The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

Lights, camera, inaction: Lack of a film major at UNC reflected in state

Riley Reid, a junior majoring in advertising, and Stuart Schrader, a junior majoring in political science and communication studies, are two-thirds of Uninsincerity, a student filmmaker group at UNC. "It's a love-hate relationship here in the lab," they said. "We met through a mutual friend and realized we both shared an interest in creative visuals." On the editing process, they said "it's like a big block of play doh that we both add to and take away from to create an end product."
Riley Reid, a junior majoring in advertising, and Stuart Schrader, a junior majoring in political science and communication studies, are two-thirds of Uninsincerity, a student filmmaker group at UNC. "It's a love-hate relationship here in the lab," they said. "We met through a mutual friend and realized we both shared an interest in creative visuals." On the editing process, they said "it's like a big block of play doh that we both add to and take away from to create an end product."

“I had an absolutely terrible experience. It was a pretty large lecture, and it was very uninvolved,” he said. “There was no energy. There was no involvement with the professor genuinely in the interest of the students.”

After finishing the class, which was based on completion of tedious assignments his teaching assistant graded, the junior political science and communication studies major said he felt frustrated.

“It made me question, ‘Why am I even going here at all? Why am I wasting my time at all by studying this, being interested in this? Why am I taking the time to care about this stuff when I don’t think I’m learning enough here? It’s not going to be a practical pursuit in order to get a career out of it.”

Schrader’s frustration was met with anxiety.

“That anxiety was amplified by the lack of organization in the communications department’s media production focus and the absence of any student-led organization to accommodate people with similar interests as me on campus.”

Until fall of 2015.

A new place

Junior Prakash Kadiri founded the Carolina Film Association, a student-run organization that strives to help filmmakers.

“The organization accomplishes its mission by offering resources, guidance and organization to student filmmakers to realize their vision in a cinematic language over televisual or episodic forms,” according to its website.

Kadiri said North Carolina has changed from the place colloquially known as “Hollywood of the East” to a place of limited filmmaking.

“Now they’re calling Atlanta that,” he said. “That’s where all the big productions are now.”

In 2014, the N.C. General Assembly cut its film incentives system, which previously reimbursed production companies 25 percent for projects that cost more than $250,000.

Now, filmmakers rely on grants from North Carolina, which, according to its 2016 budget, has $60 million to spare for films.

But due to their expensive budgets, large-scale productions, which rely on tax rebates, move where their efforts will receive substantial compensation.

Now, big-name films aren’t filmed in the state that once hosted box-office hits like “The Hunger Games” and “Iron Man 3.”

While this might seem like a good opportunity for the film industry, many people in North Carolina will suffer.

“I think they shouldn’t have cut the tax incentives. Bigger productions help stimulate the economy. Film equals jobs,” Kadiri said.

And to get jobs, many are relocating.

“A lot of people who work on films in North Carolina have to go down to Atlanta,” he said.

Limited release

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.

The Hollywood of the East has now become the Hollywood of the Past.

For decades, the distinctive landscape of North Carolina has been the backdrop for films of all genres.

Many movies filmed in North Carolina have gone on to win Academy Awards and Golden Globes and be honored by the American Film Institute.

In the 1990s, North Carolina was the setting for box office hits like “Forrest Gump,” “The Fugitive” and “The Green Mile,” which together grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

Other blockbuster hits like “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Dirty Dancing” and “Cabin Fever” were filmed in the state.

Numbers are now dwindling. According to the North Carolina Film Office, in 2010, 17 movies and TV shows were filmed in North Carolina; in 2011, 33; in 2012, 23; and in 2014, 19.

But in 2015 — only one.

A ‘major’ problem

Of the 16 UNC-system universities, 87.5 percent do not offer a major dedicated to filmmaking.

Some offer a film studies major or minor, which focuses on literary and artistic component of film itself, rather than the process of its creation. Some offer a communications degree that incorporates certain aspects of filmmaking.

Private schools, like High Point University and Elon University, offer undergraduate majors that teach students to make films or documentaries.

Junior Riley Reid, a filmmaker who has worked with Schrader, said although he feels supported at UNC as a filmmaker, he wishes there were more courses available.

“I know there’s a production major in the (communication) department,” he said. “I think more formal classes on video editing and production in general would be really cool — open for all types of students.”

‘Alone and Isolated’

One year after finishing his media production class, Schrader joined Kadiri’s Carolina Film Association.

Schrader said the CFA — which was granted $6,660 in funding by Student Congress on Tuesday — became a haven for filmmakers.

“It ultimately became the flagship, premier organization for anyone interested in film on campus,” he said.

In November, Kadiri brought something new to UNC — Campus MovieFest, a private, competitive program that supplied students with equipment. Winners advanced to the national level, the prize there being their film screened at Cannes Film Festival.

Schrader made a short film, “Of Princes,” with two friends, Jan Bergengruen and Reid, and it wound up winning — but not just at UNC. The film won Campus MovieFest nationally.

“It would never have happened without Campus MovieFest through Carolina Film Association,” Schrader said. It’s had its ups and downs — being a filmmaker at Carolina.”

“It’s made me feel alone and isolated.”

@ryanschocket

arts@dailytarheel.com