University of Virginia Library

Film For The Future

By JEFFREY RUGGLES

It's something which has
occurred at many schools. In
films presented each week,
number of students studying
cinema, and the general
sophistication of the
community in regard to
movies, the past few years have
seen remarkable growth at the
University. And at the same
time as the expansion in
movie-viewing, there's been
numerically smaller but still
significant movement towards
film-making.

The Film Production Union
was established two years ago,
to aid those in the University
community who have the
interest, but not the resources,
to make films. It is notable
that while there is equipment
within the University, it's not
very accessible. The Athletic
Department has a high quality
Arriflex 16mm movie camera,
and shoots as much footage at
one football game as all the
student filmmakers put
together shoot in a
semester–but use their
equipment? Not a chance! The
Medical-School and
Radio-Television in Cabell Hall
also have facilities, but again
it's for in-house use. The
Humanities Department of the
Engineering School does have
equipment which can be used,
but it's limited pretty much to
8mm; a fine medium, but for
public presentation 16mm
remains the smallest practical
film size.

The situation comes down
to this: if you're ambitious at
all about your flimmaking, in
the sense of wanting to spend
time on a quality product to be
seen by any kind of public at
all, you're out in the cold
unless you've got a few
hundred dollars (or thousand)
to spend; and most of us don't.
One of the goals of the Union
has been to reduce the
exclusiveness of larger
production, by providing
equipment, organization, and
acting as a clearinghouse of
information; what funds are
available, technical advice, and
people who can help.

Last week the Union was
awarded money by Student
Council to make a film about
the future of the University.
Though individuals within the
Union have made films, this
will mark the first project of
the Union as a whole. It will be
an important step for
production at the University,
or at least the Union hopes it
will be. The idea is that an
organization will be
constructed to produce the
film, on an ad hoc basis; but
that afterwards, the structure
will remain to form the nucleus
for regular film production on
a larger scale than would be
possible by individual
filmmakers. Though the Union
is now homeless, there are
indications that there will be
space in the new Fine Arts
building, and it's likely that in
the future film-making will be
added to the curriculum. If a

student-centered organization
could be formed and remain
strong enough to avoid being
swallowed by the University's
programs, it could provide a
badly needed conduit for
inexperienced people to work
in minor roles in production,
gain the experience, and then
produce their own films. The
organization would be in a
good position to do video
work, and could be a strong
student voice on many issues as
well.

For the production about
the future of the University,
there will be an organizational
meeting tonight, at 7:30 p.m.
in Wilson 215. In order to
properly research the subject, a
large script committee is
needed, to conduct interviews,
peruse reports, etc., so all with
an interest in writing for the
silver screen are welcome. In
addition, production
committees will be set to
survey equipment requirements
and availability. In addition,
the Union has Super 8
equipment which can be
borrowed by qualified persons
(you must be a member, with a
minimum of expertise); come
to the meeting to make
arrangements.