First ‘master class’ stars Reading Rainbow’s Levar Burton

Director and actor LeVar Burton directed Cal State Long Beach’s first master class in film directing, featuring a seven-minute film scene created by CSULB film students on Friday at the Player’s Theater.

“The workshop was a very full house with 85 attendees, and the film students were very professional,” said Bonnie Jean Blackburn, a dramatic writing graduate student and a film and electronic arts teachers associate, who produced the event. “It was a positive experience, and both the 27-person film crew and the audience benefited from the workshop.”

Film professor Tom Blomquist, one of the workshop’s executive producers, said, “Burton is a highly regarded television and film director. I have also worked with him on various projects, so I knew that his nurturing personality was well suited for something like this. He had previously been a guest speaker on campus, so he also had a feeling for our students and their creative energy.”

Film and electronic arts student Alexis Jones wrote the screenplay for “Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?” for an assignment last semester, according to Blackburn. Blomquist came up with the idea of using Jones’ screenplay for the workshop, Blackburn said.

Blomquist recruited the cast with Blackburn. Armin Shimerman from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and Emmy-winning CSULB film and electronic arts alumnus Robert Woods from “One Life to Live” also starred in the production.

Film and electronic arts professor Brian Alan Lane knew Burton from past projects such as “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “The Caterer,” Blomquist said. Burton, Shimerman and Woods donated their time to teach the students filmmaking, Blomquist said.

The theater and film departments worked together to make the workshop possible.

“This is the first in what will hopefully become a series of master class workshops on campus featuring top entertainment industry professions sharing what they know about important craft skills and production processes,” Blomquist said.

Burton answered many of the audience’s questions throughout the workshop, covering topics such as actor placement during shooting, how to do wide or long shots, how to control lighting for improved visibility and how to control the camera angle.

“This workshop is to show a real-life experience in filmmaking,” Burton said. “We have time to work with students.”

CSULB film student Jessica Williams, who starred in Nickelodeon’s “Just For Kicks,” also performed with the two professional actors as the bartender, according to Blomquist. FEA production students did the shooting and theater production designer students did the scenic design and added the props, according to Blackburn.

“The timing was based in part on Burton’s busy schedule, and we felt that offering something like this once classes were over would be well received by students,” Blomquist said.

“Whether you are a student of film, an actor or a curious fan, this master class and future master classes provide rare opportunities to watch true professionals in action in an intimate environment,” Blackburn said. “FEA regularly hosts a spring semester FEA Career Day and Showcase event that includes a cookout, a panel of distinguished media industry guests and an evening screening of student films.”

FEA alumni seem to do very well in the industry, according to Blomquist.

“We have successful people all over Hollywood and we are extremely proud of them,” Blomquist said.

Blackburn said that with the advent of the Internet and the shift from film to digital capture has made filmmaking much more affordable and more pervasive in terms of distribution.

“There is an explosion of creativity going on now and trends show that people still love movies, even, or especially, in challenging economic times,” Blackburn said.

Some film classes are open to non-film majors, according to Blackburn.

Interested students should contact FEA department adviser Donna Thomas at (562) 985-8241 or by e-mail at [email protected].