Moving PicturesDepartmentNewsletterApril 2013

To learn how to playthe violin one mustplay the violin which is whywe take a hands-on approach to our filmcurriculum.  Our goal at the Moving Pictures Department http://vimeo.com/33316829is to give our students the technical trainingneeded to execute their vision, but it is also important that they understand the nature of co-operative enterprise.  Film is an expression of a team of artists and we do our best to teach our students the powerof teamwork. Our films are testimonial towhat a group of people can achieve if they work together.

- Isaac Webb

Lujie Wu makes Props

Tomas Gonzales’costume rendering

I N T H I S I S S U E

Productions in 2012-13Already wrapped are Department Chair Isaac Webb’sWhy I Hate Candy and SeniorPeter Ryan’s Positive Outlookfor Blue Collar People. More productions have been GreenLit for the Spring!Page 2

Isaac Webb, Department ChairProfilePage 3

IAA Documentary Airs on KCETKatherine Kerns’ A Family LikeMine airs on Los Angeles television Station KCET.Page 4

MPD welcomes newTechnical DirectorTrevor is the third generationof the Holmes family to teachat Idyllwild Arts.Page 3

New StudioComing soon: the new MovingPictures Department couldhave a new home!Pages 4 & 5

Best Field Trip EVER!The MPD tours the 85th Academy Awards and watchesa live taping of Brand X!Pages 6

MPD DocumentariesHave Impact inEthiopiaTwo documentaries by students have already helpedsave lives, with another crewsetting out this summer.Pages 6

Rosey Zu, Jared Billings and Jack Chen Peter Ryan directs

Eric Huergo Wagner

The Moving Pictures Department has wrappedDepartment Chair Isaac Webb’s film Why I HateCandy and the short is in post-production now.When asked why the first film was teacher-led,Isaac says “The primary theory behind IdyllwildArts is that our faculty are practicing professionalsin their given craft.  We do more than teach; weshare our passion and experience with our students.  I think the students respect that weknow what it means to be an artist.  It says tothem that we are all students of cinema and withevery production we all learn together.”

The film, written by Isaac Webb and TygerWilliams, is based loosely on the Brothers Grimmfairy tale Hansel and Gretel and features local actors both amateur and professional. Two professional actors were cast in Candy: LocalsConor O’Farrell (The Lincoln Lawyer, CSI) as the father and as Gretchen, Elsie Fisher, whose credits include the voice of Agnes in DespicableMe. The role of Henry is played by five-year-oldIsaac Irsfeld, who while very young for the character, so impressed Webb that he rewrote

the role to suit the actor.

Costume designer and Theatre Departmentteacher Minnie Walter led Costumer CarolineMetz and Makeup Artist Kaylee Spates in creating the characters’ identities. The Art Department for Candy was led by Loren Tripp,

who teaches Art Direction in the MPD, art director Lilly Mischer and Set Dresser Haley Baldwin dressed the MPD’s production RV asCandy’s lair and transformed a local house from acheerful, airy cabin into the sinister WickedWitch’s Cottage. Property master Lujie Wu bakedfive dozen gingerbread men and had the unusualtask of tying apple head dolls to threads andhanging them in the witch’s cottage, adding tothe creepiness of the house. The Art Departmentwas on hand during the shoot to be sure thatevery thing and every one looked good on camera. Tripp says, “I was happy to see that theArt Department took the production into theirown hands and carried on when I couldn’t be onthe set. I think the Art Department can be proudof their work on Candy.”

Peter Ryan’s“3-2-1” (movie-talk for 3 pages, 2 actors, 1 day,) Positive Outlook for Blue Collar People starred IAA Student Services Administrative Assistant Becky Bomgardner andPeter’s own father Bruce Ryan. The three-minuteshort was shot in a single day on Studio B on theRyan Sound Stage. Peter Ryan directed, CyrusPaydar produced, Quill Chase-Daniel was cinematographer, Lilly Mischer was art directorand Harald Beran edited.

