Savannah Film Festival: A look into film, television and sound design
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is the most anticipated event series at the Savannah College of Art and Design. There’s always an eventful show that’s playing or panelist discussion that opens your eyes to immeasurable opportunities. However, for this film fest, I decided on a more unorthodox approach: focusing on the department chairs, rather than the celebrity guests.
The panelists in this virtual film fest were Jenny Jaquillard, executive director of admission recruitment, D.W. Moffet, chair of film and television, Mitch Gettleman, chair of sound design and Jamie Baker, a professor of sound design. Each one of them provides a different skillset in detail to provide the guests with an enriching experience to learn about the world of film, television and sound design from a local perspective.
Immediately when the virtual event commenced the speakers were able to set the tone by diving straight into what it’s like being in the film, television, and sound design industry. Moffet eluded to SCAD’s plethora of film victories, including that SCAD regionally dominates the southeast Emmy awards, they’ve won the Coke Regal competition for two years in a row, and SCAD earns more than 182 awards a year in film submissions.
Next, Gittleman and Baker emphasized how illustrious an institution SCAD is. Both individuals had many opportunities to work on film sets in Hollywood and New York. They described SCAD’s film facilities as equals of Warner Brothers and Tyler Perry Studios. To them, the availability of production rooms, film equipment, sound design studios and teacher assistance is no less than that of Hollywood.
When describing what it takes to make it in the film industry, Gittleman said, “My ancient career, back when the dinosaurs existed, there was always learning to be had. We were problem-solving and pivoting all the time and we teach all of that here in sound design. to be successful in this industry, you cannot just be a great filmmaker you have to be able to pivot. Only then will the opportunities present themselves.”
On how the global pandemic would affect SCAD students in this industry, Jaquillard assured the audience of the safety measures SCAD put into effect to ensure student a safe work process. She stated, “Nothing has stopped our grind here at SCAD. Even having online classes has boosted exposure and opportunities. Although we have to move much more cautiously, the virtual experience has created an increase in our student’s ability to grow as artists.”
Moffet, building on Jaquillard’s statement, said, “I’m very proud of my faculty for pivoting to online classes. The students are killing it and moving in a stronger direction.”
