Tuesday: Today we visited UNCSA. Anneliese gets mad if I call it "unksah," so we have to say all of the letters. It stands for University of North Carolina School of the Arts. And the mascot is----the fighting pickle!!! Yes, that's right a pickle, in a tutu that looks like a keyboard, with a clapboard, a paintbrush, and a Shakespearean beret to represent the 5 disciplines: Theater, Dance, Film, Production and Design, and Music. The pickle looks pretty silly, but that's part of it's charm. When we asked the woman working in the college bookstore, she insisted on printing out a six page article that describes why for us to take with us and read! As we took the tour, I noticed that the emphasis was definitely on the arts. At one point, he pointed to an edge of a building over the top of a tree, and said that building is across the street--it's the academic building. It was explained that for film students, academics were in the morning, film classes in the afternoons and some evenings, and film production on the weekends. I was concerned about the lack of an academic focus--after all they earn a BFA. But after the tour, the tour guide said that if we had specific film questions, we could talk to the dean of the film school upstairs (we ended in the film production building). So, we did. She (Delores) seemed annoyed at first to see us without an appointment, but then took us into the conference room and answered Anneliese's questions, then proceded to tell us all about the Film program. She was very interesting and laid it all out. She explained that they have a Conservatory Program rather than a Liberal Arts program. It has about 1/3 of the student's time spent on the Liberal Arts (after all, they are working toward a BFA), and the rest is spent on learning to make films. Each year, they have a final project which is then reviewed by all of the film faculty; then the student is brought into a room with all of the instructors and they review her attendance, grades, and her project, giving her feedback. Then, they decide whether or not to invite her back for the following year, and if they do, they put a letter in her mailbox, otherwise she will not return the next fall. The film program is very competetive to get into. She explained that a liberal arts school emphasizes the liberal arts (2/3) and film would get 1/3. The other colleges and university we have visited have all said that they are liberal arts schools, but some seemed to have a heavier emphasis on the art (film) and less on the academics. The distinction she made made sense to me. And, upon further reflection, it produced an ephinany of sorts for me. Though I had been encouraging Anneliese to follow her passion and her dream, I wanted her to get an education at a prestigious or selective University (which I did not have). But I realized that this is my dream for her, not necessarily her dream and I have to look at the film side as well as the other factors. It was a nice, though small, campus; one of many of University of North Carolina's campuses across the state. One interesting thing it has is 7 sound studios (you know like the big film companies have? And it has two reflecting pools you can put a green screen behind for water scenes. Super cool. And a very elaborate Foley studio.
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| UNCSA sound studio #7 |
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| More of UNCSA sound studio #7. Under the black flooring is a reflecting pool which they can put a green screen behind for water shots. |
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| Film Village at UNCSA |
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| Home of the Fighting Pickles! |
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| The Foley studio where they make the "incidental" sounds of people walking, doors closing, etc. |
After an hour and a half tour and another 1/2 an hour talking to Delores, we were finally on our way to Savannah where we have another tour scheduled for tomorrow. About an hour and a half outside of Savannah, we stopped for gas and saw palm trees everywhere! Not only have we reached the South, we appear to have reached the tropics as well!
Yesterday it rained most of the day, torrentially at times; today we had some rain, but it was sunny (and very hot and humid) for our mostly outdoor tour.
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