FAQS
1. What is the Shoreline Community College Film Club?
The club was created during Winter Quarter 2002 as a forum for interested students to explore various elements of cinema.
2. What are some of the activities?
We produce student films. The annual Film Festival to spotlight local filmmakers is our big event.
3. Why should I join?
The club acts as an artistic support group and is a conduit for networking.
4. How will this affect my future?
It will help you make connections with film industry professionals, provide information on the film industry, tell you what kind of jobs are out there and how to get them.
5. How can the club help me with my filmmaking?
We provide information on how films are made through discussion and hands-on experience.
6. Are there extra-curricular learning experiences?
We organize various workshops and invite guest speakers. We learn about different aspects of careers in film, from screenwriting to lighting.
7. What’s for fun?
We gather socially to view and/or screen films (sometimes we have potlucks). These get-togethers provide us with a chance to discuss the films- directors, actors, scripts etc.
8. Do you go on field trips?
Yes, when something comes up like the film festival or when someone from the industry is speaking, we go as a group.
9. What courses on campus relate to filmmaking?
Jane Winslow teaches Field Production and a TV Production class. There is a writing/directing/acting for the camera class, as well as cinema classes.
Performance Arts at SCC
Program Description
This is a professional training program in the basic skills of auditioning and acting in theater, films, TV and other media. Various acting techniques and philosophies are emphasized to provide the student with the skills, passion and discipline to compete in this craft. Students receive a foundation in the literature, theories and history of theater and film. This knowledge is then applied in analyzing scripts and creating characters as students audition for and perform in theatrical productions and digital films. Collaboration with technical crews, directors, writers and fellow actors is also stressed through classes, auditions and productions. Stage and film set protocols are studied and practiced. A central focus of this program is rehearsing and performing in professionally directed stage and film productions. Additionally, there is outreach to the community for projects and internships.
Degrees and Certificates
Certificate of Proficiency Acting for the Stage and Camera
Certificate of Proficiency Digital Filmmaking Technology
Certificate of Proficiency Writing and Directing for the CameraAdvisors
Tony Doupe'
tdoupe@shoreline.edu - 206-533-6790
Chris Fisher
cfiswher@shoreline.edu - 206-546-4640
10. Who are the faculty in these courses?
Jane Winslow, Chris Fisher, Tony Doupe are the faculty.
11. Do you offer discount tickets?
We will try our hardest to get group discounts when attending film festivals and such. As a club, we also have funds available to us to help defer costs.
12. What technical classes are offered?
Field Production and TV production are offered.
13. Do you have affiliations with any professional groups?
Our advisor Jane Winslow has many connections with professionals around the country.
14. What are some of the students past achievements?
Many students are still making their own movies; a few have gone on to become Production Assistants. Some past students are working for TV stations.
15. Who have been a few of the speakers?
Since we just started as a club, we haven’t had any speakers.
16. What are some of the future plans?
Every year, we will have a film festival. We plan on doing student productions, having speakers come in and speak to us, attend film festivals, and go to presentations.
17. What are some film genres?
Westerns, sci-fi, mobster, action adventure, animation, comedy, cult movies, horror, documentary, drama, musicals, documentary, silent, film noir (?) just to name a few.
18. When and where do you meet?
No meetings scheduled at this time.
19. How do I join?
As long as you are a Shoreline Community College student you just show up to meetings and go from there. It’s free.
20. Who do I contact?
For information, you can contact:
Advisors :
Sean R. srody@ctc.edu
Jane W. jwinslow@ctc.edu
Frequently Asked Questions About Movies
What is “film noir”?
Film noir is the genre that isn’t. It is recognizable by its attitude and shadows. It is also dark, contrasts, usually urbane, witty and mysterious. These films are post-Depression, circa WWll and into the 50’s-1940 to 1959. Film noir is American, with stories about heroes that are disillusioned and flawed and tough women of wit and glamour- the femme fatale.
The term was coined in 1946, by a couple of French critics who recognized similarities in certain films coming out of Hollywood. They dubbed them as film noir (black film) which is a great tag, but what was being labeled? Is it a style, an aesthetic movement or a genre? It has attributes in all camps; yet because it can be a detective flick, a mob film or science fiction etc- it crosses genre and so it gets slippery. Visual style alone doesn’t denote film noir nor does the cynical, disturbing viewpoints of noir characters.
I tend to go with style and movement definition. Several filmmakers were drawn to stories that pulled on the dark threads in the tapestry of our collective conscious. Crime novels of the 30s by Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler were good script patterns and German Expressionist art, Italian Neo-realism and Existentialism all came together in the breeding of film noir. These movements appear to comment directly on the rise of Hitler and Mussolini and are like a brutal slap in the face of the so-called “civilized world”. This shocked many people into asking “why” and “how”. The arts were the perfect venue and the screen was no exception. In film noir the crime is often over and the story is not in what happened but in why.
