AA in Media Arts: Cinematography

The successful completion of this degree will give students a thorough background in the aesthetics of film and media, and experience in set production solving camera and lighting challenges in motion picture and episodic projects preparing students to work in the camera department on productions as well as transfer to cinema production bacherlor programs at the university level.

With the creation of this program coupled with the overall revisions in all LAVC Media Arts programs, students will now be empowered with more choices and flexibility.  We expect the number of completers to start at approximately 10 in its first year and climb by 20%-25% in each year for the next five years.

• To give students a thorough background in the aesthetics of film and media in order to apply them to productions.
• To give students experience in cinematography in narrative and documentary settings.
• Learning to execute all positions on the camera team and learning the roles of each position.
• Use camera, lighting, and grip equipment to gain practical experience in creating the visual look of scenes or interview setups.

This new program is a part of a larger picture.  We have created "stackables" (please see attached flow chart for catalog) which start with a core of five general classes in the first tier.  Because film productions are made up of very different and specific departments we have included a second tier of courses that consist of several different options, this being one of them, that are more narrowly focused and consist of two classes for each option resulting in a specialized degree/certificate for each.  This program focusses specifically on cinematography techniques for students who are interested in being on a set in the camera department working on camera and lighting functions of a film and/or single camera episodic production.  Additionally, since the Cinema departments at the universities we feed into consist of several different programs within film production, this program will better prepare students to enter the specific bacherlor program they are interested in should they decide to transfer.  

After researching similar programs at other colleges in our service area we have determined that, while there are Media Arts-related programs, there is no specific Cinematography program preparing students for employment in the camera department on a production.  There is one non-credit program at LA City College.  That program is non-credit whereas our proposed program is for credit thus allowing students to earn actual units if they are interested in transferring as well as giving them full semesters worth of courses as opposed to the brief amount of time students spend in a Vocational Education/Non-Credit course.

25+

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