USC School Of Cinematic Arts

The USC School of Cinematic Arts (formerly the USC School of Cinema-Television, or CNTV) is a private film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the country, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is widely recognized as one of the most prestigious film programs in the world.

The school offers multiple undergraduate and graduate programs covering production, screenwriting, critical studies, animation and digital arts, and interactive media & games. Additional advanced programs include the Media Arts and Practice PhD Program, the Peter Stark Producing Program, and the Business of Entertainment (offered in conjunction with the USC Marshall School of Business MBA Program). The acceptance rate to the School of Cinematic Arts has consistently remained between 4-5% for the past several years, giving the school a lower acceptance rate than Harvard University, Stanford University and Yale University.

History

The school's founding faculty include Douglas Fairbanks, D. W. Griffith, William C. DeMille, Ernst Lubitsch, Irving Thalberg, and Darryl Zanuck. Notable professors include Drew Casper, the Alma and Alfred Hitchcock Professor of American Film; Tomlinson Holman, inventor of THX; film critic and historian Leonard Maltin; and David Bondelevitch, President of the Motion Picture Sound Editors.

In April 2006, the USC Board of Trustees voted to change the school's name to the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

On September 19, 2006, USC announced that alumnus George Lucas had donated US$175 million to expand the film school with a new 137,000-square-foot (12,700 m²) facility. This represented the largest single donation to USC and the largest to any film school in the world. His previous donations resulted in the naming of two existing buildings after him and his then-wife, though Lucas was not fond of the architecture used in those buildings. An architectural hobbyist, Lucas laid out the original designs for the project, inspired by the Mediterranean Revival Style that was used in older campus buildings as well as the Los Angeles area. The project also received another $50 million in contributions from Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company.

The USC School of Cinematic Arts joined forces with the Royal Film Commission of Jordan to create the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts (RSICA) in Aqaba, Jordan.

Facilities

Donations from film and game industry companies, friends, and alumni have enabled the school to build the following facilities:

• the School of Cinematic Arts Complex, which includes:
  • the 20th Century Fox Soundstage
  • the George Lucas and Steven Spielberg Buildings
  • the Marcia Lucas Post-Production Center
  • the Marilyn & Jeffrey Katzenberg Center for Animation
  • the Sumner Redstone Production Building
  • the Interactive building (SCI), home of the Game Innovation Lab, the USC Interactive Media & Games Division and the Media Arts and Practice
• the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, home of Trojan Vision, USC's student television station
• the Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre Complex
• the David L. Wolper Center at Doheny Memorial Library
• the Louis B. Mayer Film and Television Study Center at Doheny Memorial Library
• the Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive

At the center of the new television complex is a statue of founder Douglas Fairbanks. He is seen holding a fencing weapon in one hand due to his strong ties with the USC Fencing Club.

Distinctions

• Since 1973, at least one alumnus of SCA has been nominated for an Academy Award annually, totaling 256 nominations and 78 wins.
• Since 1973, at least one SCA alumnus or alumna has been nominated for the Emmy Award annually, totalling 473 nominations and 119 wins.
• The top 17 grossing films of all time have had an SCA graduate in a key creative position.
• The Princeton Review has ranked the Interactive Media and Games Division's video game design program best in North America multiple years in a row.

Awards for USC Cinema short films

• In 1955, producer Wilber T. Blume, a USC Cinema instructor at the time, received an Academy Award for best live action short film for a film he created entitled The Face of Lincoln. Blume also received an Academy Award nomination that year for documentary short.
• In 1968, George Lucas won first prize in the category of Dramatic films at the third National Student Film Festival held at Lincoln Center, New York for his futuristic Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB.
• In 1970, producer John Longenecker received an Academy Award for best live action short film for a film he produced while attending USC Cinema 480 classes as an undergraduateâ€"The Resurrection of Broncho Billy. The film's crew and cast included Nick Castle, cinematographer; John Carpenter, film editor and original music; James Rokos, director; Johnny Crawford, lead actor; and Kristin Nelson, lead actress.
• In 1973, Robert Zemeckis won a Special Jury Award at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' second annual Student Film Awards presentation for A Field of Honor.
• In 2001, MFA student David Greenspan won the Palme d’Or for short film at the Cannes Film Festival for his student film Bean Cake.
• In 2006, director, co-writer, and producer Ari Sandel received an Academy Award for best live action short film ("West Bank Story") made as a USC Cinema graduate school project.
• In 2009, MFA student Gregg Helvey was nominated for an Academy Award for his MFA thesis film, Kavi.

Notable SCA alumni

See also List of University of Southern California people

Notable faculty members and instructors

References

External links

• USC School of Cinematic Arts website
• USC Summer Film Program
• Peter Stark Producing Program
• Interactive Media and Games Division
• Warner Bros. Archives
• Trojan Vision Television HD
• Student-run KXSC 1560 AM Radio
• Entertainment Technology Center
• Link with fellow Trojans
• Like USC Cinema on Facebook
• Follow Cinematic Trojan Tweets
• Official YouTube Channel
• Hollywood Reporter Profile