USC School of Cinematic Arts

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The USC School of Cinematic Arts, formerly named the School of Cinema-Television (CNTV), is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The School’s founding faculties 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, David Bondelevitch, President of the Motion Picture Sound Editors, and Mark Jonathan Harris, documentary filmmaker.

The program is one of USC's most competitive specialty schools, accepting 150 out of roughly 1000 applicants each year.

In April 2006, the USC Board of Trustees voted to change the school's name to the USC School of Cinematic Arts.^[1]

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 facility. This represented the largest single donation to USC and the largest to any film school in the world.^[2]

And recently, 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. ^[3]

Contents 1 Facilities 2 Areas of study 3 Accomplished CNTV alumni 4 Distinctions 5 Student Winners 6 Trivia 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Facilities

Film industry companies, friends, and many of the school's famous alumni have joined forces to fund a world-class film and television complex at USC. Their gifts and ongoing support have enabled the School to build some of the top facilities and equipment of any film school anywhere, including:

• the George Lucas Instructional Building
• the Marcia Lucas Post Production Building
• the Steven Spielberg Motion Picture Sound Scoring Stage
• the Harold Lloyd Sound Stage
• the Johnny Carson Sound Stage
• the Robert Zemeckis Center, home of USC's number 1 ranked student television network, Trojan Vision.
• the Eileen Norris Theater

[edit] Areas of study

• Business of Entertainment (offered in conjunction with the Marshall School of Business MBA Program)
• Critical Studies
• Division of Animation and Digital Arts (DADA)
• Interactive Media
• Producing
• Production
• Screenwriting

[edit] Accomplished CNTV alumni

See also: List of University of Southern California people

• Judd Apatow
• Gregg Araki
• David Bondelevitch
• Ben Burtt
• John Carpenter
• Nick Castle
• Duwayne Dunham
• Caleb Deschanel
• Gary Fleder
• Brian Grazer
• Bob Gale
• Alfred Gough
• Javier Grillo-Marxuach
• Conrad Hall
• Grant Heslov
• Ron Howard
• James Ivory
• Jonathan Ke Quan
• Richard Kelly
• Ken Kwapis
• Jon Landau
• Doug Liman
• George Lucas
• John Milius
• Miles Millar
• Walter Murch
• Don Murphy
• Woody Omens
• Maggie Parker
• Jay Roach
• Shonda Rhimes
• Gary Rydstrom
• Josh Schwartz
• Bryan Singer
• John Singleton
• Tim Story
• Stephen Sommers
• Steven Spielberg (Honorary Diploma)
• Candice Thacker
• Lee Unkrich
• John Wells
• Robert Zemeckis
• Laura Ziskin

[edit] Distinctions

• Since 1973, not a year has passed without an alumnus having been nominated for an Academy Award.
• Alumni have held key creative or production positions in 8 of the 10 highest grossing movies in history.

[edit] Student Winners

Producer John Longenecker received an Academy Award for a film produced while attending USC Cinema classes -- The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (1970) - best live action short film. 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^[4].

[edit] Trivia

Steven Spielberg was denied admission to the program twice. In spite of this, the iconic filmaker is now on the school's board of directors, and a trustee of the university.

[edit] References

1. ^ Stuart Silverstein, George Lucas Donates USC's Largest Single Gift, The Los Angeles Times, September 19, 2006
2. ^ John Zollinger, George Lucas Donates $175 Million to USC, USC Public Relations, September 20, 2006
3. ^ Jordan Signs Cinema Pact With USC, USC Public Relations, September 20, 2006
4. ^ Alumni Profile: Cannes Do Spirit, Trojan Family Magazine, Spring 2002, Accessed Sept. 19, 2006.

[edit] External links

• USC School of Cinematic Arts website
• SCA Community
• CNTV Alumni Online
• USC Moving Image Archive website