Dodge College students approved to resume production

Student productions are authorized to take place in person after Feb. 19 and under supervision of COVID-19 compliance officers and strict safety guidelines. Photo courtesy of Jacque Rabie

Lights, camera … power outage? 

During his time as a student at the American Film Institute, Stephen Galloway, the dean of Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, said his student production experience was a “nightmare.” A transmission tower had fallen and created an electrical field around his set, rendering the work zone hazardous and their equipment useless. Since then, Galloway has learned the lesson to allow an extra day of reshooting — all part of the process for student filmmakers. 

Well, student filmmakers at Dodge College will once again have the chance to learn lessons similar to Galloway’s, as student productions could resume filming Feb. 19, contingent upon strict COVID-19 guidelines. Students must wear two masks, consistently wash their hands, sanitize, maintain social distancing and be accompanied by a COVID-19 Compliance Officer (C19CO) on set to ensure these guidelines are followed. 

“On the spectrum of risk, I want to be as safe as realistically possible, which is why we suspended production early on,” Galloway said. “This is very tentative. If the numbers go up again, we simply won't shoot, but now we’re going to do everything (we can) to make that possible.” 

In addition to these safety guidelines, Chapman will be monitoring the numbers of COVID-19 cases in Orange County, the available number of hospital beds for all potential accidents, and the locations of where students are living in order to make future judgements about productions.

“We’re positive we can be just as safe as they are in the industry,” said David Kost, a film production professor. “I personally believe that a student is safer on a student film set than they are eating outdoors in Orange County because of our safety protocols.” 

Matt Stoner, founder of Foxstone Entertainment and a 2013 Chapman alumnus, was recently certified as a C19CO. He manages everything from social distance practicing to the individual snack packs provided by caterers. Despite tedious requirements, Stoner claims he likes the new pandemic-influenced production processes better than the previous. 

“It forces you to plan your sets out ahead of time,” Stoner said. “Everything is planned to a ‘T,’ from the financials to what you’re doing on a moment to moment basis.  You have to plan for everything going forward.”

Dodge College students originally saw their projects halted March 13, 2020, as the curtain of the COVID-19 pandemic was drawn over any aspirations of completing a student production. Jacque Rabie, a senior film production major at Chapman, had to put plans for his thesis film on pause.

“It was a lot of confusion and fear that something that I wanted to work on … could potentially be squandered,” Rabie said. “Film school is for making films and it's hard to adapt with COVID-19 for the skillsets we want to learn.”

Kost said the only way to retain information about the film industry is to employ it, noting the importance of continuing these student productions. 

“We teach all these lessons and they're all in the abstract until the student actually has to go out and execute these things in the field,” Kost said. “If we’re not doing that, the education is still very much incomplete.”

Taking Kost’s words to heart, Rabie will take advantage of the Feb. 19 start date to begin shooting his senior thesis, a horror-themed film that’s half-computer generated, half-set in a laundromat.

“We were going at half speed with my production, just not knowing what’s going to happen,” Rabie said. “It’s an interesting challenge to have to try to make this tonal horror piece that’s big in scale while trying to stick to guidelines. It’s a balancing act.”

For students uncomfortable with being on set, alternative options are available, including individual shoots, documentaries or preparation work for productions. Stoner assured film production students that no matter their current situation, there’s a lot to be optimistic about moving forward.

“I’ve noticed there’s kind of a content desert (in the industry), but that also means starting March and April, things are going to explode,” Stoner said. “In terms of the professional industry, there’s really great opportunities as long as you’re prepared to play the game.”

Much like Stoner, Galloway echoed to production students to be at ease about their projects.

“There's a misconception that the film you come out with is going to be spotted by Steven Spielberg, who's going to take you under his wing and give you the next Jurassic Park to direct,” Galloway said. “You're here to learn from mistakes. You’re here to learn from the good and the bad.”