It’s lights, cameras, action on Emery’s newest arts elective: Film Production.
The class, a semester long course, is taught by Emery’s Assistant Director of Communications, Kay Parker. When Parker originally started working at Emery, immediately she wanted to teach a film class. Still new and settling into Emery life though, she prioritized getting her bearings and settling in first. But, once comfortable, with support from administration, Parker found there was a student-want for a class like this. Between having a willing, qualified faculty member and an interested student body, Parker thought, “Why would we not?”
Across her class, Parker aims to teach her students to use cameras, learning about focus, exposure, composition, framing and more, record and utilize audio, and storyboard their pieces. Throughout the semester, Parker hopes students will accumulate a number of projects they are proud of and can show off, showcasing the various skills they have learned.
Yet the class is not just about physical action.
Parker’s past experiences on film sets fuels and inspires much of her thought on filmmaking. “The collaborative mindset of being on a film set and of creating something together is … so special.” The experience creates, what she dubbed, a “film family.” Parker noted the beauty of seeing that “we worked really hard, we created this thing together from nothing … by putting in enough effort, all of us, and being open to others’ ideas, … able to improvise, … and change tactics.” She wants that family to be part of her class.
Parker also says, “It’s like you have a totally different appreciation for movies when you’re making them as well. And it kind of feels like you’re, like, in an insider club.” When you understand film as a filmmaker, the way you understand film as a viewer is renewed.
Understanding film is “knowing how to use … part of our grammar,” Parker believes. Today, living in a digital age, it is so important to understand how to “[be] conscious and intelligent about what we’re seeing. How we’re consuming media is important.” She references how much of our communication today takes place through film and says it is impactful to know how to “share ideas to a lot of people at one time … in a way that connects people emotionally.” Film is part of our modern dialogue. Parker wants to teach people how to speak.
Emery has always been home to students interested in film, students that are “already doing it that are good … and having a lot of fun.” Parker hopes to “guide all of that talent, and energy, and excitement a step further to where really intentional choices are being made.” She wants Emery students to experience “working really hard, creating something, playing, and then having … a fun thing in a video medium to share.”
One such student, sophomore Ethan Stulberg, says it was actually Parker that initially drew him to the class: “I’ve seen a lot of her work in the past and gotten to work with her personally with her doing films, and I’ve really, really loved working with her, and I think that she’s a really talented person, I was really excited to learn from her.”
Despite his own interest in photography, Stulberg felt he lacked “any formal teaching in terms of … the storytelling and the framing … [and] being able to tell a story through film or photos or anything.” He had the passion and wanted to know what to do with it.
Through his experience, he hopes to “feel more comfortable around using the cameras and … [getting] the shots that [he needs] in the moment in terms of … being able to set everything up.” He wants to “feel confident in the shots [he’s] taken … and feel like [he has] what [he needs] to be able to edit it and tell a story.”
In planning the perfect camera shot, he has learned “how much intention goes into every shot that’s created.” He found you have to ask yourself the important questions, no matter how small or trivial they seem: “What’s the story I’m trying to tell? What helps do this? What angles do I need to be able to best capture the different people? How close am I to them? What kind of lenses am I using?”
Stulberg really appreciates how much “hands-on time and direct feedback” he gets in the class. Parker often starts the class with a short introduction or lesson which always opens up into structured practice time. He notes, “Just the concept of film production has always … interested me. So being able to … explore it in the class is really fun.” He loves “Parker’s attitude about the class,” emphasizing that “she wants us to learn as much from her as possible.” The atmosphere she creates fosters improvement. Stulberg just wants to give Parker a “huge shoutout.”
The lesson of Parker’s Film Production class is so much more than using a camera and setting an angle. It is about learning to “tell stories.”
Parker says, “I … love creating this kind of stuff. There’s a thrill to it … you can imagine this idea, and then you can just go out and make it. Obviously, you need the right tools, but it’s… very fun … I just want to show anybody who’s interested.” If you want to tell a story “through an art form,” and film is that art form, Parker says, “Come find me.”
Then, focus the camera, find the angle, take the shot, and tell the story. That’s Film Production.