Up next is Writer/Director Lilly Mischer’s film Noellasaurus, the MPD’s first attempt at

The cast and crew of Why I Hate Candy.

Two films are ‘in the can,’ with more to come

Haley Baldwin stylesprops for Candy

MOVING PICTURES

“The primarytheory behindIdyllwild Arts isthat our facultyare practicingprofessionals intheir givencraft.  We domore than teach;we share ourpassion and experience”

Continued on back page

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Isaac Webb

Meet Isaac WebbB Y B E T T Y B A I L E Y

Moving Pictures Department Chair Isaac Webbenjoys a multifaceted career that spans the genres of film, from comedy to thriller. Webb gothis start as a documentarian with his film Desire(1996-2005), which chronicled the lives of sixteenage girls from New Orleans through fouryears of high school. The project took nearly 10years to make and included short films made bysome of the girls, who told their own personalstories. Desire screened on PBS, with help fromthe National Endowment for the Arts, the FordFoundation and the John D. and Catherine T.MacArthur Foundation.

In 2000, Webb’s feature length comedy screen-play Blackbottom was one of only eight scriptsselected for the esteemed Sundance Institute’sScreenwriters Lab, a five-day workshop that pairsnew writers with established professionals whoact as creative advisors.

The Northwestern University graduate has produced, written and directed several shortfilms that have been recognized by prestigious

festivals including the Chicago Film Festival, theLouisiana Video Shorts Festival, and the San Francisco Film Festival. His short family dramaThe Wedding aired nationally on Encore, Bravo,BET and Showtime. Webb has also written scriptsfor Universal Studios and HBONYC.

The feature length psychologicalthriller First Born (2007), written and directed by Webb, tells the story of anew mother with postpartum psychosis.First Born stars Elizabeth Shue, StevenMackintosh and Blair Brown.

Webb has received numerous individualawards and grants including the Rockefeller Fellowship, a Kodak SpiritAward, The New Orleans Film Festival’sLumiere Award, and a Louisiana Divisionof the Arts Artist Fellowship. He has alsobeen featured in Filmmaker Magazine's25 People to Watch and is a member ofboth the Directors Guild of Americaand the Writers Guild of America.

Isaac and his wife Olivia live on a hillside abovePalm Desert with their five-year-old daughter Miranda and nine-month-old son Memphis.

Moving Pictures welcomes Trevor HolmesB Y L O R E N T R I P P

The MPD welcomes alumni Trevor Holmes to the department as the much-needed TechnicalDirector.  Holmes is dividing his time between MP and the Theatre Department, and is the TD of the Junior Players Theatre during the Summer Program.  Graduating from the Theatre Department with an emphisis on Technical Theatre, Holmes went on to California Institute of the Arts where he received his BFA in Scenic Design. He has worked in television production, including The 82nd Annual AcademyAwards, The NAACP Image Awards, and TheAmerican Cinematheque.  

Holmes is happy to be back at Idyllwild Arts,where his grandfather Robert Evans Holmes ledthe Festival Choir in the Summer Program formany years and his father Dwight “Buzz” Holmesis a Governor of the IAF.  With the help of students, Holmes has already built a set on

Studio B for the Cinematography class to work inand will help put the animation studio together.Holmes will supervise the students with set construction and will manage the Sound Stage. “It feels great to be back in this wonderful artistic community. I look forward to working with the Moving Pictures Department and theTheatre Department." 

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Isaac Webb

Last month, Hollywood opened its doors to Idyllwild Arts senior Katherine Kearns and thecrew of her 22-minute documentary A Family Like Mine. http://vimeo.com/48816585The film screened at the Academy of TelevisionArts and Sciences as part of KCET’s annual FineCut Film Series, which is currently running onKCET. The series showcases 17 student films, sixteen of which are from universities and graduate programs. Idyllwild Arts was the onlyhigh school to be included.

