By snoadmin
According to Craig Smith, chairman of CSULB’s film department, executives from the project came to meet with him and CSULB President F. King Alexander to talk about how the school could be involved.
Jay Samit, CEO of Long Beach Studios, LLC, and character actor Jack O’Halloran (most known as the villain Non in “Superman II”) are heading the $500 million project that will turn the almost 77-acre piece of land into a production studio.
“A soundstage is used for lighting and sound,” Smith explained. “It’s a place where you can create a quiet environment that’s soundproof. You control the weather, and you can build a set and light it the way you want.”
“It will be the only place in the world where you’ll be able to do pre-production, production and post-production all in one spot,” Smith added.
“It’s very small,” said Kyla Mengelkamp, a senior film major. “It’s a classroom turned into a soundstage. It’s high tech, but you can’t build everything you want in the tight little area. We can do little short productions, but if you get a bigger, more enormous idea, it’s hard to do that in there.”
“A bigger soundstage is definitely needed,” Chris Rodriguez, another senior film major, said. “Aside from what you learn in class, there’s only so much information you can take in. But when you’re out there in a soundstage, it’s all hands on and it’s very, very, very essential to your education.”
“It takes the film department to the next level because we don’t have a big soundstage and everybody else does,” Smith said. “So now we’ll have a big soundstage, and that is a training our students need.”
“[Local internships] would be very beneficial for students, especially with gas prices,” said Rodriguez, who interned on “National Lampoon’s Dorm Daze 2.” “Students on campus could just take a bus down there and get to work with professionals.”
The rest of the soundstages will be completed in a second phase, so students will have to make do with FA1 205 in the meantime. But even that stage is getting a significant upgrade after the film department received a grant from CSULB alumnus Steven Spielberg.
