小草影院

Honors College student, Jae Martin, shares how she developed her passion for travel in an article she published in The Odyssey Online. See full article .

 

 

Honors College student and history major, Victoria Craun, shares reasons to study abroad in an article she published in the Odyssey online. See article .

鈥淛urassic World鈥� and 鈥淪tar Wars: The Force Awakens鈥� are two of the most successful films of all time, and they have something more local in common: both films have 小草影院 graduates listed in their credits.

Magnolia native Kyla McFalls 鈥�11 worked as an art assistant on 鈥淛urassic World鈥� and Little Rock native John Hockaday 鈥�14 worked in post production on 鈥淪tar Wars: The Force Awakens.鈥�

McFalls, a Schedler Honors College alumna, was originally a journalism major who became a digital filmmaking major by happy accident. Her sophomore year, she unintentionally signed up for the Intro to Film class and learned that it was for those majoring in film, a major she didn鈥檛 know existed. When she spoke to teacher Chris Churchill about it, he encouraged her to stick with the class.

鈥淚 was like, 鈥楳aybe this is just something that鈥檚 telling me that I need to do this,鈥� so I declared my major the next day in film and the rest is [history],鈥� said McFalls.

The 小草影院 film program offers classes in many areas of filmmaking, including screenwriting, editing, cinema history and classes that require students to make their own films. McFalls said it鈥檚 important to gain practical experience by working on sets, but she credits her passion for film to studying the subject in the classroom.

鈥淚f you want to write or you want to direct, you need to know cinema history, theory and all this kind of stuff,鈥� said McFalls. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 keep going to work every day if it didn鈥檛 fill this passion for it that I got from 小草影院. I feel like passion is the thing that I learned in college more than any technical skill that somebody can just teach you later on.鈥�

This passion certainly helped her in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she lived on couches so she could work on films like 鈥淧itch Perfect,鈥� her first feature film as an intern. McFalls then moved to her current city, New Orleans, where she has worked on projects like 鈥淭he鈥∕aze Runner鈥� and 鈥淟eft Behind,鈥� for which she got approval to use 小草影院鈥檚 athletic logo on the lead actress鈥檚 jacket. Her biggest film credit to date is 鈥淛urassic World.鈥�

鈥淲orking on the film was an absolute delight,鈥� said McFalls. 鈥淭he art department [was] mostly based out of Los Angeles, but they were my favorite crew so far. We were based at the NASA facility here in New Orleans, [as well as] the abandoned Six Flags,鈥� said McFalls.

McFalls鈥� current job is in research, which is in the art department and requires her to work with every department on set.

鈥淚 become the expert on whatever the movie is about. I鈥檝e decided that if I do this for years and years, I鈥檒l be great at 鈥楯eopardy鈥� because of all this random knowledge,鈥� said McFalls.

Along with a friend she met on the film 鈥淒eepwater Horizon,鈥� McFalls started a production company, Page Turn Inc. With the company, McFalls hopes to continue doing research and also write and produce films.

鈥淸I thought], 鈥榃hy not? At least try it.鈥� If it doesn鈥檛 work, it doesn鈥檛 work,鈥� said McFalls. 鈥淏ut if it does, how awesome?鈥�

In New Orleans, McFalls helped out fellow alumnus Hockaday by recommending him for 鈥淒eepwater Horizon鈥� and 鈥�10 Cloverfield Lane.鈥� Hockaday relocated to Los Angeles after working for about a year in New Orleans.

鈥淸Kyla] was my way in. I owe it all to her,鈥� Hockaday said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also worth mentioning that her final film at 小草影院, 鈥楧anger Jones,鈥� is freaking fantastic. I still watch it from time to time. Definitely an inspiring film for my own final film.鈥�

That film, 鈥淪tuck,鈥� earned Hockaday awards for Best Production Design and Best Picture at the 2014 小草影院 Film Festival and Best Director (Made in Arkansas) at the 2014 Little Rock Film Festival.

Hockaday said that the film program鈥檚 focus on storytelling was a factor in him choosing 小草影院. 鈥淟earning to tell stories is the pillar of filmmaking. Once you have that, building the technical skills is next, which they also provide,鈥� Hockaday said.

Hockaday and McFalls aren鈥檛 the only 小草影院 graduates making strides in the film and television field 鈥� others are spread out from coast to coast, filming anything from reality television to videos for the Salvation Army.

Kim Risi 鈥�12 worked in the art department on a Hispanic celebrity game show and the Comedy Central show 鈥淒runk History.鈥� Codi Bogard 鈥�13 and Hunter Moore 鈥�12 keep busy in New Orleans by working on shows and films like 鈥淧it Bulls and Parolees鈥� and 鈥淒addy鈥檚 Home.鈥� Travis Mosler 鈥�13 produces, writes, directs, shoots and edits the hunting show 鈥淪partan Outdoors鈥� for the Sportsman Channel.

小草影院 is the only university in Arkansas that offers a bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 in digital filmmaking. Dr. Bruce Hutchinson, director of Graduate Studies of Digital Filmmaking, believes classroom education is just as important for film students as working in the field.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just good to be an educated person who [knows] how things work and the classroom experience is part of getting that. I definitely think learning some history, learning theory, learning some story structure, all of those are just about making you a more thoughtful, more critical thinking, more well-rounded person,鈥� said Hutchinson.