“That this film, made by our high school studentswas broadcast on Los Angeles Public Televisionand screened at the Academy of Television Artsand Sciences as the sole high school productionin the company of the best college and universityproductions (including even the prestigiousAmerican Film Institute) is, I think, a fitting testament to the exceptional quality and advanced skills of our student filmmakers, as well as our amazing Idyllwild Arts Moving Pictures Department program,” said Dr. Ira R.Abrams, who teaches documentary productionat Idyllwild Arts.

A Family Like Mine tells the touching stories ofseveral individuals who were raised in familieswith same sex parents. "This documentary wasreally made for people who didn't know muchabout gay families,” said Katherine. “It was forpeople who had preconceived ideas of what afamily should and shouldn't be.”

Katherine, who was raised by a single, gay father, says she started the documentary to find others who had grown up in similar situations. What she found was a supportive and uplifting community in her own back yard. “I really just wanted to open up peoples’ mindsand show them something that they wouldn'thave otherwise seen. But in retrospect, this documentary is really just for people who cherish and love their families. It's really just toshow people that love comes in many forms."

“Making any film, in the end, requires a great deal of courage and insight about human character,” said Abrams. “But attempting to make an documentary about yourself and yourfamily, that puts them into the context of an engaging story, may be one of the most difficult and risky tasks a filmmaker can ever take on.” Katherine Kearns and her amazing student crew (Tirzah Donau, Alex Laudeman, Paul Jung, and Makai Metzler) not only accomplished the latter, but in the end theycrafted a superb professional documentary thatmay, in the end, help many to forever alter thelimited and proscribed way they see and understand the world of human families.

A Family Like Mine A Family Like Mine is willscreen this month at the National Film Festival forTalented Youth (NFFTY) in Seattle. It is currentlyunder consideration in festivals across the UnitedStates including the Palm Springs InternationalShortfest and the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Katherine Kearns’ Documentary airs on KCET

Katherine Kearns

MOVING PICTURES

At the far west end of campus, past the Children’s Center and Junior Players Theatre,stands an imposing metal building waiting for anew life as the Moving Pictures Studio. The Studio is a 4,000 square foot warehouse structure with three story ceilings, ready to become Idyllwild Arts’ newest arts facility. Nestled on a plateau overlooking the San JacintoValley, what began as a Maintenance Garage was re-designated in 2007 as the Studio by the

Idyllwild Arts Foundation. Now the Moving Pictures Department is going forward to complete the building.

With thirty Moving Pictures majors and manymore applicants to the department, there is agreat demand for additional stage and production space. The Studio will include sixsound-proof editing bays, production workrooms, equipment storage, and a classroom. The

The New Moving Pictures Department Sound Stage could soon become a reality!

“The Studio will be ahuge boon tothe MovingPictures Department”

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Isaac Webb

sound stage will have over 2,000 square feet ofopen space and a visual effects green screen.Says MPD Chair Isaac Webb, “We’re building ananimation studio for Noellasaurus in Studio A and we want to build a set for an ongoing webcast about boarding school life. It would begreat to make those sets permanent and still have room for other productions. The Studio will be a huge boon to the Moving Pictures Department, allowing both the Academy and the Summer Program to expand theirofferings.”  To some, it's a warehouse in the woods; but to us it is a definitive way for IdyllwildArts to establish itself as the preeminent film program for high school students in the world.”

With the completion of the Bruce Ryan SoundStage, The Moving Pictures Department was created by Brad Battersby in 2000. In 2007, theEchavarria Family added the Alexis Annex to thesound stage to honor their son, Alexis Echavarria.http://www.alexisechavarria.com The Annexadded a much needed work space, storage, edit-ing room, makeup room and restroom. From itsbeginning thirteen years ago, the MPD has grownfrom ten students to over thirty today.

