Newswise — Millions of viewers of Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony heard something different: One of the winners thanked the NCSA School of Filmmaking.
Cinematographer Aaron Schneider, who directed the Oscar-winning film TWO SOLDIERS, plugged the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking for good reason: About half of the production crew was composed of NCSA School of Filmmaking students, alumni, faculty and staff.
TWO SOLDIERS, a 40-minute film shot entirely in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina, won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short. It is based on the William Faulkner short story about two brothers pulled apart by war.
In less than 24 hours after the on-air mention, the school's website had received more than 5,000 hits.
"Not only will this Oscar win put our 10-year-old film school on the map," said NCSA School of Filmmaking Dean Dale Pollock, "but it bodes well for filmmaking in North Carolina."
Indeed. Rebecca Clark, executive director of the Piedmont Triad Film Commission, was already busy taking phone calls from filmmakers interested in the region. "The Oscar win by TWO SOLDIERS will be great publicity for our area," said Clark, who recruited Schneider to the Triad.
Kate Miller, a staff member at the NCSA School of Filmmaking, had previously worked with Schneider and suggested that film students could serve internships on the film. As a result, nearly 50 students, alumni, faculty and staff worked on TWO SOLDIERS during December 2001. In addition to school credit, students also were included in the film's credits.
Miller was a co-producer of TWO SOLDIERS along with then-NCSA faculty member Betsy Pollock. In addition, faculty member Burton Rencher, with the school's film production design department, served as the film's art director.
Dean Dale Pollock, who worked in Hollywood as a producer and journalist for more than 20 years, said he could not remember another film school being thanked at an Oscar ceremony. "This speaks well for the level of professionalism that our students have," he said.
The School of Filmmaking is one of five professional schools that make up the North Carolina School of the Arts, a leading conservatory for training students for careers in the arts. The School of Filmmaking offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts and College Arts Diploma in cinematography, directing, editing and sound, producing, production design, and screenwriting, and a Master of Fine Arts in film music composition. For more information, visit the School's website at http://www.ncarts.edu.
For more information about TWO SOLDIERS, visit the website at http://www.twosoldiers.com.
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