Jake Simpson doing great work

I didn’t know how to otherwise title this post but Cinema student Jake Simpson has been working on a lot of projects recently to really hone his craft.

As I will tell any of our students, if you are interested in the production side of film, then you really need to get out there and do some real-world work, which is why the new Cinema AFA degree will offer both an internship component but also a portfolio so you can highlight your work, making you more marketable in the film industry and more desirable as a transfer student.

And I am really proud of so many of my students who continue to work in the field and make their dreams come true and Jake is the most recent example with his excellent cinematography on a new feature-length film still in principal photography: “Talons of the Phoenix.”

I do not know the plot of the film except it is a period piece set in WWII but based on Jake’s excellent work, it will be a film we will surely profile and push when it is launched to the public.  In the meantime, check out these wonderful screen grabs and you can already get the emotion of the film, as well as, Jake’s emerging film style:

Great looking shots!

Hopefully we will speak more to Jake in the future and find out more about this production and all the hard work being put into the production by the entire cast and crew.  All my best to all of them.

In addition, a big congratulations to Jake on his recent nomination for best cinematography at the Hollywood Dreams Film Festival in Las Vegas.

Now, if we can get all these talented students working together, there is no end to what they can accomplish.

New equipment awaits our first Cinema degree seekers

The new updated college catalog references the new AFA in Cinema (though it does state “pending” until we get final approval through state accredidation).  With the launch of this new degree, we are also putting some new resources into supporting it, which means some new equipment has been added.

Though we love our RED Epic camera, we also now have a Sony FS7 camera (with lens) for the class to gain exposure (bad pun) on a second cinema camera.

Sony is one of the companies I like and trust almost as well as RED.  In addition, when I took a class of film students on a trip to DC Camera rental house in Fairfax less than two years ago, one of the items we previewed was the FS7 and the students really wanted one – so, I listened.

Speaking of what the students want, I have also heard a lot of chatter about more movement in their productions so we added some nice dolly track and centipede wheels to our already impressive Matthews Round D Round dolly (for that uneven ground), as well as, we now have a Ronin-M gimbal for some fluid and smooth movement (just please don’t overdo it).

And for use with the Ronin-M, we also added a Canon C100 (mark ii) and two new zoom lenses.

Again, we want you to have the best experience possible as a film student at NOVA Woodbridge.

Let us know if you have any questions.

cstallings@nvcc.edu or babrown@nvcc.edu

Please note the class change

Things are about to get very exciting for the fall and it is time to get registered now.  We are trying to finalize a lot of fun upcoming events and projects.  Huge projects like studying with Academy award winning filmmakers and training on pitching to Hollywood executive producers.

There is a lot going on but I do not want to ruin the surprises just yet.  However, we are getting very close to our final approvals of the AFA (Associates of Fine Arts) degree in Cinema.  Coming this fall semester!

Please note that on the Woodbridge campus, the production classes Video I and Video II are moving from Photography to Arts so please enroll in ART 160 (Film Production I) and let’s get this started.

A Cinema Degree Could Be Coming in Fall 2017

Cameron Pierson Rocks Out

Cameron Pierson Rocks Out

 

Just found this still the other day from the spring music video shoot and thought i would throw it on this post to give it some visual pop.

The exciting news (and the reason there have not been many posts recently – lots of time-consuming work was done) is we passed an AFA in Cinema through Curriculum Committee yesterday afternoon by an unanimous vote.

Though the degree is not completely passed, as there are many more obstacles to come, such as the State college system and accreditation boards but this was a major one and should be celebrated by everyone as this will be a great step forward for our students interested in all things cinema.

Thank you very much to my partners in this, professors Bryan Brown (of Woodbridge campus) and Lucy Gebre-Egziabher (of Alexandria campus).  If things stay on course (no pun intended), students can come to the college in Fall 2017 and earn a degree in Cinema!

So get a head start in the spring semester and take some film classes.  If you have questions, ask me now: cstallings@nvcc.edu

Finally, a new post and new videos

Okay, it has been a busy summer and we did not have a chance to get anything posted during that time.  However, with a new semester comes new news.  We are feverishly working on a new cinema degree (Associates of Fine Arts) to begin in the fall of 2017.  Finally, students will be able to attend NOVA and get a degree in what they love – film!

We will keep you updated on the progress but we are moving in the right direction.

Also, we had three projects our students were working on in the spring and we are finally starting to see them come online…

The students completed a short film based on a screenplay from a writer in London.  Check it out here and in the “Videos” page of this blog:

Also, the students did a commercial for Hometowne Auto & Tire.  If you visit their Facebook page, you can see it posted there (and I encourage you to do so and watch all their other exciting content – they are a wonderful company built on the platform of excellent customer service); but, here is also a direct link to their Youtube posting of the video:

And, finally, the students completed a music video for exciting up and coming artist Cameron Pierson of Ohio, who is signed to local record label Potomac Records.  The song and video will be officially released on October 4th, so you will have to come back then for its premiere.

Woodbridge Film Program Visits Woodbridge High School

Woodbridge High Visit

 

 

WHS Visit

05/05/15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan Balsamo (pictured above) and Chris Stallings had the pleasure of visiting students at Woodbridge High School and discussing some aspects of the film program at the Woodbridge campus of NOVA.

You can see the RED Epic camera pictured here in the photo.  Students can learn to work on this cinema camera.

For a sampling of some of the classes offered here on campus, please refer to the “About” section of this blog site.  In addition, please feel free to contact Chris Stallings (cstallings@nvcc.edu) with any further questions about what is offered.

NOVA Woodbridge Film Program 2014 Promo Video

Here is our promotional video from September’s film shoot.

We tried to give it a Film Noir feeling and actually added grain to the final grading and converted it to black and white to stay with the era.

(Watch it in HD if the settings do not default to it)

Spring class registration starts next week, so I hope potential students will be interested in our classes here at Woodbridge.