Bruce Ryan, parent of MPD senior Peter Ryan ’13and Chair of the IA Building and Grounds Committee says, “ When we started this depart-ment, it seemed like we’d never fill the soundstage, and now we’re squeezed for space. Thissummer we spent our family vacation buildingscenery on the sound stage with the Summer

Program students, and we saw the need for thebigger, better studio. We’re motivated to finishthe Studio because Moving Pictures and Idyllwild Arts needs that facility to fulfill its potential.” Ryan and his wife, Loren Tripp, arespearheading the campaign to fund the Studio.Says Tripp, “We already have $1.1 million coveredand it will cost another $500,000 to get the Lotopen. When you consider that a kitchen remodelcan run over $50,000, it’s a bargain. My dream isthat we raise $2 million; then we can equip thestage with the newest technology and buildscenery and costume shops that can be used byMP, Theatre, Fashion and Visual Arts.”

When asked what will happen to the Ryan SoundStage, Webb has an interdepartmental mindset.“When we aren’t shooting or screening there, theRyan Sound Stage will become a scoring studiofor the Jazz and Orchestra students to recordmusic and sound effects for the films. The MusicComposition students created original music forall the student films a few years ago and itbrought them to a level beyond what even colleges can achieve. Where else but Idyllwild Arts can a student filmmaker work with a musiccomposition major to create an original score and have a full orchestra record it?”

Webb asserts that the new stage will be put togood use right away. “The students will create artful films and tell compelling stories at the Lot.If we could, we’d start shooting in there tomorrow.”

“To some, it's a warehousein the woods;but to us it isa definitiveway for Idyllwild Artsto establishitself as thepreeminentfilm programfor highschool students inthe world.”

Where else but I dyllwild Arts cana student film maker work with a music composition major tocreate an original score and havea full orchestra record it?

Dressing the set on Studio B

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Isaac Webb

The students and faculty had the unique privilegeof visiting the rehearsals of the 85th AcademyAwards in Hollywood on Thursday, February 21st.At 8 a.m. the students and faculty boarded a busfrom snow-bound Idyllwild and arrived at TheDolby Theater on Hollywood Boulevard for a 5-hour VIP tour. Suzan Mischer, parent of LillyMischer, ’13, coordinated the tour of the Dolbyand her husband, Don Mischer, the director of the Oscars live telecast, allowed the students into the Video Truck to watch him direct the 22-camera rehearsal for the live show.

The students walked the red carpet, sat in the audience to watch the rehearsal and got a tour

A day in Hollywood: The Academy Award Rehearsals!B Y L O R E N T R I P PMOVING PICTURES

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The MDP at Brand X with Russell Brand, center

On the Red Carpet at the 85th Academy Awards

of the stage, back stage and under the stage onthis extraordinary, behind-the-scenes tour. BobDickinson, winner of 20 Emmys for televisionlighting design, gave a talk about his work on theOscars and reminisced about his first AcademyAwards at age 28! Bruce Grayson, makeup artistto several presidents and countless stars, alsostopped and talked with the students about hisjob at the Oscars. We discovered that Grayson’swife, Liz Sagal, producer of the FX TV Show, Sonsof Anarchy, danced in the Idyllwild Arts YouthSummer Program years ago!

After the Oscars, the group boarded the bus andheaded to Bruce Ryan Production Design Studioin Burbank for pizza and a slide show of Ryan’swork in television art direction.

The last stop of the busy day was Sunset BronsonStudios to see a live taping of British comedianRussell Brand’s FX television show Brand X, whichRyan designed. Students filled a whole section of bleachers and met director Troy Miller. The department enjoyed the randy, unpredictableshow and saw what goes on during the production of live television. After the broadcast,Brand himself came over, chatted with the students and posed with them for a photo.

After some cold pizza, the gang piled back ontothe bus at 10:30 at night for the trek back up themountain. It was a 17 hour round trip, and an unforgettable day! Thank you to everyone whomade it possible!

c AMPAS

Loren Tripp

“The MovingPictures Departmenthad a front-rowview of another aspect ofMoving Pictures; televisionproduction.”

Twice a year, a team of dentists from Loma LindaUniversity travels to Ethiopia, a country that hasonly a handful of dentists to serve nearly 85 million people. In 2011, Idyllwild Arts sent a filmcrew to document the trip for the Tropical HealthAlliance Foundation, a non-profit organization,founded in 2006, to help provide educationaltraining and medical assistance to people living inthe poorest of conditions. The result of the excursion was Dembidolo, Ethiopia Mission Trip, afour-minute long documentary by IAA alumniSean Stromsoe and Luke Sherman.

