By Jamie Rogers
Mason professor Ben Steger (in blue, at right) teaches a Film and Video Studies course in an all-new, high-tech video lab in the de Laski Performing Arts Building. Photo by Alexis Glenn.
Just seven years after the Film and Video Studies Program formed at George Mason University, its faculty and staff are exceeding expectations this fall by welcoming its largest class in history and opening a high-tech lab for creating documentaries and videos.
Forty-six new faces joined the program this semester, says Giovanna Chesler, director of program. “We thought we would have 150 students in the program this fall, but now we have around 175.”
Course enrollment numbers are 10 percent higher than what the program had budgeted for, she says. The Film and Video Studies Program also saw a marked increase in the number of applicants for the fall 2014 semester.
Because of the increase, staff is setting earlier deadlines for fall 2015 enrollment, says John Kowalski, program coordinator for Film and Video Studies.
When asked why enrollment increased, Chesler says it’s because the word is out about the program, which is part of George Mason’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.
“It’s word of mouth,” she says. “The program is really catching on.” Film and Video Studies students have held internships with more than 40 organizations, so those in the industry are learning about what’s happening at Mason, Chesler says.
In addition, the faculty, staff and students use the power of the Internet to spread the word.
Students present their work in the lab, called the Sage Room, on the third floor of the de Laski Performing Arts building. Photo by Alexis Glenn.
“We have a fairly strong social media presence. Our Facebook and Twitter pages stay updated, and they feed into our main website,” she says.
The increase in the number of students entering the program as freshmen has prompted faculty to adjust and develop the curriculum.
Freshman enrollment increased by 50 percent this fall. Two-thirds of those enrolled are freshmen, while one-third are transfer students. In past years, the number of transfer and freshman students has been about even, says Kowalski.
“As the program evolves, we are creating more of a freshman-sophomore experience,” Chesler says.
Faculty does this by offering freshmen a Video for Film production course and film events. On Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. in the Johnson Center Cinema, the program will host a Best of FAVS Showcase, highlighting the award-winning films made in the program over the past four years.
The most important thing that drives the program, staff says, is the thought that film and video are strong mechanisms in telling stories.
“We feel that our film students have both a responsibility and opportunity to serve as regional storytellers. We are developing more opportunities for our students to work with the community through digital filmmaking,” Chesler says.
Students have a new tool to help them tell their stories, thanks to the all-new, high-tech lab on the third floor of the de Laski Performing Arts building. Using a film industry tradition of naming rooms for the color painted on the walls, the Sage Room is an instructional space and computer lab for students to create, edit, view and share their work with professors and teachers, Kowalski says.