The Youth Orchestra is in Japan to conduct some teenage musical diplomacy (pictured); "Marilyn Forever" give the Hollywood icon the opera treatment; Chapman University's film program decides to compete at the multiplex; Rihanna’s singing career may just have collided with her film career — and not in a good way.
Chapman University's film department shows its stuff at the multiplex
It’s rare for a student film to make it out of a college classroom, much less into the multiplex. But Chapman University in Orange County has added a feature production company to its cinema program.
Chapman Filmed Entertainment is a for-profit company that gives current students and alumni a platform to make feature films. It plans to release several titles each year, starting with a thriller starring Scott Glenn, “The Barber.”
The Frame’s John Horn recently spoke with Robert Basset, Dean of the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University, and Travis Knox, producer of the film and an alumnus of the school, about competing with Hollywood studios.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
Why did you decide to start Chapman Filmed Entertainment?
BASSET: You know, film schools make short films and that's really not the currency in the business. So we wanted to accelerate the careers of our students. It's primarily for alumns, but also students work as [production assistants]. Students don't have five weeks to take off to make a feature film. [Alumni] are the heads of all the departments — producer, editor, production designer.
Why did you decide to make a thriller for the first film? Was that intentional?
KNOX: Yes. I don't think that we necessarily had to choose a psychological horror film, but the big mandate is that we must make something that's commercial. I'd love to get into festivals like Sundance, but that's not the primary goal here. So when I found the script, I knew that we had one or two great characters that would be great actor bait, and I knew it had a great twisty story that we could market.
You have what I assume to be cheap labor. You have filmmakers and department heads that don't have a lot credits. Is that part of the economy in saving money?
KNOX: Believe it or not, our director made the exact same money our craft service [workers] made. Across the board, everybody got paid a standard hourly rate. This was an opportunity for everybody, and everybody was pretty much thrilled to be there and to have this opportunity. Our crew is made up of about two-thirds of alumni, not even just the key department heads, but all the way down the chain.
Other than the budget, what are the other criteria that you're looking for? I assume you're not going to be making some sort of NC-17 snuff film, but what do you want to do? What kinds of genres are you interested in exploring?
BOB: We'll do any genre, frankly. We don't censor any of the films, so anything we think is commercially viable we'll do. Of course, we'd like it to be a picture you haven't seen before. We have a rom-com lined up. We have another psychological thriller. We have a black comedy. We don't know which one would go first yet.
KNOX: I think Bob's right. We want to keep these commercial. We're all over the map. He says we'll do any genre. I don't think we'll do a true torture porn kind-of-thing.
Not "Saw XIV"?
KNOW: Hey, I'd love to be one of the owners of "Saw." but I just don't think that's something we're gonna be able to do.
“The Barber,” starring Scott Glenn and directed by Basel Owies, opens in select theaters on March 27.
In 'Marilyn Forever,' a Hollywood icon gets the operatic treatment
20th century icons such as Albert Einstein and Richard Nixon have earned their place on the opera stage, so why not Hollywood's most famous icon?
"Marilyn Forever" is a new work based on the life of Marilyn Monroe — currently having its U.S. premiere at Long Beach Opera. The composer is Gavin Bryars, who has worked in styles ranging from jazz to neo-classical.
"Marilyn Forever" librettist Marilyn Bowering says her fascination with the actress goes back almost three decades. In 1987, Bowering released a book of poems about Monroe, which is the basis for the new opera.
Bowering spoke with The Frame's senior producer, Oscar Garza.
Interview Highlights
How did you approach adapting your poems into text that could be sung?
Fortunately I had always thought of music as part of the piece, so that was helpful. And, also, I approached it through voice.
The sound of Marilyn Monroe's voice was always uppermost in my mind. I understood as I worked that people know this story anyway. That's one of the joys of working with the piece is that she is a myth.
What kind of person did you want to create for audiences to meet on stage?
Well, it wasn't that intellectual or analytical an approach. [I thought] What are the elements in her that I can connect with? So there was the name. There was her fear of abandonment as a child, her insecurity over her mother's madness — a lot of different things in her biography that made sense to me. But maybe most profoundly of all, really, was her humanity. She had a great respect for everyone. She didn't seem to care what gender you were or what race you were, what you did for a living. I think that's what's really appealing about her. So I wanted that essence of her to come across more than anything else.
Did watching and listening to this opera here in Southern California feel any different, knowing you were in Hollywood's backyard, not so far from where Marilyn lived and died?
This was a very different performance from what I had seen before. It was exceedingly well done, beautifully sung. There are two Marilyns [onstage], so we are always aware of the later, disturbed Marilyn who is present on this evening of her death. She is always onstage. There was a great deal more use of video work, which I found really interesting. So it was a much more Hollywood, L.A. kind of production.
Youth orchestra rides the LA Philharmonic's coattails to Japan
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is touring Asia this month. The orchestra has already performed in South Korea and China — including its first time ever on the mainland. On March 27, the massive body of musicians lands in Japan.
But they aren’t the only ones lugging their instruments across the Pacific. Members of Youth Orchestra L.A. are there too, taking part in a little teenage musical diplomacy.
On the flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo, it's easy enough to pick out the members of Youth Orchestra. They’re the 15 teenagers wearing black T-shirts that say "Philharmonic Asia Tour," with their weirdly-shaped luggage carefully stowed in overhead compartments.
Gretchen Nielsen is Director of Educational Initiatives for the Philharmonic. She’s also one of four adults traveling with the group, and she lists off their combined gear: "We have two flutes, one clarinet, one oboe, a trumpet, a trombone, a tuba, a couple of cellos, a couple of violins, and one bass."
The musicians range in age from 13 to 18. They’re on their way to perform with a similar youth orchestra in Fukushima, the region of Japan that was devastated four years ago by an earthquake, tsunami and a nuclear power plant accident.
Both orchestras grow out of El Sistema, the Venezuelan youth music program that produced Philharmonic musical director Gustavo Dudamel, who now champions the group around the world.
Youth Orchestra Los Angeles was founded in 2007. It's grown to include more than 800 students at three Los Angeles locations — South Central, East L.A., and downtown.
These are communities where the students have little-to-no access to music education," Nielsen says. "They’re also communities that have little access to other opportunities."
How did they select 15 kids from more than 800? The process involved auditions, interviews and personal essays. Flutist Joas Espinoza says: "I wrote about struggles at home. [My] motivation to help my brothers out in the future when I become more stable. And how I plan on going to college to be able to reach that goal."
Some of the young musicians making the trip have never been overseas, but others performed in London with YOLA two years ago. What are the young musicians expecting to see in Japan? Violinist Blanca Tinoco expects it to be "really crowded," while cellist Jacob Esquivel says he's curious to explore "the smell ... They have different herbs and plants in Japan."
Laura Garcia, another violinist, is expecting major culture shock.
"I'm not ready for it," she said on the flight, "but at the same time I'm really excited for when it's going to happen, because I still feel like we're in Los Angeles. It hasn't hit me yet. [laughs]
The orchestra arrived in Tokyo at 6:35 in the evening — 2:35 a.m. in Los Angeles — but the group is wide-awake, eager to get moving after a 12-hour flight. They'll soon meet their counterparts from the Fukushima Youth Orchestra. And on Sunday, Gustavo Dudamel will rehearse the combined group before an audience in Tokyo's prestigious Suntory Hall.