Facilities

LACC DEPARTMENT OF CINEMA/TELEVISION

The Los Angeles City College Cinema/Television Department was founded in 1969, providing low-cost, comprehensive, hands-on training in film, video, and television studio production. Located in a Mid-Century building designed by renowned architect William L. Pereira, the facility includes three sound stages – one dedicated to single-camera use and two equipped for multi-camera television – new digital non-linear editing labs, three screening rooms, and other production and post-production systems. We recently received a two million dollar gift from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes™).

The department had its beginnings in 1930, training technicians in the new medium of radio. The Cinema division, patterned after UCLA’s film program, grew rapidly in the Seventies. It has been training writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors and technicians ever since.

Students can choose from an Associate of Arts Degree in Cinema or Television Production (AA), and/or earn skills certificates and certificates of achievement in Cinema Production, Cinema-Video Production, Television Production, Cinematography, Directing, and Producing.

Many students transfer to four-year schools, such as UCLA, CSUN and USC, while others transition directly into productive careers in the entertainment industry. Cinema Production (single-camera) begins with hands-on classes in film production, and lecture courses in narrative film history, genres and history of documentary film and reality TV. In the second semester of our two-year program, students study the specific crafts of filmmaking: screenwriting, cinematography, sound, directing, editing, grip, producing and post-production. In the third and fourth semesters, they shoot advanced projects and study independent film financing/producing.

In Television Production (multi-camera) the first semester consists of hands-on studio production classes and history of television. In subsequent semesters, students may take intermediate and advanced studio and location production, television newsgathering, non-linear editing, and television writing (both hour-long drama and half-hour comedy). Students can also earn credit for industry internships through our Cooperative Education classes.

A wide variety of students have completed the program, including those from groups underrepresented in entertainment: at present, minorities compose approximately 60% of our total number of students, and women, 40%. Many of our population are second-career students, already established in other fields.

Distinguished alumni include Albert Hughes, Mimi Leder, Tamra Davis, Karen Moncrieff, Maggie Greenwald, Kevin Tent and Tarsem Singh, including five Academy Award winners, such as cinematographer Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood). And, among the Motion Picture Academy’s recent inductees are Hughes, Davis and Moncrieff, all in the Directors’ branch.