The first time I entered a film production class at New York University I was 17 years old and thrilled to be there, until the professor addressed all of the young women in the classroom directly and told us that the class would be difficult for us in particular because quality cinematography required exceptional math skills and that we should be careful not to treat our 16mm cameras like fashion accessories.
As women, we were already a visible minority in that class, and it was hard enough to get the men to work with us on group projects. Though I am embarrassed to admit this, I dropped that class, but I vowed to correct that wrong and have attempted to do so in the years that followed through my scholarship on female media makers underrepresented in historical accounts of the medium (stunt women) and my teaching of classes on action genres in which we deal directly with gendered labor.
Film and media studies students are generally trained in film and media production as well as media history, theory, and analysis. My experience of my history classes was the inverse of my experience in production. When I attended my first film history class as a freshman at NYU, I felt as though I had come home for the first time. Film and media studies classes were open inclusive spaces in which all students were treated as equals, diversity was welcomed and communities of young, engaged scholars were built.
I knew that I wanted to work in this field, to share my enthusiasm for the subject matter with my students and to foster a the sense of community that I had felt as an undergraduate. I firmly believe that production courses and history/theory studies courses should be fully integrated and I consistently create assignments that encourage students to utilize skill sets from both disciplines, work in diverse groups and evenly and equally distribute responsibility.
Many of the men and women enrolled in our media arts and film and media studies classes want to pursue careers in the media industries, and all of these students have difficult roads ahead of them. Work in these industries is hard to come by and even harder to sustain once you get your foot in the door. I try to provide our students with the knowledge that will aid them in this quest. I encourage them to be realistic about their futures and to build a network from their peers at USC.
Production programs at universities often have smaller female student populations, and the production cultures at such institutions can be alienating for young female media makers, which is why I believe so strongly in group work. In “the industry” your network is your livelihood. With this in mind, I always encourage female students to work with their male colleagues at USC so as to better position themselves for future success.
Gamecocks need to stand together and, with that in mind, I plan to expand my teaching to study away courses in Los Angeles in the summer months in order to better assist the men and women of USC in their pursuits.