128Academics Harding provided opportunities for students with any range of interest to participate in the production of films. Associate professor of communication Dr. Charles Bane acted as the executive producer for student film projects. He helped students by reviewing their screenplays and provided them with access to premium services such as locations, actors and equipment. “[Student producing is] a learning tool,” Bane said. “It’s a way to own your craft. It’s one thing to sit in a classroom and talk about camera angles and lighting, but it’s another thing to actually do it.” There were a number of ways for students to get involved in film productions. A film practicum course was offered for the first time starting in fall 2023 and became a major recruitment tool. That semester Bryan Hudkins, an instructor of Communications, joined Bane as a film professor teaching video production and hoped to teach cinematography and editing in the feature. “It’s also a good way for our students as freshmen to jump right on the movie set and learn as they move up from grip to assistant camera their sophomore year and then their junior year to cinematographer and by their senior year they’re ready to direct,” Bane said. Senior Film major Brinson Davenport worked as writer, director and producer of a film that was to be submitted in the 2023 Five Minute Film Festival. “I call film my unshakable passion,” Davenport said. “Film is like a foundation I keep coming back to and I can’t shake it. I realized as a kid that I was seeing the world through film. I was always thinking in terms of shots. I was always constructing a storyline in my head. I came to Harding as a film major and it has been everything it’s needed to be and more.” Although Davenport had been involved in filmmaking since the age of ten, Harding’s film program offered knowledge and experience to those such as Davenport with true passions. “I believe that the filmmaker is like the preacher and that telling stories is the best way to capture people’s hearts and minds and emotions,” Davenport said. Students were involved in film projects through non-Harding-related ways as well. Junior theatre education major Aubrey Jones was involved in projects as an actress. She made the connections through Instagram. “The parts I don’t like about theater, I don’t have to do in film,” Jones said. “Namely learning lines. It was super cool getting to see behind what’s in the frame of the screen, just because that’s not something I’ve ever really experienced. To have any little experience in film will help just with the world that we are living in.” FOUNDATIONS OF Harding faculty and students find ways to get involved in filmmaking. “I believe that the filmmaker is like the preacher and that telling stories is the best way to capture people’s hearts and minds and emotions.” -Brinson Davenport Written by Randi Tubbs
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==