The demand for trained workers to meet the needs of Georgia’s rapidly expanding film industry is growing literally every month, as indicated in, among other places, area news media. The state’s only film crew training program at Clayton State University is offering a new set of courses in a new studio starting June 15 – a program designed to provide that training.
“We are very excited to be able to offer our program in the state’s only sound stage dedicated to film crew training,” said Barton Bond, director of the Film and Digital Media Center at Clayton State. “We just opened our studio May 12, and we have already shot part of a pilot with an independent producer who used our students as crew. We will begin teaching our Digital Film Technical courses there in mid-June.”
Clayton State will be hosting an information session about the program in the studio – located in Lucy Huie Hall, 9013 Tara Blvd., Jonesboro – Saturday, June 6, starting at 10 a.m. Additional information can be found at www.clayton.edu/film-and-digital-media or by calling 678-466-5112.
As of the end of the spring term, 170 students had participated in the Film and Digital Media Center program since its February 2014 inception. Bond also reported that his students have worked on “Ant-Man,” “The Walking Dead,” “Divergent” and another film shooting at Pinewood Studios in Peachtree City.
“In addition, we have another 20-plus students who are working elsewhere in the local film industry,” adds Bond.
The 10,000-square-foot studio is designed specifically for film production and includes green and white wall backgrounds, a 50-foot-square by 15-foot-high lighting grid, sound insulation, 20-foot-high by 30-foot-wide hangar doors and space for prop storage and construction. In addition, there are rooms for hair, make-up and wardrobe, food service, production meetings, and parking spaces for 200 vehicles.
“Our intention in designing the building was to have a space as much like a professional sound stage as possible so our students can have the experience of working in the type of facility they will find when they get into the film industry,” Bond continued. “We have the only space like this in the state and one of only a few in the country.”
The Digital Film Technical Training Program includes two back-to-back 12-week classes, and is designed to train students to be able to get into the state’s film union – IATSE 479.
“The union is one of our training partners,” said Bond.
