Film Studies (BA)

Text on screen: ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN AT LA CIOTAT

Text on screen: Lumiere No. 653

[Footage of the old film Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat plays, in low quality and in black and white.]

Brooke Butler: There's a well-known story in the world of cinema about an early film made by the Lumiere Brothers. Because the concept of film was so new, when "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat" was shown to audiences for the first time, it was said that people ran out of the theater in a frenzy, for fear that the train would not stop and would plow right off the screen.

[The old film fades as new, modern footage appears. A group of people stand in front of a screen that shows the seating of a subway train.]

Text on screen: LIVING st. louis

127 years later, the technological advancements of filmmaking have these students captivated by a train on a screen for much more complex reasons.

Eric Rothenbuhler: This is the first virtual cinema system in the St. Louis area and it's gotta be one of very few in an educational institution anywhere in the country.

[The voice overs end as the group of people discuss in front of the virtual cinema system, speaking to the interviewer. Words are indistinguishable.]

Butler: This virtual cinema system utilizes advanced technology to create any setting or atmosphere and calibrates it to this LED studio wall as a soundstage.

[A close up of the virtual cinema system appears and a student stands in front of it, showing everyone how it works, as the background continually changes.]

Basically, it allows a video to take place in any real or imaginary location.

Rothenbuhler: You can shoot a sunrise scene inside a sound stage all day long. You can shoot a rainy day indoors; you can shoot a sunny day indoors on a rainy day.

Text on screen: Eric Rothenbuhler, Dean, Webster University School of Communications

[A close-up interview shot of Eric Rothenbuhler.]

It gives you complete freedom of production. You can also shoot actors in an imagined environment. You can invent environments and so on.

[A montage of science fiction footage mixed with real filming and behind the scenes footage of “The Mandalorian” and technology shots.]

Butler: A major production to utilize this technology was "The Mandalorian,” in which over 50% of the first season was shot with a virtual cinema system. And while these film and video production majors at Webster University probably won't be creating something as large scale as that, this technology is a recently added feature to the major renovations of the School of Communication's production facilities.

[The footage of technology is replaced with a page from Webster University’s website.]

Text on screen: The Renovated School of Communications

Text on screen: State-of-the-Art Learning Environment

[Butler tours the newly renovated School of Communications with its dean, Rothenbuhler. They walk down one of the new hallways.]

Butler: So when I was in undergrad here, this was... I'm lost right now. I don't even know where we are. The media center was this way... So what's happening here?

Rothenbuhler: So this remodeling was a complete gutting of the building.

[A photo montage of the inner renovations.]

So everything but the exterior envelope was demolished and pulled out and then reconstructed so that it could be purpose-built as a communication and media production facility.

[There is a long photo montage of the inner renovations which, as Eric speaks, changes to photos of the new production facility areas and general Sverdrup building photos.]

Butler: The Sverdrup Building was built in the 1980s before Webster even had a School of Communications. As the field grew exponentially, they built a small TV studio and fashioned classrooms into editing labs, dark rooms, and a media center.

[More before-and-after photos, showing how the facilities have grown, changed and upgraded over time.]

So now through this remodeling process, students no longer have to squeeze into makeshift studios, but have access to more intentional production spaces.

So technology has helped in a lot of ways. It's also raised the question, everyone with a phone is a filmmaker now.

[The photo montages end and change to a close up of Rothenbuhler in an interview, listening to the question.]

Everyone can go on YouTube and learn how to program a game. How has that affected enrollment?

Rothenbuhler: I believe one of the reasons we've seen growth, everybody wants to tell visual stories, and young people have more facility with visual stories than earlier generations did.

[Another photo montage of various stages of film production.]

But you may not be a master storyteller yet. We all speak English, that doesn't make us all bestselling novelists. So we can take those native skills and shape them into professional skills.

[Footage of Rothenbuhler showing and explaining technology used at the School of Communications to Butler. The two people talk back and forth.]

So this is an immersive sound system. There'll be 19 speakers in here. That creates a full 360-degree spherical sound field.

Butler: So all of this, just the process for this room, there's a lot of money in this room is what I'm saying. Do you see the return on investment happening?

Rothenbuhler: Absolutely. The facilities we're providing our students now mimic – they're designed architecturally and technically to mimic the kinds of workplaces they'll be moving into after they graduate.

[More video footage of the unique facilities and technologies that the School of Communication boasts, along with students working in and around these technologies.]

Butler: Having these educational settings that resemble real industry workplaces especially makes sense with instruction from faculty members who continue to work in the industry.

[The facility footage cuts to an interview shot of a faculty member.]

Joshua Johnson: I'm still, even though I'm full-time teaching here, I'm still out there working.

Text on screen: Joshua Johnson, Assistant Professor, Webster University

This past summer I worked on "Hocus Pocus 2."

[The close up of Johnson cuts to a new faculty member.]

Text on screen: Juraj Bohus, Assistant Professor, Webster University

So now I'm working on a film which I have 3D actors.

[Various footage of the assistant professors Joshua Johnson and Juraj Bohus instructing and working with students on using the virtual cinema.]

Butler: Joshua Johnson and Juraj Bohus are co-teaching the first class utilizing the virtual cinema system. And while most film and video production classes don't rely on a textbook way of teaching, this class is particularly flexible.

[The teaching footage ends, followed by an interview shot of a student.]

Text on screen: Vincent Italiano, Student of Film, Television, & Video Production

Vincent Italiano: It's not like other programs where you have a selected curriculum and there's a bunch of tests you have to take and materials you have to cover.

[Multiple video clips of Italiano working in production areas along with the assistant professors and other students.]

This is a process where everybody is learning, including the professors. It's completely experimental. My goals after I graduate I think are to get with some larger production houses like with LED walls and visual effects and stuff like that.

[More footage of the two assistant professors working with the virtual cinema system.]

Johnson: I think that's really important for students to have a professional, their professor,

to actually be there still working in projects. Because as you can see, technology changes pretty quickly.

Juraj Bohus: Things are kind of changing to the point where in the future it'll be very interesting to see like what is what. It's pretty uncanny.

Butler: For Living St. Louis, I’m Brooke Butler.

[The footage fades into a solid blue.]

Text on screen: LIVING st. louis