Gary Bulkin and Mark Sisson take the silver-screen dreams of their students seriously – so much so that they bring them to a place where their films might be made some day.
Southwestern College Film, Television and Media Arts program is the only college that has the opportunity to go on an executive tour at Sony Entertainment Studios. Both full time professors said they worked to get this opportunity for prospective film students so they can have a more in depth view of various careers within the film industry.
FTMA also explores communications, film analysis and even some history of the industry. The program’s main purpose is to prepare students for their actual career, and is a part of SWC’s Career Education Program.
Students create their own films and present them at film festivals during their time with the CE program. This means a majority of the students can say they’ve directed a film by the time they graduate. They also gain valuable experience working on their classmate’s production.
“There’s a lot of camaraderie in our department,” Bulkin said. “It’s the same people helping each other with the films and you can see it.”
Bulkin takes 20-30 of his film students on a Career Day trip every semester to Sony Pictures and Disney Studios. It’s the most anticipated trip of the semester and a chance to show students that there is more to films than just being a director, apart of the production crews or a cameraman. This is a trip that is meant to be educational and eye opening for prospective producers, editors, sound mixers, etc.
Valentina Alonzo, who directed the film Always With You with fellow director Quinton Brown, has been an FTMA student for three years. Alonzo will be graduating with her Associates in FTMA and will be transferring to pursue her dream in film. She said she saw the April 26 trip to Sony as a career building opportunity.
“You get to know more about the people that work there and just the environment itself,” Alonzo said. “It’s a very important trip for me because that’s what I want to do in the future.”
The first stop on the tour was a Q&A with four high-level executives at Sony. They were: Brittany Morrissey, Vice President of Creative Development; Jamie Stevens, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Consumer Production; John Naveria is Executive Vice President for Production, and Tracey Wadmore who is a film editor. The students had these role models all to themselves and could ask as many questions as they wanted.
Maria Fajardo, editor and cinematographer of The Baseball Field, has been in FTMA for two years. She switched majors early in her college experience and said she has been grateful ever since. Fajardo said that she feels at home being apart of the program. Her favorite part of the trip was having the chance to speak to these four people about their journey throughout the industry.
“I feel like they seem unreachable,” Fajardo said. “So just being there and talking to them and them telling us how they were like us once, it’s kinda cool. It’s not that unreachable if you work for it.”
Kevin O’Connell, a sound mixer for Sony, said during a segment of the our that he became an Oscar Winner after 21 nominations over the span of his career. O’Connell worked on many movies including Hacksaw Ridge and Venom. He showed FTMA a sample of him layering the sound effects for an action scene from Venom.
He explained that the detail behind the sound effects were extremely tedious. O’Connell even showed the students what the scene sounded like with just the footsteps being recorded, or just the actors speaking. He also informed everyone that the sounds being used in the scenes are not actual sounds, but only sound effect. They are all made up.
To end the tour on a fun note, FTMA had the opportunity to watch Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse in an underground mini-theater.
Both Bulkin and Sisson used their industry connections to get the executive tours. They want to ensure that his students get a full 360 view of the whole industry and what it offers.
“[Bulkin and Sisson] are really good to work with.” Fajardo said. “They’re open to all ideas. There is no idea that is shut down by them. They let you explore and expand your mind.”
Robbie Elvester, co-writer/actor of Making The Cut, has been an FTMA student for less than a year now. He said that he has enjoyed being apart of the program, and said the professors are very helpful.
“Bulkin is very open to the whole process,” Elvester said. “If you have any questions, he’s more than happy to take you into his office and really just talk it through.”
Bulkin said he plans on adding a second trip to the class schedule.
Bulkin also wants to make the film festivals a bigger event on campus. His ultimate goal is to have FTMA film festivals hosted in the Mayan Hall and have every seat taken in that theater.
“Our students are talented,” Bulkin said. “I know if I guide the program a certain way and give it a focus and a goal, then that could be appreciated at a higher level, and more students could be recognized.”
