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Film & Media Cage Policies:
Access is available to Film & Media faculty and all currently enrolled Film & Media students.
Insurance is required to check out equipment from the cage.
The maximum reservation time is 4 business days (not counting holidays and weekends). Contact the cage if you need more time.
If you can’t make a return time, contact the cage before the return date and time to make arrangements.
If another student returns equipment for a different student, the student who originally checked out the equipment forfeits their ability to dispute claims of damaged or missing equipment.
Return time for equipment will be listed on your checkout receipt. This is the ONLY location where the return time will be listed.
Users are responsible for loss, damage, or theft of their equipment.
You are responsible for replacing missing items and for the ENTIRE cost of repair of damaged equipment.
Users who return damaged or missing equipment will have a hold on their access toequipment until the item(s) are replaced.
Late equipment return policy:
1st time late = No access to equipment for 3 checkout days (equivalent to 1 week)
2nd time late = No access to equipment for 6 checkout days (equivalent to 2
weeks)
3rd time late = No access to equipment for 12 checkout days (equivalent to 4
Professors Dahlia Schweitzer and Ethan Minsker are working with the Art and Design department to curate an exhibition that will run on the FIT campus in February 2025. We would like it to include films, sculpture, photography, mixed media, performances, etc. We are open to anything and everything. Please see the current description of the event below. We would like to have some videos as part of the exhibit but we also envision at least one night of screenings. If you are working on (or have created) something that would be a good fit, let us know!
This exhibition will address our need to understand the intersections between the struggles of urban life with the healing process of seeking peace and a greater understanding of nature, using a combination of music, discussion, storytelling, photography, and film, in order to reflect on the loss and resilience of the human experience and the rejuvenating capacity of nature.
Please email your name, website, and examples of the work you envision for this exhibition to Dahlia_Schweitzer@fitnyc.edu by October 15, 2024.
How do you want to change the world? The story you tell is up to you, but FIT’s Film and Media program prepares you with a background in history and theory, paired with rich hands-on opportunities to learn digital film production.
We give you the skills and knowledge to go in any direction: feature films, short films, advertising, editing, and more. We are committed to the study of media—behind the camera and in front of the screen—and to helping our students develop their own personal vision and the tools to express it.
The Associate in Applied Science (AAS) program teaches the basics of filmmaking and related disciplines, including digital film camera operation, editing, lighting, audio recording, film history, and storytelling. On completing the AAS degree, you will be able to demonstrate effective use of camera position, framing, and selection of lenses in a wide range of filming situations; employ appropriate editing strategies (e.g., montage, continuity, etc.) in a variety of film projects; create lighting strategies appropriate to the cinematography and subject matter in short films; record, mix, and edit sound for film, including dialogue, sound effects, and music; and write, produce, shoot, and edit short films. The first year concentrates on building skills in preproduction, production, and visual organization. In your second year, you will learn to use these skills in developing your own personal vision.
The Bachelor of Science (BS) program blends hands-on digital filmmaking with the academic study of film history, theory, and criticism. You’ll study advanced storytelling techniques through cinematography and lighting, along with advanced sound design, while exploring film genres like crime, horror, and romantic comedy; major directors; avant-garde film; and world cinema from China, Italy, Latin America, and Russia. You will learn to compare filmmakers, film aesthetics, and film industries in domestic and international cinema, as well as evaluate and analyze historical and theoretical perspectives relevant to film and media, such as genre, form, spectatorship, and narrative.
You will learn about techniques for effective narrative, documentary, and experimental filmmaking. Your thesis film project will be screened at FIT’s annual film festival, which is open to the public and invited guests from the New York City film community.
As part of Black History Month and the Justice Film Festival, FIT’s Film + Media department organized a screening of Beat Street to celebrate its 40th anniversary, including several special guests!
A little bit about the movie: Beat Street was the first big Hollywood picture to bring hip-hop culture to mainstream America. Produced by Harry Belafonte, Beat tells the story of Kenny (Guy Davis), an underground DJ from the South Bronx who dreams of spinning in Manhattan’s biggest clubs. Ray Dawn Chong plays Kenny’s love interest, a music student who wants to put a contemporary spin on classical music by mixing it with break beats and break dancing. Featured alongside the cast of trained actors were some of the scene’s seminal figures, including DJ Kool Herc, Rock Steady Crew, Afrika Bambaataa, the New York City Breakers, and Melle Mel.
Some of the guests at the event were Special K (an old-school hip hop emcee from the Bronx, New York and subject of the documentary You Can’t Erase Me: Special K, screened just before Beat Street), Melle Mel (the lead vocalist and songwriter of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five), Scorpio (also of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and only 18 years old when they released “The Message” in July 1982, arguably one of the most important hip-hop tracks in music history and often considered the first socio-political rap song), Jon Chardiet (who plays Ramon the graffiti artist in the movie), Tony Wave (breakdancing pioneer and documentary filmmaker), and Elena Romero, assistant chair of the Marketing and Communications department at FIT and author of Freestylin’ : How Hip-Hop Changed the Fashion Industry, as well as co-editor and co-curator of Fresh Fly Fabulous: 50 years of Hip-Hop Style.
