Cai Thompson, A&S ’16, who is in the running to win an award and job from NESN, is yet another aspiring filmmaker to emerge this academic year at Boston College. From Exposure Production’s work over the past two years starting with their Hyundai video, the campus produced and themed Mod of Cards, Sean Casey’s work in the Office of Public Affairs, and Alex Mukherjee, A&S ’17, making the Boston Student Film Fest at Emerson on March 28, BC has benefited from an increased interest in film on campus.
BC students have shown a talent and technical ability that rivals other schools in the area. This is more impressive when one takes into account the disadvantage BC students and the film program in general faces with regard to funding and support.
Students at Emerson and Boston University have the advantage when it comes to access to equipment that is vital to producing student films. The BC film department scrapes by semester to semester with cameras, tripods, and lights that overwhelmingly fall below industry standards.
Students interested in pursuing a career in filmmaking find little support, while the University boasts direct pipelines to financial and accounting firms. BC has yet to develop a relationship with major studios in Los Angeles that provide the most general and available opportunities for college students to find their way in a competitive industry. Plenty of studios shoot films in Boston and New York, which would give those students interested an opportunity to get hands on experience.
This is an area in which BC students are rapidly showing both interest and proficiency, and the school should in turn devote the proper amount of funds and avenues of support for students pursuing their passions in film. This starts with providing greater financial backing to the film department. The school must make sure students and classes have usable equipment with which they can seriously pursue filmmaking.
BC has the means to take care of its emerging filmmakers, the same way it takes care of those pursuing a career in the corporate world. Given the work and acclaim BC film students are lending to the University, they deserve its full support.
Featured Image by Drew Hoo / Heights Editor
