With the LACES community jumping into the spring semester, a new course is also being offered to kickstart the year. Continuing our partnership with Los Angeles Community College, the institution is bringing forth a brand new college-level class to the student community for the after school program. This class is a Cinema 1 course, offering students of any grade level an introduction to the film industry and a chance to immerse themselves in the filmmaking process.

The cinema class will be after school on Mondays and Wednesdays, in which a teacher from the college will be at the school in person to guide prospective students in the makings of cinematography. While they will gain hands-on experience, the class will also go over the theoretical and practical thinking into what goes into a film.

Assistant Professor at Los Angeles Community College, Joel Trudgeon, has further shared the experience students will gain when moving forward with the class. “We discuss how stories are conceived, developed, and turned into a screenplay.  We look at the producing process and how a script is taken to the beginning of production,” Trudgeon said. “The goal of this class is that by the end, a student understands the process it will take for them to make their own short films.” 

By being involved in the course, students can engage in different career clusters. Mr. Rivas, who accepted the offer from LACC to bring these classes to Laces, encourages students to at least try the new classes. “I wanted to bring in classes that are not only academically good, but exciting so students will want to engage in them,” he said. The class is open to all who have even a little bit of an interest in filmmaking. “Like anything else in life, we have to try,” Rivas said.