are listed in the syllabi.
Will I be expected to function in other roles on the set?
Occasionally, you will be asked to perform as extras or, in some cases, as actors on a class or Healthy People Now! production.
Am I guaranteed a job when I complete the class?
With as many variables as you will find in film, you will find no school or class that will guarantee you a job in the industry after graduation. What you do with what you learn will depend largely on your drive and determination to make a way for yourself. Television and Film jobs are very desirable. Many more people than just you are interested in securing a job in this field. You will find competi -tion will be very stiff, but if you do your job and do it better than everyone else, if you know more than the next guy about your job position, if you give more than you are asked to give, and if you build a reputation as someone easy to work with and easy to get along with, you will secure a place for yourself in the industry.
Each shoot begins with the pre-production meeting at 8 a.m. on the scheduled Saturday. This is where final assingments are announced (above). Setting up and tearing down is a shared experience where everyone gets a chance to be involved (below). Brandon Hudson, one of the actors from Taylor’s Requiem, test drives the Sony high-definition camera (right).
More than nine years ago, Lindsay Loustalot, Nursing and Wellness Coordinator, and Ronn Hague, Digital Me
-dia Coordinator, began taping short health-awareness messages. Associate Degree Nursing students devel
-oped a subject, wrote a script, and acted in these 3-5 minute videos. They were amaturish at best, but Loust
-alot and Hague saw potential and began seeking fund
-ing for better equipment and a distribution system to get the DVDs out to the surrounding K-12 schools. In 2008, the team won a grant from the Lower Pearl River Valley Foundation to provide enhanced equipment and distribution to the K-12 schools in Hancock and Pearl River counties. The theme was psycho-social disorders that were a result of the all-too-recent Hurricane Ka
-trina.
As a part of the overall plan, a film class under the auspices of the state-approved College Publications credit was initiated and approved by college officials. The first class was convened in Fall 2008, casting calls were held, and the first of the new Healthy People Now! films were shot. At the end of 2009, the team had successfully filmed 12 films for distribution to the K-12 schools in two hurricane ravaged counties.
The casting calls the team held yielded numerous talented ac
-tors, some who already had experience in films. In late August, 2008, the team held its first of many casting calls, garnering a very talent
-ed troupe of thespians. Over the past years, the production team, cast and crew have filmed more than 40 productions.
These productions have already proved to be successful in Hancock and Pearl River County K-12 schools. The program operates on the premise that the goal is not to try to fix anyone, but the goal is to dis
-cover at-risk students.
As with all programs, when times change, the program must evolve or become obsolete. Healthy Peo
-ple Now! evolved into a new delivery system in 2013. The initial youtube site the program used to allow the young actors to watch their recent work began seeing an extreme increase in views. Without once promoting the site, it was reaching children who were turning to the Internet to find help for their problems. With al
-most 16,000 views, the online help was already reach
-ing more at-risk pre-teens and teens than the program did in the three years it was in place in classrooms. This prompted Healthy People Now! to turn to the world wide web, reaching a much larger and more diverse au
(Left page, top to bottom) The crew readies for close ups of an actor on
the On the Run shoot; Sean Beck assembles the Sony high definition camera for the shoot Bad; The di
-rector checks the framing of an overhead boom shot on the Gamer’s Paradise set; Landon Skipper blocks a camera shot on the Simon’s Friends set. (Right page, clockwise from top right) (left to right) Seth Smith, Logan Halliburton, and Jay Kramer, actors for Gamer’s Para
-dise; (left to right) Omar Ware, No
-lan Lee, and Julian Riddler discuss their options on Shoot Him Again;
actors Logan Baranowski and Gavin Brooks await the action call on Si-mon’s Friends; (bottom right) Dean Shorba checks sound levels on the same shoot; (bottom left) makeup artist Lynette Shorba works on Jay Kramer’s makeup; crew members Landon Skipper (camera operator) and first AC Blake Bush collaborate on the camera’s positioning (below).
Equipment and Facilities
Pearl River Community College Television and Film Productions owns and operates a well-equipped production facility with state-of-the-art high definition video and sound equipment. This equipment is housed in two buildings on the Poplarville campus.
PRCC Soundstage
The college recently provided PRCC Television and Film Productions with a large building on the north end of the Dobie Holden Stadium complex. The facility is approximately 2,000 square feet of usable space. The staging area houses a fixed set of walls and several wild walls. The facility also contains approximately 30 feet of greenscreened wall. The facility also has a dressing area and storage for production equipment.
PRCC Post Production Studio
The Post Studio is located in the new Public Relations office building between the Brownstone Center and White sports arena on the Poplarville campus. The class uses the latest Adobe Premiere Pro and Avid Media as the primary editing programs. The editing bay is available for student use. The post studio also offers a sound studio with a vocal booth for ADR, voiceover and foley work.
PRCC Television and Film Productions Offices
The instructor’s office is also located in the Public Relations office building. This space also provides multiple computers for student use.
