The Closing of TV/Cinema Major
by Ryan Commerson
In a letter to the campus community, Karen Kimmel, Assistant to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies wrote, "In TFP, there are three tracks: television and cinema, photography, and digital media. Photography and digital media have a number of majors and will continue, but television and cinema do not have enough students to justify continuation of that major after those students are graduated in May 2002." I am a senior who plans on graduating in December, and I am currently majoring in Television and Cinema. You may think, "Well, you're graduating anyway. What do you care?" I care a lot. We as moviemakers are taught that TV and Cinema is a collaborative art, which means I need a team. Without the program, where will my team come from? I can't begin to tell you how bewildered I was upon receiving the news of the department being shut down. All of us who are majoring in TPDM found this to be a shock. That's right. We were neither informed of the plans nor were we invited to participate in the decision to shut down the department. This was very sudden. Since his arrival in January of 1999, Facundo Montenegro became an interim chair of the Department of Television, Photography, and Digital Media, he added several new courses which are vital to the program and breathed a positive life into the department. Since then, interest has grown dramatically and the reputation of the department spread. More and more students began to realize the enormous possiblities of career opportunities in tv/cinema areas, not only because of the increase in classes, but also because of the fact that there was a teacher that believed in their dreams. The dream which was once thought as impossible was realized by many. The dream of becoming a successful moviemaker, for instance, was brought a little closer to reality for Daniele Le Rose with the confidence that was instilled in him through Facundo and the department's teaching. Daniele Le Rose applied to a well reputed private film school in his home country of Italy and was one of the very few students accepted into the prestigious program. There are more. You may think, well how does all this apply to me? As a Deaf person you are very much impacted. As literature is an important source of communication and preservation for the hearing people, so is TV and Cinema to the Deaf people. Why? Because it is a visual medium that will capture the visual language of our community. Once its captured with eloquence and wit, it can be aired on television or shown in movie theatres for billions to see. For billions to better understand what the Deaf community means to the Deaf people. For little Deaf children to watch and reach out to Deaf celebrities and Deaf role models. But in order to achieve this we must have a place to begin learning. If not at the mecca of the Deaf, then where? Due to rapid morphosis of analog technology to digital, everything that is digital is tremendously cheap in comparsion to film OR TV equipment. One complete set of powerhouse editing system that includes a digital camera, a computer, an editing software, and an external drive with 50+ Gigabytes will cost around $5,000.00 max. The Administration can say, from their experience with budgeting, that this is very cheap. Now, this may make Digital Media even more attractive. Keep in mind, though, that the cirriculum for Digital Media does not allow a student to develop the skills for production planning, teamwork, criticism, and so forth. Let's be honest here. This is cheaper than some of the equipment laying around on our campus. Far cheaper than the Smart Building project-- a project in which the purpose is to encourage advances in technology: apparently leaving out Television and Film. This Fall, about 34 freshmen flooded Facundo's TFP 110 courses with focus in moviemaking. About 9 students signed up for Facundo's Elements of Media Production class. That adds up to around 43 newcomers along with 7 TV/Cinema majors. Many of those newcomers participated in the annual TPDM show, which held practically a full house. With all this in mind, it seems as though the administration has no valid reason to close down the TV/Cinema Major. The closing of this major will affect other departments as well such as the ASL department and Deaf Studies department. How is ASL Literature recorded? How can one study the Deaf Culture? By reading the books about Deaf people and history? Books written in English, the Hearing people's language? Would you feel more inspired by an essay about DPN or by watching a video that shows the actual footage of what was going on both in public and behind the scenes? We must come together and stop this madness. How would people react if the university suddenly decided to stop offering any writing courses? To conclude, I offer you two questions. First, where is the sense in r emoving a teacher who has brought light to a program that was barely functioning, and breathed life into it? Second, why is it that a university whose primary language is visual uses a medium in written form: The Buff n' Blue. Why is it that our community network and communication forum is not done through TV and Cinema?
Buff N' Blue Vol. Cx Issue 2 September 14, 2001.