Flashpoint Academy Faculty Members Paula Froehle and Amy Rising featured in Kodak's INcamera Magazine

Professor Paula Froehle believes that professional experience should play a role in preparing film students for the future. Froehle has taught in Chicago since 1999, and has gotten students involved in the production of Directions to the Peace Pagoda, Lowlands, Train Town and Up on the Rope, which she directed with the support of an IFP/Midwest Short Film Grant. Froehle will also engage students in the production of Lizard Christmas, a short film she will direct with the aid of a Kodak Faculty Grant.

“This experience provides students with a level of learning that goes beyond traditional approaches to education,” says Froehle, who has also directed and produced music videos and other music-related films for Chicago-based Atavistic. “Being exposed to real-world problem solving in a high-pressured production environment helps them to see how concepts and techniques they learn in the classroom are applied.”

Amy Rising endorses Froehle’s philosophy. Rising earned a master’s degree in arts management at Columbia College Chicago in 2005. She received an undergraduate degree in theater at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Through Don Smith, the director of the producing program during her time at Columbia, Rising became involved in a Producing Practicum course, which was her first experience on a film set doing something besides acting. The class is designed to guide students as they take a script to screen. Advanced film students in key crew positions are paired with professional mentors in the production of a short film created over the course of a semester.

“I was kind of thrown into the course and hit the ground running,” Rising says. “That experience inspired me to be a producer. There are so many details that can help tell a story. It’s very exciting to bring all those elements together and create a film from beginning to end.”

After completing the Producing Practicum, Rising produced An Open Door with a student director. That film has been successful on the festival circuit. She also worked with Froehle as a second assistant director on Up on the Rope. In addition, Rising was the line producer for director Keith Bearden’ film Train Town and production manager for director Hollie Lavenstein’s film Directions to the Peace Pagoda.

“I use everything I learned in the Practicum course in my real-world work today,” says Rising. “I made a lot of mistakes on student films. It wasn’t until I got on a real set that I saw how the creative and logistical aspects of production are supposed to come together. An important part of my education came from working with professionals at that level.”

Now that she’s no longer a student, Rising says that she keeps abreast of the latest technology developments by talking with people on set, reading books and magazines, and seeing movies in the theater versus on DVD. She also relies on the expertise of crew members and fosters open communications with them on every project.

“I look at producing like a big jigsaw puzzle,” explains Rising. “I start with a script and a director, and sometimes the director of photography. Then, I figure out what pieces are needed to complete the project, and put the puzzle pieces together.”

Froehle plans to begin principal photography on Lizard Christmas during the summer of 2007, and will assume the role of Academic Dean at Flashpoint-The Academy of Media Arts and Sciences in June. Rising is assisting the producers on A Merry Gentleman with actor Michael Keaton directing.

When asked her advice for emerging producers, Rising replied, “Always challenge yourself to think of options to the filmmaking process before you get on set. When you think you’ve got something figured out, consider any factors that could throw you off that path and be ready with several backup plans.”