(Editor’s note: Sixty students who participated in the film-training program will receive their certificates at 11 a.m. Monday, June 8, in the foyer of the Lansing Community College West campus.)
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Sixty Michigan residents now have a career boost, thanks to a joint training program designed to prepare Michigan residents seeking employment in the state’s growing film industry. Michigan State University, Lansing Community College and Capital Area Michigan Works! will award certificates Monday to the program’s graduates.
Capital Area Michigan Works! recruited and coordinated the program via a $195,000 grant from the state of Michigan. Capital Area Michigan Works! received more than 800 inquiries and 200 applications and selected 60 applicants for the program which began May 18. The funding covered the full cost of the program for all participants – all Michigan residents.
Doug Stites, CEO of Capital Area Michigan Works!, said this program – and the partnership with LCC and MSU – are key to Michigan’s future.
“The film training program shows how our state is responding to the changing work force demands in Michigan and committed to creating new job opportunities,” Stites said.
MSU’s Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media and Lansing Community College's Digital Media, Audio and Cinema program, or DMAC, provided on-campus film production training.
MSU specialist Gary Reid was the lead instructor and supervising producer during the three-week training program.
"This program combines traditional classroom instruction from MSU, LCC and industry professionals with the actual production of a short film to provide the students with a well-rounded experience," Reid said.
Along with their certificates, all students will receive a DVD of the film they produced. The film, entitled “Fired,” was written and directed by Jacob Motz, a film director from Los Angeles who has helped with the program.
Michigan enacted an aggressive film incentive structure in April 2008. Since then, the state has seen more than 70 film and TV projects slated for production in Michigan, estimated to bring in about $430 million in economic activity.
MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences has a film and media arts initiative. The college offers quality degree programs for film-related careers and has a solid group of alumni involved in the film business, ranging from actors to producers to sound designers to directors and storytellers. In fall 2009, MSU is proposing two new specializations: fiction film production and collaborative documentary production.
The DMAC curriculum at LCC is the first program within the region to offer introductory through advanced level training in digital cinema production technologies. Housed within the Business, Media and Information Technologies Division, the DMAC program has trained students for production positions in both regional and national production centers, and its student body has competed in both national and international production competitions.
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