I also think these gritty films were part of the naiveté falling from the eyes of the nation. We were affected by the world; change was constant and power evolved. The blow to our sensibilities was real and low and we adjusted by walking nearer to the edginess of being. The “beat movement” parallels in the literary scene with crossover sympathies and I can see film noir as the cinematic “Howl”. All was not quiet on this hometown front.
Film noir is also a product of the improvements in technology, which allowed darker scenes to be filmed. Lighter, agile dollies gave camera crews more versatile shooting angles. This adept collusion of world events leading to improved technologies leading to mental explorations can be called a coincidence or a forced growth in the human psyche. Whatever, film noir is a great contribution of the old Hollywood studio system.
Deborah Barnes
What are Action genre movies?
Action movies have always been a popular genre in realm of movies. During the 1980s the action film reached its highest peak. Films like “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” and “The Terminator” are perfect examples of the hugely popular action film. Action movies are surely blockbuster type films that have a large amount of money to throw at leading actors and intense special effects.
The action films are known for many stunt men and the use of major sometimes even outrageous weapons. It is not unusual to see Sylvester Stallone have an automatic machine gun blazing in each hand while taking on the world as he did in his now-famous “Rambo” movies. Another quality that an action movie must have is a little bit of humor; these films try not to take themselves very serious and are good for a famous quote “I’ll Be Back” is still said today even though the first “Terminator” film was made over 20 years ago.
Today the action film while still very popular is not like it once was. Actors that were 1980s icons are now struggling to make decent films and get major roles. Our society has embraced more of a politically correct stance on the violence that these films portray and the trend is make different types of films. During the re-mastered for theatres version of “E.T.” the director Steven Spielberg took away the guns that the policemen carried and digitally re-mastered them with walkie-talkies. While this trend continues movies that are in the action genre will never die.
Derek Wilson
What are Comedy genre movies?
Comedy is a broad category including many types of movies that are humorous, or funny. The fact that humor is somewhat subjective explains why some movies are categorized as comedy, or something else depending upon who is categorizing them. Many movies have comic elements, but the main point of the film is not to be humorous, so the film would not generally be categorized as a comedy. The comedy films category has many sub-categories including slapstick comedies, screwball comedies, romantic comedies, and dark comedies.
Comedies are among the earliest films made. Comedies made in the silent era relied heavily on physical comedy. The advent of sound “talkies” allowed an evolution from physical comedy to a more language based comedy, ushering in the era of the “sophisticated” comedy. The years around World War II were generally poor years for comedies. In the 1950s comedies returned to the screen, but since that time through the present, there has been less dominant of a trend to make any single type of comedy film at one time.
Carol Euster
What are War genre movies?
In War genre films, the major action, or major background is war related. These tend to be more dramatic films, though not exclusively. For example, humorous war films have been made (World War II comedies, MASH, etc.) War movies may deal with combat itself, struggles in preparation or aftermath, or other aspects of war. Spy movies in time of war and anti-war movies may also be considered war genre movies. War movies have been an enduringly popular genre since director D.W. Griffith filmed the first one-reel war movie (The Battle) in the 1911, and are still popular today. A couple of recent releases are “Saving Private Ryan” and “Pearl Harbor”.
Carol Euster
What are Horror genre movies?
Before the invention of the cinema, horror genre lived in literal and theatrical forms. Its purpose was to scare, terrify, distract and to show abnormality. The answers to why we as human beings afraid of monsters and creepy creatures are unknown. What is known is that the horror genre produced the feelings of anxiety, paranoia, fear, and tension, which audience liked to experience.
After the horror genre was shown on the screen, it was not long before it became a top box office. The classics like Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931) really started this boom over the horror on the screen. Filmmakers were forced to come up with the new material to satisfy the audience’s needs. On the way, several new classics emerged. Titles like “Psycho” by Alfred Hitchcock (1960), “The Exorcist” by William Friedkin (1973), “The Shining” by Stanley Kubrick (1980), “The Thing” by John Carpenter, (1982), Stephen Kings “Pet Cemetery” (1989) and now “Scream” by Wes Craven (1996). These horror films left the feeling of victory over evil by the end of the movie.
There were other titles that created a never dying characters like Jason from “Friday the 13”, Freddy from “Nightmare on Elm Street”, Michael from “Halloween” Chucky from “Child’s Play” and others. To this day, they keep on coming back to theaters more viciously than before. In fact, a fairly recent independent film “The Blair Witch Project” was a blockbuster that scorched many studio films of that time. These films show that the evil never ends and will always be present in our lives.
Alek Stepanov
