Rated a top-30 school by MovieMaker Magazine, the digital cinema program plans to ask for state funding to expand

By Emma Coke, Ashland.news

Southern Oregon University was recently named a top 30 film school for its digital cinema program in the U.S. and Canada by MovieMaker Magazine, a widely read independent film magazine.

Alongside big-name schools such as the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles, SOU was chosen for its hands-on education and networking opportunities with Film Southern Oregon and the Ashland Independent Film Festival. Since 2014, Ashland has been ranked a top place to live and work in the film industry by MovieMaker. This is the first time SOU was chosen as a top film school by the magazine. 

Founded in 2019

The digital cinema program was launched in fall 2019. It built its curriculum off existing courses from a communication major concentration and added new courses. It’s grown to offer students two majors, a minor, six certificates and five microcredentials.  

“We said very consciously that we wanted this to be a top-ranked program,” said Andrew Gay, dean of the School of Arts and Communication at SOU. “So that was always the goal. So to meet that goal within just five years, that’s pretty amazing.”

The digital cinema program emphasizes hands-on experiences for students, something Gay credits with the program’s ranking. 

“The second they get here, they’re making stuff,” Gay said. “A lot of other film programs, there’s a long wait to actually get to start using equipment and doing what the students really want to do. And in our case, we try to put equipment in students hands their very first term.”

At the heart of the program is the 12-credit crew experience course, an immersive course in which students learn firsthand how a film crew functions in the “real world” with the goal of creating a short film. According to Gay, this is what truly sets SOU apart from other film schools.

‘It’s extremely intense’

“The crew experience says ‘You’re not ready for this, but you’re going to do it anyway, and we’re going to show you how professionals work,’” Gay said. “And it’s extremely intense.”

Sophia Guerrero, a junior with a production concentration, worked as a key production assistant in the crew experience course. 

The crew worked on “Catch and Release” last spring. The short film centered on fly fishing and a cursed book. Guerrero and the rest of the crew worked under the guidance of Gary Kout of Film Southern Oregon. 

“Just within that time period of a term, like my knowledge on film just like exponentially grew,”  Guerrero said.

There were many early mornings and late nights while working on the film, with one day starting at 4 a.m., Guerrero said.

“It took a lot out of you, but it was also a really fun time,” Guerrero said. “And getting to just work with the other students and collaborate and really feel what true filming in the industry experience was like just made it all worth it.”

Guerrero is currently trying to decide if she wants to switch over to the digital cinema major.

“If this is something that I want to do, like as a career, and go into the industry and stuff like that, like, it’s scary, but it’s not as scary with more practice,” Guerrero said. “And having the career experience at SOU just really locked it in.”

‘Blue collar personality’

Gay also attributes the film school’s success to the personality and career-focused mentality of the students and faculty.

“This film school has kind of a blue collar personality in the sense that students, they want to do all the different kinds of jobs, and they’re ready to get their hands dirty and work their way up,” Gay said. 

Ellie Blount, a digital cinema senior, can attest to the passion and work ethic of the students. 

“You’ll see full classes for screenwriting classes like full of students because they want to learn, and they want to know how to get better and, like, dive deeper into it,” Blount said. “I’ve just seen a bunch of passion come out of students.”

Supportive community

Outside of the classroom, SOU sits within a thriving film community.

In developing the program, Gay worked with local filmmakers for ideas on how to best serve the next generation. When the program launched, many of the local filmmakers came in as guest speakers or were adjunct professors. 

“I don’t know that a film program like ours could have achieved this had we not also had this amazing community support of the local filmmakers,” Gay said.

Although the program is only able to offer a few internships, many students are hired to work as production assistants on local productions.

“There are filmmakers who are doing things, and they need to hire people. And so our students are often working, getting paid gigs while they’re still in school, which is great because they’re already building that resume,” Gay said. 

Kout of Film Southern Oregon, who is known for such films as “Rango,” has hired three SOU graduates to work directly for him as a production coordinator for various projects. 

“I have been thrilled in how good they are at their jobs, how much they learned until school, and were able to apply that immediately as a working professional,” Kout said. 

Looking to expand

Looking ahead, Gay hopes to secure more rankings across other film magazines such as the Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Right now though, the focus is on getting a larger space to house the program — the Digital Media Center is too small. 

“We are busting at the seams,” Gay said.

When the program first launched, the building had plenty of space. As it has grown, it’s acquired more students and more equipment. There are more production classes than the building can hold at once and there aren’t enough computer seats, Gay said. 

Their goal is to renovate the music building and expand it into a Creative Industries Complex. Gay said SOU has a large capital project for it that will go to the Legislature next year. 

“Our No. 1 priority is convincing the Legislature that we need that space and letting us build that,” Gay said. 

If the project gets funded, SOU could have a much expanded facility within a few years that would include a new sound stage, more lab space, more classrooms, a dedicated screening room and a bigger equipment house.

“This is a great, scrappy space, but it does limit how much we can grow right now,” Gay said. 

Email Ashland.news reporter intern Emma Coke at [email protected].

Sept. 5: Updated Andrew Gay’s title.

Sept. 11: Corrected availability of internships — there are a limited number available, not none, as indicated in original story.

Sept. 13: Additional photos added.