Girls Film School Opens Film Making To Women Via Macs And Final Cut Pro

by , 10:00 AM EDT, June 28th, 2002

The dearth of female film makers has prompted Professor Deborah Fort to establish the Girls Film School at the College of Santa Fe. According to an article in Wired News titled 'Film School For Girls' Eyes Only', the two week class is designed to open the world of cinematography to women, who have been historically under-represented in the field. Of course, the class uses Macs and Final Cut Pro to produce the student projects. From the Wired News article:

Throughout the two weeks, 20 high school girls take workshops in acting, creative writing, screenplays, sound, editing and Web design, among other subjects. They complete several independent projects as well as a group project.

"Most of the students come into the program with the idea of being an actress. They come in thinking that that's what women do in film," said Tanya Doriss, assistant director of the program. "They don't realize the myriad jobs they can do in the film industry."

College-age film students mentor groups of four girls. This year, several former Girls Film School students have returned to work as assistant mentors. All students live on campus.

"One of the things we do is try to introduce them to a number of different ways of expressing themselves with moving images," Fort said. "It's really about the lyrical aspects of film and video, and using metaphor, which is very important to understanding the visual arts."

For one project, girls write a haiku and then create a video to illustrate the poem. Each girl also puts together a self-portrait, a piece that illustrates how they see the world, rather than a literal representation of themselves. Students do a sound project and a group project where they take turns filling different roles in the crew.

Editing is done on Apple computers using Final Cut Pro. The company donated eight computers to Girls Film School.

Read the full story at Wired News.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Budding female film makers, future Penny Marshals, a worthy reason to donate Macs and Final Cut Pro. We applaud Apple for their effort to help broaden the arts through contributions such as this one.

Film School For Girls' Eyes Only