The film shares the experiences of young dentistsas they learn the true impact and importance oftheir career choice on a people who have had nodental care.

“The last I read, there were only 48 dentists there,in a country that’s the size of Spain and France,”said THAF founder Dr. Larry Thomas. Thomassaid this shortage has resulted in the people trying to take dentistry into their own hands.“Sometimes they have a layman pull out badteeth. I’ve heard of people pulling out their ownteeth, they hurt so bad,” he said.

“Our excursion to Ethiopia underscores the ideathat one can use the medium to better people’slives,” said Moving Pictures chair Isaac Webb. “Itlets our students know that their art and actionsmatter.  It inspires our students not only to begood storytellers but better people."

This summer, a new Idyllwild Arts documentaryteam hopes to travel to Ethiopia with THAF. This

time, the film will follow a team of surgeons asthey restore the eyesight of people with cataracts.

“Ethiopia has one of the highest percentages ofblindness of any place in the world,” said Thomas.“One-point-six percent of the people are blind. Ofthat 1.6 percent, 80-percent of the blindness istreatable or preventable. Of that 80-percent, 60-percent is due to cataracts.”

Aside from the blindness, these cataracts create ahardship for families. “The tragedy is that it puts aterrific economic burden on the family becausethey have to take care of that blind person,” saidThomas. “One of the children, usually a younggirl, will be assigned to lead that person aroundand that’s how they spend their childhood. Shecan’t go to school. She can’t have a childhood.

There are millions of childrenthat have to live a life ofservitude to a blind person.When that person can see,you liberate that child.”

Thomas said documentarieslike this help raise funds and,more importantly spreadawareness.

“We need to raise funds forthis project but nobodygives to things they don’t

understand,” said Thomas. “It (documentary)shows people the problem and it shows them wehave a solution. If you create awareness, themoney comes.”

"Documentary filmmaking is a very important aspect of the moving pictures program,” saidWebb. “Most kids come here to pursue narrativestorytelling but it is important to us that our students understand the power of the documentary.  Finding stories and characters inthe real world is more challenging than imaginingthem but an authentic story has the possibility to effect the world in a way that even the mostprofound fiction cannot.”

Watch Dembidolo, Ethiopia Mission Trip.http://vimeo.com/29865580

Alumni Sean Stromsoe and Luke Shermanmake a difference for EthiopiansB Y B E T T Y B A I L E Y

“It lets ourstudentsknow thattheir art andactions matter.  It inspires ourstudents notonly to begood storytellersbut betterpeople."

Moving Pictures Department documentarians showhow dental studentsfrom Loma Linda University saves livesin Ethiopia throughthe Tropical Health Alliance.

7Isaac Webb

stop-motion animation. Idyllwild Arts alumniShaun James Esparza, an animator, is sculptingthe dinosaur figures and supervising the animation process. An animation studio will becreated in the Alex Annex’s Studio A especially for Noellasaurus. The film combines animationwith live action and green screen effects, andshould be a challenge for the department. Tirzah Donau is producer, cinematographer is Juliana Ventre. Character design and story-boards are by Visual Arts Department student

Anthony Lopez, and student animator is KylerAszterbaum. Costumer is Haley Baldwin, art director is Caroline Metz and property master is Fernando Mitre.

Isaac Webb has invited the Creative Writingmajors to submit screenplays to be considered for production. Students are busy writing andrewriting their screenplays for submission to theProducing Class to be “green lit” (movie-talk for“approved”) and then production will begin!

Two films are ‘in the can,’ with more to comeContinued from page 2

Green Light is the quarterly newsletter for the Idyllwild ArtsMoving Pictures Department.

Moving Pictures Faculty:

Isaac Webb, Department Chair

Ira Abrams

Betty Bailey

Jared Billings

Trevor Holmes

Loren Tripp

Eric Young

Moving Pictures Department shooting on location