Humanities Research Students Head To LA To Explore Theatre, Film, and Television

Last Wednesday (10/5), the Humanities Research Program (HRP) sophomore and junior classes spent the day in LA, exploring the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and the School of Theater, Film, and Television (TFT) at UCLA.

 

“With many first-year students in HRP interested in film and even pursuing careers in filmmaking, we decided to kick the year off by taking film as the first slice of the humanities to explore,” said Dr. Tidey. “And there’s no better place than LA to do that.”

 

Preparation for the trip began in September with students researching the academic work of Dr. Tidey’s friend, UCLA TFT Professor Ellen Scott, who served as an advisor to the curators of the Academy Museum’s current major exhibition, Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971. While at the exhibit, students were introduced to the history of Black Hollywood through movie clips, murals, posters, cuttings from scripts, and so much more. This exhibit brings awareness to the evident racism in the film industry and how Black actors and actresses have been affected by it. 

 

“The kids would run up to me and ask questions, and I would say: `I don’t know! What do you think?’” Tidey said. "Many students were especially struck by Kara Walker’s silhouettes and truly stunned by the artistic dance of representing and critiquing stereotypes while not reinforcing them.” 

 

Many also participated in the Museum’s “Oscars Experience,” a ten-second experience that puts you right on stage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to win your very own Oscar. Students were given a video that pictured each of them getting their own Oscar.

 

They then made their way to UCLA where they met up with Laguna Blanca Alumni Hanna Masri '22 and Noah Kamps '22 who introduced them to, as Tidey said, “the beauty and the chaos of the UCLA lunch scene,” which was followed by a whirlwind tour of the beautiful hilly campus. 

 

Thanks to the coordination of Professor Scott, the HRP students were given an extensive tour of the School of Theater, Film, and Television where they saw the behind-the-scenes steps it takes to make a film, peeking into editing suites, stop-motion studios, and commercial grade theaters used for lectures. Did you know that UCLA holds one of two theaters in the country that can show movies filmed on Silver Nitrate film? Miebaka Yohannes, UCLA TFT alum and tour guide, described it as the Blue-Ray of film! Students were also introduced to rooms specific to different areas of film, such as sound rooms, foley sets, and even a permanent set from the 90s sitcom Friends, donated to the Academy by Warner Bros. Studios.

 

Next up for HRP students—examining the major issues at stake in the upcoming midterm elections, with first-year students selecting and tracking a political issue throughout the election.