The Fountain

Film students learned about the business aspects of film making yesterday from Ivan Rogers, a 25-year veteran of the industry.

Forgive Me Father

Rogers was on campus yesterday and today as part of the Artist-in-Residence program in the College of Fine Arts and Communication. He talked to film classes, the UCA Film Club and met individually with senior undergraduate film students. He also hosted a screening of his film, Forgive Me Father (2001), in Reynolds Performance Hall last night.

Rogers urged that everyone learn about the business side of film and master the skill of funding films with a big enough budget to gain some recognition. Though technical understanding of filming and editing is necessary, Rogers said that making low-budget independent films isn’t the clearest path to success.

“You can make these movies, but if no one sees them, you’re just making home movies,” he told students. “It takes a lot more money than the $4,000 camera at Best Buy.”

Rogers also addressed the declining use of film as the industry switches to digital technology. Rogers said that actual film is still “king.”  The new action movies, the new Scorsese movie, and most everything in theaters are all shot on film negatives, he said.

“Digital is fine,” he said, “but my preference is film. It’ll never go away.”