Cameras
1 Sony HVR-V1U High Definition Camera 2 Canon XH A1 High Definition Camera 1 Canon EOS 60D DSLR High Definition Camera
1 Canon Rebel T5i and T3i
1 GoPro Hero 3 Black and attachments
1 Sony VSX-2000 Standard Definition Camera
Camera Lens
Numerous Canon, Kiron, Minolta,
Pentax, and Olympus 35mm lenses with Canon adapters
Sony f/HVR-V1U/REG Wide Conversion Lens Canon 0.8X Wide Angle Converter Lens
Camera Data Storage
Sony HVR-DR60 High Definition Digital Hard Drive Canon FSC-HD60 Hard Disk Recorder
Camera Mounts
Bogen Manfrotto 0X55XDB Tripod with 503HDV Pro Fluid Head
Bogen Manfrotto 3190 Pro Cine Tripod with 100mm ball and 503HDV Pro Fluid Head Bogen Fig Rig Hand-held unit
Jony Jib 9’ Jib Crane
PRCC Ladder Dolly (built by PRCC Machine Shop Technology Program) PRCC Heavy Duty Dolly (built by PRCC Machine Shop Technology Program)
Sound Recording Studio and Vocal Booth
Atlas over-the-shoulder camera support Home built fly-cam
Rails with monitor mount and focus puller
Camera Monitors
Sharp 32” 1080p High Definition Monitor Sharp 19” 16X9 Monitor
Delvcam 7” 16X9 Color LCD Monitor
Sound Equipment
Tascam DDR-60 16 8-channel field recorder FOSTEX MR-8D 8 Track Portable digital recorder Audio-Technica AT-897 Shotgun Microphone K-Tek 7’6” Boom Pole
Sennheiser HD280S Circumaural Headphones (2) Sennheiser EW122P G2 Lavaliere Microphones (4) AKG Perception 200 Studio Condenser Microphones (2)
(The class also owns all appropriate stands, mounts, windscreens, pop filters, cables etc.)
Lighting:
Sunpak Fluorescent light panels w/5600K bulbs (3) KinoFlo Diva Fluorescent light panels w/5600K bulbs (2) Interfit Soft-Box lights w/5600K bulbs (2)
Interfit Mon-Star light w/5600K bulbs (1) Various fixed fluorescent (5600K) lighting 1KW LED (5600K) lighting (1)
Battery operated portable LED (5600K) lighting (3)
(The class also owns all appropriate stands, mounts, cables, reflectors, bounce cards, gels and flags)
Soundstage - Set 1
Soundstage - Looking toward back
Application Information
Because of limited equipment, we must cap the number of students we admit. To apply for the film production class, you must fill out an application.
You may may apply online by clicking on the APPLICATION link on the production class main page.
It would be to your advantage to send a letter of recommendation from an instructor or teach
-er, a brief biography stating why you would like to be admitted to the class, and include a resume with any projects you have worked on, whether your project or someone else’s project. If you have filmed anything yourself, you may include a copy in any format on a data disk or link us to it. Send your application along with any letters of recommendation and, if you have one, your bio/resume/reel to:
Ronn Hague
Pearl River Community College 101 Highway 11 North
Poplarville, MS 39470
For additional information call: 601-403-1316 or email [email protected]
Intern Program for High School Students
The film productions class offers a special oppor
-tunity for high school students (grades 9-12) to intern on professional Healthy People Now! sets.
To qualify, the student must attend one of sev
-eral Intern Workshops held throughout the year. These workshops will school the student in the correct method of handling and securing cables, how to mike an actor, how to handle a boom pole microphone, how to put up and take down set lighting, a brief lecture on set nomen
-clature, and following safety procedures employed on
Healthy People Now! sets.
After the student successfully completes the workshop, he or she will be invited to work on future shoots.
PRCC film usually contacts district schools and speaks with teachers associated with film arts classes or equivalent classes or programs. Teachers may con
-tact us if they wish to set up an in-school workshop for which representatives of PRCC’s Film class comes to a host school and presents the workshop. Teachers are also encouraged to bring their classes and visit our facili
-ties. We have a full-functioning soundstage with a green
-screen wall and other production facilities and equipment. For more information about the program, use the contact information below.
Be sure to watch the class reel on
the PRCC Film Production main page
When we say “production value,” exactly what do we mean? Production value is another way of saying “movie quality.” If a film has good production value, that means the director, producers, and crew have done their very best to maintain the highest quality in all elements that go into mak
-ing a motion picture, some of those elements be-ing picture quality, light-ing, photographic artistry, sound, acting, music, and editing.
The film production classes at Pearl River Community College are always reaching for higher production values, as exemplified in the film reel (link on the main page). You will notice that the dia
-log is never under the music, the speech is always understandable, the picture is always compelling, the lighting is always professional, the shot framing is always seeking to add more information...the list goes on.
Why do we think production value is so important? We think a production worth doing is worth doing the very best we are capable of doing. This is what separates the excellent movie from the good movie. This is why people prefer one music video over another. This is what makes a great commercial something that lives on in the minds of people long after its run.
The successful producers are geared toward accepting nothing but the very best. For this rea
-son, the successful producers are going to look for and hire only the crew members who always do their job with excellence.
