“I knew that I didn’t
want to study film in New
York or LA. I wanted to get
away from the masses of wannabes and just focus on the work. And
that’s certainly what I’ve been able to do here. Austin has
been a really wonderful place to hone my craft. I hope
to stay here and make movies for as long as I can.”
~ Toddy Burton ,
3rd Year MFA Production
Director, Anorexic Girls with Guns
“I feel Natasha Rosow offers a pioneering post-radical feminist perspective
on girlhood in the U.S. that
few have attempted previously. I am having a fantastic time workshopping this
script with an incredibly talented and enthusiastic team. This is an important
film, which desperately needs to be part of the American consciousness, and I
am privileged to be a part of it.”
~ Rebecca McInroy, 1st Year M.A. Media StudieS
Producer, Anorexic Girls with Guns
“The UT Film Institute and Burnt Orange Productions will redefine the way
film schools will operate in the near future. I believe they are part of a visionary
concept that will move film school education to the next level and set UT’s
film program apart from any other film program in the world.”
~ Hans-Martin Liebing, MFA, 2nd year Ph.D. student, Media Studies
Producer, Anorexic Girls with Guns
“UTFI courses are unlike anything else you will take as an RTF student. They
combine the real-world experience of an internship with the structure, institutional
support, and goal-oriented progression of an advanced production course. In
my opinion, it combines the best of both worlds. For the duration of our
semester, my fellow classmates and I were under the tutelage of Tom Hammond,
a professional sound designer who has firmly established himself in the industry
thanks to his sound work on films like Waking Life and Before Sunrise, just to
name a couple. Our TA was another extremely knowledgeable sound person,
graduate student Ajae Clearway. Through the duration of the course, almost
a dozen undergraduate students were able to work directly with Mr. Hammond editing
post-production sound on a feature length film. It's difficult for me to
imagine this kind of opportunity for this number of students being realized in
a different environment, such as the standard student internship. Not knowing
exactly what I was getting myself into, I was hesitant to enroll in the course,
but looking back on the semester I feel very satisfied with my decision. Like
any other course it had its ups and downs. There were definitely times
when the workload was fairly intense, but it was never overwhelming. Overall,
one of the most worthwhile aspects of this course to me was simply being on the
inside of production. You are given a perspective not available to many
students. And from that vantage point you learn more than you thought possible
about how things operate in the production world.”
~ Adam Fore
RTF ‘06
“I really enjoyed my experience working on the film. I was able to
get a lot of hands on training and instruction that we just didn't have the time
to cover in past audio production classes that I have taken. Not only did
I learn a lot, and have a good time doing so, but I also have already gotten
a lot of referrals to work on future films because of the experience. Special
thanks to Tom, Ajae, Bob and Justin, because they really did a great job of instructing
the class while managing to put together the audio mix for the film.”
Greg Armstrong
RTF ‘06
“I had a great experience in the class. Prior to the film, I had
worked mostly on my own providing all mixing, ADR, and sound design for various
films. The experience of working on a team with more than 8 people whose
job it was to prepare sound for the mix engineer was invaluable. This is
how it is done for most Hollywood films, and
now I can say I've done it.”
~ Chris Smith
“The From Script to Screen class has put me in a position that I, as a
screenwriter, will probably never find myself in again. I have as equal
a hand and say in the development of my feature film as the director, producers,
DP, designers and composer attached to it. I’m on set actively reworking
and rethinking each scene as it’s shot. And it’s a mixed blessing. I’ve
definitely had moments where I’ve been thankful to be so involved, and
other more scribe-ly moments where my instincts have told me to run and hide – just
let the director and producers handle the mess that can be feature film production. But
overall, it’s a chance I would jump to have again.”
~ Alison Eakle, 3rd Year MFA Screenwriting
Writer, Night Terrors
“This class was my first involvement with film production, and so I am
still processing my experience. So far I have enjoyed working with my production
team, and learning from their expertise. Finding time to meet has been
challenging, and time to meet at the UTFI building is almost impossible. I’m
not sure how to remedy this problem, but will continue to think about it. I
enjoy seeing a variety of films being produced simultaneously and seeing how
other groups work together. Some details of the class (i.e. Budgets) have
been confusing and unclear, but these are issues that result from the newness
of the class and are easily overcome. All in all this class is informative,
innovative and exciting. It just needs a little polishing.”
~ Sarah Mosher, Theater & Dance Graduate Program
Costume Designer for Finish the Job
"In designing the UTFI Script-to-Screen year-long practicum, I tried to
create a class that I would love to take. Or rather, would have loved to have
taken prior to the making of my first feature film. Something that fully addresses
the TRUE GOLD of the filmmaking profession - creative collaboration. While film
school emphasizes the crucial aspect of encouraging and honing a filmmaker's
Vision," I see this UTFI class, and indeed, UTFI as a whole, as a more practical
approach to figuring out how to apply that Vision to the craft, business and
vocation of feature filmmaking.
“I've truly enjoyed watching these projects evolve from words on a page
to an entire team of talented students working TOGETHER to figure out the best
way to translate the words into images and sounds bound for the widescreen. Teaching
and nurturing throughout the journey from one writer's idea to an entire team's
creative collaborative vision, has been a great experience."
~ Alex Smith, Dept. of Radio-TV-Film
RTF 396 & 368 Instructor and Directing Mentor
“How do you teach something that is only to be
experienced? By doing. The Script to Screen class does exactly that
with a big dose of guidance and mentorship. The unexpected benefit for
my students has been the close relationships they have forged with people in
areas of the profession they had not noticed or considered. Costume Designers
don't usually get to interact with the composers!! Thank you Megan, Tom,
Carolyn and everyone at UTFI for helping us lead/excel/accomplish film production
education!”
~ Susan Mickey, Dept. of Theater & Dance
Mentor ,
Costume Design
“From the viewpoint of teaching the craft and art of film music composition,
there can be no substitute for composers to be directly involved from the conception
of the script to shooting scenes and finally composing music that enhances the
intentions of the film. The opportunity to be on the ground floor of script as
it is molded into a film helps the composers to really feel the underlying themes
of the drama and, in turn, help drive the process with (hopefully) inspirational
music cues.”|
~ Bruce Pennycook, Dept. of Music
Mentor ,
Composers
“Rarely is there an opportunity for a film student to work on the pre-production
of a feature length film - UTFI has given us that chance. We will not leave film
school with just a short film, but with a package and the know how that will
allow us to walk into a room of executives and sell them our vision.”
~ Ya’ke Smith, 3rd Year MFA Production
Director, Finish the Job
“The Burnt Orange/UTFI class provides a unique opportunity to experience
and benefit from the collaborative venture of filmmaking. For a writer
to witness his or her words coming off the page and making their way to the screen
is invaluable. The process of having producers, directors, actors, cinematographer,
designers, and composers wrestle with the challenges in bringing a script to
life inevitably shines a bright light on what is and isn’t working. This
is in stark contrast to what most writers can identify as problems and solutions
for their story staring endlessly into their laptop screen.”
~ Mike Dolan, James A. Michener Fellow
Writer, Finish the Job
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