Our Industry Advisory Board member Dara Resnik will talk about story breaking on Monday Sept. 20th, 10:30 to noon, in D207. All Film + Media students are welcome.
Featured below are some excerpts from a 2020 interview with Dara Resnik, a multifaceted talent who works behind the scenes bringing some of our favorite TV shows to life, including Castle, Jane the Virgin, Daredevil, and Shooter, Home Before Dark, and The Horror of Dolores Roach.
PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts and storytelling? Dara: I grew up in New York City. My parents took me to see Cats when I was six years old. It was my first Broadway play and I loved it. Then we saw Les Mis and Anything Goes. I could literally name every Broadway play we saw in the order that we saw it. [laughs] We’d also go to museums on the weekend. I took art classes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I was always a really artsy kid. I thought that I wanted to be an actor because that was the thing that you saw. So I studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre for a few years in high school. I realized that I wasn’t particularly talented. [laughs]
I ended up going to college and got a degree in economics. I’m actually right- and left-brain balanced. While I was there, I realized there was a business side to Hollywood. I thought, “Well, I have these nice Jewish parents who are nervous about this artistic gene.” I was like, “Maybe I could do the business side.” So after college, I applied to the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC. I was like, “It’s business plus art. It checks all the boxes.” While I was there, I started reading scripts. So many of them were bad. So many of these people who are represented are not particularly good writers. I knew that I could be at least as good as the scripts I was reading.
So I ended up writing out of practicality. Ultimately, showrunning brings all these things together. In between college and grad school, I wrote for Entertainment Weekly. Writing was always one of those things that kept tapping me on the shoulder. I journaled my whole life. I wrote stories. I was never that kid that was like, “I’m going to be a writer when I grow up.” Unlike acting, it never quite occurred to me until it was born out of necessity.
PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career? Dara: My parents always tell me if I ever win an award, I have to thank them first. My dad’s a first-generation American. He’s always had this incredible work ethic. My mom has always been my biggest cheerleader. She said to me recently, “I always knew you would be successful. I just didn’t know that you’d make any money at it.” [laughs] But they’ve always genuinely supported and believed in whatever it was I wanted to do. They’ve been my greatest inspiration and support.
PC: Your project Home Before Dark is airing on Apple TV+, and you’ve said in previous interviews that you took a lot from that experience. What was the biggest lesson you learned as a creative and as a person? Dara: That’s a great question. It was really confirmed that what’s just as important as the work is how happy and collaborative people are together, both in the writers’ room and on set. That is something that’s really important to pay attention to because that’s what makes the best work. People who are unhappy don’t do great work. People who are nervous about losing their jobs don’t do great work. The best work is when everybody feels relaxed, happy, vulnerable, and able to share their most visceral moments so that you can use those and create those real moments for the audience in turn.
PC: It was also recently announced that your new series, The Horror of Dolores Roach, has moved into development. What can you tell us about the series? (Note: this series aired on Amazon Prime in 2023.)
Dara: I’m so excited about that project. It was created by a playwright named Aaron Mark, who I’m deeply in love with. He just got married in my backyard in a tiny, socially distant ceremony. He and Daphne Rubin-Vega did this one-woman play at the LAB Theater Company in New York called Empanada Loca, which was so successful that Gimlet made a podcast of it. Through some friends, I listened to the podcast and was deeply obsessed.
They had been looking for a showrunner, and I walked into the room to meet him. He had flown into LA from New York last summer and I went to meet him. It was platonic love at first sight. We both just got each other immediately. I guided him through the writing of the pilot because this was his first pilot writing experience. The partnership has been incredibly organic. It’s a story about survival.
I think that what’s happening with Dolores Roach is deeply informed by the pandemic, the protests, and everything that’s going on in the world. As a woman of color who’s been cast aside her entire life, she refuses to go away and refuses to die.
See you on November 20th to learn more about Dara, her work, and story breaking!
Step behind the scenes of the world of color correction with Jeremy Stebens, a seasoned professional in the post-production field. In this exclusive interview, Jeremy sheds light on the intricate technical aspects of color correction, offering a comprehensive overview of the day-to-day tasks and the valuable insights that come with working independently.
Jeremy’s extensive experience includes providing top-tier color grading and digital restoration services to a diverse clientele, ranging from major brands like Netflix, Google, and Dell to renowned networks such as MTV, VH1, and Comedy Central.
Jeremy delves into his client-centric approach, his meticulous file-handling strategies, invoicing procedures, and the industry’s standard practices. Gain a deep understanding of the nuances of color correction as he shares the benefits of working as an independent professional in this dynamic field.
The Fashion Institute of Technology’s (FIT) Film and Media Program has formed an Industry Advisory Board composed of professionals with extensive experience both in front of and behind the camera. The board will work collaboratively with leadership to advance the program’s mission and impact, utilizing their network to solicit participation in events and initiatives to enrich the student experience.
