RDC program focuses on silver screen

Spotlights lit up the sky above Red Deer’s Park Plaza Theatre during the Western Canada premiere of the movie Baby Blues.

On the red carpet stood Canadian actress Jenny Levine of the TV series 24, who played the lead in the indie film.

But the real, behind-the-scenes star was the Red Deer College Motion Picture Arts program.

Baby Blues, which premiered in the city last fall, started out as a RDC classroom project, initiated by film students Dylan Pearce and Andrew Scholotiuk.

The feature film was shot in Windsor, Ont. with college equipment. It went on to become a professional union production that received a limited release in select Canadian cities.

A student project making that kind of leap has drawn national attention to one of Canada’s smallest, but arguably most hands-on film courses, said the program’s co-founder Larry Reese.

“The industry is definitely taking more of an interest in us,” Reese added — which is a wonderful boost for the profile of the local program and its graduates.

But the biggest thrill, said the Motion Picture Arts program’s other co-founder, Don Armstrong, was sitting down and watching Baby Blues, which played in March at the new Galaxy Theatre in Gasoline Alley.

“It was the best feeling, because it’s always been our dream to see a well-made feature film made by one of our students,” added Armstrong.

The movie not only spotlighted the skill of RDC film students, it created another direct Red Deer link to the film industry. Baby Blue’s producer, Rocky Mountain Picture Co., has chosen to locate in here, instead of Calgary or Edmonton.

The Motion Picture Arts program officially kicked off in September 2001, as the first applied degree granting program at Red Deer College.

But its origins stretch back to about 1994, when some of the college’s theatre grads first began auditioning for film work.

“Former students were phoning us to say, ‘You guys should start teaching us about film,’ ” recalled Armstrong.

He could see their point.

Movies, which require an entirely different skill set than theatre, have been shot in Alberta since the silent picture days.

Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum famously filmed River of No Return in Banff and Jasper in 1954. Alberta backdrops were also featured in such classics of the silver screen as Dr. Zhivago and Dances with Wolves.

Armstrong and Reese saw a strong growth in local film opportunities since Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning western Unforgiven was filmed in the province in 1991.

They figured why shouldn’t Red Deer-area students get a crack at some of the work?

“Sometimes parents have said, ‘If my kids take the program, there’s no way they’re going to find work in the province.’ But that’s not true — especially if they are in film production. They can find work in the province,” said Armstrong.

He and Reese decided in 1997 that they should first test the waters of their own film-making abilities by directing and producing a feature called Naked Frailties.

With theatre students making up the cast and crew, the film that mixed historical and contemporary plot lines was a success — it sold as a TV movie and has been shown in 50 countries.

“Now the question wasn’t could we make a movie; it was can our students do it?” said Armstrong, who had completed film studies at Ryerson University, and knew movies were a different animal from theatre.

By this time, Reese had been steadily landing big screen roles himself. Among his most high-profile, were small parts in Unforgiven and the other Alberta-shot Oscar-winning western, Brokeback Mountain.

Reese and Armstrong started promoting the idea of a graduate film course at RDC.

They reasoned that to be really successful, actors and technicians needed to be multi-disciplined.

Reese said he learned about film “from the tough school of hard knocks,” and wanted to prevent his students making the same kind of mistakes he made.

The most important lesson Reese imparts is that the celluloid world has its own set of rigid rules — and people break them at their peril.

For example, he was sketching his prop gun the set of Unforgiven, when the assistant properties master “tore a strip” off him for handling a prop outside of filming.

Reese later learned the same assistant properties master was fired from the film for approaching him directly about the gun.

The man had broken the chain of command — a cardinal offence.

“It was not his place to come to me. He should have gone to the first assistant director with his concern,” said Reese, who “felt horrible” but learned something crucial that day.

Reese saw other reasons for starting a film course — especially one that focused on acting.

Unlike theatrical plays, films do not take weeks of rehearsal, and don’t unfold in chronological order towards a climax. Reese said filming might start with the final or most emotionally intense scene.

Actors might even be required to perform intimate scenes with people they just met, said Reese, who noted the Motion Picture Arts program teaches students how to deal with these situations.

Acting for the big screen not only has to be more “internalized” than acting for theatre, he added but prospective film actors need to know what a 50-50 shot is (having two actors equally sharing the same frame), or what it means to be in a three-quarter shot (to be shown up to the knees).

Armstrong, who teaches the technical side of movie work, stresses that there’s no room for mistakes in film where “every day is opening night.”

So technicians also need to know their roles and applicable jargon.

For example, when a lighting person calls “striking,” everyone on set should be shielding their eyes from a blinding light, said Armstrong, who noted the term originates from the old arc lamps used in silent picture days.

Once their proposal for a film school moved beyond the idea stage, Armstrong and Reese realized they would have to pick a niche.

They researched the roughly 600 North America schools already offering film courses, and determined the RDC program should remain small and focused on giving students as much hand-on experience as possible.

They decided they wanted their film students to be entrepreneurial — to start their own film production companies instead of waiting to be hired.

“Filmmaking has very little to do with cameras and camcorders and everything to do with talking and relationships and storytelling, and photocopying, and budgets and schedules,” said Armstrong.

The local film program now accepts only 20 to 24 students, who come from as far away as Singapore. They can work towards a two-year applied arts degree or a one-year advanced certificate.

Applicants must first complete two years of post-secondary theatre, broadcasting, or related studies, as the RDC film program “starts in the third year,” offering parallel streams of acting or production, said Armstrong.

Students can learn about screenwriting, digital editing, business and career strategies, audition techniques, cinematography, production management.

Workshops are taught by professionals in the field.

Armstrong said one main aim is to teach collaboration.

“A lot of film schools teach individual filmmakers to make individual films — it’s like, to heck with anyone else, I’m going to be the next Steven Spielberg.

“But Spielberg didn’t get there by himself,” he added. By teaching students how to work with others, Armstrong believes the program turns out better graduates.

Reese noted that many former students have done very well, even in places like Los Angeles.

“We have an MPA mafia out there who can help newer graduates get off to a good start.”

On the list of RDC luminaries are Regan Dale Neis, who starred in My So-Called Life, and fellow actress Kari Matchette, who has a lead role in the ABC TV series Invasion.

Former Motion Picture Arts student James Wilson, now an instructor and technician with the MPA program, believes his RDC education gave him the background for his previous jobs at Edmonton’s A-Channel, where he was camera operator, video editor and director.

“I’d give it five years before it’s impossible to get into the program,” said another MPA graduate, Matt Grue, artistic director of Red Deer’s Ignition Theatre.

Grue feels it’s “incredible” that feature films such as Baby Blues are coming out of the local program.

“I think it’s the only film school in Canada where you have such great access to equipment and resources. And the small class size is fantastic.”

In April, two Red Deer College film students were given the Best Student Production award at the Alberta Motion Picture Industries Association Awards in Edmonton for their short, Caffeine Infidelity.

Reese called the win a first for the MPA program.

Judging by its growing momentum, it’s unlikely to be the last.

Contact Lana Michelin at lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com