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‘The Crew Experience’ By Kevin Opsahl Jun 01, 2022 12:45 AM A A SOU students in “The Crew Experience” course shoot film Saturday at Medford Railroad Park. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune When students finish “The Crew Experience” course, they could earn a new micro-credential in Set Skills for Cinema Production from SOU. SOU course focuses lens on real-world filmmaking with experienced mentors and top-of-the-line equipment Film students at Southern Oregon University are dusting off their camera lenses — after a two-year pandemic delay — in a new course that teaches how to professionally shoot movies. The university recently announced the launch of “The Crew Experience,” a 12-credit, one-term course that makes for a film and media program unlike any other in the Pacific Northwest. “The impetus behind this program is that we’ve been offering filmmaking for a long time and our students are making solid films, but what we found when we visited our student sets is that they don’t look like professional sets,” said Andrew Gay, principal architect of “The Crew Experience” and associate professor and chair of communication, media and cinema at SOU. When there is no professional set to use for learning, Gay said, that can lead student filmmakers to take on too many roles in filmmaking or cut corners in production and not produce the best possible movie. “Our students can make films, but they might be in a position where they would embarrass themselves if they walked onto a professional set,” he said. “So we needed to create an environment … that felt more professional.” Gay added several SOU alumni have told him that prior to graduation, they had never been on a professional movie set. In that sense, “I think what we’re addressing with ‘The Crew Experience’ isn’t a lack of knowledge, but really is that lack of opportunity,” he said. Gary Kout, an adviser to “The Crew Experience” who also owns Ashland-based Elsewhere Films, applauded Gay for creating the new course. Kout has been involved in SOU’s film school for years and hired students as interns to help make his movies. “I’m expecting that I’m going to start to see quite a difference in what they’re capable of doing right out of the gate,” Kout said. Students who were interested in the course applied and were interviewed and evaluated based on their past experience and portfolio. Once accepted, they got the chance to work with experienced mentors and use new, state-of-the-art technology to film, including cameras from Canon USA. “Everything about this is designed to make it feel like a real-world job,” Gay said. Christy Spurling-Snyder, one of 36 students enrolled in the course, contacted Gay in 2020 when she wanted to enroll in the digital film program at SOU. He recommended Spurling-Snyder start with “The Crew Experience” as a production assistant, but the pandemic hit, putting the program on hold. Spurling-Snyder wasted no time taking her other SOU classes. But now she is glad “The Crew Experience” opened up. “It’s just amazing because the majority of my work in the program has been during COVID-19, so this has really been one of the moments where I got to work with a bunch of other students,” Spurling-Snyder said. “It’s really great to be able to collaborate with them and support each other and see everybody’s strengths and really come together to make a project.” Until recently, Spurling-Snyder and her peers have been in pre-production to film “Eighth and Sand,” a drama about a family coping with the anniversary of their mother’s death. “The main event in the film is about taking the mother’s ashes to a waterfall to be released, but there is kind of a family dispute around that: the father isn’t ready to let go, the stepdaughter wants to let go right away and the daughter wants to make peace between them,” Gay said. Filming locations include Porters Restaurant in downtown Medford, Rogue Valley Roasting Co. in Ashland, Medford Railroad Park and the Mill Creek Falls and Barr Creek Falls trails in Prospect. If those locations sound eclectic and perhaps difficult places to film, it’s not just by chance, according to Gay. “We actually built the entire script around challenges we wanted the students to encounter,” he said. “The reason that there’s a scene of them going on trails through waterfalls is we wanted to give our students the challenge of working through rugged and remote locations.” Kout echoed what Gay said about the difficulty of filming on location. He said that when he watched the student crew film at Railroad Park Saturday, he would take note of “the vibe” between crew members “Does it feel like it’s running like a well-oiled machine, because this is not their first weekend of shooting,” Kout said, noting the pep talk he had with them emphasized the importance of working as a team. Gay believes the students enrolled in “The Crew Experience” are adapting to what is expected of them. “They’re really exhibiting the traits I want to see when I recommend them for a job,” Gay said. Spurling-Snyder admitted she’ll be “a little sad when it’s over” and she looks forward to working on another film set. “I’m so proud of my classmates who have worked so hard on this,” she said. Spurling-Snyder has always been interested in filmmaking, but being in Oregon, she didn’t always think it was possible to make it her profession. “Being in this program and being part of the ‘The Crew Experience’ has made me believe that it’s actually a possibility,” she said. When they finish the course, students could earn a new “micro-credential” in Set Skills for Cinema Production from SOU, according to the university. Filming is expected to wrap up soon, Gay added, but there’s no release date yet for “Eighth and Sand.” He expects the movie to be shown on campus first before entry into state, national and perhaps international film festivals. In addition, a documentary about “The Crew Experience” is in the works. Reach reporter Kevin Opsahl at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @KevJourno.