From March 6-9, 40 MAP 11 students, teachers Natasha Ritchie, Mike Davey, Carla Villela, Joel Tarbox and Matthew Torrens toured Los Angeles together in the Media Arts Program’s most comprehensive annual field trip.
Departing on a Thursday, they first visited De Anza College to learn about its film and television program there and the transfer program they offered. Once they reached LA hours later, they went to the Grove, a popular outdoor dinner place.
There they met some MAP alumni, including Class of ‘15 alumni Dani Bruno, Class of ‘17 Julia Vita and Class of ‘19 Isaiah Vivero.
On Friday, Class of ‘19 Alumnus Divya Subbiah led them on a tour around University of Southern California (USC) Film School, teaching about their film and television program. While at USC, they also visited their Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, a training center with state of the art film equipment.
“I think it was really interesting how they not only gave us a tour of the campus but they also showed us the filming equipment and what it would be like to be a film student there,” junior Navya Chawla said.
Later they explored Universal Studios, where the students went on the studio tour together before they had the rest of the day to enjoy themselves and go on the rides.
On Saturday, they toured the Getty Center in small groups, learning about its world-class artwork and collections. They went to Warner Brothers studios afterwards, doing a studio tour where they got to see where films and TV shows are made. At the Pantages Theater, they capped off the night by seeing a performance of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”
For Chawla, learning about how the actual industry filmmaking works was enlightening and inspiring.
“The coolest part was the Warner Brothers tram tour, because they took you through all of the sets. We saw the Gilmore Girls House, The School from Abbott Elementary and all of that,” Chawla said. “And they showed you how they make these films. And we even got to walk through some of the houses and see how the sets are built.”
Unlike last year, they didn’t go to the Museum of Motion Pictures on Sunday because the time change made the students tired and there wasn’t enough to take it in properly.
Teachers like Tarbox say the trip is always rewarding even though it requires hours of planning and sacrifice on their part to do.
“It’s a really great bonding thing for that group,” he said. “Every year when we go on this trip, I notice when the kids come back, they’ve sort of bonded in a really nice way that helps them to get to work and collaborate well together.”