Now in its ninth year, the Film and Media Program is chaired by Associate Professor DAHLIA SCHWEITZER, who led the formation of the Industry Advisory Board. Offering both Associate in Applied Science (AAS) and Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees, the program prepares students for careers in the moving-image industries—from filmmaking to advertising, content creation and beyond. A part of The State University of New York (SUNY), FIT’s in-state tuition is a fraction of that of comparable film programs, all of which contributes to the diversity of the program, more accurately reflecting the demographics of New York City, and allowing for the opportunity to encourage diverse storytelling.
This commitment to diverse voices inspired JEB BRODY to join the advisory board. Brody, a veteran producer responsible for such films as Little Miss Sunshine and Source Code, explains that “Great filmmaking is so often about seeing truth reflected back at the audience through nuance and specificity. Diverse voices, in front of and behind the camera, showcase the kind of lived experience that keeps cinema genuine, important, and vital.” This belief is at the core of FIT’s Film and Media Program and resonates with all members of the board.
This Industry Advisory Board furthers the program’s commitment to the study of media and to helping our students develop their own personal vision and the tools to express it, while securing FIT as an innovation leader and industry collaborator within art, design, science, and business.
FIT’s Film and Media Industry Advisory Board:
KEITH BEAUCHAMP: writer and producer, Till, director of The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till
JEB BRODY: president of production of Amblin Partners, producer of Academy Award-winning Little Miss Sunshine, Source Code, and 1917
ENRICO COLANTONI: actor, Galaxy Quest, Veronica Mars, and Station Eleven
REBECCA PERRY CUTTER: creator, writer, and producer, Hightown, Gotham, and The Mentalist
TATIANA KELLY: producer known for Wristcutters: A Love Story, The Words, and Cut Throat City
NICHOLAS MEYER: writer and director, Medici, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, grandson of FIT founder and president Max Meyer
TERRY NARDOZI: Tony-nominated producer of film, TV, and theater, President and CEO of MANM Productions, an investment and production company specializing in theater, film, and TV, executive producer of King Lear with Al Pacino, FIT alum
DARA RESNIK: writer and producer, Pushing Daisies, Home Before Dark, Castle, Jane the Virgin, Daredevil
JOSHUA SAFRAN: creator, executive producer, director, and writer, Quantico, Gossip Girl, and Soundtrack, showrunner, Smash (S2)
JERIANA SAN JUAN: film and TV costume designer, FIT alum, Halston, The Mother, and The Get Down
BETH SCHACTER: writer, producer, and director, Quantico, Billions, and Bunheads
AMY TALKINGTON: writer and producer known for Number One Fan, Little Fires Everywhere, and Second Skin
JAMES TAKATA: cinematographer, The Horror of Dolores Roach, This Is Us, director, This Is Us, The Company You Keep
About FIT
FIT, a part of the State University of New York (SUNY), has been an internationally recognized leader in career education in design, fashion, business, and technology for over 75 years. Providing an uncommon blend of practical experience and theory on a foundation of arts and sciences, FIT offers a wide range of affordable programs that foster innovation, collaboration, and a global perspective. FIT draws on its New York City location to provide a vibrant, creative environment for learning, exploration, and research. The college offers nearly 50 majors and grants AAS, BFA, BS, MA, MFA, and MPS degrees, preparing students for professional success and leadership in the new creative economy.
Tatiana Kelly made her debut in the film industry with Wristcutters: A Love Story, which had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. The film, distributed by Lionsgate, garnered significant attention, receiving two Independent Spirit Award nominations. It was also showcased in over thirty film festivals and won the Best Feature award eight times.
Following her successful debut, Tatiana went on to work on subsequent productions, including Dark Yellow. She continued to make her mark in the industry with recent theatrical releases, such as The Words, which served as the Closing Night film at Sundance in 2012. She also contributed to The Procession, a film written and directed by Academy Award® nominee Robert Festinger, and Life of a King, which received a nomination from the NAACP Image Awards and premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
In addition to these accomplishments, Tatiana was involved in the release of Sunset Stories, which made its debut at SXSW, and Amos’ Wake and Perfection, both of which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Perfection notably participated in IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Lab and secured the Adrienne Shelly Female Directing Grant. Recently, Tatiana engaged in an insightful conversation with Ethan Minsker and his class at FIT, delving into the crucial role of a Producer. This episode is brimming with valuable tips and insights into the challenges of producing within today’s dynamic film industry.
Katrina del Mar, an American photographer, video artist, writer, and acclaimed filmmaker hailing from New York, boasts a distinguished record of accolades and fellowships, including the esteemed New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Video. Del Mar’s cinematic works have garnered international recognition, with screenings at numerous prestigious film festivals worldwide.
In this video excerpt, Katrina engages in a Q&A session as part of the History of Documentary class at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She sheds light on the intricacies of crafting low-budget films and the collaborative process involved in bringing them to life within a community context.
FIT Film + Media 