Film Department facilities are based in the Communications Building on UCF's main campus in Orlando. We offer a 1,500, sq-foot soundstage - available by reservation - where students can build and shoot their own interiors in a quiet, climate-controlled environment. Our stage offers loading facilities accessible to trucks and a special floor-to-ceiling Elephant Door that enables vehicles to be brought on stage. A variety of sets and flats are standard equipment and available for all shoots to be repainted and arranged as needed.

Transforming the soundstage.

For class projects, students in good standing have access to the camera, audio, lighting and grip equipment from the Film Department's Equipment Room. We currently offer Arri and CP 16mm film cameras along with lenses and filters, Panasonic 24P and Sony DV cameras. Lighting ranges from special HMI fixtures to tungsten and the latest florescent light kits. Many Juniors and Seniors supplement the house inventory by renting Panavision Super 16mm or 35mm cameras and full grip trucks for their productions.

Each production class has a "Pick Sheet" indicating the type and quantity of gear available to the class as well as time limits related to their class checkouts. As a student moves through the program and gains experience using different kinds of gear, the list of equipment available to them grows, as does the length of checkout per project. Equipment can be used on or off campus, allowing for extended location shoots throughout Central Florida's many urban, suburban and rural locations.

On the post side, UCF FILM is a Final Cut Pro facility. We offer four special edit suites dedicated to more advanced projects - two outfitted for 24P digital video acquisition and two for beta transfers of film shoots. Students in the lower grades make use of the Jonathan Mednick Edit Lab, which offers six to eight Final Cut Pro stations (depending on configuration) equipped with digital video decks as well as a multi-format dub rack and a Pro Tool Sound Mix/Foley Suite.

UCF FILM is a Final Cut Pro facility.

Our editing program of choice is Apple's FINAL CUT PRO, a robust and economical choice for both digital video and video transfers of film. Final Cut Pro seems to be choice dujour among independent filmmakers as well as a growing number of Hollywood types. Even so, we don't recommend getting wrapped up in a format debate. Due to the nature of our operation, we needed to make a choice, but AVID and ADOBE PREMIER PRO are both excellent programs, particularly for Windows PC users.

However, if you're buying new gear for attending UCF FILM, we strongly recommend the use of Apple computers and Final Cut Pro software so that projects can be easily moved between home and UCF facilities. For more information about Apple hardware choices check The UCF Connection on the Apple Store.