On the evening of July 29, a feature film currently in post production, “What About Love” was screened in the Summer Session Cinema 107 class of Adjunct Assistant Professor Steve Anderson.

Special guests in attendance were Klaus Menzel (Director), Richard and Colleen Halsey (Editors), and Reinhard Schreiner (Post Production Manager).  The purpose of the event was to show the most recent version of this romantic drama to a focus group with a target demographic of mostly age 16 to 25, who would then provide feedback to help shape future editing decisions.  This was done through a questionnaire provided by Schreiner and a Q & A session with the four guests lasting for well over an hour.

The students provided insightful comments, both pro and con, and asked excellent questions.  The evening concluded with the guests expressing their deep appreciation for the feedback and a hope of returning at a future date with an updated print sometime in the fall.  The film is slated for release on Valentines Day 2014 through 20th Century Fox.

And how did this opportunity for 40 lucky students happen?  Back on June 21, Schreiner sent an email to Jill Connelly, the chair of the Media Arts Department.  She forwarded it to Steve Anderson, who then contacted Schreiner.  Over the next couple of weeks, they stayed in touch discussing the procedural details for the evening and a mutually-acceptable date.  Settling on July 29, Schreiner added that Richard and Colleen Halsey would be attending, too.  The afternoon of the screening, Anderson got a call from the Director, who said that he would also be there.

During the Q & A session, Richard and Colleen Halsey said that they were using Final Cut Pro on the film.  Anderson jumped in at that point and said to his students that the ability to learn FCP exists in the Multimedia division of the Media Arts Department.  The Halseys were very impressed, and some of students expressed an interest in taking the course as a result of this experience.

— Written by Steve Anderson