Film dept. plans merge with Visual Arts school

The UCF film department is set to merge with the College of Arts and Humanities’ School of Visual Arts and Design this fall.

The merger will be complete by the end of the 2013 spring semester and will swell the undergraduate body of SVAD to 2,052 and graduate students to 54, Film Interim Chair Stephen Schlow said in an email. 

Some of the disciplines film will be joining are fine art, digital media, photography and architecture. SVAD offers classes on UCF’s main campus, the downtown Center for Emerging Media and UCF’s Daytona Beach campus. 

The office of the adviser, Kia Hollingsworth, will be moving from the Communication building to a private office in the Visual Arts building, but other faculty offices and the film equipment room will remain as they are. 

With Hollingsworth’s help, film students will now be able to register for classes that are being offered through SVAD, like photography and digital media classes, that were not previously open to their major, Schlow said. 

Jon Bowen, senior technician and operations manager of the UCF film department, said what will change in the long-term for the film program is yet to be determined. For now, “the faculty will be the same, the tracks and classes offered will be the same. We may move some personnel into different areas to consolidate bases,” Bowen said.

The details are still being worked out, Bowen said. There could be curriculum changes, but what the SVAD will have an impact on in the long run is still up in the air. 

Dennis Caldwell, a film senior, regrets that he will not be around to take advantage of the new opportunities Schlow mentioned in the email sent to film students, but he thinks it will be good for the upcoming students in the program. 

“I definitely think it’s going to be beneficial. Having a more broad program like that is going to have so many people getting more experienced in different subjects,” Caldwell said. 

Ryan “Kip” Wilkin, also a senior in film, hadn’t heard about the change but thought it would be a good artistic move for him. 

“I think merging with the visual arts would be really good for me,” Wilkin said. “I couldn’t see a bad thing because I’m more into the artistic aspect.” 

Wilkin, who is minoring in studio art, said not everyone in the program is a story maker or savvy with film equipment. 

“For the people like me, that could be a nice little release from just straight filmmaking,” Wilkin said. 

Bowen said for now, very little will change at the student level because it is more of an administrative, upper-management change in the short term. 

“Anything is possible in the long term. Anything would be possible in the long term even if it was still in the same department,” he said. 

Bowen said there are benefits to being part of a larger organization with more clout. 

“There are always things trying to get done, so you have to get the attention of those who can provide assets,” Bowen said. “A larger body has a better chance of doing that.”

Schlow said recent film alumna Monica Barberousse will be joining the main film office. The office will remain located in the Nicholson School of Communication in room 121. 

“This will be an exciting time for all of us and I look forward to your work, your continued commitment, and to the possibilities this merger will create for all of us,” Schlow said in an email.